Gulags
If you travel from Moscow to Yamal by train you will start by heading north on the Moscow – Archangel line that was built in the late 19th Century. However, at the town of Kotlas you will branch off and start heading north-west towards Vorkuta. This whole railway was built by gulag prisoners under Stalin.
Before reaching Vorkuta you will branch off again at a station called Chum and head east towards the Polar Ural Mountains and, on the other side of them, the railway station of Labytnangi on Yamal. The Chum-Labytnangi railway was also built entirely by gulag prisoners. If you know where to look, you can find the remains of gulag buildings off in the tundra and mountains not far from the tracks.
The Chum-Labytnangi Railway was part of a much larger project. Stalin tried to build a 1500km railway along the Arctic Circle from Chum to the town of Igarka on the Yenisey River. The goal was to transport nickel from the town of Norilsk (on the Taymyr Peninsula) to Dudinka by road, then down the Yenisey River to Igarka and then by railway to European Russia. When Stalin died, the railway had almost been completed, with only 100km remaining unfinished in the middle. The project was quickly abandoned after Stalin’s death and today
only the section from Chum to Labytnangi remains in operation.
However, the tracks, many railway bridges and several large gulag camps have miraculously remained very well-preserved, hidden away in the forest tundra of central Yamal. Some of the biggest camps have up to twenty wooden buildings that you can explore, as well as watch towers, barbed wire fences and more.
If you take the winter road from Salekhard to Nadym, you will pass through exactly this area. However, even most locals do not know the location of most of the good gulag camps, as they are often a short distance away from the road and hidden by the forest. Make sure you take a good guide with you (ie. one of ours!).
This is also exactly the area that the Yar-Sale nomads from the Yamal Peninsula are camped in from January to March. If visiting them at this time, we always include a visit to the gulags in our trips at no extra cost.
If you would just like to see the gulag camps without visiting Nenets nomads, this is of course something we can organise too. Please get in touch with us directly for details.
If you travel from Moscow to Yamal by train you will start by heading north on the Moscow – Archangel line that was built in the late 19th Century. However, at the town of Kotlas you will branch off and start heading north-west towards Vorkuta. This whole railway was built by gulag prisoners under Stalin.
Before reaching Vorkuta you will branch off again at a station called Chum and head east towards the Polar Ural Mountains and, on the other side of them, the railway station of Labytnangi on Yamal. The Chum-Labytnangi railway was also built entirely by gulag prisoners. If you know where to look, you can find the remains of gulag buildings off in the tundra and mountains not far from the tracks.
The Chum-Labytnangi Railway was part of a much larger project. Stalin tried to build a 1500km railway along the Arctic Circle from Chum to the town of Igarka on the Yenisey River. The goal was to transport nickel from the town of Norilsk (on the Taymyr Peninsula) to Dudinka by road, then down the Yenisey River to Igarka and then by railway to European Russia. When Stalin died, the railway had almost been completed, with only 100km remaining unfinished in the middle. The project was quickly abandoned after Stalin’s death and today only the section from Chum to Labytnangi remains in operation.
However, the tracks, many railway bridges and several large gulag camps have miraculously remained very well-preserved, hidden away in the forest tundra of central Yamal. Some of the biggest camps have up to twenty wooden buildings that you can explore, as well as watch towers, barbed wire fences and more.
If you take the winter road from Salekhard to Nadym, you will pass through exactly this area. However, even most locals do not know the location of most of the good gulag camps, as they are often a short distance away from the road and hidden by the forest. Make sure you take a good guide with you (ie. one of ours!).
This is also exactly the area that the Yar Sale nomads from the Yamal Peninsula are camped in from January to March. If visiting them at this time, we always include a visit to the gulags in our trips at no extra cost.
If you would just like to see the gulag camps without visiting Nenets nomads, this is of course something we can organise too. Please get in touch with us directly for details.
