Today there are more jobs, a little more money, and some hope for the future. Once a crane operator at the state-run forestry firm, he now handles explosives for the new rail project. Others rumor that this branch line might be extended to the Sea of Okhotsk and will shuttle passengers to the Northern Pacific. In that case, the tiny Ulak station could become a railway hub on the scale of Tynda. Work to expand the tiny Gorny airstrip is already underway.
Locals joke that soon they'll be able to commute to Moscow.
Today Ulak is a one minute whistlestop encircled by a sea of taiga, close your eyes and you'll miss it. The worker settlements of rusty railroad cars, however, hint at the changes to come. Gorny's population has already ballooned from 900 to 2000 residents. Rowdy newcomers crowd outside makeshift dormitories and Kamaz trucks rattle down lanes where cows and chickens used to roam free. For better or for worse this tranquil outpost in the Siberian wilderness is entering the industrialized world.