Baranavichy Railway Engineering Museum

The railways of Belarus, Belanrus’ka Chyhunka, have continued to conform to Soviet standards since the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 They are still state-owned and are laid to the 1520 mm gauge that is standard in Russia. Baranavichy, an important junction in the west of the country from which lines run to Moscow and Warsaw, is the location for the country’s railway museum which opened in 1999. Exhibits include several steam locomotives of Russian design, a ‘Kriegslok’, a German-designed Class 52 2-10-0 from the Second World War, some railway carriages from the 1930s restored to their original condition, some railcars, some main line diesel locomotives, and a collection of wagons used for military traffic. A steam 0-10-0 locomotive EM 710-20 is on a plinth at the town’s station. There is a strong emphasis in the museum on the role of the railways during the Second World War when more than 20 per cent of the people of Belarus lost their lives.