2TE10M Promservice Otan transferring Bogatyr coal to Ekibastuz 2. 13th May 2024.
A 2TE10M of the Promservice Otan crosses over the settlement lagoons of the Ekibastuz TETS transferring 65 wagons of coal from the Bogatyr' mine to the main line exchange at Ekibastuz 2 station, Monday morning May the 13th 2024.
Still early, this was the last train we saw here before driving over to a Kafeci on the north eastern edge of town before breakfast. We then left, for Karaganda by way of Molodezhnyy and Kushoky.
This is the last but one upload I shall place here from Kazakhstan for a month or so. There are many more pictures to sort through beyond this town, and also pictures taken since we returned here, back to the UK.
Ekibastuz is a unique place, environmental hell, railway and Industrial heaven. Forged this way by the labour of Stalins Gulag prisoners, the mines were developed in 1953, helped massively by the arrival of the railway. Luckily for the prisoners out here in the harsh climate. this was the year of Stalins death, and the gulags then shrank until dissolved by Khrushchev in 1960. This is one of the world largest open cast coal deposits, 13 billion tonnes. We had no real idea of what to expect here, just big open mines with associated electric locomotives hauling the coal and spoil out from the pits. And how would we be received here? You can only find out by dipping your foot in the water as there is nowhere to hide as an industrial railway photographer. But we were received reasonably well as it turns out, with some invites into places we would not see otherwise and no incidents to put us off our quarry. The same cannot be said for every place we visited in this country. But those tales and their associated photographs will have to wait a few weeks, as unfortunately we are not full time on this!
2TE10M Promservice Otan transferring Bogatyr coal to Ekibastuz 2. 13th May 2024.
A 2TE10M of the Promservice Otan crosses over the settlement lagoons of the Ekibastuz TETS transferring 65 wagons of coal from the Bogatyr' mine to the main line exchange at Ekibastuz 2 station, Monday morning May the 13th 2024.
Still early, this was the last train we saw here before driving over to a Kafeci on the north eastern edge of town before breakfast. We then left, for Karaganda by way of Molodezhnyy and Kushoky.
This is the last but one upload I shall place here from Kazakhstan for a month or so. There are many more pictures to sort through beyond this town, and also pictures taken since we returned here, back to the UK.
Ekibastuz is a unique place, environmental hell, railway and Industrial heaven. Forged this way by the labour of Stalins Gulag prisoners, the mines were developed in 1953, helped massively by the arrival of the railway. Luckily for the prisoners out here in the harsh climate. this was the year of Stalins death, and the gulags then shrank until dissolved by Khrushchev in 1960. This is one of the world largest open cast coal deposits, 13 billion tonnes. We had no real idea of what to expect here, just big open mines with associated electric locomotives hauling the coal and spoil out from the pits. And how would we be received here? You can only find out by dipping your foot in the water as there is nowhere to hide as an industrial railway photographer. But we were received reasonably well as it turns out, with some invites into places we would not see otherwise and no incidents to put us off our quarry. The same cannot be said for every place we visited in this country. But those tales and their associated photographs will have to wait a few weeks, as unfortunately we are not full time on this!