Inventor of the tram. When did trams appear? The development of the tram in the pre-war period

In the summer of 1872, the Polytechnic Exhibition was held in Moscow, dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Peter the Great. Special for the exhibition war ministry laid the first temporary line of a horse-drawn tram along the central streets of the city - from the Iversky Gates to the current Belorussky railway station. The movement of wagons was opened on June 25 (July 7), 1872. The movement along the first rebuilt Petrovsky horse tram line (from the Iverskaya Chapel through Strastnaya Square, Tverskaya Zastava to Petrovsky Park) was opened on September 1 (13), 1874. In subsequent years, the network of equestrian railways constantly grew. In November 1891, all previously existing horse tram routes were revised and 25 new lines began to operate.

In July 1898, the First Society of Horse-Railways, with the consent of the city government, began the electrification of the first three sections of its network. The company has begun re-equipment of the Dolgorukovskaya line of the horse-drawn railway from Strastnaya Square along the street. M. Dmitrovka and further to Butyrskaya Zastava (i.e. from Pushkin Square, along Chekhov, Dolgorukovskaya, Novoslobodskaya St., along Sushchevsky Val), as well as two experimental suburban lines: Petrovskaya (from Tverskaya Zastava to Petrovsky Palace) and Butyrskaya (from Butyrskaya Zastava along Upper and Lower Maslovka to Petrovsky Park). Along with the reconstruction and construction of lines, the First Society decided to build a traction substation near Butyrskaya Zastava, which was supposed to feed these three lines with electricity. And in June, the construction of the "Electric" tram depot began on Bashilovka.

The rails on the Dolgorukovskaya and Petrovskaya lines were laid grooved on wooden sleepers. The track was adopted by the railway - 5 feet - 1524 mm. Vignol type rails were laid on the Butyrskaya line.

Twenty-three motor electric and one wagon with mixed battery-electric traction were manufactured during 1898 at the Fankelried plant in Hamburg, and the electrical equipment for them came from the factories of Siemens and Halske. The cars were two-axle, 8.41 m long and 2.45 m wide. The car interior had two longitudinal benches with 20 seats in summer and 18 in winter. The front and rear platforms housed electrical equipment for controlling the car, as well as standing places. The maximum speed of movement was provided for 25 miles per hour (27 km / h).

All major construction work on the first section from Petrovsky Park along Upper and Lower Maslovka to Butyrskaya Zastava was completed by the end of January 1899. Therefore, in February, a trial running of the electric tram line and training of operating personnel began.

The grand opening of the tram movement along the first line in Moscow from Butyrskaya Zastava along the Lower and Upper Maslovka to Petrovsky Park took place on March 25 (April 6), 1899 in the Electric Park. At 4 p.m., a prayer service was performed with water blessing in front of the revered icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands and local shrines. The prayer took place in the machine building, decorated with flags. It was attended by the Moscow Governor Chamberlain A. G. Bulygin, Moscow Post Director Privy Councilor K. G. Radchenko, Moscow Mayor Prince V. M. Golitsyn, Acting Chief Police Chief of Moscow Colonel D. F. Trepov, Head of the Postal and Telegraph District F. A. von Pistolkers, Government Inspector P. D. Vonlyarovsky and others After the prayer, all those present were invited to take their seats in the carriages decorated with national flags.

Soon the first wagon with commanding and honorary persons set off, at the exit from the gates of the park the tricolor ribbon was cut. Behind this car, at short intervals, another 4 cars moved, filled with guests invited to the celebration.

2 Petrovsky park

Electric cars were heading to Petrovsky Park. People stood all along the way, looking with curiosity at the movement of the electric tram. In Petrovsky Park, the arrival of the tram was expected by the local population.

From Petrovsky Park, the guests were very quickly taken along the second path to Butyrskaya Zastava. Here they were waiting for the carriages of the horse-drawn railway, in which all the invitees were transplanted to follow to the Moskovskaya Hotel, where dinner was prepared for the invited persons.

Regular tram traffic along the suburban line from Butyrskaya Zastava to Petrovsky Park opened the next day on March 26 (April 7), 1899. The cars ran at intervals of 14 minutes from 8 am to 8 pm. A ticket for the entire line cost 6 kopecks.

All construction and installation work on the Dolgorukovskaya Line and the out-of-town section of the Petrovsky Line (Belorussky Station - Petrovsky Palace) were completed in June-July 1899. The grand opening of the electric tram movement on these lines took place on July 27 of the same year.

“ Pre-tram era”

Before mid-nineteenth century, St. Petersburg practically did without mass passenger transport, with the exception of ferry crossings across the Neva. Representatives of the upper class, as a rule, used their own carriages, but the bulk of the population - workers and artisans - walked. Of course, private cab drivers worked in the city, but for most of them their services were expensive and inaccessible.

Omnibus

The first public transport in St. Petersburg was established in 1830, it was an omnibus - a spacious horse-drawn carriage for 10-16 people. The omnibus (translated from Latin as "for everyone") was designed for passengers who did not have the opportunity to use the services of private cabs. It is believed that the world's first omnibus appeared in Nantes (France) in 1826. However, it would be more correct to say that in this French city the word “omnibus” was first used. According to Blaise Pascal, multi-seat passenger carriages traveled around Paris when Louis XIV, in 1662.

The first St. Petersburg omnibuses were seasonal transport, which in the warm season, for a modest fee, delivered passengers from the Kazan Bridge to Krestovsky Island or Staraya Derevnya.

