Tsarskoye Selo Railway

The Tsarskoye Selo Railway (Russian Царскосельская железная дорога ) was the first railway in Russia and the fourth on the European continent. The route linked St. Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk, where were the summer residences of the Russian Tsars.

With the construction of the line began in 1835. The engineer in charge, the Austrian Franz Anton von Gerstner who chose as the track width 1829 mm (6 feet). Against the background of simultaneously discharged controversy in England about the right track, he tried to find a compromise to be established for the Russian rail network.

The first short section ( Tsarskoye Selo, Pavlovsk ) of the 27 -kilometer route was on 25 Septemberjul. / October 7 1836greg. put into operation. Until the arrival of the first locomotives on 3.jul. / November 15 1836greg. the trains were transported with horses. The opening of the entire route on 30 Oktoberjul. / November 11 1837greg. , Initially working day with horses and only on Sundays and public holidays with locomotive operation. From 22 Maijul. / June 3 1838greg. the entire route was operated daily on steam power.

For traffic stood six type locomotives 1A1 n2 available. Of these, three of Stephenson, two of Tayleur and delivered by Cockerill. An also purchased, constructed from Hackworth machine proved to be "completely useless ".

The station building at Pavlovsk, which was built right at the entrance to the park at the same time served as a kind of Kursaal and the Concert Hall, occurred in addition to other musical celebrities Johann Strauss ( son ), Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann. (Now correct: Train station building) In this connection from the bandstand and the station building and the emergence of the Russian word вокзал / Vokzal for station is returned. The most likely explanation is that the building was named after the British Vauxhall Gardens in London - in the below linked report by L. Klein on the Railway Construction and Operation, the term " Vauxhall - building " is used - and later the name was transferred to all stations. Another derivation according to the word to mean a reduction of " Wokalny Sal ," meaning " choir room ". But even in this case the word entspränge concept of linking the functions of the station and the concert hall in Pavlovsk.

Since 1874 the railway was double track. In 1897 the railway part of the Moscow - Rybinsk Railway Windawa. 1902, the route to the Russian broad gauge of 1524 mm was rebuilt. Today the route is part of the members of the October Railway connection from Saint Petersburg to Vitebsk.