WE ARE 15 YEARS OLD!

EDITORIAL ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE 50TH ISSUE OF THE “ZHELEZNODOROZHNOE DELO” ANTHOLOGY
devoted to the Publishing House Anniversary and to this issue

Leonid Svatikov: So, what was the beginning of journal?

Andrey Myasnikov: Let's go back to 1990. That was the time in our country (USSR back then), a general set of people, so called amateurs of railways, were engaged in its various spheres: history, present scenario, rolling stock, architecture, railway lines, and even study of stations etc. There was also a separate category of people — the model makers.

These amateurs went about everywhere in the country, photographing, visiting museums, visiting libraries and checking archives, working in local workshops etc. But the main problem at that moment was to find information source to track this movement in the Soviet Union. While all other counter-parts — fans, motorists, pilots, seamen etc. had such systems represented in their specialized editions. And certainly, we required something on the same lines in the Railway Theme as well.

The popular journals like “Model-Maker” and “Engineering for Youth” deserve their due. Many present railway experts were brought up on their headings such as Historical Series, 1974 (Steam Locomotives) and Historical Series, 1980 (Diesel and Electric Locomotives) and the “TM club”, that became a tribune for amateurs. “Engineering for Youth” encouraged some material on it and also, the trade journal, “Electric and Diesel Traction” (nowadays “Locomotive”). Unfortunately, it lacked a system character and thus appeared isolated. It did generate interest in public, but was not gratifying resulting in the dire necessity for a specialized edition exclusively for railway fans.

Where else can you read the “Zheleznodorozhnoe Delo” journal but in the hot steam locomotive? Pereyslavsky Museum. 1997. Ivan Hilko's photo

L.S.: I think, it would be pertinent to draw a parallel with the situation in the West, that developed a similar movement much earlier and captured rather wide population in Europe (including Socialistic countries) and overseas?

A.M.: Yes, certainly! And I would like to discuss this in detail. Back then, at the times of Iron Curtain, our amateurs had nothing to compare with. We could access only two foreign editions: GDR journals “Modelizenbaner” and “Zheleznicharzh” from Czechoslovakia. That's all! The first, despite its modeling name, was a megaphone of amateurs in Socialist Germany, and the second was a special departmental edition, dedicating half of each issue to amateur themes.

L.S.: History is clear to us. What happened next?

A.M.: It is important to note the preconditions for creation of a specialized journal were existent opposed the opportunities of their realization. Russian native ministry, naturally, was going to do nothing in this direction. And for complete understanding, it is necessary to recollect the historical moment — when there was “perestroika” in the country back then and the socialism had finally died, and capitalism was making its advances with its first “workshops” and cooperatives.

And with the backdrop of such democracy, a truly spectacular event occurred for all amateurs. In June of 1990, a special committee was gathered; an All-Union Society of Amateurs of Railways (nowadays VOLZHD — Russian Society of Railway Amateurs) by the initiative of public and with the support of Ministry of Railways. This happened to be the official starting point of our anthology, where the publication, journal for amateurs of railways and model-making was written down.

L. Moskalev, the member of VOLZHD council, a well known amateur and a model-maker was given responsibility for it.

L.S.: Nowadays he lives in Saint Petersburg, but back then he was a muscovite?

“This is our real contribution to the amateur movement!” 1996 — We are still as young as this fellow. Ivan Hilko's photo

A.M.: Yes, in those days, he was living in Moscow, working in Moscow Railway Transport Institute (MIIT) and was an employee of laboratory of Railway Model-Making as a part-time at the Moscow City Young Pioneers and Students Palace at the Leninskiye Gory.

It's important to point that Leonid Moskalev had got down to business seriously. He started making editorial portfolio, systematically contacting amateurs, potential authors and collecting material for the try-issue. This concentrated on the laboratory of the Young Pioneers Palace where I was a part-timer. Initially, he only offered to give material about municipal transportation to me, and then he agitated me for proactive cooperation in this new, interesting and useful business.

The novelty paid off immediately. You see earlier he was never connected to the publishing-polygraphic manufacture and even with all these materials provided, was clueless about transforming them into a journal. Honestly speaking, I had certain knowledge about publishing since a lot of my close relatives have been in the same sphere (for some time even in a well-known to each amateur Publishing House “Transport”). But this certainly was insufficient. Nevertheless, as we say, eyes fear, but hands do.

L.S.: So when did you plan to have the try-issue?

A.M.: After collecting all the material and once we were familiar with the idea we decided to publish the try-issue, “zero” it was named. We planned to launch it right before the exhibition by a well-known model-maker and architect N. Gundorov that was during the winter school holidays. In this regard, we also had one article on this remarkable master in the first release.

