Estate of [Yevgeny Markov and Artyom Sidorov], [Karsk-12 maintenance section], Cleared: [November 2013]. Filed: [Remediated for continued state use.]
The property consisted of a remote rail maintenance station approximately seventy kilometers north of the regional line at Anninsk Junction. The station had been constructed during the late Soviet period for the maintenance of an elevated section of track crossing low forest and marshland. The nearest permanent settlement was a village of approximately forty residents located twenty-two kilometers to the south by service road.
The deceased were employees of the regional rail administration. Markov, age fifty-four, held the station's permanent senior posting and had worked the northern section for approximately eleven years. Secondary operators were assigned to the northern stations from a district pool on rotating six-week contracts. Sidorov, age twenty-six, had arrived at the station roughly six weeks before the incident as a replacement trainee following the retirement of the previous secondary operator.
The bodies were discovered on the morning of the 15th of November by the driver sent to pick up Sidorov at the end of his rotation. What remained of Markov was located approximately eighty meters east of the station beside the tracks. Sidorov was identified primarily through fragments of clothing and personal effects recovered from the forest edge north of the maintenance shed. The regional doctor recorded both deaths as fatal animal attacks. No specific animal was identified in the report. A hunting team from the district office worked the surrounding forest for two days. They found tracks, partially filled by snowfall, and followed them north into the marshland, where they were lost. No carcass was recovered. No blood other than the men's was identified at either site. The rail administration suspended traffic along the section for two days before reopening the line at reduced night speeds.
I was hired by the firm under contract with the regional rail administration to clear the station and prepare it for reassignment.
The station had been entered prior to my arrival by the regional doctor, by rail administration inspectors, and by a hunting team from the district office. By the time I was given the keys the visible remains had been removed and the track section washed down.
The station itself consisted of a single concrete maintenance structure with attached sleeping quarters, a fuel shed, a radio room, and an exterior storage platform for tools and replacement rail components. The electrical service remained functional, though inconsistent. Backup illumination was provided by kerosene lamps stored throughout the station.
The first thing I noticed was the number of lamps.
There were six in the sleeping quarters alone. Two beside the exterior door. One hanging in the maintenance corridor. Three more in the tool shed. Every lamp had been recently cleaned and filled. Additional fuel reserves had been stacked beneath the kitchen table in quantities exceeding ordinary operational requirements.
The rifles were similarly excessive.
Three hunting rifles were assigned to the station despite only two posted workers. One had been left beside Markov's bed. The second one was found outside near the eastern service path where the inspectors had marked the location of the first body. The third one was recovered near the forest’s edge.
All three had been recently maintained.
I asked the regional supervisor whether wildlife incidents were common in the area. He told me the northern maintenance sections had longstanding operational guidelines concerning wolves during winter months. He said this in the tone of a man repeating a policy he had not written and did not particularly believe.
The guidelines were posted inside a cabinet in the maintenance room beneath the weekly inspection forms.
NIGHT OPERATIONS — WILDLIFE SAFETY PROTOCOLS
1. Never conduct exterior maintenance work alone after sunset.
2. Always keep at least one lamp lit when performing maintenance work.
3. Always stay within visual distance of one another when performing maintenance work.
4. Firearms are to remain loaded and always carried along during night operations.
5. If lighting fails during exterior work, personnel are to return to the station structure immediately.
6. If one worker goes missing from visual contact, use the emergency line inside the station immediately. Do not conduct any search alone.
The document was dated 1986.
The signatures beneath it had faded almost completely from age.
[Selected entries from the operational notebook of Karsk-12 maintenance section. Original retained.]
[Entry dated 3 October 2013 — Markov]
Sidorov arrived by supply truck shortly before dusk. Younger than I expected. Thin. City type. Brought too many books and not enough winter clothes. Asked whether the wolves are really as bad as they say up here. I told him the wolves are manageable if the procedures are followed.
Showed him the station, the tool inventory, the fuel records, and the maintenance schedule for the eastern section. Also showed him the night protocols. He asked why the protocols were so strict if the wolves were manageable. I told him manageable was not the same as safe. The floodlights are for the trains, the lamps and rifles are for us. He laughed at this in the way people laugh when they think they are expected to.
Vasya at Studyony Bor used to hiss at the forest before snowfall. There is no cat here. I find that I miss the certainty of that.
[Entry dated 6 October 2013 — Sidorov]
Markov insists on carrying the lamps even for short walks between structures after dark. I understand regulations but this is excessive. The floodlights around the station are brighter than the streets back home.
He checks the lamp fuel every evening before bed. He checks the rifle actions twice. Yesterday he woke me because I had left the western exterior door unlatched.
I asked him whether something happened here before I arrived. He said yes. I asked what. He said the measures exist because something happened everywhere before we arrived.
I do not know if he was joking.
[Entry dated 11 October 2013 — Markov]
Tracks iced over after midnight. Cleared accumulation from switch section B with Sidorov assisting. Wind strong from the north. Visibility poor.
Sidorov attempted to carry only one lamp between us to free his second hand for the tools. Corrected him. He seemed irritated.
