Tsarskoye Selo Railway

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Arrival of a steam locomotive at a station on the Tsarskoye Selo Railway, 19th century.

The Tsarskoye Selo Railway ( Russian Царскосе́льская желе́зная доро́га ) was the first railway line in Russia and the fourth on the European continent. The route connected Saint Petersburg with Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk , where the summer residences of the Russian tsar were located.

Construction of the line began in 1835. The engineer in charge, the Austrian Franz Anton von Gerstner , chose 1829 mm (6 feet) as the gauge. Against the background of the controversy about the correct gauge, which was being held in England at the same time, he tried to find a compromise for the Russian route network to be built up.

The first short section (Tsarskoe Selo – Pavlovsk) of the 27-kilometer route was on September 25th July. / 7th October 1836 greg. put into operation. Until the arrival of the first locomotives on July 3rd . / November 15, 1836 greg. the trains were transported by horses. The opening of the entire route took place on October 30th July. / November 11, 1837 greg. , initially on weekdays with horses and only on Sundays and public holidays with locomotives. From 22 May jul. / June 3, 1838 greg. the entire route was served daily with steam power.

Six locomotives of type 1A1 n2 were available for traffic . Three of them were supplied by Stephenson , two by Tayleur & Co. and one by Cockerill . A machine that was also purchased and designed by Hackworth turned out to be “completely useless”.

The station building in Pavlovsk, which was erected directly at the entrance to the palace park, also served as a kind of Kursaal and concert building in which, among other musical celebrities, Johann Strauss (son) , Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann performed. The origin of the Russian word вокза́л / woksal for station (now more correctly: station building ) is attributed to this connection between the music pavilion and the station building . The most likely explanation is that the building was named after Britain's Vauxhall Gardens near London - in L. Klein's report on railway construction and operation linked below, the term "Vauxhall Building" is used - and later the name was transferred to all stations . According to another derivation, the word is supposed to represent an abbreviation of “Wokalny Sal”, meaning “choir room”. But even in this case, the word comes from the combination of the functions of the station and concert building in Pavlovsk.

Since 1874 the railway was double-tracked. In 1897 the railway became part of the Moscow-Windawa-Rybinsk Railway . In 1902 the line was converted to the Russian broad gauge of 1524 mm. Today the line is part of the connection from Saint Petersburg to Vitebsk , which is part of the October Railway .

literature

  • Röll, Victor: Zarskojeseloer Bahn . In: Encyclopedia of the Entire Railway System. Vol. 7, Vienna 1895.

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