First issue of the "Gudok" newspaper published

The newspaper debuted in two cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg. Its first readers were the delegates of the All-Russian Congress of Railway Mechanics and Workers. Rather than a newspaper, it was more like a bulletin or magazine, consisting of 8 pages.

The "Gudok" issues uncover a vivid retrospective of the Russian history since 1917. Naturally, their editorials were focused on railways: the "Gudok" told its audience about the flagship "Felix Dzerzhinsky" locomotive, the symbol of new industrial era; about electrification and transition from steam engines to electric trains, etc. The newspaper boasts the most complete chronicle of the BAM construction.

Many features posted in the iconic industrial newspaper were published unedited. That’s why the opinions and reports by ministers and officials, engineers and experts, war correspondents who wrote from the front line – they all are still strikingly vivid. Unlike many other editions, the "Gudok" has never traded the freedom of speech of its authors and columnists for the benevolence of the authorities.

As the "Gudok" was targeted at both industrial community and general audience, it enjoyed some censorship privileges. The edition could afford to publish features on burning issues which was unimaginable in other newspapers.

On its pages, the "Gudok" welcomed Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov, Mikhail Bulgakov, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Panteleimon Romanov and other authors ostracized by Soviet regime.

The "Gudok" is a daily nationwide edition that has been continuously released for more than a century. Neither war, nor economic or social transformations affected the newspaper’s regular publication: as industrious as the railways, the edition kept providing its readers with a fresh issue every day, as precise as a clock.

The newspaper has changed ideology, content, layout, sections many times, but it has been committed to its mission of bringing news to its loyal audience, the railway industry employees.