On February 13, 1842, Nicholas I signed a decree on the construction railway Saint Petersburg - Moscow. Already in 1851, the first train departed from St. Petersburg. In 1855, after the death of the emperor, the railway received the name Nikolaevskaya, and in 1923 it was renamed Oktyabrskaya.
It’s hard to imagine now, but with the advent of railways in the USA and Europe, a discussion arose in Russia about whether our country needs them. In the 1830s, some skeptics proposed not to lay a rail track (they say that it would simply slide in severe snowy winters), but to build special tracks for steam locomotives on wheels with a wide rim (the so-called land steamships). The idea did not take root, and in 1837 full-fledged railway construction began: in October, traffic was opened on the road from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoe Selo.
In the 30-40s of the 19th century, the question 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 various kinds 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".
The Legend of the Emperor's Finger
The road was laid according to optimal parameters: both economic feasibility and throughput taking into account future traffic growth.
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 saw the future highway, drew a line using a ruler between the two cities. According to the same legend, along the way there is a bend that supposedly appeared in the place where Nicholas 1 accidentally circled his own finger on the map.
In reality, as usual, the situation was different. The majority of the members of the committee for the construction of the railway believed that it should be led to Novgorod. The Emperor did not share this opinion. To resolve the protracted disputes, he summoned the engineer, the author of the project, Pavel Melnikov. The expert came to the conclusion that building the railway using the direct option is more profitable. “It would be a big mistake and an incalculable loss in the general state economy to condemn future generations to pay more than 80 miles, over the course of a whole century or more, until direct calculation would force us to build another, shorter road from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” - quotes the architect from 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.” These words did not mean at all that it was necessary to lead the way in a straight line: the emperor meant that there was no need to stick to the direction of Novgorod.
At the point of the mentioned bend - near 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 railway technology became more advanced, the bypass was dismantled).
American measure
Work on the construction of the road began on May 27, 1843, simultaneously on both sides - from St. Petersburg to Bologoe and from Moscow to Bologoe.
At the beginning of 1842, the post of Minister of War was held by Peter Kleinmichel. State buildings under him were erected quickly, but they cost the budget a lot of money, and the people - human casualties.
The road was built by artels, 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 costs of his treatment were 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 construction.
It is characteristic that it was during the construction of the Nikolaev railway that for the first time in Russia a track width 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 laid in those days, for example, in the southern states). There is a version that it was precisely this width that was proposed by Russian engineers Pavel Melnikov and Nikolai Kraft. True, they most likely brought the idea from the same USA, where they visited on the eve of the start of implementation 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 supposed enemy to supply troops in the event of an invasion of Russian territory. True, researchers have not found historical evidence for this version.
Stations for two
34 stations were built on the St. Petersburg - Moscow line. The buildings in the capital cities (the current Moskovsky and Leningradsky railway stations) were designed by the architect Konstantin Ton.
By the way, Konstantin Ton - the court architect 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 witnesses of the era, Ton was a true German: extremely unsmiling, he really did not like all sorts of noise and idle talk, and was a man of action. In 1847, he began the construction of the Nikolaevskaya Railway station entrusted to him in St. Petersburg and Moscow. By the way, the first station in Russia - Tsarskoselsky - was also built according to his design.
The architect decided to construct the entire 651 kilometer of the road as a single ensemble. For this, in particular, the ends of the road needed to be “circulated” with similar buildings. Even today they seem almost identical: two-story, with identical towers. The tone used motifs from the town halls of Western European cities, where the clock tower indicates the direction of the main entrance. True, meticulous architecture experts note that there are still differences in the stations. Thus, the facade of the station in St. Petersburg is two pairs of windows wider (the capital, after all), while the tower is more restrained and is, as it were, a continuation of the Admiralty spire and the City Duma tower.
By the way, the ensemble in Moscow on Kalanchevskaya Square remained unfinished. According to Thon'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 Tone did not design the intermediate stations. This part of the work was on the shoulders of his assistant Rudolf Zhelyazevich. However, all railway stations look like a single ensemble, as 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, the royal train of 9 carriages set off for Moscow. The official opening of the St. Petersburg-Moscow highway took place on November 13: at 11.15 a train of 6 cars set off, and at 9 am next day arrived in the city, covering the journey in 21 hours and 45 minutes. Thus, the travel time was reduced by three times thanks to the hardware.
Trains of that time were significantly different from modern ones. Firewood was used as fuel. Because of this, each passenger train consisted of a steam locomotive and a tender - a special carriage designed to carry the locomotive's fuel supply.