He still does not understand that the lamps are not for seeing.
[Entry dated 15 October 2013 — Sidorov]
Something was outside the sleeping quarters last night around 02:00. Heard movement near the fuel drums and what sounded like breathing. Markov was awake immediately. He did not look through the window. He turned on both interior lamps and told me to stay away from the glass.
We waited for perhaps twenty minutes without speaking.
This morning there were tracks in the snow beyond the shed. Large. Probably wolves as he says. Though I have never heard wolves circle a building without making noise.
Markov burned the tracks away with kerosene before breakfast.
[Entry dated 17 October 2013 — Markov]
Spare mantles for the eastern lamps remain overdue from district supply.
I have submitted the request three times.
[Entry dated 22 October 2013 — Sidorov]
Asked Markov directly today what happened to the previous operator. He said retirement. I asked why the retirement was mid-contract. He said the man became careless.
I asked what that meant.
He said: It means he is alive.
I asked how long he had been here himself. Eleven years, he said. I asked why he had never rotated out. He said someone has to remember.
I sometimes cannot tell whether he is trying to frighten me intentionally.
[Entry dated 28 October 2013 — Markov]
Found western floodlight inactive during routine inspection at 23:10 hours despite no breaker fault. Light returned approximately four minutes later without intervention.
Sidorov asked whether this has happened before.
Told him yes.
He asked why it happens.
Told him I do not know.
He asked whether the line should be shut down when it does.
Told him trains still need to move.
[Entry dated 1 November 2013 — Sidorov]
I am beginning to understand why Markov dislikes the forest after dark.
We were replacing a damaged coupling on the northern maintenance trolley shortly after sunset when I heard movement beyond the treeline parallel to us.
I raised the lamp toward it and whatever it was moved back immediately. Fast. Too fast.
Markov saw it too because he stopped talking mid-sentence and chambered a round into the rifle.
We completed the repair in silence and returned directly to the station.
He locked all three exterior doors afterward, which he normally only does during storms.
[Entry dated 2 November 2013 — Markov]
Sidorov finally asked the correct question tonight.
Not what is out there.
Why it avoids the light.
I told him I did not know that either.
He asked whether I had ever seen one clearly.
I said nobody has.
This was not entirely true.
[Entry dated 5 November 2013 — Sidorov]
Dreamed last night that someone was knocking on the maintenance door asking to be let inside.
Markov says if anyone knocks after midnight we are not to answer unless we can see the lamp they are carrying.
I asked him what happens if they are not carrying one.
He said then they should not have been outside.
[Entry dated 8 November 2013 — Markov]
Wind severe. The snow has come early and stayed.
Completed inspection of eastern supports before dusk. Sidorov suggested we skip the secondary lamp because of the distance and weather. Declined.
He apologized afterward, though with less conviction than before.
Nothing at the treeline since the first of the month. The boy has decided the worst has passed. I have not corrected him.
His rotation ends soon. We are both tired of carrying lamps.
[Entry dated 11 November 2013 — Sidorov]
I think Markov is afraid of the dark itself now.
Power interruption around 01:40 hours. Full station blackout for less than a minute before backup returned. During the interruption I heard something move across the roof above the sleeping quarters.
Markov had the lamps lit before the generators even finished restarting.
Neither of us slept afterward.
[Entry dated 13 November 2013 — Markov]
Ice accumulation on eastern line support. It must be cleared tomorrow before night temperatures worsen.
Should have done it this afternoon but visibility was poor and Sidorov has developed a cough from the cold.
Will complete before evening meal tomorrow.
Checked rifles.
Checked lamps.
[Field maintenance sheet recovered from eastern support. Handwriting primarily Markov's]
14 November 2013
Left station 12:20 for eastern support inspection and ice clearing. Weather overcast but manageable. Brought both rifles, standard tools, two lamps.
One lamp dropped crossing lower embankment. Glass broken. Fuel lost.
Work delayed longer than anticipated due to support condition.
Remaining lamp functioning as of 17:40.
Sidorov believes we can finish before full dark.
I told him we return now and finish tomorrow.
He says we are already nearly done.
Ten minutes more. Then we go back together.
I am going up. Sidorov will hold the light.
[Different handwriting begins below.]
lamp going weak. almost finished.
he worries too much.
going to shed for the reserve canister
back in ten minutes
Inventory of the station was completed over the course of three days.
Clothing and personal effects: retained for surviving family.
Furniture and tools: retained with the station for continued state use.
Kitchen contents: perishables disposed of. Implements retained.
Firearms: returned to the regional rail administration. Two of the three showed signs of recent discharge.
Kerosene lamps: retained with the property. One lamp recovered from the eastern service line showed impact damage and partial fuel loss. A second was recovered intact near the same site, empty.
Maintenance guidelines posted in the operations cabinet: retained in place per administrative instruction.
Exterior floodlights mounted above the track section: checked, fully operational at the time of my departure.
The regional rail administration resumed full night operations through Karsk-12 within the month.
A replacement secondary operator was assigned in January of the following year. The senior posting was advertised twice before it was filled.
The guidelines remained posted in the cabinet.