A quiet memory: the Yanisjarvi-Lodeynoye Pole railway.

A pastoral railway line runs around the shore of Lake Ladoga. Some of its sections are still active. But the Yanisjärvi-Lodeynoye Pole line lives only in the memories of old-timers.

Lake Ladoga is surrounded on all sides by a railway. And even though the construction continued for almost half a century, now all its shores are cut by paths. The western and southern directions can boast of double-track lines, along which modern Swallows move. But the other two branches are really rare. The movement of trains on them is carried out by a system of electric rods and semaphores.

HELP

The baton system is based on creating safe movement on the railway by a very interesting method. The right to move on a single-track stretch is the composition, the driver of which has a long stick of about 80 cm. It indicates on which stage the train can move. Baton devices are installed at each of the stations. They are connected to each other by an electrical connection. If the driver pulled out the baton, then no one else can take it until he returns it to the attendant at the next station. He rotates the handle of the device at his station, and gives a signal for the start of the movement of the next train on this stage. Thus, only one train can operate on the railway.

Semaphores were the forerunners of modern traffic lights. At the top of its mast there is a wing, which can be raised at an angle of 135 ° or placed in a horizontal position. The latter serves as a signal prohibiting movement.

It is a pity that passenger traffic on the line from Janisjärvi to Lodeynoye Pole was cancelled a few years ago. It remains only to remember trips to these beautiful places. All along the way, rocks towered on both sides of the railway, small rivers with peat water flowed, the train bent at every zigzag. And you enjoyed the spring sky and the singing of forest birds, inhaled the fresh smell of new sleepers and admired the surrounding forest, behind which the lake shores were guessed.

The construction of the railway was started at a time when these regions belonged to Finland. A pulp and paper mill "Leppyakoski" was operating in the Finnish town of Harlu. So its owners filed a petition to the Finnish government in 1919 for the construction of a railway line to Janisjärvi. Moreover, the conditions for the development of the region were obvious. A power plant built in the XIX century operated nearby, and a gravel pit nearby. The government approved the petition, and the owners of "Leppyakoski" were instructed to allocate 1.5 million Finnish marks from their own funds. A two-storey station building was built at the station, which has an extension, which has been preserved to this day. To heat the rooms on the second floor, the most beautiful tile stoves were installed, which were manufactured at the Finnish factory "Abo", and also preserved to our time.

Already on December 31, 1923, this line entered service. Documentary evidence has been preserved that in the previous period there was already a narrow-gauge factory line at the paper mill, along which a Baldwin 0-4-0 tank locomotive moved.

Not far from the station in the village of Lyaskel at the same time there was another factory. It was quite profitable. Therefore, the owners decided that it was also necessary to extend the railway line to them. They filed a petition and received permission to build it. They had to spend more than 1.7 million Finnish marks already. On June 1, 1925, Lyaskeli station met the first train. At that time, an architectural style called "carpenter's style" was popular in Finland, notable for the original canopy covering the porch. In all likelihood, that building was destroyed during one of the Soviet-Finnish skirmishes. Later another building was built, but in the same Finnish style.

Even before the construction of this branch, as in Harlu, the plant had its own narrow-gauge railway, built back in 1910. Freight and passenger trains moved along it between the village and the coast of Lake Ladoga.

A little later, due to some problems, the plant in Harlu was sold. Both pulp and paper mills were merged by Läskelä Bruks Aktiebolag into one single enterprise.

But the construction of the road did not stop there. Soon a law was issued in Finland to expand the number of wide-line paths. It provided for the extension of the branch line to Pitkyaranta. The name of the city translates as "Long Beach". At the beginning of the XX century, compared to Impilakhti, Tunic or Salmi, it was a small settlement. But a lot has changed over time. The development of the region was based on the extraction and processing of metals: tin, copper, iron ore. At one point they were recognized as unprofitable and closed. In 1921, on the very shore of the lake, the timber company Diesen Wood erected a large pulp and paper mill, bought a sawmill and began rafting products along the Ladoga to the Neva. It was very important for the company to build a reliable way to sell products, since in winter it was necessary to use a sledge track. Construction of a new track has begun in Lyaskeli.

It was necessary to build a bridge over the Yanisjoki River, to carry out large earthworks to level the roadbed. At this point, the railway makes as many as two turns at an angle of 90degrees around the lake, crossing its difficult terrain and the Ladoga skerries. In 1930, construction work was in full swing when it was decided to continue the route to the Uuksu River. Then there was a very high unemployment rate in this town as a whole. The construction of the road has reduced tensions. In 1932, Pitkyaranta station was opened, and the following year, Ilya-Uuksu and Ala-Uuksu stations were opened. Today, nothing has been preserved from the lower part of this site.

The Finns called this iron line the Olonets Railway. We have not adopted this name, so that there is no confusion with another line from St. Petersburg to Petrozavodsk. It was built twenty years earlier and named after the Olonets province.

In 1938, passenger and freight trains were already running along the road. A 3rd class passenger car was attached to the latter. Salmi station can be found in the timetable, but there is no official confirmation that trains ran to it. The express train from Pitkyaranta took 1 hour and 27 minutes. Later, the same distance of 60 km was covered by train 964A for 2.5 hours.

The peaceful life of the region did not last long. In 1939, the Winter War happened, and later the Second World War. The lake shore and the road passed from one owner to another several times. In December, Soviet units entered Pitkyaranta, and Soviet power was established. The road began to obey the new owners. During the Great Patriotic War in the autumn of 1941, the Finns returned their lands.

For 3 years there was Finnish territory here. During this period, Finland extends the road to Megrega. A 110 km branch line was laid through Salmi, Vidlitsa, Tuloksa and Olonets. It became operational already in 1943. The mileage began to be counted from Helsinki. The terminal station was located 735 km from the capital. Two pairs of passenger and freight trains were used until the summer of 1944. With the transition of Soviet troops to the counteroffensive, the territory returned to the Soviet Union.

On the railway there was a railway artillery battery equipped with a K5 steam locomotive with 16 freight cars, 2 CRaut guns with 152 mm caliber, 3 20 mm anti-aircraft guns and a large number of small guns that were transported in a freight train. This train plied between stations and took part in battles fought along the railway line.

In 1944, the road completely turned out to be on the territory of the Soviet Union. During the war period, many settlements, ancient temples, and communication routes were destroyed in the Ladoga Region. Some of them left no trace.

Despite the difficulties, many enterprises founded by the Finnish side were launched again. At the end of the war, the Leningrad-Petrozavodsk passenger train No. 55/56, 255/256, 655/656 was launched through Sortavala and Suoyarvi, to which a non-stop car was attached, en route to Olonets. In the post-war years, the road ended at the Megrega station, falling just 40 km short of Lodeynoye Pole.

In the 70s, a combined drawbridge was built across the Svir River, the middle part of which could rise and pass large vessels. Branches were brought to it from both sides. With the transition to broad-gauge rails, an access road from Lyaskeli appeared, replacing the narrow-gauge railway.

Despite the development of the road, steam locomotives were used here until 1986. The quiet, measured rhythm of life has been preserved. Another tradition has remained unchanged. As in previous years, the attendant comes out to the arrival of each train and passes the baton to the driver to move to the next stage.

Unfortunately, there was no passenger train in 2014. The route has disappeared forever. It remains only to sit down on a familiar bench next to the old train station and indulge in leisurely memories, remembering the locomotive whistle and the hot steam of the locomotive.