"We, Russian women, can withstand all."

In October, 2007 the railways of Russia commemorated a significant event of history – the 170th anniversary of the date of the opening of the first line between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo. During more than 1.5 centuries the Russian railways have played a big part in the development of the country, and its history is remarkable, as well as the history of our native land.

All the generations of my family, beginning with my great-great-grandfather, worked on the railway since 1901; they were railwaymen: builders, locomotive designers, technicians. When we were told to write a composition on the railways, I remembered numerous stories of my relatives-railwaymen of events of bygone years. One of the stories concerned a significant event of 2007 – the 90th anniversary of the date of Yelena Mironovna Chuhnuk’s birth, who during all the Great Patriotic War worked as a machinist of steam locomotives. Yelena Mironovna was known by my grandfather, a locomotive designer, when already after the war she worked in the Ministry of Railways of the Central Administrative Board of the Locomotive Facilities. I wanted to devote my composition to this heroic woman, one of the first who received the rank of Hero of Socialist Labour.

She was only 26 years old, and she from the first days of the war drove trains with arms and ammunition to the front. Yelena Mironovna carried out the difficult and dangerous work under continuous bombardments, the attacks of enemy fighters, and artillery bombardments. Her ability to drive trains and to operate the steam locomotives saved the lives of many soldiers and other people. When there was the necessity to increase the transportation of coal, Yelena Mironovna was instructed to work in the north – in the area of the Pechora Coalfield. There she worked as the chief of a big group of machinists, drove herself, and taught others to drive heavy trains with great speed.

From the stories I have learned that locomotive brigades had very hard work on steam locomotives in the winter in the north, especially during bad weather. Machinist worked all the time standing, almost half outside of the machinist’s cabin for supervision of the railway tracks, signals and trains. Levers were heavy, and it was necessary to move them often. Whence such strength in a fragile woman! Probably, strength was little, but there was a great will, the aspiration for victory and love for life.

After the war Yelena Mironovna finished MIIT and long worked in the Ministry of Railways, being the expert on locomotives – diesel locomotives and electric locomotives. To the question: “How did you manage to bear all that fell to your lot during the war?”, Yelena Mironovna answered: “We, Russian women, can withstand all. More than three thousand women drove trains during the war, and it helped win the victory.”

Together with Yelena Mironovna, high awards were given to other women: railwaywomen Anna Petrovna Zharkova, on station duty even after serious wounds, found in herself the strength to work with great dispatch, and Antonina Nikolayevna Aleksandrova, a heroine of the defence of Leningrad.

Studying at the school of МIIТ allows participation in railway work, and, also, in its history. I am proud of it. It would be wonderful to follow in the tracks of our heroic women.