Railway Stations

[JamesAPrattIII]

Ann

Glad to be of help. On second thoughts coffee may not have been that scarce for someone like Sandro it just cost more. In Germany and Austria it was really getting rare at this time. They had to drink a acorn substitute. However, in late 1916 inflation and food shortages were really hurting the average Russian badly. In Petrograd things were especially bad.

I would also like to point out for the Guards there was the Economic Society for Officers of the Guards Corps or Guards economic society for short. It was a department store on Bolshaia Kowniushennia and Voluinsk Periulok in Petrograd/St Petersberg.  It helped the Guards get things they needed that the Quartermaster couldn't provide. The store was open to civilians and in the field officers from other units could come buy things they needed.

Rail travel according to Alfred Knox Warsaw to Petrograd on a express mail train 17 hours in peacetime 42 hours in march 1915. These sort of rail delays hurt communications because it delayed the mail which was the main way you communicated back then.

I will read your book one day. I hope Sandro and Kate make it out alright their world is about to fall apart.

[Kalafrana]

I love the idea of a special department store for Guards officers!

In the British forces we had the NAAFI (Naval, Army and Air Force Institutes), which initially ran troops' canteens and then branched out into supermarkets - essentially, the British equivalent of the PX. However, that has now gone. The canteens were 'other rank' and the supermarkets all ranks.

Since both Sandor and Colonel Muraviev are suffering from hangovers after the mess dinner, they will be in need of coffee, but I can fit in a few comments about the high price and declining quality, and that one of the few signs of the war at the Stavka is the awful coffee.

Ann

[JamesAPrattIII]

I am glad to be of help Ann but change 101:

In the book "Nicholas And Alexandra" the IF at Tobolsk in March 1918 do to budget cuts was forced to give up butter and coffee so I guess it wasn't as scarce as I thought. It should also be pointed out that some officers in the Russian army during WW I often sent part of their rations back to their families who were having problems making ends meet. so I think Sandro and the Colonel would be complaining about the high cost of things, however they could still get the real thing while the Germans and Austrians couldn't.

[Joanna]

Fascinating exterior and interior photos of Vitebsk, Tsarskoe Selo and Pavlovsk rail stations in 1904 - many I have never seen before:

Vitebsk:
http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vita_life777/48889071/234528/234528_900.jpg

Tsarskoe Selo:
http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vita_life777/48889071/237169/237169_900.jpg
http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vita_life777/48889071/237416/237416_900.jpg

Pavlovsk:
http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vita_life777/48889071/237973/237973_900.jpg

All photos:
http://vita-life777.livejournal.com/9653.html

Joanna

[Cathy]

Here is a beautiful video of Vitebsk Railway Station today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqQ6h3oQeAg&noredirect=1

Cathy