L.S.: Well, please tell me how you rounded up to a name like “Zheleznodorozhnoe Delo” for the journal?

A.M.: I have to say it was initiated and agreed upon completely by Leonid, before our cooperation. The point we realized was that this would be an absolutely different edition, and probably the only one with a historical name. If you notice, the journal issued till 1924, was more branched compared to amateur, similar to the present Railway transportation.

L.S.: And how did the events shape up later?

A.M.: Well, if we discuss the first release in hand, then immediately after the name of the journal (beautifully copied from the original version by our old friend and great amateur Rustam Sadretdinov), we kept a phrase stating it (the journal) is issued by VOLZHD. Unfortunately, that could keep up only with the try-issue.

L.S.: But what happened?

A.M.: The following happened. Following the wave of “perestroika”, a large number of small, private enterprises including polygraphic ones, were formed. And those vague items were distinguished by total chaos in all aspects of life, so “PKTI Promstroy” (the one we have found) decided on the following conditions: an advance payment under invoice was to be 46 rubles, and 400 rubles — cash. With this message, we approached the chairman of the Society Mr. S. Pashinin, but were told that nothing could be paid since there was no money! Then, we went with our problem to the director of the Youth Centre “Retro-Express Trains” at Kievskiy district committee of Komsomol V. Melnikov. He liked the idea, supported it and settled an account, it therefore is necessary to give him due. And the rest was arranged 50/50 personally by Mr. Moskalev and me.

L.S.: But 200 rubles was also a considerable amount in those years! (It was equal about $350 — Editor)

A.M.: Quite right. An engineer on an average received 120 – 150 rubles per month. I was a Lab Manager in the Palace of Young Pioneers and received 190 rubles. It was the end of 1990... At last, all the problems were solved, and we had 1,000 copies of the try-issue on January 4, 1991, that we brought to VOLZHD and CDKZH (Central House of Culture for Railway Workers) building it ourselves, traveling by the metro. We also like to count this date as the birthday of the anthology “Zheleznodorozhnoe Delo”.

L.S.: So what was the reaction for the first issue by the amateur environment?

A.M.: When the work was successfully completed, Mr. Moskalev and me felt literally exulted, as if we had descended from heavens to the ground. The majority who previewed the first issue, that frankly was very modern by measures, apprehended it more than critically. The fact that our “child” turned out at approximately the same price as unforgettable journal “Locomotive”, with only one difference — the latter had 48 pages of A4 format and a color cover, and ours was of A5 format (i.e. half of A4 format), had 16 pages (even not tailored) and without any color. Besides nobody could ever grasp the fact that we issued it on our budget and with our own initiative. Moscow amateur A. Zhurin, well known in modeling circuits, had warned me: “Forget about it.” The society council too shared the same opinion. They found this issue futile. So we lost the support of VOLZHD and as a result, the inscription accompanied the title.

L.S.: You however had enough enthusiasm to carry on...

A.M.: Along with the search for support from the side, we analyzed the try-issue, and understood that whichever method was suitable for try-issue was not suitable for the first issue of the periodical.

L.S.: Well, that's interesting. Enough of serious talk. Let's talk about people who rendered support to journal at the initial stage.

The Editor-in-chief of the anthology, despite the young years, participates in this conversation of patriarchs of the native history V. Rakov and A. Nikolskiy. 1996. Ivan Hilko's photo

A.M.: Good question. Here I would like to remember a dear director of the Central Museum of Railway Transportation in St. Petersburg, Mrs. G. Zakrevskaya. During that uneasy period, she was the first one to offer a helping hand to two young, unknown but very initiative people. She was not only trying something adventurous, but also risking her good and strong reputation. In reply to our offer, she agreed for the museum to help. It was a big break that officially allowed us to register the edition under aegis of a museum and Youth Center “Retro Express Train”.

With this, I would once again like to express my gratitude to the director of this Center, Mr. V. Melnikov, who even arranged for further financing of the journal for the first five years, entirely by themselves.

After getting such a tremendous support, we have decided to work on the image of the edition and make it more professional. We addressed a well-known artist-designer I. Bogachev, a great family friend, a request to develop a new unique mechanical and trademark for this purpose. (The steam locomotive of Kolomna Works, that nowadays decorates our edition; and in the try-issue we have published the same as a photo of model by Igor Prohorov.) Igor designed the logo in a style of old edition.

L.S.: Then the next logical question would be to ask about the editorial staff and Publishing House. And also what about those who worked on the journal all these years?

