Photo of discarded Russian train falsely shared as 'train abandoned in Sri Lanka after landslide'

This article is more than one year old.
Published on March 6, 2023 at 10:56
3 min read
By AFP Sri Lanka

A photo of a rusty Soviet-era steam locomotive has been repeatedly shared by Sri Lankan Facebook users falsely claiming it shows a train abandoned in the island nation in 1927 following a landslide. A spokesperson for Sri Lankan Railways told AFP the claim was "baseless". The photo corresponds with images on media sites and Google Maps of a steam locomotive graveyard in Russia’s Perm region.

The photo of a rusty train surrounded by thick shrubbery was shared here on Facebook on March 1, 2023.

Sinhala-language text at the bottom of the image translates to English as: "The train that was abandoned near Ragala, High Forest area when it could not be brought back due to a landslide along the Ragala, Nuwara Eliya - Nanuoya railway line in 1927."

The post's Sinhala-language caption repeats the claim about High Forest, a small town in central Sri Lanka named after a tea estate established in the area during the British colonial era.

Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on March 3, 2023.

The same claim was also shared on Facebook here and here.

Comments from some users indicated they believed the train was abandoned in Sri Lanka.

One Sinhala-language comment reads: "This site can easily be transformed into a photo lab/tourist attraction. What is Sri Lanka Tourism doing? I'm sure they don't even know of its existence. So Sri Lanka!"

Another user wrote: "You should not have published this image. Give it a few weeks, there will be nothing left of this artefact after scrap metal thieves attack it."

However, the claim is false.

W. A. D. S. Gunasinghe, the general manager for Sri Lanka Railways, told AFP that the claim about an abandoned train following a landslide between Ragala and Nanu Oya was "baseless".

"While there are remnants of the old line that was to be continued along the hill country track, there is no such abandoned train anywhere along the hill country route or beyond," he said.

AFP found the photo actually shows an abandoned steam locomotive in central Russia.

Russian 'train cemetery'

A reverse image search on the Russian search engine Yandex found the photo of the train in this discussion thread on the social networking site VK, posted on December 18, 2018.

"Abandoned locomotive in the Urals," reads the Russian-language caption.

Other users mention the photo shows a "train cemetery" in the village of Shumkovo in Russia's Perm region.

An extensive search of the area on Google Maps found a railway line surrounded by woods similar to the one seen in the photo.

A panoramic image on Google Maps in that location shows similar rusty trains sitting amid overgrown shrubbery.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the Facebook post (left), the same image in the VK thread (centre) and the corresponding image on Google Street View (right):

Screenshot comparison of the images in the Facebook post (left), VK thread (centre) and the corresponding image on Google Street View (right)

More similar scenes of rusty trains at the same site in Shumkovo can be seen in this video on The Associated Press Archive YouTube channel on November 2, 2017.

"A small area in Russia's Perm region has become a silent cemetery for abandoned steam locomotives, attracting tourists keen to photograph its old, rusting residents," the video description read.

The description went on to say that the area served as a reserve railway base, but the locomotives were left behind as electric railways gradually replaced steam power.

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