2003 gmc safari towing capacity

Used 2003 GMC Safari - Specs & Features

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GMC Safari Tow Capacity Guide

Model years:

Dive deep into the details of the GMC Safari tow capacity. Scroll down to the specific model year for values of maximum towing capacity, payload, axle ratio, curb weight, and GVWR. This will help you understand what size of a travel trailer or camper your GMC Safari can tow or haul.

2005 GMC Safari Towing Capacity

Maximum towing capacity: 4700 - 5300 lb

Payload Capacity: 1509 - 1659 lb

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR): 5600.00 - 6100.00 lb

Curb Weight: 3953.00 - 4591.00 lb

Horsepower: 190 hp

Torque: 250 Lb-Ft

Axle Ratio: 3.42

2004 GMC Safari Towing Capacity

Maximum towing capacity: 5100 - 5700 lb

2003 GMC Safari Towing Capacity

Maximum towing capacity: 5100 - 5800 lb

Payload Capacity: 1495 - 1648 lb

Curb Weight: 3964.00 - 4605.00 lb

2002 GMC Safari Towing Capacity

Payload Capacity: 1667 - 1764 lb

Curb Weight: 3915.00 - 4593.00 lb

2001 GMC Safari Towing Capacity

Maximum towing capacity: 5200 - 5900 lb

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR): 5600.00 - 6150.00 lb

2000 GMC Safari Towing Capacity

Maximum towing capacity: 4500 - 5500 lb

Payload Capacity: 1672 - 1763 lb

Curb Weight: 3909.00 - 4428.00 lb

Axle Ratio: 3.23 - 3.42

1999 GMC Safari Towing Capacity

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Mini-van, cargo, change trim.

• 111.2" WB RWD $22,050
• Ext 111" WB RWD $23,690
• 111.2" WB AWD $24,450
• Ext 111" WB AWD $25,690
• 111.2" WB AWD YF7 Upfitter $25,850

Showing the 2003 GMC Safari 111.2" WB RWD

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Technical Specifications: 2003 GMC Safari 2WD Cargo

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Towing Capacity

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Generally, can a 6 cylinder Chevy Astro tow up to 5000 pounds? Some ads say that: Chevy Astro can tow 5000 pounds with towing package. What is meant by towing package?  

I believe the towing package is just a factory installed hitch w/trailer light hook-up and a tranny cooler. Basic stuff that anyone would do to tow with any vehicle. :mrgreen:  

IMO, these things will pull way more than they can stop.  

^Definatly have to agree with that. My brakes are very good, but I still think it could stop faster or it just the way they feel when they are coming to a stop? HEAVY! :lol:  

Agreed X3!  

As a suggestion, do NOT waste your money on factory "towing package". As a suggestion, install your own 3rd party towing upgrade items. To tow above 2,000 lbs, I'd recommend: - Transmisison Aux oil cooler. LPD design that is rated for up to 5,000 lbs. re: http://www.makcotransmissionparts.com/OC-1678.html - Class III/IV Hitch. A Hitch that will accept Weight Distribution System. Hidden Hitch. re: http://www.hiddenhitch.com/fitguides/allsel_a.asp - Ensure trailer has WD system attached (and properly adjusted) as well. re: http://www.huskytow.com/FTP/PDF/P01040_HTCH_Pg14-16.pdf - Timbrens SES units in the rear. re: http://www.timbren.com/ses-van-suv.htm To me, Timbren SES units remove the van's "factory mush" rear suspension. Especially when van is loaded down with rear cargo and/or lots of passengers. I loved the Timbrens SES units - even for normal "soccer parent" driving conditions. - Onboard Electric Brake Controller Husky EXCURSION re: http://www.huskytow.com/FTP/PDF/P02010_ELEC_Pg22-24.pdf - Ensure Trailer has full electric brakes. Factory brakes on van are only rated to "safely stop" an additional 1,200 lbs. Thus, why any connected trailer above 1,500 lbs needs its own brakes. I like full electric brakes the best. - If you do lots of towing, suggest replacing the over soft "P" tires with stiffer sidewall LT tires. Thus, getting much "tigher feeling" around the sharp corners. Especially for heavy trailer / cargo towing. Note: When towing (especially the heavy loads), always use "D" (3rd) gear. And use van's tow/haul feature as well. Thus, allowing higher engines revs - which is less strain on its tranny and rear end. If wondering, I installed the above items in my preivous 2003 Safari van and towed "loaded" 5,000 lbs Travel Trailer. I'd install these same items again. Without hestiation. Hope this helps... .  

