What was life like for a passenger in those distant times, when the railway was not as convenient and comfortable as it is now?
Mourners near the carriages on the platform of the Baltic Station in St. Petersburg. 1913
In such a huge country as Russia, the railway will remain very important for a long time. But the railway is not only tracks and utilities, it is also a special, unique way of life, or, more simply, a way of life...
“The yellow and blue ones were silent...”
In 1910, in the poem “On the Railroad” Alexander Blok figuratively described the carriage row of the Russian “piece of iron”:
The carriages walked in the usual line,
They shook and creaked;
The yellow and blue ones were silent;
In the green ones they cried and sang...
Indeed, since 1879, carriages on all public railways under the authority of the Ministry of Railways (MPS), regardless of whether they were private or government-owned, were painted strictly in accordance with their class: the first class was blue, the second class was yellow. , light brown or golden, the third - green, the fourth - gray.
A short designation of the road to which the carriage belonged, consisting of several letters, was also applied to the body of the carriages; sometimes its type (series), number of seats and class (if passenger) and, of course, the brake system were indicated. The image of the coat of arms was mandatory Russian Empire, in most cases - the presence of IPU symbols. The inscriptions were most often made in large, beautiful voluminous font, often in several colors. Thus, passenger train Tsarist times looked unusually colorful and attractive or, as the writer defines it Ivan Bunin, "interesting."
There were also so-called “mixed carriages,” that is, mixed-class carriages: one half of the carriage, for example, had first-class seats, and the other half had second-class seats. They were used because the first class, due to its very expensive tickets often remained unclaimed and it was necessary to increase the occupancy rate of the cars so as not to drive them practically in vain. “Mixed carriages” were painted on the outside in two different colors: for example, half blue and half yellow. Those carriages in which the third class compartment and luggage compartment were located together were painted green in the same order and dark brown. The bottom (that is, the chassis or, in the old days, the lower carriage of the cars) was usually painted black, the top - to red-brown. Colorful colors!
Later, already in Soviet times, signs with the car number (black number on white) appeared on the side of the entrance to the vestibule, and under the windows in the middle of the body - stencils indicating the route of the car or the entire train (Moscow - Leningrad, etc.) . Before the revolution, there were no carriage numbers or stencils indicating the route. The passenger simply went to his class, which was indicated on the ticket. A place in the carriage was provided by the conductor. In the third and fourth classes there was no fixed seating at all: you were allowed into the carriage with a ticket, and that’s it – just like now on the train.
Third class
Lev Tolstoy talked about the last trip in his life in a letter: “October 28, 1910. Kozelsk.<…>I had to travel from Gorbachev in 3rd grade, it was uncomfortable, but very mentally pleasant and instructive.”
For Lev Nikolaevich it is instructive, but for others it is inconvenient and unpleasant. Noise, seeds, crowded conditions, or even a quarrel with a fight. And all this in shag and pipe smoke: traveling in third class was unbearable for non-smoking passengers. As Bunin wrote, “the carriage is very stuffy from various tobacco smokes, in general very caustic, although they give a pleasant feeling of friendly human life...” Special compartments for non-smokers appeared in the 19th century in first and second class carriages; in others, smoking was allowed with the consent of others passengers. In the third class, sometimes they put earthenware ashtrays - very spacious, so that there would be no fire.
And, of course, the eternal Russian carriage conversation, travel routine and legend at the same time, endless, like the very sound of wheels, like the very flow of life and time... In the third class, all classes mixed, “the common people” rode there: peasants, factory workers, and intelligentsia, and priests and poor rural nobles. The third class is a clot of people's life, its true manifestation. It is not surprising that the action of almost half of the works of Russian classics is sometimes transferred to a third-class carriage: what scenes were played out there, how destinies were revealed!
Statistics from 1896 are indicative: 0.7 million passengers were carried in first class, 5.1 million in second class, and 42.4 million in third class.
“The lady was checking in her luggage...”
Comfort level in pre-revolutionary on trains, depending on the class of cars, varied noticeably - much more than today. The cost of travel is the same. Tariffs at the beginning of the 20th century were set as follows: a trip in second class cost one and a half times more than in third; and in the first - one and a half times more expensive than in the second. In turn, the fourth class was also one and a half times cheaper than the third.
It is worth noting another curious difference that revealed social contrasts, although, admittedly, at first glance it was of a constructive nature: in the third class there were luggage racks, and in the first and second class there were nets, since the public there (remember the famous lady from a poem Samuil Marshak) I checked large items into luggage. For these purposes there were standard four-axle baggage cars, although there were also three-axle ones. The baggage car, which always went immediately behind the locomotive, was certainly included in every train long distance.
There were special luggage receipts, which the precise Marshak did not fail to note: “They gave the lady at the station four green receipts.” At the end of the 19th century, they charged three kopecks per item for carrying luggage. Receipts could be obtained either in the luggage compartment at the station, or, in the absence of one, directly from the carriage workers (“luggage attendants”). Nowadays, a baggage car, which is increasingly called a mobile storage room, is a relative rarity on trains: people mostly carry their luggage with them - these days it seems that this is more reliable.
