Class:
Car A 90 of the Finnish State Railways
Year of construction:
1930 (first used on 13 June 1930)
User:
Marshal Mannerheim, Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Armed Forces, used
the car during the Winter War (1939-1940) and the Continuation War (1941-1944).
Years of use:
1939-1946 (after that, the car was used by
the Finnish State Railways for non-revenue service)
Kilometrage:
During the Winter War and the Continuation War, Marshal Mannerheim’s train covered
a total of 78,870 km. However, the kilometrage covered by the saloon car exceeded this,
as it was often attached to ordinary express trains.
Composition of the train:
Mannerheim’s train usually consisted of two sleeping cars, a restaurant car, a guard’s car,
a waggon equipped with anti-aircraft armament, and a waggon for transporting motor vehicles.
The saloon car of Marshal Mannerheim was built in 1929-1930 and put into use in 1930. The car has a saloon compartment, five sleeping compartments, a kitchen (no longer in its original state), and a toilet. Berths for eight persons are provided.
In October 1939, the train was put at the disposal of Marshal Mannerheim for use as his staff train. The train consisted of a locomotive, two sleeping cars, a restaurant car, a guard’s car, a waggon equipped with anti-aircraft armament, and a waggon for transporting motor vehicles. Mannerheim used car A 90 of the Finnish State Railways as his sleeping car.
When Mannerheim was using the car, he was accompanied by up to five persons. Mannerheim used the sleeping compartment nearest the saloon compartment, and generals Heinrichs, Nenonen and Airo (in this order) were assigned the compartments next to it. The aides-de-camp to Mannerheim were given the compartments adjacent to the kitchen. In addition to the generals and his aides, Mannerheim was also accompanied by 1 or 2 other persons on most journeys.
Mannerheim used the car until January 1946, when he was already president of Finland. He made more than 100 journeys (totalling more than 78,000 km) in his saloon car, which was often attached to ordinary trains. Mannerheim usually travelled between Mikkeli and Helsinki (for meetings in the Finnish capital) and also made inspection visits to different fronts. The trip to Immola in southeast Finland, where Mannerheim celebrated his 75th birthday and where he also met with Hitler, was the journey making the biggest headlines at the time.
Since 1946, the saloon car was used by the director general of the Finnish State Railways. The Finnish State Railways used it for charter traffic until 1989 when it was damaged in a fire. The city of Mikkeli had the car repaired at the Pasila railway workshops in Helsinki and after the repairs, in the summer of 1992, it was placed at the Mikkeli railway station. The car is only open to public on 4 June, Mannerheim’s birthday.
The car stands at the north side of the station building under a shelter built in 2008.
Mannerheim’s train normally consisted of a locomotive, two sleeping cars, a restaurant car, a guard’s car, a waggon equipped with anti-aircraft armament and a waggon for transporting motor vehicles. Mannerheim used car A 90 of the Finnish State Railways as his sleeping car.
A second sleeping car was provided for the officer in charge of the train, the train crew, the drivers of the motor vehicles, Mannerheim’s personal military servant, the car attendant, the security guards, and the guests not travelling on Mannerheim’s car. Between one and three waggons carrying motor vehicles were attached to the train and the permanent train personnel, the women’s auxiliaries assisting in the kitchen and the soldiers guarding the train had their own sleeping cars.
When not in use, the train was stationed in Mikkeli. The cars were kept at the end of a siding in a gravel pit south of Mikkeli. As the train was continuously manned, a locomotive was provided for heating the cars during the winter. There was also a telephone connection between the train and the outside world.
The train was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ragnar Grönvall, Mannerheim’s senior aide-de-camp. The train commandant, under whose orders the train personnel worked, was subordinate to Grönvall. Lieutenant (later Captain) Birger Hagström served as the train commandant for the entire duration of the train’s existence. The train also had a guard, an assistant guard, a car attendant, 1 or 2 cooks, 5 or 6 women’s auxiliaries assisting in the kitchen, the group responsible for guarding the train (a sergeant plus six privates), and the anti-aircraft group (two corporals plus twelve privates).
A restaurant car was normally attached to Mannerheim’s train. The car (No. 2052) had been built in 1936 and remained part of the train until its disbandment. In 1940-1941, during the short period of peace between the Winter War and the Continuation War, the restaurant car was used by the Finnish State Railways in ordinary revenue-earning service.
Signe Kaakkinen, who had previously worked in the Helsinki railway station restaurant, served as the train cook. The meals she prepared were based on simple home cooking recipes. Depending on the day’s programme, the breakfast was served between 7:00 a.m. and 8.30 a.m. Mannerheim and his entourage did not always have lunch in the restaurant car, but if the lunch was served on board, it was accompanied by one drink. The drinks were not supposed to spill over even if the train was in motion. The three-course dinner started between 7 and 8 p.m. and ended between 10 and 11 p.m. Coffee and two drinks were served during the dinner.
When in Helsinki, Mannerheim often invited guests (such as cabinet ministers) for dinner in the restaurant car. The restaurant car could accommodate 22 people.