Thanks, Spike! Good answer.  

Another thing to "always" keep in mind that factory V6 4.3L engine with factory transmission and factory 3.43 rear axle does NOT like wind. Doesn't like strong "head wind" and it doesn't like "up hills" And it doesn't like up hills with head wind at the same time. When pulling a trailer, always keep the above in mind a well. A loaded 5,000 lbs utility trailer nicely tucked behind a Safari / Astro van pulls very easy. Very easy compared to a "wind wall" Travel trailer of equal loaded weight. Vision driving down the hiway at 50 mph and holding a sheet of plywood out the sun roof. Flat edge plywood and there's NO wind resistance. Hold the same plywood vertical like a boat's sail and one instantly feels the wind drag. Same "wind wall" resistance added stress holds true when comparing the "towablility feeling / towing stress" of a flat landscape / utility trailer against a Travel Trailer (of equial loaded weight) as well. More towing stress = one's lower "comfortable" towing ability. When adding weight inside the Safari/Astro van, do remember to subtract its loaded weight from Maximum Towing trailer weight as well. More people & more cargo inside the van, less attached "trailer weight" that should be pulled. Yes. Lower rear axle gearing does help reduce towing stress (like using the 373 or 411 gearing - instead of factory 342 gearing) but it also depends on hills, wind drag and one's hiways speeds. Towing within city limits at 30 mph is much easier then towing at 60 mph hiways speeds. Especially when head wind and hills need to be battled at the same time. Hope this helps as well... .  

Yeah, I dont tow anything higher than the roof of mine with my stock 3.23 gears, altho it isnt as bad towing as one would think...  

Hi Guys, we are shipping our caravan from the UK it weighs 1470kg unladen with a max weight of 1700kg. So i am thinking that one can load 230kg of stuff into it. My question is will my 91 rwd Astro tow this ok, or is it too near the mark ? I have read the posts above and I am Planning to replace the shocks as they are well past their best, Now we do use the van all the time and wanted a heavy duty shock it was suggested that Rancho 5000 were a good bet, anyone else have any more thoughts ? Also a Tranny cooler seems like a good idea, how hard are they to fit ? Thanks Andrew :swerve:  

On my 2003 RWD I have the hidden hitch. Prodigy brake controller http://www.tekonsha.com/product/default.asp Equal-i-Zer for sway and WD http://www.equalizerhitch.com/ and Bilstein Gas Pressure Shock Absorbers .... I'm happy with the set up. Now one question about the true LT tires. Their max psi is 80 and on my door sticker my tire psi is supose to be 38 with a max 44 P tire. So would you run the LT at 38 psi?  

I know this is an older thread, but having had to research it some for my own vehicle, I feel there is info to contribute. Obviously your towing capacity is related the following two factors: 1. How much your vehicle can pull, accelerate with and go up hills with without burning out the transmission, blowing the motor, tearing up your unibody/frame or jackknifing on turns. 2. How much your vehicle can stop (vehicle, payload and trailer). Unibody, transmissions and motors being equal, number 1 is going to be a function of your gear ratios, your vehicle weight, and your drive type (AWD vs RWD) . The cargo vans from my year could tow 5500 if they were RWD and had 3.73 gears. My AWD passenger van could tow 4600 with it's seats, transfer case and 3.43 gears. Funny thing is when you look at what the base Chevy 4x4 Silverado 1500 work special trucks could tow, it's less than our vans. I looked at getting one a few years ago, but when I finally got an answer as to actual rated towing capacity of the truck I was looking at--remember, those trucks had the same motor and transmission (if they were automatics) as our van...  

I'm going to interject my own thoughts here as I have an 03 safari and am towing an 18 ft travel trailer. Basically, the towing package is anything and everything connected to towing. From the trailer hitch on. I have an equalizer hitch, with sway bar. The trailer weight is 4100 pounds and the max is 5100 pounds. Keep in mind that the weight rating includes what else you put in the trailer. So don't get a 5000 pound trailer and add in another 1000 pounds of stuff. I have driven cross country with it now a bit and haven't had to many problems. The bigges has been the fact that the trailer eats up fuel royally. I drop from 24 to 8 mpg. Someone mentioned wind? You got that right. Just the other day coming across New Mexico I was in passing gear mode going downhill even. 40 mph uphill. :driving: Safaris are great vans. They just lack the power to do any serious towing. If you want to tow anything larger than a good size boat, forget it.  

cosway said: On my 2003 RWD I have the hidden hitch. Prodigy brake controller http://www.tekonsha.com/product/default.asp Equal-i-Zer for sway and WD http://www.equalizerhitch.com/ and Bilstein Gas Pressure Shock Absorbers .... I'm happy with the set up. Now one question about the true LT tires. Their max psi is 80 and on my door sticker my tire psi is supose to be 38 with a max 44 P tire. So would you run the LT at 38 psi? Click to expand...

