like he said. honestly, it's not that hard to buy train tickets even if you speak no russian. all you really need to know is how to say or write the name of your destination. bring a calender with you so you can point at the date you wish to depart when you buy your tickets.
not all trains run on all days, but you can find everything you need to know about the train schedule in advance, online.
http://www.realrussia.co.uk/main_train_screen.aspor just buy an e-ticket through them and print up the voucher and pick up your ticket at the station. they cost about 40% more than buying it in the station. still way cheaper than buying train tickets outside of russia.
the only other thing you need to know is that all trains in russia run on moscow time. i met some dudes who brought two watches and left one set on moscow time, a good idea for the time zone impaired.
there is a schedule of all the stops on the door to the loo in the train, it is also in moscow time.
oh, and you can say coupee or platarsky, right? for you i would recommend the cheaper platarsky, get an upper bed unless you don't mind someone sitting on your bed all day and possibly drinking and partying into the night. bring eyeshades and earplugs.
please don't cheat yourself out of seeing other parts of russia! and don't worry about the language thing. for a couple of weeks i was travelling with two friends who didn't speak a word. one of them was pretty fearless about going up and mime-ing stuff, he got along beautifully.
and you only need to worry about the registration thing if you stay in one place more than two days. i was all over siberia for nearly 3 months and the only place they ever checked it was one of the times i was leaving Tuva.
"Give me control of your TV and I could have you sticking bullets in the backs of peoples heads within a month." nowonmai
"anything you say sounds dirty to me."