The baggage car was usually followed by a mail car. Moreover, the first standard three-axle postal carriages (1870–1880s) were perhaps the most picturesque of all that existed at that time: they had a very attractive shape and a booth with a characteristic triangular sign “Mail Carriage”. Such cars, painted dark green, were common on the roads of Russia and then the USSR until the early 1990s.
Types of messages
Before the revolution, there was direct (long-distance) and local passenger rail service. It was clearly regulated. Thus, § 28 of the Rules of 1875 stated: “So that passengers can be transferred from one railway to another without renewing passenger and baggage tickets for further travel to their destination, trains so agreed are called direct trains.”
A new design mail car on the Nikolaevskaya railway. 1901–1902
The development of direct passenger service led to the appearance of carriages with places to lie down, but most importantly, it marked a significant social phenomenon on a global scale. Russian history, namely, the significantly increased migration of the population of all classes due to the abolition of serfdom and the emergence of capitalist relations in the country. It was really about the mass movement of people. Then the very style of Russian life changed; in fact, a new worldview was being formed. Time and space shrank sharply, which was truly unheard of at that time. Something similar will happen in Russia again only 100 years later - when long-range jet passenger aviation appears, which will also change public consciousness and the idea of immutable geographical and astronomical absolutes – space and time.
The widespread development of long-distance communication began in the 1880s. Then, on the one hand, the railway network was advancing to the east, and on the other, the need to transfer from a train belonging to one private road, into another train at junction points, as was the case during the era of distribution of concessions and the reign of the kings of the railway business until the 1870s.
Restaurant for first and second class passengers of the Kharkov railway station. Around 1900
The concept of “commuter train” took root already under Soviet rule due to the growth of large cities. And before the revolution commuter trains were called local or dacha. “In the summer there were only 4-5 pairs of them on each road, and in the winter even less. At that time there was no permanent passenger - a worker or employee who lived in the suburbs and rushed to the city to work every day,” noted a modern researcher Galina Afonina, who studied pre-revolutionary schedules.
Several of these local trains served wealthy citizens who went to their dachas in the Moscow region in the summer. Their schedule was called the “Moscow Junction Dacha Train Schedule,” and the words “suburban trains” appeared in the name of the schedule only in 1935.
Previous service
Attempts to improve the level of service for passengers have a long history: they were noted back in the 1860s. At first, first class carriages were “sofa” (shelves were not known at that time). And that's how the special favor came to be their variety- carriages where, with the help of partitions, so-called “family” sections were arranged, in which each passenger had the entire sofa at his disposal (and not a place on the sofa, as in regular first class). A ticket to the “family” section was, of course, more expensive than to the first class, where the passenger, although he could stretch out on the sofa, but only when his neighbor did not claim this bed (the sofas were double).
Before the advent of sleeping berths, first and second class passengers traveled sitting or reclining on sofas or armchairs, covering themselves with blankets or scarves and often putting clothes or hand luggage under their heads instead of a pillow. There was no such inconvenience in the “family” sections, but such cars did not have a through passage and were soon banned by the Ministry of Railways.
Meanwhile, first-class “chair-bed” cars, which appeared a little later (they were first built in 1871 by the Kovrov workshops), served in some places until the 1930s. This was already a serious convenience! At night, the chair was pulled apart using a special device and turned to horizontal“a bed quite suitable for sleeping.” True, in carriages with such seats there was no linen yet and there was no division into compartments.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, not only coupes existed, but also such a now forgotten service as turning two compartments into one. Imagine: in first class carriages it was possible to slide open the door located in the partition between adjacent compartments to make them communicating. By the way, this car is a distant ancestor of the SV cars increased comfort the beginning of the 21st century, except perhaps without a refrigerator. The compartment had a huge soft sofa with a raised back (it could be transformed into a shelf for the second passenger), opposite there was an armchair, a mirror hanging, and in the middle there was a table with a tablecloth on which a lamp with a lampshade was placed. It was provided here and built-in ladder for climbing to the top shelf. And such compartments also had a washbasin (later a shower) and a toilet, albeit for two compartments at once. The interior decoration of the carriage was distinguished by its sophistication: these are real apartments - with bronze, inlay, polished mahogany and embroidered curtains. The compartment was lit by a gas jet, and it was possible to “separate the inside of the lamp from the inside of the carriage” (in other words, turn off the light). Since 1912, carriages of this class have been illuminated by electricity.
It is worth paying attention to the following little known fact(hint to the story about the service): back in 1902 on Central Asian railway according to the engineer's design G.P. Boychevsky For the first time, a device for cooling air was tested - the ancestor of the modern air conditioner.
Siberian Express
Unprecedented measures to improve the level of service are associated with the development of international passenger traffic in Russia and the emergence of express trains of the International Sleeping Car Society - with direct sleeper cars (SVPS) and executive saloon cars. Member of the State Duma Vasily Shulgin, who left Russia after the revolution, in “Letters to Russian Emigrants,” in particular, noted: “Russia was far ahead in terms of train comfort Western Europe».
