All the most interesting in one magazine. Legends of the Nikolaev railway
) - built in the middle of the 19th century to provide railway communication between St. Petersburg and Moscow. The movement was opened in 1851.
The Nikolaev road became the first double-track state-owned railway in the Russian Empire and laid the foundation for the creation of a national railway network in the state. The length of the road was 645 km (604 versts).
Later, other lines were attached to the Nikolaevskaya railway. The road passed through the territories of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, Vitebsk and Smolensk provinces.
Approval of the project of the railway route
In March 1841, Nicholas I ordered the establishment of a commission to draft railway between Saint Petersburg and Moscow. A. Kh. Benkendorf was appointed chairman of the commission, among others P. P. Melnikov and N. O. Kraft. In September 1841, the commission submitted a draft report with financial and economic calculations for the construction and operation of the railway.
Between St. Petersburg and Moscow, most of the cargo was directed towards St. Petersburg, while the city was supplied mainly by waterways. So, in 1839, 1.3 million tons of cargo arrived in St. Petersburg by inland waterways. In comparison with this indicator, the railway, according to the project, was supposed to carry a significantly smaller amount of cargo - 0.4 million tons. The road was designed as another type of communication route capable of partially unloading water and horse-drawn transport and ensuring faster delivery of goods and passengers. According to the project, the cost of the route was to be 43 million rubles, of which: earthworks - 10.4 million, the superstructure of the track - 9, rolling stock - 7.8, artificial structures - 3.5 million rubles. Annual net profit - 2.6 million rubles. The volume of earthworks, with a double-track railway of the shortest direction and maximum slopes of 2.5 ‰, was calculated at 50.5 million m³. The project provided for the annual transportation of 400 thousand tons of cargo and 270 thousand people at a speed of 16 km/h for freight and 37 km/h for passenger trains.
The commission that considered this project considered the indicators of cargo and passenger turnover and operating costs to be overestimated. According to her calculations, the net profit was 0.79 million rubles. The project and both options for economic calculations were considered by the committee of ministers, where the majority opposed the construction of the railway. However, despite this, Nicholas I advocated the construction of the highway, and on February 1, 1842, the emperor signed a decree on the construction of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway.
The management of the construction of the road was entrusted to the Special Interdepartmental Committee, chaired by the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich (future Emperor Alexander II). It included ministers, the head of communications and public buildings K. F. Toll, adjutant generals A. Kh. Benkendorf, P. A. Kleinmikhel and others. The Committee established the Construction Commission. The line was divided into two construction sites delimited in the Bologoye area: the Northern Directorate, headed by P.P. Melnikov, and the Southern, headed by N.O. Kraft. By decision of the interdepartmental committee, engineer George Whistler, who had experience in building railways, was invited as the chief construction consultant from the United States. After Whistler's death in 1849, the engineer Thompson Brown was invited to take his place. On August 1, 1842, the management of the construction of the line was transferred from the interdepartmental committee to the General Directorate of Railways and Public Buildings. Instead of the deceased K. F. Tolya, P. A. Kleinmikhel was appointed head of the department. The Construction Commission was abolished. In the Main Directorate of Communications, a department of railways was established, headed by K. I. Fisher. The department included a commission for supervising the design and construction of the road (headed by engineer M. G. Destrem).
Reconnaissance surveys began in February 1842, and at the end of April 1843 the road route was mapped, approved and accepted for construction management. Simultaneously with the tracing of the line, hydrometric and engineering-geological surveys were carried out. The total length of the studied route options was 6000 km. Surveys were carried out along two routes: direct and along the route St. Petersburg - Novgorod - Vyshny Volochek - Moscow. The Novgorod version of the route was 30 km longer and 17.5% more expensive, but slightly increased traffic volumes. At a meeting of the Special Interdepartmental Committee, the opinions of senior government officials on the route of the railway were divided. Nicholas I put an end to the discussion, having decided to pass the road in a direct direction without calling at Novgorod.
Construction
Construction of the railroad began in 1843. The line was built double-track, under the 1524 mm (5 ft) gauge, which later became standard on Russian railways. The Tsarskoye Selo road that existed at that time had a gauge of 1829 mm (6 feet), while the Warsaw-Vienna road under construction had a gauge of 1435 mm, as in some European countries.
The northern directorate supervised the construction from Chudovo, and the southern one from Vyshny Volochek; later from Tver. The directorates were divided into sections of 50-60 km, and those, in turn, at a distance of 10-12 km. Large bridges, railway stations and large stations were separated into independent construction sites. All sections were headed by railway engineers. All objects of the line were built in a contract way. Work contracts were concluded directly with the General Directorate of Railways and Public Buildings. According to the contracts, the contractors were not subordinate to the heads of departments, who could not control the contractors in matters of labor and wages for workers.
The contractors hired both serfs and state serfs for the work. Most builders were recruited for the period from May 1 to November 1, but there was also a daily hire. Sometimes work was carried out in winter. The workers lived in huts or dugouts, less often in barracks. The working day lasted all daylight hours, in the middle of the day there was a two-hour break for lunch and rest. In earthworks, the production rates reached 9.2 m³ of soil per day, along with its movement over a certain distance.
The largest number of workers were diggers, who were annually up to 40,000 people at the construction site. The soil was moved by workers in wheelbarrows or horses in carts. In addition, according to the project of P. P. Melnikov, 465 "dump cars" were made on rails for horse traction. For them, 10 thousand rails with a length of 3.7 to 5.6 meters were made. For the mechanization of work, 4 steam pilers and 4 rail-mounted steam excavators were purchased from the USA. All equipment was transferred to contractors free of charge for temporary use. Excavators were used by Lykoshino and Berezaika at the excavation construction. The excavator, when working without breakdowns, produced up to 1000 m³ of soil in 12 hours, the average output was 500 m³.
Earthworks were carried out at first on sections from St. Petersburg to Chudovo and from Vyshny Volochok to [Tver, and since 1845 - along the entire length of the route. In parallel with earthworks, buildings and structures were built. Laying topside the way was conducted from St. Petersburg and Vyshny Volochok. Rails and rolling stock were delivered to Vyshny Volochek by water from St. Petersburg. Traffic on the road was opened in parts: a small section of the path from the station in St. Petersburg to the Alexander Mechanical Plant, where the rolling stock was built, was opened in 1846, the first section of the road from St. Petersburg to Kolpino was opened in May 1847, in June 1849 steam traffic was opened from Kolpino to Chudovo, in August of the same year - from Vyshny Volochok to Tver. On November 1, 1851, the road was officially opened along its entire length.
