Description of the attraction
Children's railway in Tbilisi is the first officially opened children's railway not only in Georgia, but also in the world. The idea of building a railway appeared in 1933 during a discussion of the construction of an operating model of a railway at a children's technical station in Tbilisi. Subsequently, it was decided to build a full-fledged railway, which later became a training project.
In September 1934, the construction of the road began. Its grand opening took place in June 1935. Initially, the children's railway was only 400 m long. In 1935, after the opening, a new project was drawn up to extend the railway to 1600 m, but the road was extended by only 800 m.
The first steam locomotive to appear on the road was a narrow-gauge steam locomotive produced in Germany at the Jung plant. During the Great Patriotic War, the Mug / 2 locomotive evacuated from the Rostov Children's Railway was also operated on the Tbilisi railway. In the post-war years, another steam locomotive of the 159 series was put into operation. After that, two more diesel locomotives TU3-035 (1971) and TU7-2044 (1987) entered service.
In the 1960s. The stations of the Children's Railway underwent a major reconstruction, during which new station buildings were erected at the Solnechnaya and Pionerskaya stations and the dead end near the depot was dismantled. In addition, dead ends on the tracks of the Pionerskaya station were shortened.
In the early 1990s. due to the paramilitary situation in the country, the Children's Railway was closed. After a while, the work of the road was restored, but not as training for young railway workers, but for ordinary pleasure transport. The rolling stock consisted of a TU7-2044 diesel locomotive. The steam locomotive Ak-1721 was installed at the Pionerskaya station as a monument.
In 2009, the movement of the only diesel locomotive stopped, the main reason being a malfunction. In 2012, traffic on the Children's Railway was resumed. On the new train, you can go for a walk in the park and look at the miraculously survived steam locomotive Ak-1721.
