neq4 — The Virtual Locomotive Museum

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29 December 2007

The Virtual Locomotive Museum

The attractions at the virtual museum of steam engines are genuine memorials of the steam-engine era: the roundhouse depot and the only remaining preserved water tower that can still refill a locomotive tank. It is within Moscow, in the depot Podmoskovnaya in between the metro stations Sokol and Voikovskaya.

Photography of the unique locomotives from the last century took place in the Museum of Railway Engineering in the territory of the Rizhsky Rail Terminal. There, one can see the rumbling and smoky departure of a real steam locomotive and, if one so desires, you can even take a ride.

Our task was to show both how the steam locomotive is made, and show what one can see in specific areas such as the engine-driver?s booth and in the carriage of the old-time train. We also wanted to show the whole process of preparing for travel, and to convey the feel of being amongst the people living in the era of steam engines. That is why the virtual tour is designed in a very special way — as a working mechanism, with each scene being loaded by a working steam turbine.

Toggle switchers and levers, rivets and barometers, parts made of rusty iron and polished copper, mysterious personages and peculiar trinkets...all of these functional objets d’art will delight the eyes and excite the imagination. When the train ride starts, you will be able to interact with your fellow travelers and ask about the final destination of their journey.

When the train ride starts, you will be able to interact with your fellow travelers and ask about the final destination of their journey.

In the virtual depot there are famous steam-engines from the beginning and middle of the 20th century. Among them there is the steam-engine Ovechka (a little sheep), the oldest steam locomotive in Moscow. It is more than a hundred years old. But the main attraction of the virtual museum is the legendary steam-engine Lebedyanka (a derivative from «a swan»). You can take a look into the engine driver’s booth, examine the train from all sides on the turntable, and even fill it with water from the water tower.

During your virtual excursion, you may begin to notice that the train upon which you are traveling is not just an ordinary steam-engine, but an actual «time-machine» which is whisking you away not to the Sub-Moscow area or St. Petersburg, but into the year 1953!

And that is just the beginning...

The museum is made up to the order of KsanLab.

View the virtual tour