Trans-Siberian picture gallery

The start of your journey...

Right: Moscow's magnificent Yaroslavski station. It's right next door to the Oktyabrskaya station, where trains arrive from St Petersburg, and across the road from the Kazanski station.

On board train 3/4 Moscow-Beijing...

This is the weekly Trans-Mongolian train from Moscow to Beijing using Chinese rolling stock. 2nd class 4-berth is almost identical to 1st class 4-berth, but with a different colour scheme and (if you get your tape measure out) slightly narrower berths. Train 3/4 also has 1st class 2-berth rooms, which ARE worth the extra money, if you can get one - these compartments have two beds one above the other, a separate armchair, and a private shower/washroom, shared with the compartment next door.

Moscow Yaroslavski station - the Trans-Siberian terminus.

Train 19/20 'Vostok' Moscow-Beijing...

This is the weekly Trans-Manchurian train from Moscow to Beijing using Russian rolling-stock. It has 2nd class 4-berth (kupé) and 1st class 2-berth (Spalny Vagon) plus a restaurant car. You can just make out the name 'Vostok' along the carriage side in the white band.

Far left: The 'Vostok' at Ulan Ude. Courtesy of Tadej Brezina.

Left: The Vostok up-close. Courtesy of Sascha & Manuela Dubach

On board the Russian trains:

'Rossiya' Moscow-Vladivostok, 'Baikal' Moscow-Irkutsk, 'Vostok' Moscow-Beijing...

All of the Russian trains have 1st class ('spalny vagon' or 'SV') 2-berth compartments and 2nd class ('Kupé') compartments. In SV, both beds are at the lower level. In Kupé, the compartments are more or less identical, but with two upper berths as well as the two lower ones. Washrooms are available at the end of each car, as is a samovar providing an unlimited supply of free boiling water. Some Russian trains also have 'platskartny' - open plan coaches with dormitory-style bunks.

On board train 24 from

Ulan Bator to Beijing...

This is the weekly Chinese/Mongolian train

from Ulan Bator to Beijing.

Right: Mongolian sleeping-cars on Train 24.

Inside a cosy 2-berth sleeper.

Courtesy of Sascha & Manuela Dubach

Mongolian sleeping-car, train 24 Ulan Bator to Beijing

2-berth first class sleeper from Ulan Bator to Beijing.


What's the food like...? Quite edible, and not expensive. Most Moscow-Beijing tickets for train 4 procured by agencies include three meals a day in the Russian dining car for the first four days of the journey. On train 3/4, a Mongolian dining car is shunted into the middle of the train for the day spent crossing Mongolia. You had better like rice and mutton..! An excellent Chinese dining car is attached for the day spent travelling in China. The Russian train from Moscow to Beijing (train 19/20) also has a Russian dining car attached whilst it is in Russia and a Chinese one attached in China. The Moscow-Vladivostok 'Rossiya' and Moscow-Irkutsk 'Baikal' have a Russian dining car. All these dining cars accept US dollars, and a complete meal will cost about US$5-10.
Russian restaurant car...	Mongolian restaurant car... Photo courtesy of Tristan Wilson	Chinese restaurant car...

What's the scenery like..?

In Russia, much of the scenery is gentle hills, birch tree forests, small villages with mud streets and wooden houses. There are occasional glimpses of onion-domed churches. It's not all rural of course - around the cities, you'll see much of Siberia's heavy industry. Rounding Lake Baikal, you get some good views of the lake.

On the Trans-Mongolian route, you will go to bed in Siberia and wake up in the steppes of Outer Mongolia. The scenery across Mongolia and the Gobi desert is dramatically different from Russia - you will see 'yurts' (the traditional tents used by Mongolian nomads) and probably herds of camels too.

Typical Siberian village, seen from the train

Locomotives...

Your locomotive will be changed every few hundred miles. The whole route from Moscow to Vladivostok is now electrified (the last bit was 'wired' in December 2002), but the Trans-Mongolian and Trans-Manchurian trains are diesel-hauled once they leave the Trans-Siberian proper.

Right: A Skoda CHS2. Far right: A Skoda CHS4. Yes, these locos are both made by Skoda, the same Czech firm that makes the cars..!

Below : 1st class 4-berth		Below: Spot the difference... This is 2nd class 4-berth		Below: Train No.4 at Irkutsk - the chap in the airline pilot's uniform is the Chinese carriage attendant.

Below: The sleeping-car corridor...		Below: Home-away-from-home: A comfortable 'Spalny Vagon' 2-berth room...		Below: The 'Rossiya' at Krasnoyarsk...

Below: Siberia in Summer - lush and green...		Below: Crossing one of Siberia's major rivers...		Below: Evening falls in Siberia as train 4 heads towards the Mongolian frontier...


Below: On the platform at Ulan Bator.	Below: Train 4 crossing Mongolia, heading for the Gobi...	Below: Until recently, train 4 travelled via Quinglongquiao in the mountains north of Beijing, where it passed through the Great Wall. The wall is in the background, coming down the valley side. Train 4 now takes a slightly different route.