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.
The trains moved at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour and were initially not equipped with booths for drivers (trains were equipped with them only in the 1860s). From the first years of railway operation, telegraph communication was a means of regulating the movement of trains.
Safety on the first railways was ensured by sound signals: bells, whistles, musical organs. Hand flags, red and green disks, and semaphores were used as visual signals. Initially, all railroad switches were manually switched. By the way, the first domestic system for switching switches and sending signals, developed by scientist and signaling specialist Yakov Gordeenko, was used in 1885 at Sablino station. His development received a prize at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900.
The modern Sapsan trains were still a long way off, then trains ran at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour, and yet on February 13, 1842, Nicholas I signed a decree on the construction of the St. Petersburg - Moscow railway. Already in 1851, the first train departed from St. Petersburg. For that time it was a grandiose event. I’ll tell you the most interesting things about the road. In 1855, after the death of the emperor, the railway received the name Nikolaevskaya.
In the 1830s, some skeptics proposed not to lay a rail track in Russia (they say that Russia does not need railways - in severe snowy winters it will simply skid), but to build special tracks for steam locomotives on wheels with a wide rim (the so-called overland ones). steamships). The idea did not take root, and in 1837 full-fledged railway construction began: in October, traffic was opened on the road from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoe Selo.
In the 30-40s of the 19th century, the question 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 various technical innovations, signed a decree on the construction of the first Russian railway, St. Petersburg - Moscow.
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 saw the future highway, drew a line using a ruler between the two cities. According to the same legend, along the way there is a bend that supposedly appeared in the place where Nicholas 1 accidentally circled his own finger on the map. In reality, as usual, the situation was different. The majority of the members of the committee for the construction of the railway believed that it should be led to Novgorod. The Emperor did not share this opinion. To resolve the protracted disputes, he summoned the engineer, the author of the project, Pavel Melnikov. The expert came to the conclusion that building the railway using the direct option is more profitable. “It would be a big mistake and an incalculable loss in the general state economy to condemn future generations to pay more than 80 miles, over the course of a whole century or more, until direct calculation would force us to build another, shorter road from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” - quotes the architect from 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.” These words did not mean at all that it was necessary to lead the way in a straight line: the emperor meant that there was no need to stick to the direction of Novgorod.
At the point of the mentioned bend - near 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 railway technology became more advanced, the bypass was dismantled).
Work on the construction of the road began on May 27, 1843, simultaneously on both sides - from St. Petersburg to Bologoe and from Moscow to Bologoe.
At the beginning of 1842, the post of Minister of War was held by Peter Kleinmichel. State buildings under him were erected quickly, but they cost the budget a lot of money, and the people - human casualties. The road was built by artels, 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 costs of his treatment were 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 areas blown through by winds. According to various estimates, up to 40 thousand people worked on construction.
It is characteristic that it was during the construction of the Nikolaev railway that for the first time in Russia a track width 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 laid in those days, for example, in the southern states). There is a version that it was precisely this width that was proposed by Russian engineers Pavel Melnikov and Nikolai Kraft. True, they most likely brought the idea 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 supposed enemy to supply troops in the event of an invasion of Russian territory. True, researchers have not found historical evidence for this version.
34 stations were built on the St. Petersburg - Moscow line. The buildings in the capital cities (the current Moskovsky and Leningradsky railway stations) were designed by the architect Konstantin Ton. By the way, Konstantin Ton - the court architect 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 witnesses of the era, Ton was a true German: extremely unsmiling, he really did not like all sorts of noise and idle talk, and was a man of action. In 1847, he began the construction of the Nikolaevskaya Railway station entrusted to him in St. Petersburg and Moscow. By the way, the first station in Russia - Tsarskoselsky - was also built according to his design.
The architect decided to construct the entire 651 kilometer of the road as a single ensemble. For this, in particular, the ends of the road needed to be “circulated” with similar buildings. Even today they seem almost identical: two-story, with identical towers. The tone used motifs from the town halls of Western European cities, where the clock tower indicates the direction of the main entrance. True, meticulous architecture experts note that there are still differences in the stations. Thus, the facade of the station in St. Petersburg is two pairs of windows wider (the capital, after all), while the tower is more restrained and is, as it were, a continuation of the Admiralty spire and the City Duma tower. By the way, the ensemble in Moscow on Kalanchevskaya Square remained unfinished. According to Thon'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).