In total, about 46 million m³ of earthworks were completed during the construction. 2 large stations in the capitals, 34 stations, 8 large, 182 small and medium bridges, 69 pipes and 19 overpasses were built on the line. The construction of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway cost 67 million rubles. For comparison, the annual budget Russian Empire in 1842 amounted to 187 million rubles.
Movement opening
From August 14 to 16, 1851, two battalions of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments, two squadrons of the Life Guards of the Cavalry and Horse regiments and a division of guards artillery were transported from St. Petersburg to Moscow by rail, on 9 trains. At 4 am on August 18, the royal train, consisting of 9 cars, left for Moscow. The journey, including stops, took 19 hours. The official opening of the St. Petersburg-Moscow highway on November 1, 1851 was marked by the launch of the first "nationwide train". At 11:15 a.m., a train of 6 wagons set off. The train had 17 passengers in first class, 63 in second and 112 in third class. The train arrived in Moscow at 9 am next day, having been on the road for 21 hours and 45 minutes.
At first, the fare for passengers from St. Petersburg to Moscow was: in the first class 19 rubles, in the second - 13 and in the third - 7 rubles. For less pay, people were transported on freight trains and, in summer, on open flatcars. For comparison: in the 1820s, the cost of one ticket for a stagecoach from St. Petersburg to Moscow was 95 rubles, and the journey took 4-5 days. For the same distance traveled by a passenger on a steamboat on the route Odessa - Kerch, in 1849 one would have to pay 16, 9 or 4 rubles for a ticket of 1, 2 or 3 classes, respectively.
The railway engineer A. A. Romanov, who had previously worked on the Tsarskoye Selo line, was appointed the first head of the railway. From 1852 to 1855, the highway was headed by N. O. Kraft.
Almost all the work on the operation of the railway was carried out by military units. In 1851, 14 separate military-working companies, 2 conductor companies and one telegraph company were formed. Military work companies, with a total number of 3,500 people, were engaged in the protection of bridges and crossings, as well as organizing the work of stations. The conductor companies consisted of machinists, their assistants, stokers and conductors, a total of 550 people. The telegraph was provided by a company of 290 servicemen. With the transition of the line to private owners, military formations were abolished.
Description of the highway
Structures
Petersburg-Moscow railway was built double-track, its gauge is 1524 mm. The length of the route is 645 kilometers. The width of the subgrade on embankments is 9.45 m, in recesses - 9.75 m. The lower ballast layer is sandy, 0.3 m thick in recesses and 0.6 m on embankments; the upper one is crushed stone, 0.17 m thick. Spruce sleepers are laid on longitudinally laid tracks in three rows of pine beds measuring 5.4 × 0.2 × 0.075 m. The beds were laid for a more uniform transfer of load to the subgrade. Most of the laid rails are foreign-made. The rails were iron, weighing 30 kg / m and 5.4 m long, fastened together with an 11-kilogram cast-iron pillow laid on a sleeper. There were 1166 sleepers per kilometer. In large excavations, double and sometimes triple slopes were reinforced to prevent landslides.
The smallest radius of curves on hauls was limited to 1.6 km, and at separate points - 1.065 km, curved sections occupied 7.5% of the length. Due to the fact that 80% of the cargo was sent towards St. Petersburg, the guiding slope (the maximum slope of the track) towards St. Petersburg was built half as much - 2.5 ‰ (toward Moscow - 5 ‰). The exception was the protracted Verebyinsky ascent towards Moscow, 17.6 km long. It started at the Mstinsky bridge and amounted to 7.8 ‰.
34 stations of four classes were built on the road. Stations of class I are located at a distance of about 160 km from each other, class II, III and IV - 80, 40 and 20 km. Class I stations: Petersburg, Malaya Vishera, Bologoe, Tver, Moscow. Class II: Lyuban, Okulovka, Spirovo, Klin. Class III: Sablino, Chudovo, Verebye, Torbino, Lykoshino, Vyshny Volochek, Ostashkovo, Zavidovo, Kryukovo. Class IV: Kolpino, Ushaki, Babino, Ridges, Burga, Borovenka, Uglovka, Berezaika, Zarechye, Osechenka, Kalashnikovo, Kulitskaya, Kuzminka, Reshetnikovo, Podsolnechnaya, Khimki. At the stations, in accordance with their class, stations were built: I and II classes - island (with the exception of St. Petersburg and Moscow), III and IV - on the side of the tracks. Stations of I and II classes were designed by the architect R. A. Zhelyazevich and were identical in appearance, differing in length: 115 and 86.7 m. In Klin, by mistake, a station corresponding to a station of class I was built.
Facilities for refueling locomotives with water were built at all stations. At stations of III and IV classes, these were two buildings located on both sides of the main passage. At stations of classes I and II, tanks for refueling steam locomotives with water were located in the repair zone of the round depot. In Moscow, a separate water tower was built to supply the station. From the reservoirs, the liquid was pumped by steam pumps to the water tower, from where it flowed by gravity into the tender tank.
Locomotive depots were built at all Class I and II stations. At class II stations, they were used as circulating, at the rest - as the main ones. The depots were round, with an outer diameter of 64 m. They were divided into 22 sections 15 m long. 4 sections were through and were used for the entry of steam locomotives into the depot building and workshops attached to it. The remaining 18 were used for laying locomotives. In Moscow, due to the lack of an extension to the building of repair shops, 20 sections were used as stalls, and two served as the entrance to the depot. The turning circles were arranged in the center of the depot premises. The central part of the building was covered with a dome with a lantern at the top for lighting and ventilation. The locomotive entered the depot through the outer gate and turned inside the building on a turning circle to the desired stall. With the advent of steam locomotives with four driving axles, the depot was expanded, extending the stall by 3.2 m. At the end stations, there were wagon depots 213 meters long.
All railway bridges were built on stone supports, except for the Mstinsky and Verebyinsky bridges, which Bottom part the supports are stone, and the upper ones are made of wood sheathed with iron. Small bridges had either stone or wooden spans. Large - exclusively with wooden spans. Five spans of the bridge across the Volkhov were 51 m long, and one was a ten-meter drawbridge. On the Verebyinsky bridge there were 7 stone arches of 6.4 m each and 9 wooden trusses of 49.7 m each. The 550 m long Mstinsky bridge had 9 spans of 61 m each. In 1868-1893, wooden bridges on the highway were replaced with metal ones.
