Road to Karintorf

The narrow-gauge railway (UZD) was once a widespread mode of transport across the Soviet Union but has now become a fading historical phenomenon. In modern Russia, very few operational narrow-gauge lines remain. This specialized transport, which was essential for serving industrial enterprises as well as passenger traffic in remote regions, is gradually being replaced by more efficient and faster modes of transportation.

Karinskaya UZD. A striking example of this decline is the surviving narrow-gauge railway connecting the city of Kirovo-Chepetsk and the village of Karintorf in the Kirov region. During the Soviet era, there was an extensive UZD network here, vital for the operations of the peat extraction industry. Peat, as a local fuel, required a developed transport infrastructure for hauling it from vast swampy areas. Today, only a single operational line remains, linking the two locations.

«The Road of Life» for Karintorf For the residents of Karintorf, this line—the Karinskaya narrow-gauge railway—has long been more than just a transport route; it was a true «road of life.» The lack of a reliable road across the Cheptsa River made the UZD the only connection to the «mainland,» to Kirovo-Chepetsk. It facilitated not only the transportation of goods (primarily peat in the past) but also crucial passenger traffic and the delivery of essential supplies.

My photographic research involved documenting both the operational narrow-gauge railway and the daily lives of the people in Karintorf, whose routines are closely tied to this transport. These images serve as a documentary record of a unique but unfortunately vanishing form of railway communication in modern Russia. The Karinskaya UZD is a living museum exhibit, the last witness of an entire era in the history of domestic transport and industrial development.