Armoured Train Tula

Armoured train № 13 « A Tula worker», commonly called «Tulyak», is one of the patterns of Soviet armoured trains of the first months of the war. The idea to create the armoured train appeared when the 2nd German tank army under General Guderian’s command came in Oryol and the road to Moscow seemed to be opened. The fortress on wheels was built by the Tula locomotive depot in a short time. On October 27th 1941 «Tulyak» left the gates of the depot. Armoured train № 13 defended the station Tula-1 and the city from the raids of German aviation with the help of anti-aircraft artillery, repulsed the attacks of the enemy bombers on the stations Homyakovo, Revyakino and Nizhnie Prisady.

In early December 1941 armoured train №13 «Tula worker» was sent to the South-Western front. On the eve of the new 1942 the armoured train was situated on the station Bely Kolodez northwest of Charkov. Here it often participated in battles, repulsing the enemy air attacks. In early April 1942 armoured train №13 was included into the 60th separate armoured trains division, formed from two armoured trains - №2 «Tula worker» and № 15 – and sent to the Southern front, where it participated in the battles near Charkov. The armoured train ended its combat path in the Tambov region.

The restoration of the train started in February 2015. It was made by the specialists of the Tula wagon depot (VCHDE-18), car repair shops Uzlovaya (VCHDR-25) and Tula (VCHDR-17), the Tula Station of Civil Constructions (NGCH-11) and the motor-car depot Novomoskovsk (TCH-22). These old still not killed by time and not cut into pieces wagons the Tula people looked for at the stations and access roads of industrial enterprises, also scrupulously collecting information and exhibits for the future exposition. On the 8th of May 2015 the restored armoured train was opened as a museum on the Moscow railway station of Tula.

For current visiting hours, please visit the website of the museum.

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Source

• Text: visittula.com, Fyodor Telin
• Photos: Fyodor Telin