As protection against snow drifts on the railway, protective forest plantations and wooden shields along the route were used.
Since 1852, the telegraph has been used to communicate between stations. A telegraph line of two insulated copper wires was laid along the side of the track at the ends of the sleepers. At first, it used telegraph devices from Siemens, which laid this line. After 2 years they were replaced by Morse devices. In 1854, the telegraph line was shifted - it became an air line. Three wires were suspended through insulators on wooden poles spaced at 67 m intervals.
rolling stock
The Alexander Iron Foundry was chosen as the enterprise for the production of rolling stock for the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway. It was founded in 1824 and was located near St. Petersburg on the banks of the Neva. In 1843, the plant was transferred from the Department of Mining and Salt Affairs to the Main Directorate of Communications and Public Buildings and renamed the Alexander Mechanical Plant. With the Americans Waynes and Garison, an agreement was concluded on the transfer of the plant under their management for a period of 6 years with the obligation of the latter to equip the plant with new equipment and build rolling stock for the railway.
By the opening of the road, the plant produced 121 freight (No. 1-121) and 43 passenger (No. 122-164) steam locomotives, 239 passenger, 1991 covered freight cars and 580 platforms. The production of a steam locomotive with a tender cost approximately 12,000 rubles, a passenger car - 4,500, a freight car - 1,400 rubles.
On the railway, work was carried out on its reconstruction. So, since 1857, longitudinal beds were removed from the upper structure of the track with a simultaneous increase in the plot of laying sleepers (sleeper pitch) - from 1166 to 1480 pieces per kilometer of track. Since 1886, sleepers impregnated with zinc chloride have been used, which increased their service life from 4 to 8 years. Gradually, iron rails were replaced by steel ones, 8.5 m long and weighing 33 kg/m with a new type of rail joint connection. Major work to increase the track spacing by 30.5 cm - from 3.36 m to 3.66 m (from 11 to 12 feet) - was carried out in the 1890s. In 1860, based on the experience of operating the highway, the all-Russian dimensions of the rolling stock and the proximity of buildings were adopted.
Since 1860, optical signaling has been used on the road, allowing or prohibiting the further movement of the train. Each signaling element was a disk mounted on a pole with a hole in its center for a lantern. The disks were red - input - and were installed near the turnouts, or green, which were installed 500-800 m from the arrow and warned of approaching the input signal. The position of the red disc edge to the driver plus the white light lit at night meant permission for further movement. The disk, facing the driver with a plane, and at night an additionally lit red light showed that the path was closed. In 1878, blocking came into use on the railroad, and entry and exit semaphores were installed at stations. At the same time, devices for centralizing switches and signals appeared on the railway, which made it possible to combine the control of turnouts in one or two posts at the station.
From 1868 to 1893, the wooden superstructures of the bridges were replaced with metal ones according to the project of N. A. Belelyubsky. At this time - in 1869 - on one of the largest bridges of the railway - Mstinsky - there was a major fire in which several spans of the bridge burned down. This resulted in significant road traffic disruption for 4 months, during which the burnt farms were rebuilt. The Mstinsky bridge received metal trusses in 1881, during the construction of the Verebinsky bypass, when a new one was built next to the old wooden bridge. The Verebinsky bypass was built to reduce the slope of the track in this section. Work on its construction was carried out from 1877 to 1881 and cost, including the replacement of the Mstinsky bridge, 5 million 240 thousand rubles. The bypass lengthened the line by 5.4 km, but made it possible to reduce the slope of the line at this point to 6 ‰. Verebyinsky bridge was no longer used.
In 1869, hydrocolumns were installed at many stations for collecting water by steam locomotives. In addition to the round depots, no longer capable of accommodating newer and correspondingly longer steam locomotives, 10 rectangular depots were built: 7 of them with twelve and 3 with four stalls. In Moscow, a rolling depot for nineteen stalls was erected. The first marshalling yard in Russia was opened in St. Petersburg in 1879. The station was built double-sided - with marshalling yards on both sides of the main tracks. Each park had inclined exhaust paths with a slope of 10 ‰.
The number of wagons on the train increased. By the end of the 19th century, there were up to 11 carriages in the passenger train, and 50 freight carriages. From the 1860s, passenger carriages began to be equipped with toilets and also heated. In 1892, 17 passenger and 30 freight train pairs per day ran on the section between St. Petersburg and Moscow. The courier train covered the distance between the capitals in 13 hours.
Control
At the head of the road department was the head of the railway, to whom all other services were subordinate. The chiefs of the railway were: A. A. Serebryakov (1855-1864), P. P. Zuev (1864-1868), [I. F. Koenig (1868-1880), P. P. Mikhaltsev (1880-1899), N. K. Schaufus (1899-1905).
While the road was owned by the Main Society of Russian Railways, the road management was divided into 6 services: repair of the track and buildings, rolling stock and traction, operation, control of fees, store management. After the transition of the road under state control, the structure of services was supplemented by the office, the main accounting department, the legal part, medical and material services. The path, traction, operation and medical services were divided into separate sections responsible for their road distance.
Economic indicators
Data on the Nikolaev railway:
The main course of the Oktyabrskaya railway
February 27, 1923, in accordance with the order of the People's Commissariat of Railways No. 1313, the Nikolaev railway was renamed the Oktyabrskaya. Subsequently, the railways were included in its composition: North-Western (1929), Kirovskaya (1959). Part of the railway - the route between Leningrad and Moscow - became known as the main course.
In accordance with the order of the Ministry of Railways of May 29, 1957, on the Leningrad-Moscow line in 1962, work was completed on the organization of traffic at increased speeds: the power of the track structure was increased, a new ALSN system was equipped, work was carried out on electrification for direct current with a voltage of 3 kV. The CHS2 electric locomotives that arrived on the main line carried passenger trains to Moscow in 5 and a half hours.
In 2001, during the reconstruction of the main passage, the line was straightened. Instead of the Verebinsky bypass, the route passed along the direct route that previously existed until 1881. A new bridge was built across the Verebyinsky ravine. The structure of the track and the contact network was reconstructed.
Legends related to the road
- On the opening day of the railway, there was an embarrassment. One helpful tsarist official, wanting to curry favor with his superiors, ordered the rails to be painted with white oil paint. Once on the site with freshly painted rails, the wheels began to slip, and the train stopped.
