Children's railway "Little Southern"

Little Southers is a children’s railway, which is not only a training center for young railwaymen, but also a historic narrow-gauge railway with a unique rolling stock and history.

The children’s railway in Kharkiv is unique compared to the children’s railways in Ukraine, also in the former Soviet Union.

Little Southern – the only children’s railway among similar railways of the former USSR, where:

	It was serviced by the only Yu83 locomotive from Yugoslavia in the USSR (on the Little Southern it had the LK83-1 series)
	Were used ‘soft’ passenger cars, produced in Poland by the Pafawag factory (Wrocław). Any other children’s railway used similar modification.
	Used diesel locomotive TU2-125 as TEU3-001 (from 1957 to 1997) – the TU2 locomotive, rebuilt deliberately for Little Southern. TU2 series locomotives still operate many narrow-gauge railways in Ukraine and former USSR countries, but the ‘TEU3’ modification used only in Kharkov.
	A unique narrow-gauge wagon was used, rebuilt in 1940 for Little South. The wagon had electric lighting and soft and hard compartments.
	Currently, the TU2-054 diesel locomotive with modified bodywork is used.
	Locomotives and terminal wagons equipped with European type couplers instead of typical Soviet ones.
	The soft wagon of the PV40 series (48-051) is used, rebuilt deliberately for the Little South.
	Used is the modernized passenger cars Pafawag 3AW (Wroclaw). The original carriages have preserved the roof, carts and frame, the rest built “from scratch” at the plant in the town of Grebionka (Poltava region, Ukraine).
	The unique wagon is stored, built at the end of the 19th century in Austro-Hungary. As of today, it is the only known wagon in the world.

The only children’s railway in Ukraine, where:

	Operates an automated railway crossing, the largest passage of narrow gauge railway in Ukraine. A similar railway crossing also operates on a children’s train in the town of Zaporizhia (Ukraine), but it is located in the main station, where almost no car traffic.
	A switch points and signaling computer system operates. The system works in parallel with the ‘classic’ desk of the station manager.
	There are two sets of passenger cars, consisting of 6 wagons each: “Ukraine”, from Pafawag 3Aw and “Southern Youth” wagons, from PV40 cars (48-051).
	A history museum is open, the largest museum among narrow-gauge museums of Ukraine. The museum is located at the Park station. It is usually open on public holidays. On weekdays, visitors should report to the employees of the Railway.
	A built training ground for children, consisting of a switch, signals and a fragment of the railway crossing.
	A historic water tower for steam engines has been preserved. It is located at the end of the route at the Lesopark station.
	About one and a half kilometers of German rails were preserved, some of which were manufactured at the beginning of the 20th century (1901, 1904), and some – before the II World War.

And some more:

	Southern Little – the second longest children’s railway in Ukraine. The total length of its tracks is 3.6 km, where the average length of the majority of children’s railways in Ukraine does not exceed 2 km.
	The Park station building is the oldest station among children’s railways in Ukraine. Currently, only one children’s railway is active in Ukraine, which is older than the Little South – in Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk). But the pre-war station in Dnepr was destroyed by the Germans, and Kharkiv remained almost unchanged.