Mariupol is a huge industrial city, and this began with the railway. Dozens of freight trains a day, carrying food for the voracious blast furnaces of Azovstal and Illich Iron & Steel Works.

Blast furnaces at Illich Iron & Steel Works.

Blast furnaces at Azovstal.

Arriving in the city by train, you first saw the smoking chimneys and steaming cooling towers of the rolling mills at Illich Iron & Steel Works.

I used to work at this combine. Here, I learnt everything I know.

Here, I saw beauty in the ordinary.

Then, passing Sartana Station, you see an equally majestic panorama of Azovstal. The 3600 rolling mill, the converters with their afterburners.

The coke plant, which constantly gave off smoke and sometimes obscured the view of Azovstal.

Five blast furnaces that stood by the sea for almost a century.

Azovstal with its brightly coloured “sevens” (TEM7 diesel locomotives), which I always looked out for.

And then, there was the railway station.

And, of course, the sea — railway tracks run parallel to the Azovian coast: some end at the station, while others extend further, along the local beaches, leading to the port.

And this is just me. Thank you for visiting my railway Mariupol.