#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. “Man, like no other living creature, loves to create additional difficulties for himself. This is precisely what explains the desire to have his own car”. This is a quote from the legendary Soviet film Beware of the Car! And, perhaps, in our Arctic region it was especially relevant.
At the same time, in 1935, two garages were built – in Norilsk and Dudinka. But cars initially had a hard time taking root in the Far North: roads, fuel, spare parts, driver qualifications – there were many problems. Nevertheless, two years later there were 17 trucks in Norilsk, mainly ZIS-5 and ZIS-6.
Horse-drawn transport was used much more widely. The Norilsk combine was built by horses along with people. They were used in all types of work: they pulled mine cars, carried cargo at construction sites, made their way through impassable terrain, where no other equipment could pass. It was horses that replaced cars in the first decade. Horses were even divided by purpose into light ones, load carriers and duty horses, and it was forbidden to use them for other purposes. In the above photo from the 1940s, horse-drawn transport is widely represented, and in the middle is a rare example of equipment in Norilsk – a GAZ-03-30 service bus.
In the 1940s, there were much more vehicles, and the first passenger cars appeared. True, the development of motor transport in Norilsk was still complicated by bad roads and endless snowdrifts. In the early 1950s, Sevastopolskaya street became the most automobile-oriented street. House No. 7, which was initially a dormitory, was converted into an administrative building. All sorts of city government structures were housed there: the executive committee of the city council, party and Komsomol committees, trade unions, the editorial office of the Zapolyarnaya Pravda newspaper… Accordingly, the street began to be used for driving official cars, such as this Mercedes-Benz and the legendary ‘emkas’ – GAZ M-1.
In 1948, according to archival documents, the Norilsk combine director had great difficulty dividing 11 Opels. Judging by the reports of the bosses, the future of the enterprises entrusted to them directly depended on the availability of a foreign car. Everyone wanted to cut through the polar snows in unprecedented comfort. And in this photo from the early 1950s, a BMW-326 is driving along the already built Sevastopolskaya street. However, for some reason, the rare car is located against the traffic: perhaps it is simply posing for the photographer.
During those years, the number of personal vehicles grew in Norilsk, and as a result, there were not enough garages for cars. To meet the needs of the population, a garage for 16 individual cars was even built within the city, but it was quickly occupied by vehicles from various institutions. Even the arch of the residential building on B. Hmelnitsky, 1 was converted into a garage for executive cars. And the first car owners began to erect spontaneous illegal construction in the courtyards. Then city planners proposed the idea of garages built into the basements of Stalin-era residential buildings. So, built-in garages appeared in buildings on Leninsky prospect, on Komsomolskaya, Sovetskaya, and Zavenyagin streets. However, they, of course, did not solve the problem, and the shortage of space for vehicles remained.
This photo from 1957 shows a taxi stand in front of the still unnamed department store (it would become Talnah only in 1963). But then a taxi was a much greater luxury than now. And later, although by the 1980s there were already 150 taxis, you could only order a car a few days in advance.
By 1960, the car fleet and road network in Norilsk had expanded so much that there was a need for street traffic lights. At first, those were only yellow flashing lights warning of intersections. An automatic machine that switched traffic lights, regulating street traffic, appeared a little later.
And yet, despite all the difficulties, having your own car in the Arctic was the height of chic. Just look at the happy face of the Volga GAZ-21 owner in the photo below.
By the 1980s, the number of private cars and motorists in Norilsk had grown significantly. Accordingly, new services for them appeared. The Gorbytkombinat enterprise, for example, announced the creation of a private taxi service in Norilsk. Owners of Zhiguli, Volga and Moskvich cars were invited to work as part-time drivers. But with the following conditions: driving experience, permanent city registration, permission from the State Automobile Inspectorate and primary place of employment. In addition, it was necessary to be a member of the All-Union Voluntary Society of Car Enthusiasts.
Norilsk consumer services also reported the opening of a paid parking lot at the intersection of Komsomolskaya and Dzerzhinsky streets. For a car – 65 kopecks per day, for a motorcycle – 46, for a bicycle – 20. The Home Culture store sold container garages for transporting and storing cars, boats and motorcycles. It was noted that it could easily be converted into a summer house. The price of a garage made of a metal frame covered with wood was 610 rubles. The Clothing Repair workshop sewed car seat covers, and the Flowers-Souvenirs store sold car seat cushions filled with reindeer fur.
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we talked about how Norilsk was landscaped.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: archives of Norilsk residents and the Polar Division of Norilsk Nickel, Denis Kozhevnikov
