History on wheels. Mos.ru reports from the Moscow Transport Museum reserves

Restoration of Konstantin Melnikov’s Garage at 27 Novoryazanskaya Street is going on without a hitch. In the future, it’s going to house the permanent Moscow Transport Museum exposition featuring unique public transport models and introducing visitors to its history. The museum visitor flow is supposed to be at least 500,000 per year.

While the venue is getting ready for the grand opening, the lion’s share of exhibits stay in the museum depository. This year, they started offering guided tours there. This is a chance to see over 100 cars and trucks, buses and trolley buses from the 20th century. The exposition covers nearly 70 years of the Soviet public transport history.

Let’s have a look where the “vacuum” bus was designed and which public transport model was the most popular in the USSR.

New life of the Wanderer and the movie star

The Museum holdings are kept in vast hangars in Stupinsky Proyezd: a huge blue gate hides neat rows of vehicles of all kinds: from old fire engines to Ikarus buses. Some exhibits look flawless: restoration artists already had their way with them; others are still waiting for their turn. Each and every vehicle, though, has its own unique history.

One among those not yet restored that greets visitors near the first hangar entrance is a small German-made Wanderer convertible. Made in the 1930s, it got to the USSR after the War. They attached a “hood” to the convertible to make it usable in the harsher climate.

“The car needed repairs during its life in the Soviet Union, but there was no way to find parts for it back then. They had to get creative. That’s why, according to Anton Gurkov, Moscow Transport Museum tour guide, the Wanderer is stuffed full of parts taken from Soviet cars, including Volgas. The grill is from a Chaika.

Another unique exhibit is a ZIL-157KD. It’s notable for its impressive size and characteristic dark olive color. First ZIL-157 models were designed for military and commercial use in the late 1950s. Those trucks were groundbreaking for their time: they had heaters in drivers’ compartments; they ran smoothly thanks to their improved shock absorbers. The charismatic truck with muffled headlights that stands in the museum depository is a veritable movie star, too. It appeared briefly in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

“Vacuum cleaner” bus and electric bus’ precursor

In addition to cars and trucks, the Museum has public transport vehicles as well. There you can find 10 or more buses of all colors, some trolley buses with their “horns” sticking out and even a precursor to modern electric buses. Walking along the rows of huge vehicles, one can see how their shape and appearance changed through the years.

Bright, shiny paint, narrow wheels and a slightly awkward shape: what we see is one of the first Soviet buses, Standart, that utilized ZIS-8 chassis. It’s the oldest bus in the museum. Buses like that were prevalent in Moscow in the mid-1930s. Benches for seats, sturdy handlebars and seats for 22 people: for passengers of the time, that was as good as it gets. Right now, it’s hard to imagine anyone ever riding on that bus. Its body is made of wood covered with sheet metal: several layers of tarp serve as the roof. The driver had to use a special lever to open the door in the front. Generally, he was the one who collected the fare too.

“Drivers of the time were absolute heroes: you need a lot of strength and skill to drive something like that,” adds Mr. Gurkov.

In the late 1940s, Soviet engineers made the lives of bus drivers easier by changing the transmission mechanism. They designed a hybrid that later became known as ZIS-154. The vehicle used electricity to run. The basic idea is easy: we have a diesel engine that powers a generator; the generator produces electrical current that goes to the motor that spins the rear wheels. One could call that vehicle the precursor to electric bus. Its success, though, was very limited: the hybrids were hard to assemble, so their production stopped soon. You can recognize that model by red stripes on its yellow body and the original inscription: Metro Sokol — Krasnogorsk.

Brightly painted LAZ buses can be found next to ZIS models. They were a breakthrough in Soviet automotive engineering: with panoramic windows, rear-engine construction and power steering. The Museum has two buses of that brand. The bright-orange LAZ-695 was made specifically for the 1957 World Festival of Youth and Students. Exactly 100 of those buses were released. After the Festival was over, they joined common public buses on Moscow streets. The white-and-blue LAZ-695E was designed for one of the research institutes in Moscow. It’s entire service life was spent there. After being retired in the 1990s, the bus went directly to the Moscow Transport Museum. It had been used very sparingly: its odometer reads just 44,000 kilometers.

“Ikarus-55 is another legendary bus. You can recognize it by its rounded shape, bright green body and white roof. They were made in Hungary and served on both city and inter-city lines. Those buses are famous for their many nicknames: “Cigar”, “Vacuum cleaner”, “Rocket”, even “Chest of drawers”. People called them that for their oblong shape, flattened rear ends or the sounds of their engines,” Mr. Gurkov continues.

A real legend, an accordion bus, hides from prying eyes deep in the back of one hangar. Over 60,000 of them were made in Hungary; a half of that number were supplied to the USSR. Even to this day, it stays the most popular articulated bus in the world. “Accordion buses” coursed the roads of the USSR and later – of Russia since the mid-1970s and until the very recent past. Their huge capacity was its most prized feature: the buses were capable of carrying up to 200 people at once.

The quintessential Russian truck

Many other stars of the Soviet transport history are waiting for visitors in their concrete “powder rooms”. For example, ATs-40, a humble-looking fire engine utilizing ZIL-130 chassis, is a legend in its own right. It’s waiting for restoration; meanwhile, every visitor can delight at its distinctive shape. By the way, ZIL-130 was so uncomplicated and sturdy, they kept making them for nearly 30 years, and even licensed them abroad, to Bulgaria.

“Even now, you can easily meet a ZIL-130 anywhere in the country. Dump trucks of that model are the most prevalent in the Moscow region. The very sight of them makes people gasp, they are so remarkable. It wouldn’t be wrong to call this model the quintessential Russian truck,” says the tour guide.

Another fascinating model can be found in the very center of the depository. Standing by the back wall, it nonetheless draws attention with its fiery red body. This flamboyant model is one-of-a-kind, a tow truck assembled piecemeal out of parts taken off all kinds of different vehicles. Its chassis is a modified ZIL, the nose is from a MAZ, and there’s a huge steel hook in the back. Made in Fili Bus Depot, it stayed there for its entire service life.

“To look at the backstage of the Moscow Transport Museum is a unique chance even for those who know nothing about automobiles. Here, you can learn something new, remember the good old times and take a look at the past. It’s impossible to stay indifferent walking along the rows of transport legends. We have already given over 20 guided tours,” Mr. Gurkov concluded.

According to Oksana Bondarenko, Moscow Transport Museum Director, great public interest to the history of Moscow and its transport in particular prompted the administration to extend the guided tours to the Museum depository to December.

Guided tours take place every Sunday, 01:00 p.m. at 1/19 Stupinsky Proyezd. A tour lasts about 2 hours. You can purchase a ticket at the Museum website. Don’t forget to put on something warm for the tour: the temperature in the depository is about 10 degrees.