The Siberian Express Petersburg - Irkutsk became the ideal embodiment of railway comfort in the eyes of the entire Russian society. It was truly a miracle of its time. The express carriages bore proud inscriptions: “Direct Siberian communication”, “Siberian train No. 1”. This train had only first and second class carriages with water heating and electric lighting from its own train power station. Since 1912, each carriage received an individual power supply driven by a generator from the carriage axle. Finally, it was on trains of this class that dining cars appeared for the first time in Russia in 1896 - an invention of an American George Pullman, the creator of the famous company that builds comfortable carriages.
The Siberian Express also had a library, a piano, a living room with luxurious candelabra, curtains, tablecloths, a barometer and a clock; You could order a hot bath for an additional fee and even... work out in the gym (yes, yes, there was such a thing here!). Passengers (also for the first time in Russia) were served tea and bed linen was changed every three days. There were table lamps on the tables in the compartment, but the shelves were already illuminated by small “spotlights.” The interior tones are noble: dark green and blue. This is where today's SV comes from.
Church car built at the Putilov plant for the Siberian Railway
The roof of the Siberian Express carriage was covered with copper sheets, and there were lighting lanterns on top. The lower part of the car was metal, bulletproof, up to 10 mm thick (hence and nickname name"armored carriage") Cars of this type, due to the large amount of metal in their design, turned out to be not only much stronger than others, but also much heavier, with a greater load on the track, and therefore could not be used on all roads. They were mainly used on border and resort lines along which express trains of the International Sleeping Car Society ran - Vladikavkaz, Chinese-Eastern, St. Petersburg-Warsaw. It should be noted that the Siberian Express took on almost the entire “diplomatic flow” - passengers, currency, and mail - in communication between Europe and the Far East. It was an international train, famous throughout the world.
From 1896 to the 1950s, cars of this class were called not SV, but rather SVPS. This is significant difference. Let us remember that the term “direct communication” meant long-distance travel along a certain route without transfers along the way, which was a kind of luxury. Direct message - these bewitching words indicated a long journey, and therefore a whole event in the passenger’s life. Sleeping car– this is chic, luxury, a dream, a chosen world. The kingdom of expensive cigars, refined manners, short but hot novels, delicacy, inaccessibility...
About tea and boiling water
The author of these lines tried for a long time to find out when tea appeared on trains. Unfortunately, the exact date could not be established. True, there was a mention of one curious pre-revolutionary document - “On the prohibition of selling tea to conductors of passenger cars” (unfortunately, today we only know its number and name). One thing is clear: if the guides were forbidden to sell tea, then they had tea. It’s just not clear why. After all, titans with boiling water on trains, with the exception of the most fashionable ones, were absent until the advent of modern all-metal cars (AMV), that is, until 1946. There was no special stove or boiler to brew tea on the spot. Famous glass holders with the symbols of the Ministry of Railways and various twisted patterns made of silver wire or bronze (Kostroma jewelers from the village participated in their production Krasnoe-on-Volga) were only in the compartments of the International Society express trains and dining cars.
The public at the station in the waiting room. Announcement at the door: “It is prohibited to enter the platform before the bell rings. No one without a train ticket not allowed". 1910s
Previously, most passengers had to wait until the stop to run for boiling water. By the way, the opportunity to get boiling water at the stations is one of the most important manifestations of humanity at the “cast iron”. In his lifetime, the author found only the only surviving booth with the inscription “Boiling Water” - at the secluded Bologoye-2 station with a beautiful old red brick station building. And once upon a time there were such booths at every large station. They were called “boiling water stills”.
All in pairs, with the clanging of their buffers, with the lingering hiss of the Westinghouse brakes, the next passenger or mail train stopped at the platform. While the locomotive was being changed or filled with water, passengers rushed for boiling water. There was a line forming into the cubicle. We approached two tall tanks with taps. On one it was written “Cold water”, on the other – “Hot water” (there were no tanks with drinking water in the carriages yet either). The hot water tap had a wooden handle, like in a bathhouse, so as not to burn your hand.
Steam burst out energetically and life-affirmingly from the tap, and bubbling water flowed with pressure. Everyone came here with their own kettle or pot, or even two, if an elderly neighbor-passenger or some pretty girl asked for boiling water (a great reason to get acquainted!). In winter, passengers hurried to return to the carriage as quickly as possible so that the boiling water would not get cold: God forbid, the frosts were not like these days.
Most likely, the document mentioned above meant tea leaves, not a finished drink. Apparently, the conductors had to provide the tea leaves to the passengers, and they were forbidden to sell it outside. And so the people brought everything with them - tea and food. Remember in “The Twelve Chairs” by Ilf and Petrov? “When the train cuts the switch, numerous teapots rattle on the shelves and chickens wrapped in newspaper bags jump up and down”...
Tariffs and “cardboards”
To what extent was comfortable train travel available before the revolution? Let's try to answer this question by turning to documents from those years. Let us present the “per-face tariffs” for 1914 for the most popular distances, according to statistics. 
Obviously, at that time few people could afford to travel in first and second class carriages. It is not for nothing that the trains, as a rule, had from one to three blue and yellow cars, while the green ones were from four to six.
