Heritage route
Ruskeala Express
Sortavala → Ruskeala · Russia
View on the map →Wikipedia (RU) ↗
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Russia’s only daily steam service: blue retro cars behind a vintage locomotive from Sortavala to Ruskeala’s flooded marble canyon, staged down to conductors in 1900s dress.
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 12418126 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 4 m from it
- The operator publishes this line's timetable: Russian Railways — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
- See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it
Questions and answers
How long is the Ruskeala Express?
The Ruskeala Express runs 40 km from Sortavala to Ruskeala.
How long does the Ruskeala Express take?
The fastest scheduled journey is 1 h 10 min for the 40 km. That is an average of 34 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 60 km/h.
Who runs the Ruskeala Express?
RZD, with steam retro train № 921/922.
How old is the Ruskeala Express?
The line has been in service since 2019. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
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A retired JR alignment above the Hozugawa rapids: twenty-five slow minutes of maples and gorge that the modern main line skips through tunnels.
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Restored D51 498 “Degoichi” and C61 20 haul retro coaches up the Joetsu Line on weekends: steam echoing off the Tone gorge under Tanigawa’s wall.
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