2021-06-16 55 38

Location

On some territory of unknown usage in Peski.

I've discovered that area is marked as industrial on OSM while writing this report, but nothing else is still known about it.

Participants

V1993 (talk)

Plans

Take the following chain of trains (reach local station using taxi): Stupino -> Zhilyovo -> Pl. 88th km -> Peski, then reach hash by foot. Return the same way. This means taking first train at 4:24 AM.

Expedition

While it was a failure, I have no regrets I took this one. Yes, I do like trains.

Note: I recommend following my route on OpenRailwayMap (preferable) or OpenSteetMap. This will allow you to easily understand why specific things happen at specific stations.

After waking up at 3:15 AM (and questioning my life choices for a bit) I dressed up and departed for Stupino train station, where I brought round trip ticket to Zhilyovo. Ticket machine bugged out and charged me considerably more than it should have (with destination station also being misprinted) without me noticing there, but luckily it still all worked out. So I took a train to Zhilyovo, where I got round trip ticket to Pl. 88th km and got onto train that goes there (it starts in Zhilyovo).

Now, this part was a really wonderful trip. With train having more train cars than passengers (I was the only person in my train car), I got to enjoy really nice local views for about two hours, at least until we've arrived in Voskresensk (which gives very strong City 17 vibes), where a lot of people got on the train. Luckily enough, 88th km is the next stop after it (you're looking at map, right?), so this wasn't much of an issue anyways.

Now, if you're anything like me, you'd expect platform 88'th kilometre to be a rather desolate place, perhaps even without station building. And just like me, you would be very wrong. As it turns out, 88th km is a very active station, featuring three platforms (to Moscow, from Moscow, and just Platform 3, where I've arrived), two of those with turnstiles, large bridge between them and a constant flow of freight trains. A great place for train lovers indeed.

While trying to figure out which platform should I use and being impressed by unexpectedly large transportation hub, I've managed to totally miss my train's arrival, since I've expected it to come from another direction. Coupled with turnstile not letting me trough quickly enough (station worker had to do so instead), I only got onto platform to see train departing, effectively dooming this hash for me. Yet I haven't given up - and decided to take next train to Peski instead, since I've paid for ticket there anyways (oh yeah, forgot to tell this earlier) and there was no reason for me not to take a ride there anyways.

40 minutes of waiting later, I finally took a train to Peski. I've also figured out that the first train car would be the closest to hash just in case, so I boarded it. And quickly learned that first train car is a horrible place to ride in - it contains a not so well maintained restroom, causing rather awful smell. Also saw a guy with rather... interesting... anime print on a t-short - not something commonly sighted around these places.

After arriving at Peski I've checked my phone - and discovered that hash was only about 500m away! Deciding to at very least figure out what could that area where it's located be, even given that I had 15 minutes until my train, I've ran in that direction - only to be met by some local stray dogs, who wouldn't even let me peek at what that area was. Having no time to fight with dogs (would do if it wasn't for previous transportation failure), I had to flee back to station, from where trip back went pretty smoothly - aside from me almost missing a train in 88th km once again. I was very lucky to catch train - express, no less! - to Stupino on Zhilyovo, saving me from about an hour of waiting. Back in my city, I've visited KFC and then went home by foot, where I finally fell asleep 'till next day.

While I wasn't able to reach this hash, it was a very enjoyable journey overall. And there was a sequel in form of 2021-06-18 55 38...

Tracklog

Also available at OSM for closer examination. Covers only my walking in Peski since my phone's battery isn't quite great, GPS have spotty reception in trains and tracks along railways aren't interesting either way.