The collection of the Moscow Transport Museum has been enriched with a B-type meter car produced by the Mytishchi Machine-Building Plant. The car was donated to the Museum by the Vologodskiye Lesopromyshlenniki Group of Companies. The transfer of the new exhibit took place within the framework of the federal campaign “We do museum together” and the project “30 good deeds” dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the “Group of companies VLP”.
Vadim Zakharov, Managing Director of LLC Kharovsklesprom, a member of Vologodskiye Lesoprom Group:
«We purchased a plant where we discovered an old carriage. Our colleagues found out that the Museum of Moscow Transport collects exhibits and offers everyone who wishes to take part in the action, thus making a contribution to the preservation of transport history. We received support from the management and were happy to give the unique car free of charge to enrich the museum’s collection.».
“The appearance in our collection of a B-type subway car is really a great success. This is the second type of the Moscow Metro rolling stock, which was produced by Mytishchi Machine-Building Plant for a little over two years. In total 162 copies were produced. Previously it was considered that not a single car of B series in a suitable for restoration condition has survived to our days“, – said the Director of the Moscow Transport Museum Oksana Bondarenko.
The B type subway car was produced from October 1937 to January 1939. The first B-type cars arrived on the then only line “Sokolniki-Tsentralny Park of Culture and Rest named after Gorky” with a branch to “Kievskaya”. In March 1938, when that section was extended from “Ulitsa Komenternaya” to “Kurskaya” and became a separate line, the B cars were also included in that line. In September 1938 the newly opened Teatralnaya-Sokol branch was added to the list of the B-type lines. In 1950 B type cars were transferred to a new depot “Izmailovo”, from which they continued to operate along Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line until the end of January 1975.
About the museum:
The Museum of Transport in Moscow is an open urban space and a living research center. The museum funds include more than 250 examples of cars, trucks, cabs, buses, trolleybuses, city service vehicles, legendary gondola cars and three-ton trucks, bicycle and motorcycle vehicles. In 2023 the permanent exhibition of the Moscow Transport Museum will open near the Three Railway Stations Square in a masterpiece of constructivism – the garage of architect Konstantin Melnikov at Nozolazanskaya Street 27. Before the opening of the new space, the Moscow Transport Museum presents exhibition projects on different transport infrastructure sites.
The “Making the Museum Together” campaign:
The Museum accepts objects from the late XIX – late XX centuries, related to the history of Moscow transport: streetcars, buses, subway, cabs and even just cars. These can be objects of the urban environment, items for navigation and information, elements of vehicles, as well as old photographs, postcards, tickets, books, timetables, uniforms of employees of road services and more.
The items accepted by the museum will become part of the museum’s collection, become part of the permanent exhibit and inspire temporary exhibitions. You can submit an application and know the full list of wanted items on the museum’s website. It will require a description of the object, its history and a photograph. The applications will be selected by the museum’s research department staff. All items that will be selected for the permanent exhibition will be marked with the names of the owners and their stories.