Russian driver has to climb down and use a stick to beat reindeer off the train tracks after they refused to budge.
The amusing footage shows the train in Russia’s Far Eastern Republic of Yakutia forced to slow down because of the reindeer blocking the track.
Although temperatures of up to 18 degrees Celsius are expected in the UK over the next week, in Yakutia it was snowing over the weekend, with temperatures still falling as low as minus 5 degrees Celsius.
The region is known for being the coldest in the northern hemisphere and the weather services have recorded some of the coldest temperatures ever, with temperatures of –
minus 72 degrees Celsius once recorded at Oymyakon, a small community that is supposedly the coldest permanently inhabited settlement in the world.
With snow still heavily on the ground, the reindeer clearly felt it was easier to walk along the raised platform of the train track, and when the train approached, they ignored it and refused to go left or right and continued to run ahead.
Despite shouts from the driver, the reindeer continued to remain on the track and then stopped moving completely when they got to a bridge, forcing one of the train drivers to get down to try and move them on.
In order to make sure they did not turn on him with their sharp antlers, he took a big stick that he used to beat the animals, with one of the reindeer running ahead along the bridge and the others doubling back and running down the side of the train. The driver’s colleagues can be heard laughing from the train as he tries to get them to move.
The train was initially unable to continue its journey on the Neryungri-Aldan route in the far northern region.
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Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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