- There was a legend that the emperor personally gave instructions on how and where to lay the road: the emperor attached a ruler to the map and drew a line. Near Msta, the pencil, which was held by one hand of the emperor, stumbled upon the finger of the other hand and drew a curve. The imperial decision had to be carried out. In fact, apart from some of the large curves that still exist on the road today, as well as the smaller curves at the station necks, which were reconstructed for high-speed traffic, the road was originally built straight. In the place of the mentioned bend - in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Mstinsky bridge station - the line was also absolutely straight, which, with the profile drop in this place, made it difficult for trains with steam locomotives, which did not have a very large traction force, to move. To pass the ascent, it was necessary to attach an additional locomotive or uncouple the train into two parts. In order to overcome the inconvenience, a “bend” was created - the Verebyinsky bypass with the Oksochi station, the longitudinal profile of the track became more favorable. Many decades after the need for such a bypass disappeared, the Verebinsky bypass was dismantled, the Oksochi station was closed, and the line became straight again.
Straight path: the mounds are narrow,
Poles, rails, bridges.
And on the sides, all the bones are Russian ...
How many of them! Vanya, do you know?
The contractors hired both serfs and state serfs for the work. Contracts between the contractor and the landowner were concluded without the legal participation of the serfs. They had to give part of the money they earned to the landowner as dues. The state peasant concluded the contract on his own, but due to mass illiteracy, he often could not read it and took the agent's word for it. The workers lived in huts or dugouts, less often in barracks. The working day lasted all daylight hours, in the middle of the day there was a two-hour break for lunch and rest. The contracts did not provide for wages, it was determined on the spot for each artel, depending on its specialty. In case of illness, 15 kopecks were deducted from the worker daily for food and 5 kopecks for the infirmary.
The construction of the road was slow and difficult. There is a story that at some reception the Emperor found himself face to face with Count Kleinmichel, who was in charge of the construction. And immediately remembered: “When will you build it?”. He was taken aback and immediately blurted out: “In a year!” And built. Of course, all the hardships of this great construction fell on the lot of the peasants. The work was hard, the conditions were terrible, but the road was built.
The opening of the St. Petersburg - Moscow road, which he was appointed head of, took place on November 1 (13), 1851 - eight and a half years after the start of construction. The length of the road was 650 km, which made it the longest in Europe at that time. The first train left St. Petersburg at 11:15 am and arrived in Moscow at 9:00 am the next day, traveling 21:45 hours. Thus, with the commissioning of the road, the travel time from St. Petersburg to Moscow was reduced by a factor of three (compared to the time of travel along the highway).
On the opening day of the railway, there was an embarrassment. One helpful tsarist official, wanting to curry favor with his superiors, ordered the rails to be painted with white oil paint. Once on the site with freshly painted rails, the wheels began to slip and the train stopped. They say that all the officials had to dig sand on the rails so that the train could still move.
Well, I suggest you take a short excursion into the past to the sound of wheels. Our way lies from Moscow to St. Petersburg, with small stops. As the theater begins with a hanger, so does the railway from the station.
Close to Red Gate
There is a left turn.
The place has changed again
There the curiosity opened,
And on the spot, on the empty,
Suddenly a huge house grew.
Big tower at home
And whistles there very scary
Self-whistling is intricate,
Know overseas, cunning.
And when you come to the yard
What else can you find
There is a cast-iron road
unparalleled beauty,
It's just miracles.
(from the folk poem "Railway" 19th century)
Nikolaevsky railway station.
In connection with the construction of the road, it became necessary to build railway stations. The station in Moscow was built in the years. in the Russian-Byzantine style characteristic of the architect, which implies a combination of strict forms and symmetry of the composition. In the central part
The building housed a two-tiered tower with a clock and a flagpole. The original historical name of the station in Moscow was Petersburg.
To the north-west of the station on Kalanchevka in the years, a round building of a locomotive depot "for 20 stalls" was built for parking and repairing steam locomotives. The construction was carried out according to a standard project developed by a student Rudolf Andreevich Zhelyazevich. It is a rotunda in the Roman spirit - with a round courtyard, arched galleries and stairs. Initially, it was covered with a dome, under which a circle of rails was placed to turn the locomotives and direct them to the appropriate sector - the "stall". Initially, there were 10 such structures along the road, three of them were demolished in different time, two are abandoned and falling apart, all the others have been rebuilt.
Simultaneously with the construction of the depot, an impressive water tower was erected, forming an ensemble, long time former town-planning dominant of the vicinity of the station. The architecture of the tower is unusual - on top it has an extra tier with arched windows. This suggests that initially the pumping station was combined with a centralization post (analogous to a modern control room), for this time this is extremely rare. Nearby, another, less conspicuous building is preserved - the “oil tank” or “oiler”, most likely this is a point for supplying oil to steam locomotives and wagons.
In Moscow, the building of the "Nikolaev" circular depot is the only one, since 1991 it has the status of an identified object of cultural heritage. Seemingly hard to find the best place for the Museum of Moscow Railways. However, the complex is under threat of demolition due to plans for a new commuter rail line.
The circular depot has come down to our days with serious restructuring. The ground level has changed from the side of the Yaroslavl railway station. The dome was lost, interfloor ceilings were arranged under the vaults of the “stall”, the 3rd floor was built above the vaults. Numerous outbuildings were built along the perimeter of the building, the entrances to the courtyard were built up. Most of the arched openings have been blocked, additional openings have been pierced, and a significant part of the brick decor has been cut down. The building is used for commercial and warehouse purposes. Currently, preparations are underway for the demolition of the historic building.
Of particular concern for the fate of the Circular Depot is the demolition of another historical building located nearby - the Fan Locomotive Depot of the Nikolaev Railway. The demolition of most of the building was carried out in April 2011 as part of the construction project for the 4th main track on the Moscow - Kryukovo section.
The demolition of the Fan depot of the Nikolaev railway received a loud response in the media and public opinion. After all, it did not have a protected status, nevertheless it was located on the historical territory of the city.
Let's continue our journey. Let's go buy tickets. Today it is very easy to do this, but in those distant times things were quite different. At first, the fare for passengers from St. Petersburg to Moscow was: in the first class 19 rubles, in the second - 13 and in the third - 7 rubles. For a smaller fee, people were transported in freight trains, and in summer on open platforms. For comparison, in the 1820s, the cost of one ticket for a stagecoach from St. Petersburg to Moscow was 95 rubles, and the journey took 4-5 days. For the same distance traveled by a passenger on a steamboat on the route Odessa - Kerch, in 1849 one would have to pay 16, 9 or 4 rubles for a ticket of 1, 2 or 3 classes, respectively. Only wealthy people could afford to travel third, and even more so second or first class. It was also difficult to get a train ticket to Moscow. To do this, the citizen first had to write a statement to the police station and hand over his passport there so that the police could check his "reliability". A few days later he could come for permission and only after that buy a ticket. Passenger passports were handed over by the police to the conductor of the train, and he returned them only after arriving at the terminal station.