A.M.: Well, the editorial staff was already present then comprising of department at “Retro Express Train”. Let me talk about two people here, who have been with us from the start. A. Alexeev who was still a schoolboy back then, the student of Young Railway-Men Club, and now he is the Assistant to the Dean of the faculty of Electrification in Moscow Railway Transport University (MIIT). This man appeared in the 1991 edition and he took up the computer designing of it with loads of enthusiasm. For the first time, we have an computer-preprint journal available. It was the fourth issue, I believe. And then there was I. Hilko, who came to our office at Kutuzovsky Prospect. Since then he has been our press photographer.

Each issue brought out a different stage and phase in the development of the journal. For example, the first two issues were in A4 format, bicolor and all of 8 pages. The third already has 16 pages and a full color cover. Following numbers was externally regressive since again we had a black-and-white cover, but it was on the computer, that naturally further developed the journal.

Simultaneously we were thinking of some more editions for amateurs of the railways in our country. And the “first sign”, after a long gap, was L. Moskalev's book — “Russian Narrow-Gauge Steam Locomotives”. Now it's a rare book (the Publishing House was going for a reprint after numerous requests by the amateurs — Editor). There was a stage when we were even compelled to leave our dear office and move farther away on Entusiastov Highway. Here we faced our first losses — the edition had been robbed! Besides the material losses, we had really irreplaceable losses. The stolen computers not only had material for the upcoming issues (almost ready), but also data for the mentioned book. That was 1993. We were back to square one.

For this reason, we could publish the next issue only by March, 1995. As a result, it entailed a series of negative consequences — the edition was declared as periodic in “Rospechat” and was removed from the subscription. We also received humungous complaints from our readers.

“Zheleznodorozhnoe Delo” represents the paper models of its own manufacture. Meeting in CDKZH regarding railway model making. 1996. Ivan Hilko's photo

The idea was paralleled where we decided that it was required to improve the publishing base, and probably we would even need our own polygraphy. The last one was dictated by economic means. And that's how “Publishing House Zheleznodorozhnoe Delo Ltd.” came into picture.

L.S.: Time passed, the collectives varied. Leonid Moskalev moved to another city and his interaction with the journal thinned. In this connection, it would be desirable to find out about those who continued this famous line — the editors, and also those you would like to note from our dear authors.

A.M.: Certainly, the departure of my colleague and more importantly such a close friend had a serious impact. But on the other hand, it was evident that it was anyway impossible to do such a large volume periodic with only two people on board. As I previously mentioned that the Railway Transportation at that time had 18 employees! So we decide to first select the staff. I was looking particularly for a person who would work on the selection of material, editing and designing along with me. This position was developed into Designing Editor. One of the first in this league was Alexander Shanin, an omniscient, and an experienced amateur of transport, who joined us in 1995. You see we were keen on three qualities throughout: literacy, acquaintance to some extent with publishing-polygraphic manufacture and knowledge of our subjects. The last is, perhaps the most important, the person should really be a transport fan and Alexander was the man. Besides, he is very adept with computers, helping us improving our electronic designing and enriching every issue with new highlights.

Then Alexey Alexeev returned to us after a break. This time on a different, higher position — as a senior designing editor, towards the end of 1990s. It is important to give him due for taking the journal on its way to development in such an intensive way, it being released with certain periodicity, and each issue better than the pervious. Simultaneously, we had another important joiner in the team, Valery Brok, a bright journalist and a profound expert in history, especially in railway history. This tandem Brok — Alexeev got us rich dividends. It was a golden time of journal! But then suddenly we faced a new trouble — the Russian default of 1998. And since we were a private and rather small enterprise, we couldn't have survived. The only thing that saved us was our own polygraphic foundation that we owned by then. External orders got us the money for existence, but tat left us with no strength for our own production. Journal failures had begun again by that moment.

The stand of the “Zheleznodorozhnoe Delo” at the exhibition “Press-97”. Obviously it was not empty. Of course! What an exposition! What production! Ivan Hilko's photo

By that time, we had re-established our good relation with VOLZHD. Some mutual projects revived, the most significant one being the book by Moskalev. Seeing our distress, in S. Pashinin's 1999 has acted with the initiative of rendering to us some feasible financial help by Ministry of Railways. Sergey Pashinin personally went to former minister N. Aksenenko, who gratuitously offered us a help of present a 100,000 rubles. It was definitely a very big help at that moment, and I would like to thank Mr. Pashinin. Unfortunately, this annual help from the department was all the help the journal had since its existence and was as good as a monthly grant for release of any trade paper.

L.S.: The question about support is clear. But what about the journal's interaction with the main railway department?