The military were the first to try out a new way of traveling from St. Petersburg to Moscow - the train with them moved to its destination on August 28, 1851. Two days later, the royal train of 9 carriages set off for Moscow. The official opening of the St. Petersburg-Moscow highway took place on November 13: at 11.15 a train of 6 cars set off, and at 9 am the next day it arrived in the city, covering the journey in 21 hours 45 minutes. Thus, the travel time was reduced by three times thanks to the hardware.
Trains of that time were significantly different from modern ones. Firewood was used as fuel. Because of this, each passenger train consisted of a steam locomotive and a tender - a special carriage designed to carry the locomotive's fuel supply. 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. The trains moved at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour and were initially not equipped with booths for drivers (trains were equipped with them only in the 1860s). From the first years of railway operation, telegraph communication was a means of regulating the movement of trains.
Safety on the first railways was ensured by sound signals: bells, whistles, musical organs. Hand flags, red and green disks, and semaphores were used as visual signals. Initially, all railroad switches were manually switched. By the way, the first domestic system for switching switches and sending signals, developed by scientist and signaling specialist Yakov Gordeenko, was used in 1885 at Sablino station. His development received a prize at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900.
When the novelist Akunin told LiveJournal a long time ago that nothing had really been invented in Russia, I wrote to him that even railway switches were invented in Russia, but he did not react, captured by the idea that Russia had not given anything to the world.
The idea of building a railway between the two capitals has been discussed for many years. The culmination of these discussions was that in 1842 the Committee of Ministers came to the conclusion that building a railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow was impossible and useless.
Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, having given full opportunity to pour out all opinions to the end and was dissatisfied with the majority in the Committee of Ministers for negative results, he himself came to the last meeting on January 13, 1842 and, having listened to all the objections of the city ministers, deigned to announce in a decisive tone the Highest Will his that he recognizes “the construction of a railway between capitals is quite possible and useful, that this implementation should be started immediately, and that as much as he is convinced of the necessity and benefits of building a railway between capitals, he also considers it unnecessary to build railways now in other parts of Russia."
In conclusion, the Emperor said: “...and since all the ministers are against the construction of the railway, I am establishing a special committee for the implementation of this important enterprise, appointing as its chairman the Heir to the Throne, Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich, and a special construction commission under the committee.”
The emperor signed the decree on the construction of a railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow on February 1, 1842.
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 I immediately remembered: “When will you build it?” He was taken aback and immediately blurted out: “In a year!” And he built it. :)
Opening of the St. Petersburg - Moscow road, the head of which was appointed A.N. Romanov, took place on November 1 (13), 1851 - eight and a half years after the start of construction. The first train left St. Petersburg at 11:15 a.m. and arrived in Moscow at 9 a.m. the next day, traveling for 21 hours and 45 minutes. Thus, with the putting into operation of the road, the travel time from St. Petersburg to Moscow was reduced by three times (compared to the time of travel on the highway).
Well, you and I will go to reverse side: from Moscow to St. Petersburg, with short stops.
Close to the Red Gate
There is a left turn.
The place has changed again
There a wonder was revealed,
And in place, on empty,
Suddenly a huge house grew up.
There is a big tower at home,
And the whistle there is very scary
The self-whistle is intricate,
Noble overseas, cunning.
And when you get to the yard
Well, what else will you find?
There's a cast iron road
Unprecedented beauty
These are simply miracles.
(from the folk poem "The Railway" 19th century)
3. Nikolaevskaya road near Moscow
For the safe passage of trains and the safety of passengers located near stations, on the Nikolaevskaya railway. Sound signals were used: bells, whistles, musical organs (!). Optical telegraphs, hand flags, red and green discs, and single- and double-winged semaphores were used as visual signals.
5. Railway bridge on the Nikolaevskaya railway. Its exact location has not been determined, but judging by the sequence of photographs in the album, it is somewhere between modern Khimki and Skhodnya
In guidebooks of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The area along the Nikolaevskaya road between Khimki and Klin was described as “wonderful dacha settlements.” The following three photographs confirm this.
It was built on August 28, 1851 Nikolaevskaya railway(now the Oktyabrskaya Railway), which marked the beginning of the construction of a railway network of national importance. The Nikolaevskaya road became the first double-track railway in Russian Empire 645 km long. Travel time is 21 hours 45 minutes. 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. During construction, over 30 railway stations, about 200 bridges were built, 70 culverts, 20 overpasses, guard houses and crossings were laid, and a telegraph was installed between stations. Years later we remember how it was and what it turned into.