We take places according to the purchased tickets. Of course, our wagons are very different from its predecessors of that time.
Passenger cars were produced in three classes, and had a frame length of 17 m, a tare weight of 22 tons. Entry and exit was carried out from open areas at the ends of the car. There were no shelves for things and luggage in the cars, there was no toilet. The cars were thermally insulated, but not heated. Ventilation occurred when windows were opened, the lower half of which opened upwards. At night, the carriages were lit by candle lanterns. In the middle of cars of II and III classes there was a passage, to the right and left of which there were benches for passengers. The distance between adjacent windows did not match the distance between the benches. In class III, the benches were rigid, 1 m long and 0.4 m deep, 90 people were accommodated in the car. In the II class, the seats were separated by an armrest, the benches were soft, the distance between them was large, they themselves were deeper - 0.64 m. The II class car had 52 seats, the I class took 28 passengers. For them, 14 soft sofas 1.9 m long were arranged for two passengers each. Sofas were placed across the car, corresponding to the pitch of the windows. The passage was at the side wall of the car.
If we traveled by train in the cold season, we would see an interesting thing: at first, in winter, special stoves were used to heat passengers on the way between St. Petersburg and Moscow, which were metal boxes filled with heated bricks.
One of the latest projects of the Oktyabrskaya Railway was the creation of the "Nikolaev Express" - a train, the carriages of which are decorated "antique", in the style of carriages of the 19th century.
So, our train is leaving, happy journey to us. And we have a long way to go.
The Nikolaev line crosses 4 provinces: St. Petersburg, Novgorod, Tver and Moscow, touching, in addition to both capitals, the following urban settlements: Kolpino (state fur factories), Malaya Vishera, Vyshny Volochek (paper-spinning and weaving factories, glass and sawmills) , Tver (a pier on the Volga, extensive paper manufactories and a large mechanical plant under construction) and Klin (many factories in the vicinity). There are 37 stations along the line, 16 half-stations, 18 platforms. The more remarkable stations are Tosna, Lyuban, Chudovo (match factories), Volkhovskaya (Sosninka wharf, shipping company along the Volkhov), Okulovka (stationery and sack factories), Uglovka (lime factories), Valdayka (commodity flour mills), Bologoye (crossing with the Rybinsk railway; significant shopping center), Spirovo, Ostashkovskaya (renamed Novotorzhskaya), Zavidovo (extensive supply of timber materials to Moscow from the pier along the Shoshe River), Reshetnikovo, Khimki (dacha place).
P. Khvoynaya, Novgorod region
The oldest state railway line in Russia was built in the middle of the 19th century. to provide railway communication between St. Petersburg and Moscow.
The history of the St. Petersburg-Moscow road began on February 1 (13), 1842, when Emperor Nicholas I signed a decree on the construction of a railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow. To carry out the work, a special Committee was established, which included both official representatives of the authorities (P.A. Kleinmikhel, A.Kh. Benkendorf, A.A. Bobrinsky), and technical managers and creators of the construction project (P.P. Melnikov , N. O. Kraft, K. V. Chevkin).
Design, survey and construction work was carried out for ten years (in 1842-1851) and required large financial investments, original technical solutions, the involvement of many domestic and foreign specialists and a significant number of labor forces. More than 800,000 workers, mostly serfs, took part in the construction of the road.
Traffic on certain sections of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway began already in 1846, and on November 1 (13), 1851, the entire line was officially opened. The first "nationwide" train went to Moscow. "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti" wrote then: "November 1 will remain a day forever memorable for Russia: on this day there was ... the opening to the public of the railway connecting our two capitals - the head and heart of Russia."
The first "nationwide" train consisted of a steam locomotive, two soft, three hard and one baggage car. 192 passengers went on the first flight. The train left Petersburg at 11:15. and arrived in Moscow the next day at 9 am. Total time The journey took 21 hours 45 minutes.
In the middle of the XIX century. The Petersburg-Moscow railway was the most technically advanced and the longest double-track railway in the world - its length was 604 versts (644 km).
In 1855, a new highway and railway station in the capital were named after Emperor Nicholas I. After the revolution, in 1923, Nikolaev road was renamed Oktyabrskaya, and the station received the name that is valid to this day - Moskovsky.
NEED FOR MODERNIZATION
In 1851, there were only three railways in the country: Tsarsko-Selskaya, Warsaw-Vienna and St. Petersburg-Moscow with a total length of about 1000 miles (for comparison: in 1850 the total length of the railways of the North American states was more than 15,000 km).
This level of development of the railway network did not allow the use of railways for military purposes and significantly reduced the defense power of the state. This was clearly demonstrated by the Crimean War of 1853-1856. The first manager of the Committee for the Movement of Troops by Railroads and Water, M.N. Annenkov, being unable to restrain his bitterness and annoyance, wrote: , counted no more than 8000 in their ranks near Evpatoria, having not participated in a single skirmish before.
THE BEGINNING OF THE RAILWAY BOOM
From August 14 to 16, two battalions of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments, two squadrons of the Life Guards of the Cavalier Guard and Horse regiments and a division of guards artillery were transported from St. Petersburg to Moscow on 9 trains.
At 4 am on August 18, a royal train consisting of 9 cars left for Moscow. The journey, including stops, took 19 hours.<…>In total, about 46 million cubic meters were completed during the construction. m earthworks. 2 large stations in the capitals, 34 stations, 8 large, 182 small and medium bridges, 69 pipes and 19 overpasses were built on the line. The construction of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway cost 67 million rubles. This road was completely state.
The need to dramatically expand the railway network and attract private capital for this became clear after Crimean War... On January 28, 1857, the Main Society of Russian Railways (GORZHD) was founded.
The goal of the society was to build within ten years and then maintain for eighty-five years a network of railways, stretching about four thousand miles, so that, after the specified deadlines, the entire network would become the property of the state free of charge. The company's capital was mixed: Russia accounted for 37.5%, England - 28.3%, the rest of the funds were French and Prussian. The government guaranteed the shareholders of the company an annual income of 5%. A guaranteed income, regardless of the results of the company's activities, had a detrimental effect on its activities - funds were stolen and squandered.
