vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #562 / Crime watch / Reading article...

About 50 meters of railway gauge were stolen by unidentified people from a narrow-gage railroad in the town of Svobodny, Amur region, local railway officials reported Tuesday.

The gauge section was stolen from the Malaya Zabalkalskaya railroad which connects to a children’s resort camp, a statement from Zabaikalskaya railways said. The thieves removed the section with a gasoline blow torch and carted it away by car.

An investigation into the incident has been launched, the statement said.

The Malaya Zabaikalskaya railway is the longest narrow-gage railroad in Russia, with the rails holding great historic value due to their being made in 1933-1934 during the era of Joseph Stalin’s regime.

Previously, a case of attempted theft from the railroad occurred last June, when thieves tried to cut off a bolted joint from a gauge junction. Traces remaining of the robber’s botched rail-snatching were revealed by mechanics before launching the summer season’s first train.