Evening arrival into Karagandy from the North East on the A17 road. May the 13th 2024.

And so it goes, we have to cross around 15km to the other side of the city, which is over half an hour, to get to our hotel. It is dark when we get there. Always with anticipation on the edge of trepidation, how will it be for us here? Will this stark sprawl of a city be kind to us? I have already watched it roll by, three days before at around 6am from our overnight train taking Jane and myself from Almaty to Astana to meet up with Sven. Distant colliery headstocks, districts of grey accommodation blocks set well apart from each other, low expansive spoil heaps, long insulated steam pipes and people walking, at the start of their day, alone or in small groups from one place to another, big horizons on a steel grey morning.

Tags:   Karagandy Kazakhstan

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2TE10M-3506 of the TrancoNura leaves Kushoky, its home depot, with coal empties bound for the mine at Molodezhnyy. The train is banked by a third 2TE10M unit, not powering at this point in the journey. Viewed from an old slagheap, reflected in the mosquito infested pools. Karaganda Oblast, Kazakhstan. May the 13th 2024.

2ТЭ10М-3506. Кушокы. Транко Нура ЛЛП, Карагандинская Область, Казахстан. 05/13/2024.

Eventually the time came for this train to leave, it had been present since our arrival mid afternoon, with the train loco building up the train formation. Having spent some time up here on the slag heap waiting for some movement I was sat with Jane in the car, parked on the road that the train is crossing, she was taking refuge from the mosquito hordes that were trying their best to get inside and have dinner. The train began to leave so I had no choice but to run. Up to the track than along it to a point where the pool of water ended, then straight up the heap. I don't know how but I made it. Sven is down the bottom by the road crossing, He has photographed the TE10M single section unit now on the rear of the train at the depot behind the crossing. And there lies a puzzle we have not solved. The split 2TE10 units on this line, which all face Kushoky. One we saw going to the mine. The 2TE10V with the three side tippers. They did not go to Kushoky. Where did they go, were they filled and returned to the mine at Molodezhnyy for dumping? Is their a section here that requires a banking engine? We have seen pictures with three sections of TE10 on the head end of their train. Maybe we will find out. This time, it was time to leave for Karagandy and a very nice hotel found by Jane whilst taking refuge from the mosquitos.

Tags:   Kushoky Tranco Nura LLP Молодежный 2TE10M 2TE10M-3506 2ТЭ10М-3506 2ТЭ10М Coal Industry Coal mining

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Three and three quarter hours after leaving the mine at Molodezhnyy, 2TE10U-0494, a Lugansk - Ukraine product of 1992 and its train of coal has reached Kushoky on its transfer to the main line interchange at Nura on the Karaganda to Astana main line. May the 13th 2024.

2ТЭ10У-0494 в Кушоках с перевалкой угля из Молодёжного в Нуру.
Транко Нура ЛЛП

We have driven straight here from Molodezhnyy. The roads get worse, Kushoky is on a side road which goes only to there. There is the depot of the Tranco-Nura, the maintenance depot and headquarters of the railway transferring coal from Molodezhnyy to the main line at Nura, Karagandy. It lies around 70km from Molodezhnyy and 30km from Karagandy. We bounce down a semi metalled road past crumbling accommodation blocks partially hidden by trees and set back from the main road. Everything is spread out. There is a small TETS, a power and heat combine. We turn right towards the depot, another kilometre or so at the end of the road. Sprawling low slag heaps surround the village, though there are no working mines here anymore. Our presence around the railway is probably already known here. Sven has high hopes of getting to the depot, and we pull up at the gates alongside the yard, which looks semi derelict. There is a single section of a TE10 outside the depot, painted blue, and the guards , chatting to friends, look us over with a mixture of disdain and mild amusement. We must go to the office block near the TETS. It is the Headquarters of the railway. We are shown inside and to an office. A women, busy on a phone takes time to deal with us. She must ask the chief. She goes to another room. We wait like schoolkids waiting to see the headmaster. The disdain amongst the staff is palpable, though with no amusement. She comes back, signals us to wait and carries on with her tasks, mostly involving the telephone. Eventually a man in his late 30s comes in from the next office, looks us over and returns. He is the boss today. A few minutes more and we are simply told by the woman to leave the office, thats all. We ask if we have permission and are dismissed in the briefest way possible, no.
So we drive around, and go to the opposite end of the village by the old station where a 2TE10M is slowly building up a train of empties. I think that the train from Molodezhnyy will have to come first before the empties go, its just a matter of how long that will be. A fair while it turns out. Jane has sought refuge in the car behind closed windows. The mosquitoes here are large and fierce. They have smelled us out and surround the car, trying to find a way in. I opt to climb the slag heaps but have to circumnavigate pools of water and keep moving to avoid being surrounded by the mosquitoes. Sven is by a smaller derelict depot just the other side of the tracks, a single section of a 2TE10M arrives from the Nura direction and takes sand, he walks over to take photos of it. His presence is barely acknowledged. And eventually the coal train from Molodezhnyy arrives. It too is barely acknowledged, it simple runs straight through towards Nura at a constant low speed.

