A huge number of books have been written about the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline, both documentary and fiction. But, in spite of this, a lot of dark spots remain here. At first, information about the construction of the highway was classified, and then distorted.
There are a lot of rumors about BAM, most of which are not fictions. Of course, there are also legends, but they only adorn the truth. When the main line was still in the process of construction, workers every now and then faced with various paranormal and anomalous phenomena. This railway track, which connects Sovetskaya Gavan and Taishet, is popularly called ghostly. There are many legends associated with this highway. When the workers worked, the main topic of their discussion was the topic of the ghost of the railway. Absolutely all builders believed that such a phenomenon really exists. Local residents also actively spoke about this. They talked about a train passing not far from them, making absolutely no sounds. Moreover, they more than once witnessed such an unusual phenomenon.
Scientists believe that the story of the ghost train dates back to 1940. Then two years have passed since the beginning of the construction of the iron track itself. Since the working conditions were completely unacceptable, some prisoners did not tolerate this, so they staged a riot and hijacked a steam locomotive. Three more wagons with cargo were attached to this locomotive. The goal they set for themselves was to escape to western Yakutia. But the government, in order to capture the fugitives, ordered the use of military aircraft. As a result, one of the planes bombed the train. In the course of the air raid, all people were killed and the railway track was significantly damaged. After this incident, the camp was closed, the construction of the highway "froze", the prisoners were transferred to other places. After that, locals began to see the ghost train more and more often. However, what shocked people most was that the railroad itself had recovered.
People who came to this place 30 years later to continue the construction of the highway were also convinced of this. The builders were very surprised when they found that the track was in excellent condition and the rails were absolutely not rusty. The canvas can shine in this color only if up to hundreds of passenger and freight trains travel on it every day. Then an explanation was found for this phenomenon, however, as it turned out later, this explanation turned out to be erroneous. The researchers put forward the version that it was the military transporting the secret cargo who used the railway. For this reason, the scientists drove along the tracks, but soon stumbled upon a dead end, not having traveled thirty kilometers. The dead end was a hill, densely overgrown with cedar. Therefore, to this day it is not known who exactly contributed to the restoration of this railway section.
The construction of the famous Baikal-Amur Mainline took place in the most difficult climatic conditions. 142 bridges were erected and eight tunnels laid. The workers told many mysterious stories about them. So, according to these stories, fiery yellow balls periodically appeared in the Baikal tunnel. According to the observations of some builders, after the disappearance of these balls, there were strong emissions of groundwater, which was extremely difficult to pump out.
The highest mountain tunnel on the BAM is the Kodar tunnel. He is associated with a ghost called the White Shaman by the workers. It appeared, according to eyewitness accounts, just before some kind of cataclysm, thereby warning workers about the approach of natural disasters. After one of these appearances of this ghost, there was a strong earthquake. None of the builders died that time. According to some reports, the tragedy was avoided only because the workers were ready for a cataclysm and knew what to do in the event of an earthquake.
However, of all the tunnels, the most mysterious is the Severomuisky tunnel. It took more than 25 years to build it. Almost at every kilometer of construction, more and more technological problems arose that the workers had to solve. The emergence of such tasks was due to the fact that the tunnel always presented mystical surprises to the builders. So, for example, a powerful quicksand broke through in one area, as a result of which thirty people died, and several builders remained under the rubble. According to the stories of the surviving builder, at the moment when he was making intensified attempts to get out from the rubble, he noticed a metal door in front of him. He tried to open it, but failed. Where this door led is still unknown. Some time after this event, one of the sections of the tunnel collapsed. Later the builders recalledthat from the void suddenly some strange sounds began to be heard, which were somewhat reminiscent of the sound of jackhammers. Several attempts have been made to explain these mysterious sounds. The most likely version is that there was a high concentration of rhodon gas in the tunnel, which could cause a kind of auditory hallucinations in the workers. However, there is no one hundred percent certainty about this.
I must say that the Severomuisky ridge is one of the most difficult sections of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The most famous here is the Devil's Bridge. It is located on a sharp bend and stands on two-tiered supports that reach a height of 35 meters. The machinists assure that the bridge even sways a little when heavy trains pass. The workaround itself was pretty extreme. The trains moved at a maximum speed of 20 kilometers per hour. Sometimes the trains had to be “pushed” by auxiliary locomotives on especially steep climbs. There is an opinion among the people that there are devils on this bridge who arrange their dances in front of a slowly moving train. The machinists, even in our time, when the bridge is used only for the transportation of railroad workers, cross themselves when they enter it.
Promotional video:
As already mentioned, many different legends and rumors are associated with the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. Everything that we have described in this article is only a small part of them. There are many more questions, the answers to which are still unknown to us.
Andrey Kleshnev