A ticket was considered valid if it had a composter’s mark (hence the expression “punch”). The composter punched the departure date and train number on the ticket. Therefore, hand-sold tickets were checked for transparency. The ticket itself indicated the departure and destination stations (in typographical form), the train number and the class of the carriage. Since the mid-1920s, the seat (if required) and the car number were also indicated - manually, with a station stamp or pen, and later with a ballpoint pen.
Few people remember that until the 1950s, access to the platform (but not to the station building) was paid: you had to buy a “platform” ticket at the ticket office. It cost a penny (at the beginning of the 20th century - within 10 kopecks, and in the 1950s - 1 ruble in the money of that time), but without it, those seeing off and greeting could not get to the train. This was a legacy of Kleinmichel's times from their exactingness to all private persons present at the station.
The classic ticket “cardboard” is a special symbol of the railway world. They were of very different colors, shades, patterns - mostly red-brown or brownish (tickets for long-distance trains) and green, with a special background texture (for suburban ones), and sometimes with certain zigzags, imprints, stripes and strokes, understandable only to cashiers. The conductors' bag for tickets had pockets strictly the size of a "cardboard" - everything on the railway was always regulated.
"Passenger" train
“To go on a journey by rail” used to sound like this – “to go on a cast iron road” or “to go by car” or simply “by car”. Leo Tolstoy in the story “The Girl and the Mushrooms” (about how a girl was run over by a steam locomotive but survived) calls the train a “machine” in the folk manner. Later they began to say - “by train”, “by train” or (half jokingly) “by steam locomotive”, “by steam locomotive”. Although steam locomotives have not been on the lines for a long time, this expression has remained forever, as has the designation of a steam locomotive on all kinds of logos from the railway symbolism, in particular even on road signs at crossings. This machine is immortal in its expressive power.
Passenger trains were initially called "passenger" trains. In Bunin’s scary accusatory tale about Emelya the Fool, we read: “The stove immediately... came out with him and flew like an arrow, and he collapsed on it, just like on a passenger train on a steam locomotive.” There was even such an offensive children's tease: “Fat, fat, passenger train!” Perhaps because of this phonetic association with the word “fat”, the term “passenger” was sounded with a lighter and more flying version - “passenger”. It must be said that railway workers still call passenger service workers “passengers” among themselves.
Even taking a quick look at the history of railway passenger services in Russia, it is not difficult to imagine how attractive and exciting the journey along the “cast iron” used to be, especially for people who were romantically inclined.
The history of railway communications is not only a fascinating engineering and technical epic, but also a lyrical story about countless events and impressions, meetings and partings, dates and partings, about the mystical infinity of the harsh horizon pierced by rails, about spaces rapidly moving to the sound of wheels, about the roar the directional wind and the voice of a whistle... It is difficult to name anything else like this in observable history that would so quickly coincide with the everyday life of people, with such force would influence the existence of the people, to the show about time and space and at the same time would so easily become familiar and vital, immediately becoming a tradition covered in legends and songs. Therefore, the romance and originality of the railway track, even under the influence of technological progress and the growing comfort of movement along with it, will never go away - as long as the sound of wheels, station fares and the distance running outside the window remain...
This is what the very first American steam-powered passenger train looked like.
On a tip visualhistory
In 1830 in Maryland between cities Baltimore and Ohio The first passenger trains in the United States began operating.
This photograph (taken well after 1830) is a reconstruction of a trial run with the Tom Thumb locomotive.
Speeds ranged from 5 to 18 mph.
The railroad history of the United States dates back to 1815, when Colonel John Stevens received the so-called. railroad charter for the construction of the New Jersey Railroad Company, which would later become part of the Pennsylvania Railroad. By that time, developed land transport that was both convenient, fast and cheap did not exist. Therefore, the development of railways was a progressive solution.
The first short steam railways for industrial use appeared in the United States in the late 1820s. Build railways it wasn't difficult. The situation was much worse with locomotives. Then, in 1826, the same Stevens designed and conducted the first tests of his steam locomotive “Steam Wagon” (which was called “a steam-powered horse carriage” - a steam horse with a cart). To conduct the tests, D. Stevens constructed a circular track on his estate in Hoboken, New Jersey. The tests were successful.
Further in 1829, Hortario Allen, as chief engineer of the Delaware & Hudson shipping company, successfully tested a simple, from an engineering point of view, English locomotive, called the Stourbridge Lion, between Honesdale and Carbonvale in Pennsylvania.
These three events (the charter and 2 steam locomotives) served as the starting point for the development of railways in the USA, which fully began in the late 20s of the 19th century.
Unfortunately, the first American steam locomotive has not survived, but in the Baltimore Railroad Museum you can see a similar locomotive from 1832 with the cheerful name “Grasshopper”:
For passenger transport in the same year, the Tom Thumb steam locomotives were designed, built by the American Peter Cooper ( Peter Cooper ) and "The Best Friend Of Charleston", built by the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company at West Point Foudry in New York.
Therefore, railways began to compete directly with shipping.