Towing is 5K but keep tongue weight in mind. Was just looking at this the other night. 650 lbs tongue weight for a 97 cargo.  

OK . for the last 5 years I have towed with my Astro,factory TOW Package, utility trailers with 4,000 US pounds, BUT needed brakes on the trailer. Two years ago I got a Chalet Pop up trailer, weighs 4500 wet, and load the van with a bunch of stuff to goto Mexico. Usually total combined GVW with trailer is 10,500 US pounds. The brakes are a definite plus... Reduce the tongue weight as much as possible and not less than 10-15% your trailer weight. We travel approximately 5,000 miles from Oregon to southern Mexico. The roads are the pits and last year I found the VAN was breaking off from the " Addon frame.". The trailer hitch was too short to reach all nut studs to properly attach the hitch. After returning this year, I weld added 18" to each side of the hitch. You do need all 4 bolts on the bottom of the frame and the 3 going o the bumper assy. The factory tow system includes a transmission shift lock that is a real help on rolling hills and on steep down hills thus reducing some of the need "I said reducing" for braking . Take my word over 77,000 miles of towing and the factory stuff is holding just fine. My milage is around 12 miles and on good freeways, 15-16. Good luck in your towing ventures. :swerve: Chuck  

I have a 2002 Astro, 6 cyl. 2wd. I'm looking at this trailer unit, it's probably 18" taller than the roofline. I show dogs, so there's sometimes a fairly good cargo load as well (the rear seats have been pulled). Unloaded Vehicle Weight (lbs) View Definition 2,250 Dry Hitch Weight (lbs) View Definition 215 Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (lbs) View Definition 2,950 Cargo Carrying Capacity (lbs) View Definition 700 http://www.jayco.com/tools/archive/2014 ... slx/145rb/ Any thoughts or recommendations on modifications, or what it's likely to suffer in gas mileage? We do some long hauls over multi-weekend trips, and much of it across the northern plains states.  

Bah, never mind. I'll wait until I have a bigger van to think about a travel trailer. I decided to go with a 4' x 6' cargo trailer for my equipment, and free up the van for light camping instead. At about 500lb dry weight, and lower profile than the van roof, it shouldn't be too bad to pull.  

Can anyone, with certainty, post the towing capacity for a 1992 Safari AWD? Mine appears to have a factory tow bar but the label has fallen off so, i cannot confirm the rating. Also, how does one determine if the vehicle, in fact, has the "towing package"? Perhaps the VIN may indicate that information?  

Even with the towing package, that means nothing more than a tow hitch and tow haul mode which increases line pressure and shift points. Get a real transmission cooler and dial up the line pressure...and boom...you have a towing package. Don't believe what the manual tells you for what they belive tow capacity is. It depends on your tires, your brakes and your terrain. I wouldn't tow 5k up here or over the pass....but I would tow 5k east or west of the divide. It also depends on how the load is balanced on your trailer.....electric brakes....number of axles. ...  

Definitely a trans cooler even if you don't tow. I can attest to transmission cooler (Tru-Cool 4490) and increased shift firmness with Jet Programmer (+ line pressure). Even when fully loaded, towing in extremely hot conditions (100°+ temps) my van shifts greats. No lag, delay or slip, just nice positive shifts. Fresh, quality transmission fluid also plays a big part. Since I've finally used up all my Amsoil ATF, the next fluid change is most likely going to be Castrol Dexron VI.  

I haven't towed with the new lifted setup. But...I did load the van front to back and threw out a hitch hauler with 400lbs. Can say it is no Silverado HD or 3/4 ton express van..but she held her weight pretty good. The limiting factors are the fact the astro is narrow and short. Plus...torsion bars just suck when it comes to towing heavy loads.  

Yes, we certainly can, but it might be better to look it up in the user manual(also available online if you don't have one) and then verify that you have the hitch to match as they are not all created equally. You will also have to look up the gear ratio as well. Without knowing what has been done to the vehicle it would be hard to tell what hitch you have if the label has fallen off. Doesn't matter if the vehicle is rated to pull 10,000lbs if you have a hitch rated at 2,000lbs.  