May the 13th 2024.

Tags:   Транко Нура ЛЛП Tranco Nura LLP 2TE10U 2TE10U-0494 2ТЭ10У-0494 2ТЭ10У Kushoky Молодежный Кушокы Coal Coal Industry Уголь

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2TE10U-0494 of the Tranco - Nura climbs up from the Molodezhnyy opencast mine complex paralleling the A17 road to Karaganda for a few kilometres, bound for the main line interchange at Nura, around 100km distant with 48 wagons loaded with coal. Karaganda Oblast. May the 13th 2024.
At this point you can see the driver is making a video of us. Whether in astonishment at our actions of chasing this train or for security reasons we did not find out.

2ТЭ10У-0494 с угольным поездом на перегоне Молодежный - Кушокы - Транко Нура ЛЛП. Караганинская область, Казахстан. 05/13/2024.

This particular place is pivotal in the instigation of this trip. Sven had sent me a photo of the cuff, it was a green unmodified 2TE10M with a coal train. I asked if it was in the past, he said no, just a few days ago. So I searched and found the picture on Parovoz.IC, a Russian Railfan website. It told me the location which I found on satellite mapping. Another check on the possibilities and realities of getting to and of being in Kazakhstan where made and the research and planning began. Having put the possibilities of seeing the TE10 in action on ice for the foreseeable future, first because of covid then because of war, I have Sven to thank for instigating this trip.

Tags:   Molodezhnyy Tranco Nura LLP 2TE10U-0494 2TE10U Молодежный 2ТЭ10У-0494 2ТЭ10У Coal Industry Coal Coal mining Kazakhstan

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2TE10U-0494 of the Tranco - Nura lifts 48 wagons of coal out from the Molodezhnyy opencast mine complex bound for the main line interchange at Nura, around 100km distant. Karaganda Oblast. May the 13th 2024.

2ТЭ10У-0494 с поездом с углем выезжает с угольного разреза Молодежный. Карагандинская область, Казахстан. 13/05/2024.

After the 2TE10V-4259 had gone on its way we decided it was time to find lunch. But first I tied a blade of grass around the track by the roadside. this is because a double unit 2TE10U had gone to the mine. It must leave with a coal train is my thought. We find lunch at a roadside canteen by the village of Molodezhnyy a few kilometres further up the road. There are truck drivers, there are Uzbeck families on a long drive south, the food is superb. After we eat, Sven wants to head on to Kushoky, he wants to see the depot! But I persuade him to go back to the tell tale blade of grass. It is intact, no train has passed over. This means we must go to the mine. Sven is reluctant but I think it would be a folly if we didn't take a coal train here. So to the mine we go and pull up once again in the car park by the gatehouse. You can see the gatehouse in this photo. We can see from the car park a TEM2 on a rake of wagons being loaded, slowly by excavator. The 2TE10U is visible on a rake of wagons. It is thought it will take a long time to leave but I don't think so. How can I persuade us to stay here? I don't need to, the 2TE10U begins to move forward, and it does not stop. Quick, we must leave. Pulling up a few hundred metres beyond we get our picture with the mine as the backdrop. So lucky!

Tags:   Молодежный 2ТЭ10У-0494 2ТЭ10У Coal Mine Coal Industry Kazakhstan 2TE10U 2TE10U-0494 Molodezhnyy Tranco-Nura LLP

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