For 1865-1875. the length of the railway network increased from 3.8 thousand to 19 thousand miles. However, the dramatic increase in the length of the railway network did not lead to an equally dramatic increase in the profitability of the railways.
Of the 37 companies, only 5 during the entire period of their existence did not require additional payments on account of the state guarantee and fulfilled their financial obligations without arrears. The government was forced to allocate budgetary funds to finance the construction. Annual multi-million surcharges on guaranteed capitals of private lines for 1871-1881. increased four times. By January 1, 1880, the treasury spent 1,767.6 million rubles on the construction and operation of railways. Companies' debt to the state reached 579.6 million rubles.
AND ETERNAL TONE
On the side facade of the Leningradsky railway station there is a large bas-relief of a fit and strict man with blueprints and tools in his hands. This is the famous Russian architect Konstantin Andreevich Ton. The one that built the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Grand Kremlin Palace, the Armory. And he had the most direct relation to the road, which for some reason is still not called, as before, - Nikolaevskaya.
It was Nicholas I who owed Russia the appearance of railways. The tsar managed to pass on his passion for them, as well as his interest in all kinds of technical innovations, to his grandson. In turn, Alexander III became the main creator of the "Russian miracle" - the Trans-Siberian Railway built in just ten years. All loud disputes (and among the staunch opponents of the construction of the Moscow-Petersburg railway was, by the way, even Herzen, awakened by the Decembrists, who said that it was needed only so that in Moscow they would find out a couple of days earlier what other books were banned by the government) the tsar stopped with his characteristic determination with a single word: "Do!".
There is a legend about how the Moscow-Petersburg route was planned. As if the sovereign-emperor took a ruler and connected the two capitals without further ado, and in one place there was even a semicircular trace - a bend from the royal finger. In fact, there were many disputes about the direction of the route, but in the end they decided to make the speed of movement the main goal, which meant the maximum straightness of the route. Before the advent of the railway, the journey between the capitals took three to four days. On the railroad, the first train passed exactly in a day. And the “finger of the sovereign” was straightened a few years ago ...
The road, designed by engineers Melnikov (the future Minister of Railways, whose monument was recently erected opposite the Leningradsky railway station) and Kraft, was built in seven years: from 1844 to 1851. On August 16, 1851, the august passenger traveled for the first time by rail from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Moreover, it is known for certain that a certain zealous official painted the rails on the rise to the bridge across the Msta River with fresh oil paint, which, of course, caused the train to stall, and the track had to be sprinkled with sand.
The main railway of the country also needed the appropriate infrastructure. First of all - stations. They invited the tsar's favorite, Konstantin Andreevich Ton. He, according to his staff, never laughed or even smiled. He did not like writing or what is called PR today. Like any meticulous German, he knew his business brilliantly. He was entrusted with the design of stations on the new road, since he had experience - the first station in Russia, Tsarskoselsky, which had served for almost a hundred years, was built according to the design of Ton. Architect Ton designed the space of the road - 651 kilometers - as a single ensemble, as a gigantic area.
To begin with, both sides of it needed to be “closed” with symmetrical, as similar buildings as possible. Even today they seem almost the same: two-story, with very similar towers. Yes, not so. The facade of the station in St. Petersburg is wider by two pairs of windows - after all, the capital! But the tower is a little more modest: after all, the Moscow one was the dominant height on the then absolutely deserted Kalanchevskaya Square. St. Petersburg is a discreet replica of the main verticals of Nevsky Prospekt - the Admiralty spire and the tower of the City Duma.
Only a very attentive eye will notice differences in window decoration. In the northern capital, the departing passenger was greeted by the so-called "hanging stone", that is, a weight hanging between two arches - a characteristic technique of Moscow architecture of the 17th century. And in Moscow, the station is unobtrusively decorated with baroque lace - as a reminder of the magical decor of St. Petersburg Bartolomeo Rastrelli. In addition, the St. Petersburg railway station is decorated with two symmetrical arches. One, on the right, is for incoming crews, the other, on the left, is for those that were picking up arriving passengers. At both train stations - right up to the end of the 1960s! - went under the landing stage.
Meanwhile, the ensemble on Kalanchevskaya Square remained unfinished: Ton designed two buildings symmetrically to the station: one for customs, the other for residential, for road workers. They managed to build only the first one, and in place of the second one is now the lobby of the metro station.
Stations of intermediate stations - Tver, Bologoy, Okulovka, Uglovka, Lyuban and others - Ton himself did not design. This was done by his assistant Roman Zhelyazevich (he also owned the project of the landing stage of the Moscow railway station), but, of course, the “architect of His Majesty” was involved in bringing the buildings to a single “denominator”. The architects did their best: almost the entire ensemble is still intact. In some places, the characteristic rectangular, rounded-off station buildings have been rebuilt (as in Bologoye). In some places, in the presence of new, modern stations, the old ones have been restored and preserved as historical monuments (as in Tver). And in some places - like in Okulovka or in Uglovka - they continue, as they did a hundred and fifty years ago, to serve, clerically speaking, according to their original purpose - the flow of passengers there is not so great.
Interestingly, all stations, with the exception of Moscow, are painted in the same color - also a monument to the era! Let us recall Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy: “I noticed that this color yellow, Especially flatters the heart of a patriot; Smear a house or an infirmary in a vohroy Irresistible Russian hunting; The authorities in this, too, for a long time The well-intentioned sees something, And the Chambers, the temple, the prison and the watchtower will be vohryatsya in the provinces. And - stations, we will add.
In some places, the ensembles of stations have not been completely preserved, because the church was an indispensable attribute of the station complex at that time. In the late 1970s, a beautiful temple was broken down at the Tver railway station - it was in his honor and memory that a cross was placed. And, for example, in Lyuban the temple was restored and now serves as a monument-tomb to the engineer Melnikov, one of the creators of the Nikolaev railway.
ON THE. NEKRASOV. RAILWAY
V a n I (in a coachman's coat).
Dad! who built this road?
Papa (in a coat with a red lining),
Count Pyotr Andreyevich Kleinmichel, my dear!
Conversation in the car
Straight path: the mounds are narrow,
Poles, rails, bridges.
And on the sides, all the bones are Russian ...
How many of them! Vanya, do you know?
This noble habit of work
We would not be bad to adopt with you ...
Bless the work of the people
And learn to respect the man.