However, the public considered steam engines to be the “Sons of the Devil” and that traveling on them, other than a “concussion,” would lead to nothing.
In this illustration: "A steam locomotive is like a devil."
But their advantage over steamships was undeniable. A striking example is the experiment, or rather the competition, between a steam locomotive and a steamship. The conditions of the competition were incredibly simple: go a certain way as quickly as possible. For this purpose, a route was chosen between the cities of Cincinnati and St. Louis. The distance by water was 702 miles and was covered by the steamer in 3 days. The locomotive took only 16 hours, and the distance it had to cover was only 339 miles!
Construction of the railway track.
After this event, the intensive development of railways in the United States began: by 1838, 5 out of 6 New England states had railway connections, and the extreme limits of the distribution of the railway network were determined by the borders of the states of Kentucky and Indiana. The development of agriculture led to a rapid increase in the construction of railways. Since farms worked for the market from the very beginning, modern means of communication were necessary to export their products. By 1840, the length of the tracks was already 2,755 miles! And before we start Civil War, in 1860, and altogether, more than 30,000 miles!
Since 1846, one of the largest and oldest railroads in the United States, the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was located in the northeastern part of the United States, began operating. The first route ran between the cities of Philadelphia and Harrisburg, which was completed by 1854.
1869 - first transcontinental road.
Over the 50 years from 1865-1916, the development of railways took on an enormous scale: the railway network increased from 35,000 to 254,000 miles! By 1916, almost 100% of domestic government transportation (passenger and freight) was carried out by rail.
Railroad construction had important consequences for the United States. Firstly, an infrastructure was created that finally linked the domestic market into a single whole. Secondly, railway construction contributed to the rise of metallurgy and transport engineering. This was especially evident when cast iron rails began to be replaced with steel ones. Railway construction placed such a great demand on rails that, despite huge growth metallurgy and high import duties, until the 90s, steel rails were still partially imported from England. An important result of railway construction was the accumulation of capital by joint-stock companies that took out contracts for the construction of transcontinental roads.
Railroad development in the United States by 1916
During World War I, the US federal government took control of the railroad industry. From this point on, we can consider that the Golden Age of railroads in the United States begins to end. By 1920, the railways were again transferred into private hands, but they were returned in a dilapidated state, and were in need of radical reconstruction and significant improvement.
In 1920, the federal government passed the Transportation Act, marking the final step in federal regulation. The “Golden Age” of US railroad construction is over.
American railroads have a rich history and played a very important role in the development of the state. Currently, this transport is not as popular in the country as aviation and automobile types. Many of the trains are more of showpieces. Only romantics and people who are afraid of flying on an airplane travel on them. And the ticket price here is usually not much different from the cost of the flight.
Brief comparison with Russian railways
Railway of Russia and USA is different. If the total length of the domestic highway is 87 thousand kilometers, then for the Americans this figure is 220 thousand kilometers. The track width in Russia is 1520 mm, and in the USA it is 1435 mm, as in Europe. In our country, the industry employs 1.2 million workers, while American highways serve only 180 thousand people. Only the share of the industry’s cargo turnover is approximately the same, which is 40% in both countries.
Origin
History of US railroads began in 1815. Their development looked very promising due to the fact that at that time the country did not have developed cheap and fast land transport. The New Jersey Railroad Company was then founded by Colonel John Stevens. Initially, industrial branches began to be created for transporting goods over short distances, for example, for removing minerals from mines. The Pennsylvania Railroad, which began operations in 1846, was the first company in the industry. Eight years later, its first route was officially launched, connecting Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
First locomotives
If there were no big problems with the construction of the canvas, then the main problem we encountered was first US railroads, began to provide traction. In 1826, the aforementioned John Stevenson designed and built his own steam locomotive. To test his brainchild, the engineer built his own circular track in New Jersey. The testing of the machine was successful. Three years later, Gortario Allen, being the chief engineer of a large shipping company, proposed using a simple English steam locomotive. After successful testing, it began to be used on the line between Carbonvale and Honesdale in Pennsylvania. In 1830, according to the design of the American Peter Cooper, the first locomotive intended for passenger transportation was built in New York. Over time, it has established itself as a very reliable car.
In the fifties of the nineteenth century, the so-called underground or underground railroad. IN THE USA This is what representatives of a secret society called themselves. It was engaged in facilitating runaway slaves of African descent from the southern states to the north. At the same time, the organization’s activities were in no way connected with transport and transportation. Members of the organization simply used railroad terminology, which had become popular throughout American society.
The beginning of rapid development
It was after the appearance of the first diesel locomotives that they began to actively develop railroads in the USA. In the 19th century the new one was already serious competition for shipping companies. A special impetus to its development was given by several experiments that proved that a steam locomotive is capable of covering a distance approximately three to four times faster than a steamboat.
In 1830, a significant event took place for the American railway transport. Then the first passenger train was launched and began running on a regular basis between the cities of Ohio and Baltimore in Maryland. Initially, the public had an extremely negative attitude towards steam locomotives, calling them devilish machines, but over time, it became increasingly clear to most citizens that the future lay behind this transport.
