MONTHLY CHALLENGE
White Village, White Lake, or in Pursuit of Cuckoo
Narrow-gauge railway deep in forests
That was a great weekend in August 2019. I dedicated it to a remote narrow-gauge railway northwest of Ukraine. This railway connected the low-populated wooded part of the Rivne region with the “big land,” having 106 kilometers of tracks between forgotten villages lost in forests and swamps.
That was one of three acting passenger narrow-gauge railways in Ukraine. It had only one route, “Antonivka — Zarichne.” The train started in the mornings and returned in the evenings. The length of 106 km allowed us to say this was the longest narrow-gauge route in Europe. Also, this railway contains the longest wooden railway bridge in Europe (153 meters), which is unique for Ukraine (between stations “Bila” and “Mlynok”).
I decided to catch the train in Volodymyrets, the biggest town on the route. I had to return on a train from it to Antonivka, which has a good connection with the region center.
I found Volodymyrets a calm provincial settlement with a few exciting places I’ll show once. Today, I want to stop at a pizzeria called “Kukushka” (“Cuckoo”), which is dedicated to the railway. Why Cuckoo? Previously, locomotives on this line had model “KU.”
Benches in the pizzeria are made like inside wagons:
The interior has old and new maps and different railway artifacts. Well, I should admit that their food was good as well, despite it’s not about the transportation:)
The station is outside the town, 4 kilometers away from the center, so I went there on foot. The railway was opened in 1895. Most of its infrastructure is like in museums, but actually, it’s alive acting history.
The first suspicious thoughts came to me when I saw the station deserted before the train had to arrive. Everything was closed, but it was enough to see an announcement in the window: the train went on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. And I brought myself on Saturday because I believed in the schedule on the official railway site…
By the way, the station building is wooden, like many other buildings there.
I waited a few minutes just in case, but the miracle didn’t happen. So, I had no options except to return to a hotel in Rivne and one more try for the next day.
I arrived in the morning at Antonivka, the route’s start point. The standard railway meets the narrow one here. Thanks to railways, the village was founded in 1905. The station building isn’t lovely, but it was opened, and I found out that the train was on its route exactly.
Thus, I had the new ability to catch Kukushka on its way back and enough time to see the village and its railway economy, like this stunning wooden house near the station.
In such places, old wagons are often used for different things in private yards.
A depot is located 700 m from the station. You shouldn’t know the road to it; enough to go by railway tracks. There were two hangars, rails, a bunch of different wagons… and nobody. It was hard to imagine the depot without security on the standard railways.
There were enough passenger wagons to build longer trains but not enough locomotives. Even freight wagons were saved despite not being used.
A snow blower:
The tracks ended there… I became so impudent in the absence of people that I tried to get into any wagon, but they all were closed. One of the wagons had an inscription “Бурштиновий шлях” (Amber path) — it was the name of a festival for the popularization of Kukushka.
Except for the depot, I wanted to visit a narrow-gauge railway museum. Actually, it is located inside a private yard. That yard belongs to Melnyk’s family — a railway worker dynasty fighting to save Kukushka and restore unique narrow-gauge machinery (there’s a wonderful article about them).
Some exhibits were visible simply from the street.
I was embarrassed to bore people on Sunday morning, but a man came out of the house when I thought about it. Thanks to this coincidence, he allowed me to go inside. There, I saw a draisine restored by the family. He said it is unique for Ukraine.
This mechanism used to be filled with coal to transfer to the locomotive.
And that was time to go towards Kukushka!
I arrived quickly at Volodymyrets again but didn’t want to return to the station where I failed a day before. I figured moving toward the train to Bile village, further away from civilization, was possible.
I caught a bus to it just before its departure. It took more than an hour to pass 31 kilometers to the village: the roads were awful, like in scary tales. This fact stresses the importance of the narrow-gauge railway for the region.
I left the bus directly near the station. There is even the station building (which is rare for this route). And nobody as there was a lot of time before the train arrival.
“God, give me a sign!”
“Bile” means “white”. So, the white village appeared to be… black. And wooden. Also, I was surprised by the roads: they aren’t ground or asphalt but sandy.
It’s possible to disassemble and reassemble such huts in a new place. Boards get numbers for this purpose.
So I gradually went to the shore of a lake. It’s also called Bile (white). And it is gorgeous. And look, it is really white.
I had a lot of time, so I had to recall the type of rest untypical to me: to sit at the shore, stroll, and leisurely contemplate.
Locals walked around the lake, too, and kids swam in it. I assume I looked like a white crow among the inhabitants of the white village.
The ducks loved it as well. I rested, too. I have to force myself to be lazy sometimes because all my trips typically involve huge foot passages.
But I didn’t miss the opportunity to see the village. When will I visit such a wilderness again? The huts don’t have decorations but look nice.
Nature is as close to people here as nowhere.
I took photos of semaphores and other stuff around the station. I have no idea how it works, but it still works!
Meanwhile, many people gathered at the station. An air horn sounded, and finally, Kukushka appeared from the forest.
There was only one working locomotive, TU2–062 (and one more on permanent repair).
So we departed. Tickets could be purchased only from a train conductor. About half of the total route cost only 25 UAH (about $1 at that moment).
The stops are mostly naked platforms without station buildings. In some villages, kids ran toward us. It was the event for them: Kukushka was coming!
But 99% of landscapes by the railway are forests, swamps, sandy dunes, and forests, again, sometimes injured by illegal amber mines. This tiny railway looks like the pinnacle of technical progress from another life. For some local villages, it is the single transport to a “big land.”
Meanwhile, the train arrived in Antonivka.
The rails ended near the station building. The train backed out and went to the depot.
Little Antonivka has a few transfer options: to Rivne by bus or many more options on classic trains. Needless to say, how important it was for distant villages. Was.
I’m glad that after Saturday’s failure, I canceled my plans for Sunday and did this one more try. I can say I jumped in the last wagon. In 2020, all the train routes were canceled because of the lockdown. Some were restored quickly, but the railway direction was slow to restore unprofitable narrow-gauge trains.
Now, only one of the three has a stable connection again. The railway “Antonivka — Zarichne” is still suspended. The more downtime, the less likely it is to return one day.
If you don’t want to miss out on my new stories, you can subscribe to updates on my blog. You can buy me a coffee if you appreciate my photos or stories.
While you’re reading this text, Ukrainian people are dying from Russian attacks. You can support Ukrainian defenders and save lives no matter where in the world you are.