Do not be shy for the dear homeland ...
The Russian people carried enough
Carried out this railroad -
Will endure whatever the Lord sends!
Will endure everything - and wide, clear
He will pave the way for himself with his chest.
The only pity is to live in this beautiful time
You won't have to, neither me nor you.
The first railway in Russia is a landmark phenomenon. What were the people of Nikolaev Russia afraid of and what did they believe in when a grandiose highway connecting the capitals was being built before their eyes?
Emperor's famous finger
Perhaps the most famous legend associated with the Nikolaevskaya (now Oktyabrskaya) railway is the legend about the bend in the road near the Oksochi station - the Verbinsky bypass. According to legend, when planning where the road would pass, Nicholas I drew a straight line on the map between St. Petersburg and Moscow - under the ruler. And in this place, where the Verbinsky detour is now (which, by the way, was nevertheless "straightened" several years ago), a curve turned out, because the emperor's pencil stumbled over his finger. Executive builders, of course, did not dare to disobey the imperial plan and built everything exactly according to the scheme. And among the people this place received a new name - "the finger of the emperor."
This beautiful legend does not stand up to scrutiny. A.I. Frolov writes in his book that there was a profile difference in this place, which “difficulty the movement of trains with steam locomotives that had not very large traction. bend "- Verebyinsky detour from Oksochi station, the longitudinal profile of the track has become more favorable."
devil's notion
Div Clear There were also rumors among the people that no one dared to get on the train first. This terrible machine, incomprehensibly moving at a terrible speed, releasing clouds of smoke and roaring furiously, was controlled by none other than evil spirit: devils turned the wheels, and their leader led the train. Therefore, the first to be put on the train were ... prisoners. And then, having made sure that the train was going exactly along the laid track and was capable of stopping, the first "official" passengers, including the emperor, boarded it.
As you know, not only the people were distrustful of the innovation of Nicholas the First. Among educated people, who understand how the train works, there were also those who saw the negative side in the modernization of the country. Herzen, for example, publicly declared that the expressway was needed only so that in Moscow they would find out a couple of days earlier what other books were banned by the government.
Russian riding
The comic story about how the emperor first tested the new railway was passed from mouth to mouth and caused universal laughter. Some wit came up with the idea that the emperor decided not to wait for the opening of the railway and ordered to put his horse-drawn carriage with wheels on the rails. The horses, of course, remained in harness. In such a simple way, Nicholas the First allegedly drove from St. Petersburg to the nearest station and, satisfied, landed on it. "Good deal!" - the pleased ruler allegedly said, but he was not driving back on rails.
Frightened Nicholas
Another version of the behavior of Nicholas I during the first test of the new railway. When the road was already ready, Nikolai traveled the entire distance from St. Petersburg to Moscow to accept work. But at the Verebyensky bridge (and this is a very long bridge, 590 meters long and with a support height of 53 meters), an unscheduled stop occurred, and a high commission headed by the emperor went out to breathe fresh air. The sovereign, seeing the hulk of the colossal bridge, was allegedly afraid to ride on it, not trusting its reliability. He gave the order to drive an empty train across the Verebyensky bridge, and only after he was thus convinced that the bridge was strong enough, the commission continued on its way.
It is this bridge that is depicted on the bas-relief, which is located on the monument to Nicholas I on St. Isaac's Square in St. Petersburg. The bridge was designed by D.I. Zhuravsky.
painted rails
Another version of the same legend says that the train on this section ... stalled. The railway was built for a long time, almost ten years, and therefore the rails had time to rust. Shame and disgrace - rusted rails for the sovereign with a check! It was decided to quickly paint them - and one of the masters, extremely executive, painted them not only on the sides, but also on top. It was done in Russian, at the last possible moment. And now the imperial train is stalling on this section. I had to lighten the train - and at the same time disembark passengers, pour sand under the huge wheels and push the train further with difficulty.
The bas-relief near St. Isaac's Square depicts a scene where the entire commission and Nicholas the First are not on the train, but for some reason got off it...
Folklore
The grandiose railway could not but enter into folklore, and not only into it, but even into Russian poetry. "Station Berezaika, who needs to get out!" - passengers still say, although this proverb has been around for a century and a half.
They say that this railway used to be truly musical: for the safety of passengers and people living near the stations, the Nikolaevskaya railway used sound signals: bells, whistles and - attention! - even musical organ grinders. Optical telegraph, hand flags, red and green discs, single-winged and double-winged semaphores were used for visual signals.
But not only cheerful memories remained about the construction and the beginning of the operation of this road. Nekrasov, for example, wrote with his characteristic naturalistic directness:
Straight path: the mounds are narrow,
Poles, rails, bridges.
And on the sides, all the bones are Russian ...
How many of them! Vanya, do you know?
After these lines, the figures are perceived differently: 278 artificial structures, including 184 bridges, 69 stone and cast-iron pipes and 19 overpasses. The cost of building the railway by 1851 was 64,664,751 rubles, the cost of one kilometer was 100,400 rubles.
Station competition
The legend that one can judge the eternal competition between Moscow and St. Petersburg by the stations has every reason. And the stories that the stations are similar, but not very much, make sense. In general, it was the idea of the architect Ton, who designed the entire space of the road - 651 kilometers - as a single ensemble, as a huge area. Both sides of it are "closed" by symmetrical buildings - St. Petersburg and Moscow stations. The facade of the station in St. Petersburg is wider by two pairs of windows - after all, the capital! And the tower, on the contrary, is more modest - it is a discreet replica of the main verticals of Nevsky Prospekt - the Admiralty spire and the tower of the City Duma. An imperceptible, but significant discrepancy in the decoration of windows: in St. Petersburg, a "weight" hung between two arches, which was characteristic feature Moscow architecture of the 17th century, and in Moscow, on the contrary, the station is decorated with baroque lace as a reminder of the St. Petersburg decors of Bartolomeo Rastrelli.
And, although St. Petersburg is no longer the capital of the empire, the distance is still measured from Znamenskaya Square.
On February 13, 1842, Nicholas I signed a decree on the construction of the St. Petersburg - Moscow railway. Already in 1851, the first train left St. Petersburg. In 1855, after the death of the emperor, the railway was named Nikolaevskaya, and in 1923 it was renamed into Oktyabrskaya.