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In Transit: Notes from the Underground

Jun 06 2018.

Spend some time in one of Moscow’s finest museums.

Subterranean commuting might not be anyone’s idea of a good time, but even in a city packing the war-games treasures and priceless bejeweled eggs of the Kremlin Armoury and the colossal Soviet pavilions of the VDNKh , the Metro holds up as one of Moscow’s finest museums. Just avoid rush hour.

The Metro is stunning and provides an unrivaled insight into the city’s psyche, past and present, but it also happens to be the best way to get around. Moscow has Uber, and the Russian version called Yandex Taxi , but also some nasty traffic. Metro trains come around every 90 seconds or so, at a more than 99 percent on-time rate. It’s also reasonably priced, with a single ride at 55 cents (and cheaper in bulk). From history to tickets to rules — official and not — here’s what you need to know to get started.

A Brief Introduction Buying Tickets Know Before You Go (Down) Rules An Easy Tour

A Brief Introduction

Moscow’s Metro was a long time coming. Plans for rapid transit to relieve the city’s beleaguered tram system date back to the Imperial era, but a couple of wars and a revolution held up its development. Stalin revived it as part of his grand plan to modernize the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s. The first lines and tunnels were constructed with help from engineers from the London Underground, although Stalin’s secret police decided that they had learned too much about Moscow’s layout and had them arrested on espionage charges and deported.

The beauty of its stations (if not its trains) is well-documented, and certainly no accident. In its illustrious first phases and particularly after the Second World War, the greatest architects of Soviet era were recruited to create gleaming temples celebrating the Revolution, the USSR, and the war triumph. No two stations are exactly alike, and each of the classic showpieces has a theme. There are world-famous shrines to Futurist architecture, a celebration of electricity, tributes to individuals and regions of the former Soviet Union. Each marble slab, mosaic tile, or light fixture was placed with intent, all in service to a station’s aesthetic; each element, f rom the smallest brass ear of corn to a large blood-spattered sword on a World War II mural, is an essential part of the whole.

The Metro is a monument to the Soviet propaganda project it was intended to be when it opened in 1935 with the slogan “Building a Palace for the People”. It brought the grand interiors of Imperial Russia to ordinary Muscovites, celebrated the Soviet Union’s past achievements while promising its citizens a bright Soviet future, and of course, it was a show-piece for the world to witness the might and sophistication of life in the Soviet Union.

It may be a museum, but it’s no relic. U p to nine million people use it daily, more than the London Underground and New York Subway combined. (Along with, at one time, about 20 stray dogs that learned to commute on the Metro.)

In its 80+ year history, the Metro has expanded in phases and fits and starts, in step with the fortunes of Moscow and Russia. Now, partly in preparation for the World Cup 2018, it’s also modernizing. New trains allow passengers to walk the entire length of the train without having to change carriages. The system is becoming more visitor-friendly. (There are helpful stickers on the floor marking out the best selfie spots .) But there’s a price to modernity: it’s phasing out one of its beloved institutions, the escalator attendants. Often they are middle-aged or elderly women—“ escalator grandmas ” in news accounts—who have held the post for decades, sitting in their tiny kiosks, scolding commuters for bad escalator etiquette or even bad posture, or telling jokes . They are slated to be replaced, when at all, by members of the escalator maintenance staff.

For all its achievements, the Metro lags behind Moscow’s above-ground growth, as Russia’s capital sprawls ever outwards, generating some of the world’s worst traffic jams . But since 2011, the Metro has been in the middle of an ambitious and long-overdue enlargement; 60 new stations are opening by 2020. If all goes to plan, the 2011-2020 period will have brought 125 miles of new tracks and over 100 new stations — a 40 percent increase — the fastest and largest expansion phase in any period in the Metro’s history.