A.M.: Let's discuss the essence of our edition to answer this one. You would notice an addressing on the cover of every issue: “For the amateurs of railways and railway modelers” i.e. our journal isn't only about “rails-and-sleepers”, as opposed to the departmental, rather professional editions. It is about the huge role that railway played and plays in the history of our state, its culture, destiny of people. Besides, we consider this sphere of human life as an extension of action for hobby: its both tourism and photography, both collecting and historiography, and certainly, model-making. But such an interesting theme is reflected poorly on the railway, be it literature, painting, cinematography or applied art!

And that's what our journal is devoted to. The railway department doesn't have anything similar. It might sound like a paradox, but they don't want any propaganda for their own branch!

And then many people fastidiously ask the amateurs, “What would you love this for?” At the first glance, it might seem true. So our edition tries to show the bright sides of the railway through history, art and hobbies.

If we compare with the West, we'll notice for example, in England, every tenth person considers himself a railway amateur. I wonder which “hundred-thousandth” man in Russia would consider himself the same.

The coming issue is in progress. Nikolay Karavaev's photo

I will have to answer this question by saying that in all the 15 years of our existence, we never received any gratitude for our sacrifice or any attention from our native department! We would get verbal praises, along with diplomas, letters and expensive gifts from separate officials but no integrated assessment of our activity, utility, potential; all this support from organizations far from transport. We still try to contact RZD (Russian Railways Company), its branches — railways, but every time we are back to square one.

L.S.: Well, it's nice to realize independence, so to say detachment; however cooperation would have been useful to both sides.

A.M.: Definitely! And I hope that the light of active and fruitful cooperation of our organizations is there ahead.

L.S.: And now maybe we could summarize everything that was done in these 15 years?

A.M.: I would like to tell you with pleasure that a lot has been accomplished. Besides L. Moskalev's mentioned book, our Publishing House also issued its continuation — a two volume book. “Our Narrow-Gauge Diesel and Electric Locomotives”, basically an amateur album of a railway photo “The Steel Rhapsody. XX Century” was issued, for the first time in the country. I emphasize, that this word “amateur” not just refers to amateurs, but only on the amateur material since it has no official pictures. But it was prepared and made completely professionally. Regularly, there were calendars being printed, of different format and cards, either individual or in sets. The Steam Locomotives of Russian Railways release was even republished!

We had not forgotten about our young readers, our future amateurs. We issued two books for them — “Little Steam Locomotive from Romashkovo” and “What People Used to Travel in Moscow”, both very popular and one has already sold out. Another similar edition is on the lines. A series of brochures were issued for the model makers on paper pasting in H0 scale. So if you collect all of them, then you have quite a good model of station without much effort.

The coming issue is in progress. Nikolay Karavaev's photo

I would like to discuss the joint VOLZHD projects in particular. These include a number of postcard sets (last and most successful issue was dedicated to the old carriages), support in the organization of Ivan Hilko's photo-exhibition, edition of the following books on “Railway Transportation — XX century”, and a picture album “Steam Locomotives of E-Series”.

And it is important that we mention our regular appendices to the basic editions — the anthology for amateurs of Municipal Transportation “Bow”, and thematic brochures “ZHD-Collection”, each had four and eight releases.

L.S.: Well and finally, a routine question on future plans of publishing house, about release of new production amateurs.

A.M.: Maybe the primary goal right now for us is to make “ZHD” regular since the quality of the anthology is quite decent, but the releases are so distant that the readers might forget us partially.

We are working in this direction and already have some results. There are many projects about very interesting books, so we hope to issue them. First and foremost, is a full version of the book by L. Makarov “Steam locomotives of E-series” (recently we also released a photo album with the same name through our Publishing House under aegis of RZD and VOLZHD and its possible that some of the readers already have a copy in their hands) and the monography of me, about Russian funiculars that's a little-known kind of rail transport. Also there are tow projects with VOLZHD. One of them is a picture album on locomotive retro-trips, a colored one this time, and a complete anthology of children's railway of the former USSR, where we plan to have more than 2,000 pictures! The financing on Society's part is very crucial because it will help us reduce the terms of release of these editions to the readers. Besides we are also planning reprinting the book “Russian Narrow-Gauge Steam Locomotives”, due to excessive public demand. The group of our authors is working on gathering additional materials.

Besides we have lots in store but let's keep it under the wraps for the time being. And certainly we won't forget “Bow” or the “ZHD-Collection”. We are working on them consistently and issues will be released in the coming future.

L.S.: Well, I would like to thank you for such a fantastic conversation and to congratulate all the staff of the Publishing House for the 15th Anniversary of the anthology “Zheleznodorozhnoe Delo” and to wish you the best.

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