Now it's hard to imagine, but with the advent of railways in the US and Europe, a discussion has unfolded in Russia - whether our country needs them. In the 1830s, some skeptics suggested not laying a rail track (they say that in severe snowy winters it would simply be covered), but to arrange special tracts for steam locomotives on wheels with a wide rim (the so-called land steamers). The idea did not take root, and in 1837 a full-fledged railway construction was launched: in October, traffic was opened on the road from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo.
In the 30-40s of the 19th century, the issue of a reliable road connection between St. Petersburg and the central regions of Russia became especially acute. And on February 13, 1842, Nicholas I, known for his interest in all sorts of technical innovations, signed a decree on the construction of the first Russian railway line St. Petersburg - Moscow.
About how the road was built - in the material "RG".
Legend of the Imperial Finger
The road was laid according to optimal parameters: both economic feasibility and throughput were taken into account, taking into account the growth of traffic in the future.
According to a well-known legend, the path from St. Petersburg to Moscow ran in a straight line because the emperor, wanting to demonstrate how he sees the future highway, drew a line between the two cities on a ruler. According to the same legend, along the way, a bend comes across, allegedly appearing in the place where Nicholas 1 accidentally circled his own finger on the map.
In reality, as usual, things were different. Most of the members of the committee for the construction of the railway believed that it was necessary to lead it to Novgorod. The sovereign did not share this opinion. To resolve protracted disputes, he summoned an engineer, the author of the project, Pavel Melnikov. The expert came to the conclusion that the construction of the railway according to the direct option is more profitable. "It would be a great mistake and an incalculable loss in the general state economy to doom future generations to pay more than 80 versts, for a whole century or more, until direct calculation would force the construction of another, shorter road from St. Petersburg to Moscow," - cites the architect in a brief historical sketch from 1901. The emperor was pleased that the engineer shared his views on the future of the road and said: "Drive the road straight ahead." These words did not mean at all that it was necessary to lead the way in a straight line: the emperor meant that it was not necessary to keep the direction to Novgorod.
In the place of the mentioned bend - in the area of the Mstinsky bridge station - the line was also absolutely straight, but due to the peculiarities of the landscape, the railway workers had to bend the path (later, by the way, when the railway equipment became more advanced, the bypass was dismantled).
American measure
Work on the construction of the road began on May 27, 1843, simultaneously from two sides - from St. Petersburg to Bologoy and from Moscow to Bologoy.
At the beginning of 1842, the post of Minister of War was held by Peter Kleinmichel. Government buildings under him were erected quickly, but cost the budget a lot of money, and the people - human casualties.
Artels built the road, often consisting of serfs from the Vitebsk and Vilna provinces. They were directly dependent on each other: if one of the workers fell ill, the cost of his treatment was deducted from the earnings of the entire artel. According to contemporaries, dozens of builders died from exhausting labor, epidemics of typhus and fever, especially in open places, blown through by the winds. According to various estimates, up to 40 thousand people worked on the construction.
It is characteristic that it was during the construction of the Nikolaev railway for the first time in Russia that a gauge of 1,524 millimeters began to be used. Historians attribute this to the fact that American consultants worked on the construction, most notably George Washington Whistler, an American railroad engineer. It was he who, having studied the conditions for laying the highway, insisted on a width of 5 feet (such a track was being laid in those days, for example, in the southern states). There is a version that the Russian engineers Pavel Melnikov and Nikolai Kraft proposed just such a width. True, they brought the idea, most likely, from the same USA, where they visited on the eve of the start of the Russian project.
According to rumors, the military aspect also played a role in choosing the gauge - a gauge different from the European one would make it difficult for the alleged enemy to supply troops in the event of an invasion of Russian territory. True, the researchers did not find historical evidence for this version.
Stations for two
34 stations were built on the Petersburg-Moscow line. Buildings in the capital cities (the current Moscow and Leningrad stations) were designed by the architect Konstantin Ton.
By the way, Konstantin Ton, the court architect and author of Nicholas I, was the author of numerous projects in several cities of Russia, but his main brainchild was the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
According to the witnesses of the era, Ton was a true German: extremely unsmiling, he really did not like all sorts of hype and idle talk, he was a man of action. In 1847, he set about building the station of the Nikolaevskaya railway in St. Petersburg and Moscow entrusted to him. By the way, the first railway station in Russia - Tsarskoselsky - was also built according to his project.
The architect decided to complete the entire 651 kilometers of the road as a single ensemble. For this, in particular, the ends of the road needed to be "circled" with similar buildings. Even today they seem almost the same: two-story, with identical towers. Tone used the motifs of the town halls of Western European cities, where the clock tower indicates the direction of the main entrance. True, meticulous experts on architecture note that there are still differences in the stations. So, the facade of the station in St. Petersburg is wider by two pairs of windows (the capital, after all), while the tower is more restrained and is, as it were, a continuation of the Admiralty spire and the tower of the City Duma.
By the way, the ensemble in Moscow on Kalanchevskaya Square remained unfinished. According to Ton's plan, two buildings were to be built at the station: one - for customs (it was built), the other - housing for road workers (now - the lobby of the metro station).
Note that Thon did not design intermediate stations. This part of the work was on the shoulders of his assistant Rudolf Zhelyazevich. Nevertheless, all railway stations look like a single ensemble, as it was intended.
Safe and comfortable
First new way travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow was tested by the military - the train with them moved to its destination on August 28, 1851. Two days later, an imperial train of 9 wagons left for Moscow. The official opening of the St. Petersburg-Moscow highway took place on November 13: at 11.15 a.m. a train of 6 cars set off, and at 9 a.m. the next day it arrived in the city, covering the journey in 21 hours and 45 minutes. Thus, the travel time thanks to the "piece of iron" was reduced by a factor of three.
The trains of that time were significantly different from modern ones. Wood was used as fuel. Because of this, each passenger train consisted of a steam locomotive and a tender, a special wagon designed to carry a supply of fuel for the locomotive.
The train had one baggage car and five passenger cars. At first, in winter, special stoves were used to heat travelers, which were metal boxes filled with heated bricks.
Trains moved at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour and were not originally equipped with booths for drivers (the trains were equipped with them only in the 1860s). From the first years of operation of the railway, telegraph communication was the means of regulating the movement of trains.
Safety on the first railways was provided by sound signals: bells, whistles, musical barrel organ. Hand flags, red and green discs, and semaphores were used as visual signals. Initially, all arrows on the railway were with manual translation. By the way, the first domestic system for switching arrows and giving signals, developed by a scientist, a specialist in the field of signaling Yakov Gordeenko, was used in 1885 at the Sablino station. His development won a prize at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris.