When I returned to the station a little late in Moscow I found that my place was in carriage number 1, at the far end of the train next to the engine. This meant that I had to walk the entire length of the train, seventeen almost identical green and white wagons and a dining car to reach my allocated place, and that I got to check out the entire train and all its occupants. 
The little engine that could - notice that it is an electric engine - unbelievably the entire Transsiberian route (all 9,000 kilometres) is electrified. We went through about two of these a day - we would stop for about 10 or 15 minutes and the engines would be changed over
Train 350u in all her glory - the full 17 carriages plus a dining car and a carriage for the drivers.
My home for the next seven days - platskartny class. Ea
ch little section has six beds - four full sized beds in the part on the right side (2 up and 2 down) and two beds for the vertically challenged on the left side (1 up and 1 down) I got the last ticket on the train so of course I was on one of these dwarf beds. On the right side there is a small table, on the left side you have to fold up the bottom bed to put out the table.There is plenty of room for bags on the shelf above the beds or under the beds on the right side.
The seats are then cushions, leaning against laminated walls so they get uncomfortable after sitting on them for more than an hour so there is a fair amount of wandering.
This is the small small compartment at the end of the carriage with a rubbish bin and door to toilet between the door at the end of the carriage and the door to the smoking area with the exit doors on either side and the space between the two carriages. The compartment was often full with people as there were two power plugs and people seemed to constantly need to charge there phones.
The toilet - which was actually kept quite clean for the entire seven days by the diligent attendants. You had to judge your runs carefully though as the door would be locked 10 or 15 minutes before the train pulled in to a town, and stay locked whilst we were at the station.
There was also another toilet at the other end of the carriage, and a samovar (the hot water heater for making all of your food) but no shower.
The cast
The truth about riding on a train is that you don't actually get to see all that much, little snatches of the landscape, what provides the real interest is the view you get in to the lives of ordinary Russians. There is no travelling experience like it - getting to spend seven days with a complete cast of strangers.
The Russians took a little while to warm to me, but I will briefly introduce them at the beginning so you know who they are when they play their parts.
This is me, early on in day one before the grime started to mount up, the sweat forced me to go Baltic and the lack of deep sleep caused my eyes to almost close over during the middle of day.
Perhaps the most important person on the train, the provodnitsa or "she who must be obeyed. Responsible for everything from checking tickets, providing linen, keeping the place clean, making sure the toilet door got shut, making sure none of the passengers failed to get back on the train after it stopped and to keep the hot water hot.
There was actually two provodnitsas - the other was a younger, bleached blonde glam puss who wore a matching tracksuit when not in uniform.
They were both amused by my inability to speak or understand Russian, and kind of just pushed me around when I was doing something wrong - using the toilet at the wrong time, sticking my head out the window etc etc
The student, on his way back home for the summer holidays. He was the first to take interest in the foreigner and used his laptop with a translation program to try and work out what the hell I was doing on the train.
The Wharfie and Wife - somehow salt of the earth look the same world over. He was a shipyard worker with the tatts on his hand to prove it. She was as skinny as a rake and didn't get out of bed much - neither seemed to understand, even after seven days, that I couldn't understand a word of Russian.
Ms Short Shorts - what more can be said than how short are those short shorts
Mother and Family - mother and two girls going home to Blago after visiting family in Moscow. Mother was in the bed below me (that folded up in to a table) so she wasn't too happy when the drunks started hanging around my table at the beginning, but she showed me how Russian women deal with drunks (they seem to get a lot of practice)
The Grandma - travelling alone she bought almost everything on offer, she seemed worried that I was travelling alone and so protected me from the bandits and even made sure I found a taxi at the end.
The Drunk - actually there were four of these guys, but two got kicked off on the first night. The other two were either drinking, drunk, asleep or eating the entire time (five days) they were on the train. He was so out of it that he was bossed around by all the women on the train, and constantly made fun of, even by the kids. The Drunk slept opposite me and snored louder than the train, but always managed to be up before everyone else in the morning (and drinking) and after every stop he would saunter back in to the train with new bottles of beer and vodka.
Grandma and the Kids - Gran was the babushka of the carriage, and looked like she had been through a few wars. The kids were returning home after holidays, and were quite well behaved, which meant Gran let them have the run of the train.
The Army Boy - I met Daniel on the fourth day when word had spread far enough on the train of my presence. He spoke very good English, which he had picked up spending months on end on a remote Russian military base on a island near Japan.
The Army Team - these were Daniels' soldier mates and the Major General (who so nicely leant me his hat for that fantastic photo) They were on there way to Blago to sit an exam.
The Uzbeki - he only joined us on the fifth day (after short shorts got off) but he could speak a little English and liked to talk about his homeland. He was going to Blago to visit his sister.
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