Facts: 14 lines Opening hours: 5 a.m-1 a.m. Rush hour(s): 8-10 a.m, 4-8 p.m. Single ride: 55₽ (about 85 cents) Wi-Fi network-wide

Buying Tickets

• Ticket machines have a button to switch to English.
• You can buy specific numbers of rides: 1, 2, 5, 11, 20, or 60. Hold up fingers to show how many rides you want to buy.
• There is also a 90-minute ticket , which gets you 1 trip on the metro plus an unlimited number of transfers on other transport (bus, tram, etc) within 90 minutes.
• Or, you can buy day tickets with unlimited rides: one day (218₽/ US$4), three days (415₽/US$7) or seven days (830₽/US$15). Check the rates here to stay up-to-date.
• If you’re going to be using the Metro regularly over a few days, it’s worth getting a Troika card , a contactless, refillable card you can use on all public transport. Using the Metro is cheaper with one of these: a single ride is 36₽, not 55₽. Buy them and refill them in the Metro stations, and they’re valid for 5 years, so you can keep it for next time. Or, if you have a lot of cash left on it when you leave, you can get it refunded at the Metro Service Centers at Ulitsa 1905 Goda, 25 or at Staraya Basmannaya 20, Building 1.
• You can also buy silicone bracelets and keychains with built-in transport chips that you can use as a Troika card. (A Moscow Metro Fitbit!) So far, you can only get these at the Pushkinskaya metro station Live Helpdesk and souvenir shops in the Mayakovskaya and Trubnaya metro stations. The fare is the same as for the Troika card.
• You can also use Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Rules, spoken and unspoken

No smoking, no drinking, no filming, no littering. Photography is allowed, although it used to be banned.

Stand to the right on the escalator. Break this rule and you risk the wrath of the legendary escalator attendants. (No shenanigans on the escalators in general.)

Get out of the way. Find an empty corner to hide in when you get off a train and need to stare at your phone. Watch out getting out of the train in general; when your train doors open, people tend to appear from nowhere or from behind ornate marble columns, walking full-speed.

Always offer your seat to elderly ladies (what are you, a monster?).

An Easy Tour

This is no Metro Marathon ( 199 stations in 20 hours ). It’s an easy tour, taking in most—though not all—of the notable stations, the bulk of it going clockwise along the Circle line, with a couple of short detours. These stations are within minutes of one another, and the whole tour should take about 1-2 hours.

Start at Mayakovskaya Metro station , at the corner of Tverskaya and Garden Ring,  Triumfalnaya Square, Moskva, Russia, 125047.

1. Mayakovskaya.  Named for Russian Futurist Movement poet Vladimir Mayakovsky and an attempt to bring to life the future he imagined in his poems. (The Futurist Movement, natch, was all about a rejecting the past and celebrating all things speed, industry, modern machines, youth, modernity.) The result: an Art Deco masterpiece that won the National Grand Prix for architecture at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. It’s all smooth, rounded shine and light, and gentle arches supported by columns of dark pink marble and stainless aircraft steel. Each of its 34 ceiling niches has a mosaic. During World War II, the station was used as an air-raid shelter and, at one point, a bunker for Stalin. He gave a subdued but rousing speech here in Nov. 6, 1941 as the Nazis bombed the city above.

Take the 3/Green line one station to:

2. Belorusskaya. Opened in 1952, named after the connected Belarussky Rail Terminal, which runs trains between Moscow and Belarus. This is a light marble affair with a white, cake-like ceiling, lined with Belorussian patterns and 12 Florentine ceiling mosaics depicting life in Belarussia when it was built.

Transfer onto the 1/Brown line. Then, one stop (clockwise) t o:

3. Novoslobodskaya.  This station was designed around the stained-glass panels, which were made in Latvia, because Alexey Dushkin, the Soviet starchitect who dreamed it up (and also designed Mayakovskaya station) couldn’t find the glass and craft locally. The stained glass is the same used for Riga’s Cathedral, and the panels feature plants, flowers, members of the Soviet intelligentsia (musician, artist, architect) and geometric shapes.

Go two stops east on the 1/Circle line to:

4. Komsomolskaya. Named after the Komsomol, or the Young Communist League, this might just be peak Stalin Metro style. Underneath the hub for three regional railways, it was intended to be a grand gateway to Moscow and is today its busiest station. It has chandeliers; a yellow ceiling with Baroque embellishments; and in the main hall, a colossal red star overlaid on golden, shimmering tiles. Designer Alexey Shchusev designed it as an homage to the speech Stalin gave at Red Square on Nov. 7, 1941, in which he invoked Russia’s illustrious military leaders as a pep talk to Soviet soldiers through the first catastrophic year of the war.   The station’s eight large mosaics are of the leaders referenced in the speech, such as Alexander Nevsky, a 13th-century prince and military commander who bested German and Swedish invading armies.