Mannerheim made his first journey on the train before the Winter War, leaving Helsinki on 30 October 1939, at 9:30 p.m. The destination was the area of Finnish Karelia located north of Lake Ladoga. During this journey, Mannerheim inspected defensive positions at Kytsänjärvi, Varpajärvi and Kotajärvi, the areas under the responsibility of the IV Army Corps.
The second journey took place between 24 and 27 November 1939, on the eve of the Winter War. This time, Mannerheim visited Suojärvi and Uuksu, which are located northeast of Lake Ladoga. As on his first trip, Mannerheim was inspecting the state of the defensive preparations.
On 3 December 1939, a few days after the start of the Winter War, the train left Helsinki, taking Mannerheim first to Imatra and then to Lappeenranta, where he left the train. The train arrived in Mikkeli on 5 December 1939 without Mannerheim.
The train was rarely used during the Winter War. It remained at the Mikkeli railway yard until 4 January 1940 when it was moved to a safer location at the end of a siding in a gravel pit located south of Mikkeli. After that, the train was not used until 19 March 1940, when the Winter War was already over.
On 25 March 1940, the train took Mannerheim to Lapland where he thanked Swedish volunteers who had fought on the Finnish side in the Winter War. He boarded the train in Mikkeli, travelling to Kemijärvi by way of Kajaani and Oulu. From Lapland, Mannerheim travelled to Helsinki by way of Lapua, arriving in the Finnish capital on 27 March 1940.
In May 1941, Mannerheim toured the construction sites of the Salpa fortifications on the border between Finland and the Soviet Union. Car A 90 took the commander-in-chief and his entourage to Joensuu from where they travelled to the border to inspect the defensive positions. During the journey, Mannerheim travelled a total of 1,118 km by train.
During the Continuation War, Mannerheim used the train for travelling to meetings in Helsinki, for making inspection visits to the front (mainly in East Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus), and for visiting army corps, garrisons, and training centres where he inspected their operations and held meetings with their personnel. He also made a small number of journeys for representative purposes, such as the trip in connection with his 75th birthday.
Between 25 June 1941 and 4 September 1944, Mannerheim made a total of 70 journeys on his train. On 58 of them, the destination was Helsinki. During four of his trips to the Finnish capital, the city was hit by an air raid. After the Continuation War, Mannerheim used the train on 31 occasions as president of Finland. He spent a total of 335 days (or about eight days each month) on board the train between 13 September 1944 and 2 January 1946.
As Mannerheim’s train had priority over other rail traffic, the trips went smoothly. The fastest run was on 17 September 1944, when the journey from Mikkeli to Pasila took 4 hours and 12 minutes.
When approaching Mikkeli, the location of the Finnish Armed Forces Headquarters, Mannerheim usually left the train shortly before the town. When coming from the south, he got off in Otava or Hietanen and when coming from the north, in Hiirola. This was for reasons of security and because Mannerheim wanted to avoid publicity. The rest of the journey was made by car.
In autumn 1944, after the end of the Continuation War, the train was stationed in Pasila. From there, Mannerheim made a number of trips to Mikkeli and other parts of Finland. When Mannerheim held the positions of both commander-in-chief and president, negotiations continuing until late at night were usually held on the train. Mannerheim spent 19 of his first 40 nights as president on his train, but only eight of them on travel.
Immola, located near Imatra in southeast Finland, was chosen as the site for Mannerheim’s 75th birthday celebrations. His train was taken to the siding leading to the Kaukopää pulp mill. There were two tracks running side by side at the site. Risto Ryti, the president of Finland who hosted the event, arrived at the site on his own train. He was accompanied by representatives of the Finnish Government. The festive dinner was served on Mannerheim’s train to which two additional restaurant cars had been attached. In addition to President Ryti, Prime Minister Jukka Rangell and the members of the Finnish Government also attended the event. Mannerheim, who at the time held the rank of field marshal, was awarded the honorary title of Marshal of Finland. The German leader Adolf Hitler also attended the event as a rather unwanted guest.
Ilmari Ojala: Mannerheimin Päämajan arkea ja juhlaa. Hämeenlinna, 2004.
Pia Puntanen: Mannerheimin saappaanjäljillä. Mikkeli, 1993.
Kari Salo: Ylipäällikön juna, Marsalkka Mannerheimin junamatkat vuosina 1939-45. Resiina 1 / 1992.
National Audiovisual Archive
Archives of the Mikkeli Museums
Photographic archives of the Finnish Defence Forces
Archives of the Finnish Broadcasting Company
Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences
Department of Information and Media Technology
(VIVA 3 project)
Mikkeli Museums
Project Manager:
Juhani Grönhagen
Project Consultant:
Esa Hannus
3D modeling and design:
Heikki Sateila
3D modeling, programming and user interface:
Hannu Tyrväinen
Museum Director:
Matti Karttunen
Assistant:
Pentti Nousiainen
Special thanks to:
Annika Laine
Kimmo Parkkinen
Timo Vainikka
Translations:
The English Centre Oy
The project has been partially funded with government grants received by the National Board of Antiquities for use in innovative projects.