Steam Railway

Categories / City Services/Transportation/Municipal Transportation
STEAM RAILWAY (horse-drawn railway, steam-driven tram). Urban transport, a type of horse-drawn tram. Steam traction was introduced in 1882 along the Nevskaya Horse-Drawn Railway on the route from Znamenskaya Square (today Vosstania Square) to Semyannikovsky Plant (today Nevsky Plant). Three locomotive engines operated on Sundays. The train was comprised of four wagons (one wagon was drawn to Rybatskoe). From 1884, the tram ran regularly. By 1898, seventeen locomotive engines made by Krauss (Germany) and Cockerill (Belgium) travelled along the line. The railway station was located on Znamenskaya Square and the depot, and at Alexandrovskoe Village (not preserved). In 1913, the line came under the control of the city, including the tram-depot, workshops, 12 locomotives and 62 wagons. In 1887, regular steam tram service was introduced along the Lesnaya Line, from the Baron Willie Clinic (Army Medical Academy) to Krugly Pond (near the 2nd Murinsky Avenue and Institutsky Avenue). In 1907, the route was extended to the Polytechnic Institute. In 1902, the Lesnaya Line passed under the control of the city. In 1914, there were 16 steam locomotives serving the line, made by Brown Company (Switzerland), Cockerill Company (Belgium) and Putilovsky Plant. The horse-tram depot at the corner of Neishlotsky Lane and Lesnoy Avenue was used as a station. In 1892-94, the Primorskaya Railway (Novaya Derevnya - Sestroretsk) and the Irinovskaya Railway (Okhta - Rzhevka - Irinovka) were opened, leading to municipal tram-lines. In 1926-28, the Irinovskaya Railway was transformed into a tramline. The light railway to the Rakhya Station was used through the 1990s. The traffic along the Lesnaya Line of the Petrograd Railway Line stopped in 1918 and along the Nevskaya Line in 1922 (with the introduction of the Nevsky tramline). In 1942-43, steam trams were used to transport goods and passengers at night along the Volodarsky Bridge in the Nevsky District; at the same time, the Besstrashny (Fearless) steam tram ran along Stachek Avenue to the Kirovsky Plant. Until 1963, three steam locomotives of the "О" and "Ь" series operated at the tram freight depot.

Reference: Януш Б. В. Впервые по железным рельсам // ЛП. 1985. № 6. С. 27-28; От конки до трамвая: Из истории петерб. транспорта / Авт.-сост. Е. Шапилов и др. СПб.; М., 1994.

Y. N. Kruzhnov. 2nd Murinsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Institutsky Avenue/Saint Petersburg, city
Lesnaya Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Neishlotsky Lane/Saint Petersburg, city
Stachek Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Януш Б. В. Впервые по железным рельсам // Ленингр. панорама, 1985
От конки до трамвая: Из истории петерб. транспорта: [Альбом] / Авт.-сост. Е. Шапилов и др. СПб.; М., 1994 Horse-car
Nevsky Plant
Polytechnical University
Kirovsky Plant
Tramway