One more stop clockwise to Kurskaya station,  and change onto the 3/Blue  line, and go one stop to:

5. Baumanskaya.   Opened in 1944. Named for the Bolshevik Revolutionary Nikolai Bauman , whose monument and namesake district are aboveground here. Though he seemed like a nasty piece of work (he apparently once publicly mocked a woman he had impregnated, who later hung herself), he became a Revolutionary martyr when he was killed in 1905 in a skirmish with a monarchist, who hit him on the head with part of a steel pipe. The station is in Art Deco style with atmospherically dim lighting, and a series of bronze sculptures of soldiers and homefront heroes during the War. At one end, there is a large mosaic portrait of Lenin.

Stay on that train direction one more east to:

6. Elektrozavodskaya. As you may have guessed from the name, this station is the Metro’s tribute to all thing electrical, built in 1944 and named after a nearby lightbulb factory. It has marble bas-relief sculptures of important figures in electrical engineering, and others illustrating the Soviet Union’s war-time struggles at home. The ceiling’s recurring rows of circular lamps give the station’s main tunnel a comforting glow, and a pleasing visual effect.

Double back two stops to Kurskaya station , and change back to the 1/Circle line. Sit tight for six stations to:

7. Kiyevskaya. This was the last station on the Circle line to be built, in 1954, completed under Nikita Khrushchev’ s guidance, as a tribute to his homeland, Ukraine. Its three large station halls feature images celebrating Ukraine’s contributions to the Soviet Union and Russo-Ukrainian unity, depicting musicians, textile-working, soldiers, farmers. (One hall has frescoes, one mosaics, and the third murals.) Shortly after it was completed, Khrushchev condemned the architectural excesses and unnecessary luxury of the Stalin era, which ushered in an epoch of more austere Metro stations. According to the legend at least, he timed the policy in part to ensure no Metro station built after could outshine Kiyevskaya.

Change to the 3/Blue line and go one stop west.

8. Park Pobedy. This is the deepest station on the Metro, with one of the world’s longest escalators, at 413 feet. If you stand still, the escalator ride to the surface takes about three minutes .) Opened in 2003 at Victory Park, the station celebrates two of Russia’s great military victories. Each end has a mural by Georgian artist Zurab Tsereteli, who also designed the “ Good Defeats Evil ” statue at the UN headquarters in New York. One mural depicts the Russian generals’ victory over the French in 1812 and the other, the German surrender of 1945. The latter is particularly striking; equal parts dramatic, triumphant, and gruesome. To the side, Red Army soldiers trample Nazi flags, and if you look closely there’s some blood spatter among the detail. Still, the biggest impressions here are the marble shine of the chessboard floor pattern and the pleasingly geometric effect if you view from one end to the other.

Keep going one more stop west to:

9. Slavyansky Bulvar.  One of the Metro’s youngest stations, it opened in 2008. With far higher ceilings than many other stations—which tend to have covered central tunnels on the platforms—it has an “open-air” feel (or as close to it as you can get, one hundred feet under). It’s an homage to French architect Hector Guimard, he of the Art Nouveau entrances for the Paris M é tro, and that’s precisely what this looks like: A Moscow homage to the Paris M é tro, with an additional forest theme. A Cyrillic twist on Guimard’s Metro-style lettering over the benches, furnished with t rees and branch motifs, including creeping vines as towering lamp-posts.

Stay on the 3/Blue line and double back four stations to:

10. Arbatskaya. Its first iteration, Arbatskaya-Smolenskaya station, was damaged by German bombs in 1941. It was rebuilt in 1953, and designed to double as a bomb shelter in the event of nuclear war, although unusually for stations built in the post-war phase, this one doesn’t have a war theme. It may also be one of the system’s most elegant: Baroque, but toned down a little, with red marble floors and white ceilings with gilded bronze c handeliers.

Jump back on the 3/Blue line  in the same direction and take it one more stop:

11. Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square). Opened in 1938, and serving Red Square and the Kremlin . Its renowned central hall has marble columns flanked by 76 bronze statues of Soviet heroes: soldiers, students, farmers, athletes, writers, parents. Some of these statues’ appendages have a yellow sheen from decades of Moscow’s commuters rubbing them for good luck. Among the most popular for a superstitious walk-by rub: the snout of a frontier guard’s dog, a soldier’s gun (where the touch of millions of human hands have tapered the gun barrel into a fine, pointy blade), a baby’s foot, and a woman’s knee. (A brass rooster also sports the telltale gold sheen, though I am told that rubbing the rooster is thought to bring bad luck. )

Now take the escalator up, and get some fresh air.

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