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Contract: China Shipping Have you never been tempted by the thought? You’re waiting for your connection as a goods train approaches, slowing almost to a halt as it rumbles into the station. The container wagons roll past you. Some of the flat-beds are unoccupied, their platforms tantalisingly close. Aat dii eenhaafaal joppr.[1] In the USA it’s known as ‘rail-hopping’. An entire itinerant lifestyle grew up around it in the depression era, riding for free across the great open

Electric Locomotive No. 18 – “Mammoth” Built: 1989 Class/serial no.: Mammutt/MV206753E Length: 22m Weight: 110 tonnes Power: 1650kW Max speed: 150 kph First of a new class after which she was named, No. 18 Locomotive was Rail Noorskii’s most powerful locomotive yet, setting new standards for load-hauling capacity. A legend among locomotives, “Mammutt” has even become the subject of a modern saga, currently under construction, narrating the events of her record-breaking journ

Built: 1959 Class/serial no.: Voltaa/VZ673945E Length: 19m Weight: 95 tonnes Power: 900kW Max speed: 135 kph Nmr. 17 Lokomotiv, “Tarrinvaar”, celebrates the capital city’s famous brewery. It stood in the Fabrikk district to the east of the city centre, served by the No. 9 trolleybus or “trolej” in our language. While the service was mostly used by its workers, the brewery also welcomed large numbers of visitors. Tarrinvaar prided itself on its efficiency, demonstrating on nu

Built: 1974 Class/serial no.: Komiizaar/KV5382E Length: 20m Weight: 100 tonnes Power: 1500kW Max speed: 165 kph Nmr. 16 Lokomotiv - “Valkksparkkvaskulptuur” - celebrates two important facets of daily life in our cities. As the tuurismisburu will inform you, public sculpture played a prominent part in Noorii’s cultural life. Bronze representations of noblemen and artists could be found in the squares of every town and city. You may well have heard of Toomas Valandis. Ah, well

Built: 1987 Class/serial no.: Mammutt/MV206766E Length: 22m Weight: 110 tonnes Power: 1650kW Max speed: 150 kph The gargantuan pillars that support the roof at the entrance of Tarrinstøy’s Central Railway Station (No. 15 Locomotive) are carved in the likeness of twin sea-goats. The iron piers of the footbridge linking the station’s platforms have been cast in the form of Paapin-trolls. While these architectural features are indicative of the gigantist mode popular in the cap

Electric Locomotive No. 11 – “Rosiníko” (Red Nicholas) Built: 1975 Class/serial no.: Komiizaar/KV538223E Length: 20m Weight: 100 tonnes Power: 1500kW Max speed: 165 kph Mythology is ever-present in our culture. It’s no surprise, then, to find among the locomotives one named for a mythical figure. In the case of No. 11 Locomotive, it is the universal patriarch, Rosiníko (‘Nicholas the Red’). Yule Goats and trolls, giants and dwarfs... so great is our liking for myth some have

Built: 1974 Class/serial no.: Komiizaar/KV538207E Length: 20m Weight: 100 tonnes Power: 1500kW Max speed: 165 kph Nmr. 10 Lokomotiv, “The Square of the Resistance” is rolling past you. Have your pen at the ready. Make sure to enter the serial number in your notebook before you slip it back into the pocket of your all-weather nylon coat. KV538207E, Komiizaar Class. What of these locomotives, then? Huge, heavy and immensely powerful, thundering along the track toward you,

Built: 1966 Class/serial no.: Valtikk/VZ447313E Length: 19m Weight: 85 tonnes Power: 1250kW Max speed: 145 kph Our locomotives often carry names of historical figures. In this case, it’s the nineteenth century nationalist, Toomas Topp. Previous examples include “Kunikk Jaan-Friidrikk”, “Edvardis Kedrusavnas” and “Kaarel Berkmanis”, all of which ended their days in the scrap yard. Others required a change of name – “Uulfrikk Kvestjaana”, for obvious reasons, “Tsaralekksandrtva

Built: 1974 Class/serial no.: Komiizaar/KV538203E Length: 20m Weight: 100 tonnes Power: 1500kW Max speed: 165 kph Observe. Faded red or faded blue, svettkrevn or svettbluu, these are the two colours in which the locomotives are painted. Contrary to appearance, it isn’t the result of neglect. Their coachwork is designed to be unobtrusive. The St Paalus Cathedral (blue) is the sister locomotive to the St Peetrus (red), exactly as the twin cathedrals in the capital once were to

Built: 1965 Class/serial no.: Valtikk/BZ447281E Length: 19m Weight: 85 tonnes Power: 1250kW Max speed: 145 kph No. 3 Locomotive, “Edvaard Raavde” - just one among many required to move a train of this magnitude - commemorates the renowned Noorskii writer. And like those others, she has a cab at either end, allowing the train to be pulled up the line in one direction or pushed down it in the other. At the moment, we have forward momentum – “pull up, pull up, pull up!” she see