If as of 1840 length of US railroads was 2755 miles, then twenty years later this figure crossed the 30 thousand mile mark. The construction of new routes was greatly facilitated by the development of agriculture. Since farmers worked for the market, they needed transport capable of transporting crops quickly and in large quantities.
Construction of the transcontinental railroad
In 1861, the Civil War broke out between North and South. Despite this, a year after its start, President Abraham Lincoln made a decision according to which it was to be built. It was assumed that the length of the highway would be almost three thousand kilometers. Two companies became contractors: Central Pacific (laid the track from west to east) and Union Pacific Railroad (conducted construction from east to west). The so-called meeting point was supposed to be in the center of the route. Each of the companies sought to be the first to finish their section and win this kind of competition, so the work was not always carried out according to plan. Many officials embezzled funds allocated for construction. If there were settlements, their residents were offered meager sums for land plots. Moreover, in exchange for bribes from the mayors of some cities (they benefited from the presence of the highway), the companies repeatedly changed routes.
About 10 thousand workers from China and another 4 thousand from Ireland were involved in the construction. This was done in order to reduce the cost of work, because the Americans did not agree to work for the amount offered (at best, $1.5 a day). Due to difficult working conditions, many builders died.
As a result, the Union Pacific Railroad company managed to lay 1,749 kilometers of track, while their opponents managed to lay 1,100 kilometers. This subsequently had a beneficial effect on further development"winners", which today have become one of the most powerful railway enterprises in the country. When workers from two contractors met in 1869, a golden nail was driven into the tie, symbolizing the connection between the two oceans.
The effect of the construction of the transcontinental railroad
Many skeptics argue that it then became a useless and senseless undertaking of the president. However, later it played a very significant role for the state, creating a real revolution in the country’s economy and the migration of its residents. In a short period of time, a huge number of Americans moved to the fertile western lands wanting to develop agriculture.
At the end of the nineteenth century, several more branches appeared, directly connecting the two oceans. They were better thought out, and fewer violations were made during construction. The first railroad in the USA, laid from the east to is considered a dark spot in American history. This is not surprising, because the feat of the two companies cannot overshadow the number of workers killed and families left homeless.
Railroad development after the Civil War
The Civil War showed how important and efficient rail transport was in transporting people, food and weapons. It is not surprising that it became a priority in the future. Companies operating in the industry were provided with subsidies even before the start of construction work. In particular, the government allocated from 16 to 48 thousand dollars for each mile of roadway. In addition, the territory for 10 miles on both sides of the route became the property of the companies. It is eloquent that, starting in 1870, over 10 years, 242 thousand square miles of land were distributed to corporations.
From 1865 to 1916 it was produced on a grand scale. Total length During this time, the number of tracks increased from 35 to 254 thousand miles. Moreover, at the beginning of the twentieth century, both passenger and freight transportation in the country was almost entirely carried out by rail.
Reduced role of railways
During the First World War, the railway sector came under the control of the American government. Since that time, the industry gradually began to lose its leading position. In 1920, the railways were returned to private ownership. However, by this time their condition had deteriorated significantly. In combination with the development of technological progress and other types of transport, this began to lead to a gradual decrease in the role of the industry for the state economy.
But there is no need to downplay the importance that the industry played. Firstly, it was created transport network, which connected the entire internal market of the state into a single whole. Secondly, the construction of the railway line contributed to a strong rise in industries such as transport engineering and metallurgy, due to the high demand for rails, cars and locomotives. Be that as it may, if before 1920 the development of railways was called the “golden era”, then we can say with confidence that since that time it has at least ended.
Current state
Few people in the United States travel by rail these days. This is primarily due to the good development of air communications. And the cost of train and plane tickets is often approximately the same. Because of this, it is not surprising that a large share of this industry's revenue comes from freight transportation. US railroad network has a length of more than 220 thousand kilometers. They serve all sectors of the country's economy. Rail transport accounts for about 40% of the national freight turnover.
Companies
All American railroad companies are privately owned. There are almost 600 of them in total. At the same time, the 7 largest of them account for more than half of the cargo turnover in the industry. The state guarantees companies the right to make independent decisions regarding transportation tariffs. At the same time, this process is controlled by a federal body called the Surface Transportation Council. Privatization of American railroads is irrelevant. Companies are interested in the efficient functioning and coordination of absolutely all systems. This is due to high competition with road transport. Fundamental decisions regarding the activities of railway companies are made by their shareholders. Recently, the total revenue of these companies averages about $54 billion per year.
Freight transportation
US railroads boast a fairly developed and efficient freight transportation system. Experts believe that the key to its successful operation is primarily related to their relative freedom from government regulation.
As noted above, about 40% of freight traffic in the country is provided by railway workers. This value has been growing over the past fifteen years. At the same time, in this indicator they are inferior to their main competitor - road transport. In the context of the struggle for clients, companies do their best to focus the attention of potential customers on their economic and environmental advantages. According to their leaders, in the near future this will still improve the current performance.
Classification of freight companies
Carriers that serve, according to the current classification system in the country, are divided into the following classes: first class companies, regional companies, local line operators and S&T carriers.
There are only seven operators classified as first class railway companies. They account for about 67% of cargo turnover, and the average annual income of each exceeds $350 million. Transportation is usually carried out over long distances. Statistics show that 9 out of 10 American railroad workers work for these companies.
Regional companies have average annual revenues of at least $40 million. They typically transport between 350 and 650 miles (within several states). According to the latest data, there are 33 such enterprises operating in the country, and the number of employees of each of them varies within 500 workers.
Local operators operate up to 350 miles and generate revenues of up to $40 million annually. There are 323 firms in this class in the state, which usually transport goods across the territory of one state.
S&T companies do not so much transport cargo as they deal with their transshipment and sorting. In addition, they specialize in delivery within a certain area upon the order of a particular carrier. According to the latest data, there are 196 such companies operating in the country, earning several tens of millions of dollars every year.
Passenger Transportation
Railway passenger transport is not very popular in the US. The fact is that the distances between cities are usually very long, and not every person is able to sit in a chair for a day, despite its comfort. It is much faster to travel by plane, the price of a ticket for which is not so much higher than the cost of a train trip.
In the USA, there are two types: short-haul and long-haul (night). The first of them uses seated carriages. They operate exclusively during the day. The second type has both sleeping and sitting rooms. In this case, passengers are located on the upper tier, and the lower one is intended for transporting luggage. Night trains serve mainly the western part of the country.
In addition, suburban transportation is also provided to serve passengers. The trains that provide them belong to local operators, who independently form the tariff system.
Completion
US railroads at one time played a revolutionary role in the country's economy. Their appearance contributed to a number of positive changes, as well as the development of many industries and agriculture. The evolution of American railroad transportation before the outbreak of World War I has even gone down in history as the “Golden Age” of railroads. Be that as it may, the development of technological progress combined with the availability of alternative modes of transport has led to a gradual decrease in the role of the industry.
Hello! Do you know when the first rail line was laid in America? And who became its discoverer? Today I will talk about American Railways. Don't think that you know everything, I will definitely surprise you.
For example, the American railway sector has always been built and developed much faster than transport in Continental Europe, which I wrote about in. Rail lines began their development in the 19th century.
Already at the very beginning of the 19th century, the American John Stevens created a railway company, which over time passed into the hands of the Pennsylvania Railroad and became part of it. At that time, no one in America knew about the existence of both a practical and a land vehicle, so the decision was made to rapidly develop the rail sector.
Ten years later, in the 19th century, the first steam-powered rail cars were born. Their creation was easy for builders and engineers. It was much more difficult to design a locomotive. But was this enough, is this what the Americans wanted? Where is the comfort and safe movement they promised?
After constantly building locomotives without success, John Stevens decided to take matters into his own hands and create the first steam locomotive and his attempts to create a steam locomotive were successful. These events contributed to the rapid progress of the development of American railroads.
In 1830 the first railway was opened for public use. Transport was a reliable means of transportation and also became a serious competitor to shipping. And it still continues. But still the public thought completely differently. The people believed that steam engines were the sons of the devil, and travelers would receive nothing other than a “concussion.” However, the advantages of steam engines over steamships were undeniable. To prove this to themselves again and again, people staged competitions between a train and a steamship. The rules of the game were to go through a certain segment as quickly as possible. The steamer completed the task and arrived in 3 days, while the locomotive covered 545.5 kilometers in just 16 hours.
Until the mid-19th century, American trains did not travel long distances. For example, a trip from Philadelphia to Charleston had eight tracks, meaning passengers had to change trains more than five times during a single trip. They did the same with the cargo. Who could even stand this?
Over the course of 10 years, the length of railways increased from 64 kilometers (40 miles) to 4.5 thousand kilometers (2755 miles). And before the start of the Civil War, in the 60s of the 19th century, the length increased to almost 50 thousand kilometers. At that time, railway tracks played a special role. After all, they served as a means of transporting weapons and various military equipment (ammunition, food), as well as transporting military personnel.
However, it was not only because of hostilities that the road developed. But thanks to the rapid growth in agriculture, there was a rapid construction of railways. All due to the fact that farmers needed constant export of products.
At the end of the 19th century, subways in New York gained particular popularity and development. After some time, trams also became popular. And soon they became the only way to travel.
In the mid-60s of the 19th century, the “Golden Age” began in the field of American railroads. Over the past 50 years, the railway world has expanded to a global scale: the length of railways has increased from 50 thousand kilometers to 400 thousand.
The current state of American railways
These days the length American roads reaches 220 thousand kilometers. It has a width of 1435 mm - this is the European norm. About 180 thousand people work on American railroads. employees.
Today, American railways are not among the most popular and popular types. ground transport. It is not profitable for the state to improve the railway sector, which is why transportation in America has been at a standstill for a long time. Domestic flights are in great demand; they are often much cheaper, and they are considered safer and more comfortable than traveling by train. Thus, trains remain for the use of aerophobes and desperate romantics. But there is still a huge advantage for tourists: a person visiting the country for the first time can take the train in order to study the area and flavor of the country in more detail.
The use of electricity as an energy source for traction of trains was first demonstrated at an industrial exhibition in Berlin in 1879, where a model of an electric railway was presented. A train consisting of a 2.2 kW locomotive and three carriages, each of which could accommodate up to 6 passengers, moved along a section less than 300 m long at a speed of 7 km/h. The creators of the new type of traction were the famous German scientist, inventor and industrialist Ernst Werner von Siemens (Werner von Siemens, 1816-1892) and engineer Halske.
The electric line and train demonstrated at the exhibition instantly became a sensation. Over the course of 4 months, the train transported about 90,000 exhibition visitors. DC electricity with a voltage of 150 V was supplied to the electric locomotive via a contact rail located between the rails; the return wire was the rails along which the train moved. The draft was controlled using a water rheostat.
A copy of the first electric locomotive from Siemens and Halske (1879) in the German Railways Museum. in Nuremberg.
Photo: Oleg Nazarov, 2010.
Swiss engineer Rene Thury (1860-1938) built an experimental mountain rack and pinion road in the suburbs of Montreux in 1884. Movement along the site to the mountain hotel with a slope of 30‰ and a length of 300 m was carried out by a two-axle locomotive, which could also carry 4 passengers.
The first trams
The expansion of the use of electric traction at the first stage encountered serious resistance from officials due to misunderstanding or often unwillingness to change anything.
Because of this mistrust, Ernst Werner von Siemens had to build a demonstration model of an electric tram at his own expense. The world's first permanently operating electric tram line opened in Berlin in the spring of 1881.
In the USA, the appearance of electric traction is associated with the name of the inventor Franklin J. Sparga (1857-1934), who is called in America the “father of electric traction.” In 1880, F. Sparg received a patent for a system for collecting current from a contact wire with a contact wheel on a pantograph, using which in 1887 the first electric tram system in the United States, the Richmond Union Passenger Railway, was built in Richmond (Virginia). Here, on February 2, 1888, the ability to operate without problems was demonstrated for the first time. tram lines with slopes up to 10‰, which was previously impossible with horse traction.
Electric tram in Richmond (USA) using the Franklin Sparga system. Postcard from 1923.
Source: Wikipedia.
The Russian engineer-inventor Fyodor Apollonovich Pirotsky (1845-1898) began to conduct experiments using electricity in 1874. In 1875, in St. Petersburg, on a section of the Sestroretsk railway, he conducted experiments with electric cars, for which about one mile of the track was electrified. In his design, the rails were connected to a Graham generator. Both rails were isolated from the ground, one of them was a direct conductor, and the other was a return conductor.
Based on the experiments carried out in 1880, at his own expense he upgraded one city horse-drawn double-decker tram in St. Petersburg to electric traction, and on September 3 an unusual public transport begins to transport residents of St. Petersburg, despite open protests from the owners of horse-drawn trams. A carriage weighing 7 tons could carry up to 40 passengers at a speed of 12-14 km/h. Pirotsky's experiments continued for several days until the end of September 1880, after which he proposed replacing all horse-drawn trams in St. Petersburg with electric trams. Unfortunately, like everything new, the idea of the Russian engineer was treated with distrust; the papers wandered around the offices of officials for a long time , there were no funds available for its implementation for a long time. And only in 1892, when electric trams had already successfully conquered European cities, they appeared on the streets of St. Petersburg.
Engineer F.B. Bespalov, in the brochure “Electric Economic Railway” published in 1894, substantiated the principle of controlling several cars in a coupling from one post - perhaps for the first time in the world. This is a key principle for managing multi-section rolling stock.
The first electric locomotives
For the first time in industrial use, a section of electric railway approximately 2 km long was launched in 1879 at a textile factory in the French city of Breuil.
In the UK, the first line to be electrified at 500 V DC using a contact rail was the 5.6 km underground City & South London Railway, opened in 1890. The company Messrs Mather & Platt and Siemens Bros supplied 16 electric locomotives for it, each equipped with 2 gearless traction motors with a power of 36.7 kW. In fact, it was the world's first subway.
The first section of the main electric railway, 11.2 km long, was opened in 1895 in the USA between Baltimore and Ohio (Baltimore Belt Line) with a catenary voltage of 675 V DC. The line consisted of an open section 6.4 km long and an underground section within the city. Electric locomotives for it were supplied by General Electric.
Europe's first experimental electric locomotive for main lines was created by the Hungarian engineer Kalman Kando in 1894. The electric locomotive was powered by a three-phase high voltage network of 3300 V with a frequency of 15 Hz and was equipped with an asynchronous traction motor. A new electrical machine invented by Kando, a phase shifter, was used as a converter. K. Kando has the same meaning for European engineers as F. Sparg for Americans, therefore in European countries K. Kando (1869-1931) is considered the “father of electric traction”.
Electric locomotives designed by K. Cando were used in Italy to organize traffic on a full-fledged railway route (before that they were used only on certain sections of roads). Energy was supplied to the electric locomotive through two contact wires; rails were used as the third phase.
Electric locomotive Kalman Kando (Hungary) for Italy.