1. Year 1703. The city on the Neva - St. Petersburg was founded, which 9 years later became the capital of the Russian Empire. The population is growing, most food (and other) cargo was delivered by water on barges, which, of course, took a very long time and was not always reliable.
2. Year 1798. The Department of Water Communications is established (later to be disbanded to manage water and land routes, the Corps and the Institute of the Corps of Railway Engineers), which contained a model and description of the “cast iron road for transporting heavy loads.”
3. In general, the operation of railways in Russia began at the end of the 18th century, but only on an industrial scale. And the emergence of railways common use was due to the development of industry and trade. In addition, the railways of that time, compared to other types of communications, had the advantage of significantly increasing the speed of delivery of goods and passengers, reducing the cost of transport services, and providing greater passenger comfort compared to other land transport. So that.
4. The year is 1826. Discussions begin on proposals for the construction of railways in Russia in winter time. However, in 1835, the Austrian engineer and entrepreneur Gerstner tried to convince Nicholas I of the need to build a railway connection between St. Petersburg and Moscow. He also does not receive a positive answer, but the committee gives him permission to build a “test” road between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo. And in 1837, the Tsarskoye Selo railway appeared in Russia - the first public railway in the Empire.
5. The year is 1838. Finally, Nicholas I orders the drawing up of a plan for a railway project between St. Petersburg and Moscow. The road was designed as another type of communication route, capable of partially relieving water and horse-drawn transport and ensuring faster delivery of goods and passengers. Several options were proposed, economically untenable, in the opinion of the majority, but in 1842 the emperor nevertheless signed a decree on the “construction of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway.”
6. A Construction Commission was established under the committee. The line was divided into two construction sections, delimited in the Bologoe region. An engineer from the USA was invited as the main construction consultant. And already at the end of April 1843, the route of the road was mapped, approved and accepted for management during construction. Simultaneously with the tracing of the line, hydrometric and geotechnical surveys were carried out. (Painting by artist K.A. Savitsky)
7. Year 1843. The line was built 1524 m wide, 645 km long. Large bridges, train stations and large stations stood out as independent construction sites. All sections were headed by railway engineers. Largest number workers were excavators, of whom up to 40,000 people were employed annually on construction.
8. Year 1851. Opening of the movement. In two days, two battalions of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments, two squadrons of the Life Guards Cavalry and Horse Regiments and a division of Guards artillery were transported on 9 trains along the newest railway. And on August 18, the royal train, consisting of 9 cars, set off for Moscow. The journey, including stops, took 19 hours. On the day of the official opening, the train carried 17 first class passengers, 63 second class passengers and 112 third class passengers. The train arrived in Moscow at 9 am the next day, having been on the road for 21 hours and 45 minutes.
9. At first, the fare for passengers from St. Petersburg to Moscow was: in first class 19 rubles, in second class - 13 and in third class - 7 rubles. For less money, people were transported on freight trains and, in the summer, on open platforms.
10. Transportation of goods from one capital to another, depending on the type, cost from 9 rubles 16 kopecks to 24.42 rubles. per ton (from 15 to 40 kopecks per pood).
11. average speed movement was 29.6 kilometers per hour. Gradually, the speed of trains increased, and travel time decreased. Already in 1913, a train of nine passenger cars led by a “C” series locomotive from the Sormovo plant covered the distance from St. Petersburg to Moscow in the same time as modern trains running on the route.
12. Year 1932. Passenger steam locomotives of the “IS” series from the Kolomna plant appeared on the railway and the “Red Arrow” express was launched, reaching speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour on the stages.
13. Year 1965. The daytime high-speed train “Aurora”, capable of accelerating to 160 km/h, began running between then Leningrad and Moscow.
14. Year 1984. The electric train ER-200 of the Riga Carriage Works was introduced into the traffic schedule, but it runs only once a week. This train is capable of reaching speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour and spends about five hours on the road.
15. 1996-2000. The reconstruction of the St. Petersburg - Moscow highway was carried out, in fact it was built according to modern technologies new railway. Thanks to the reconstruction, trains can reach speeds of 200-250 kilometers per hour. And since December 2009, the high-speed train “Sapsan” has appeared on the route beloved by many, covering a distance of 650 km in just 3 hours 45 minutes.
The October Railway has come a long way. Nowadays, it passes through the Leningrad, Moscow, Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, Murmansk, Vologda, Yaroslavl regions, through the territories of St. Petersburg and Moscow, as well as the Republic of Karelia, connecting Russia with foreign countries. And who would have thought that a steam locomotive, covering this distance in almost a day, would turn into a high-speed miracle of the 21st century?