After 17 years, several omnibus routes were opened in the city, designed to move directly along the streets of St. Petersburg. Depending on the route, the carriages were painted in different colors: crimson went from Degtyarnaya Street to Petersburgskaya (now the Petrograd side), blue - from Basseynaya Street (now Nekrasov Street) to Pokrovskaya Square (now Turgenev Square). With the increase in passenger traffic, carriages of a larger capacity were required. Then it was decided to arrange a "second floor" on the roof, which was called the imperial, but even the double-decker omnibuses were constantly overcrowded.

Konka

In 1863, the omnibus was replaced by a new type of urban passenger transport - the "horse" or horse-drawn tram. Prior to that, they worked mainly in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, where they served to transport goods from piers to warehouses. In 1860, the freight horse-drawn route appeared in the city itself: its 3 km long route ran through Vasilievsky Island. But about the expediency of the appearance of passenger routes, debates unfolded in the City Duma. At first, opponents of the innovation took over, appealing to the fact that the new mode of transport would cause many accidents. However, in 1863, the resolution “On the Arrangement of Public Carriages in St. Petersburg” was nevertheless adopted: on August 27, the first horse-drawn carriages with passengers ran along Nevsky Prospekt to the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island. For those who used horse-drawn railways, there were special rules. So, getting into and out of the car was allowed only at the stopping places, or when he was not driving very fast, and always on the right in the direction of travel. Such orders helped to protect the townspeople from falling under the horses of the opposite direction.

Gradually, passenger horse-drawn carriages came to other districts of St. Petersburg. The length of the first horse lines reached 8 km. An equestrian park appeared at 40 Ligovsky Prospekt, the first floor of which was occupied by stables, a smithy, workshops for repairing carriages, and the second was given over to the office and other office premises.

During the first year of operation, the horse-drawn carriage transported 1.5 million people, and in the next year - already 2 million. With the growing popularity of the new type of transport, the company's profits also increased. Soon, in order to increase the carrying capacity of the wagons, it was decided, just like on omnibuses, to design the second floor - the imperial. Depending on where the passenger was traveling - on the roof or inside the car - he paid a different price. The journey on the imperial was cheaper and cost 3 kopecks, since people were driving practically on the street: the second floor had no roof that would protect them from rain. It was believed that the places on the imperial were for second-class passengers. But first-class passengers paid 5 kopecks for a comfortable ride inside the cabin. For women of any class, travel on the imperial was considered indecent and was banned in a number of countries, including Russia. In St. Petersburg, the issue of "admission of women to the imperial" was discussed in the City Duma until the beginning of 1902. On May 4, 1903, the fairer sex finally received the official right to ride on the second floor.

From 1875 to 1877, the length of the horse-drawn railway increased significantly, by that time 25 routes had already been opened. Although, it should be noted that the speed of the tram was small - a maximum of 8 km / h (with a pedestrian speed of about 4 km / h). There was even a joke among the townspeople: “Konka, horse, catch up with the chicken.” In the 1880s, double tracks began to be laid on some routes to speed up traffic.

No matter how the authorities tried to prevent accidents, they still happened, especially at night. For example, according to statistics for 1900, 95 people were injured. In addition, it turned out that the horses were not as reliable and profitable in work as expected, they often got sick and died, and they needed too much fodder. So the search began soon. alternative species transport.

At the end of the 20th century, Russian engineer Fyodor Apollonovich Pirotsky began to conduct experiments on an abandoned railway line near the Sestroretsk station to launch an electric car. On August 22, 1880, at 12 noon in St. Petersburg, on Sands, at the corner of Bolotnaya Street and Degtyarny Lane, a demonstrative race took place on a "rail car driven by electric power." The former horse car No. 114 was destined to become the world's first electric tram. Despite the fact that the experiments were crowned with success, the owners of horse-drawn railway companies did not support the innovation. The conversion of the horse-drawn road into an electric one required a lot of investment, and the owners of the horse-drawn railway did not see any additional benefits for themselves. In addition, according to the existing contract between the monopolists and the city, it was forbidden to introduce other types of traction on existing or newly laid lines. Because of this, the opening of the tram service in St. Petersburg was delayed by as much as 27 years!

steam engine

In the 80s XIX years century there were attempts to replace the horse-drawn carriage with the so-called steam engines. The first steam engine appeared in the city on June 26, 1886 on Bolshoi Sampsonievsky Prospekt. A small locomotive dragged several final cars with passengers behind it. The business turned out to be profitable, and soon three more lines of the steam railway were laid in St. Petersburg. At first, steam trains consisted of two or three cars, and then four. In the summer, open wagons were released onto the line - without walls. Riding on such platforms was uncomfortable because of the soot and sparks flying from the locomotive pipe. Among the workers, they received the nickname "smokers". Already in 1922, steam engines left the city streets, but during the Great Patriotic War, in the face of a shortage of electricity, they resumed their work in Leningrad.

ice tram

In St. Petersburg, nevertheless, they found a way to start a tram on electric traction before the expiration of the contract between the city and the owners of the horse-drawn railway. Contrary to the obstacles of the monopolists, such cars began to carry passengers in the 90s of the XIX century ... on the ice of the Neva. “Partnership for the exploitation of electricity by M.M. Podobedova and Co. laid three lines across the ice of the frozen river, connecting Senate Square with Vasilyevsky Island, Palace Embankment with Mytninskaya, and Suvorovskaya Square with Vyborgskaya Side; in the warm season, these directions were served by a ferry. Tram cars were powered by a contact network, which was mounted on wooden poles. The supports themselves were frozen into the ice. The ice tram was very popular and transported up to 900 thousand passengers per season. The owners of the horse-drawn carriage filed a lawsuit against the City Council, accusing it of violating the agreement, but the judges decided that the terms of the document apply only to the streets of St. Petersburg and do not apply to waterways.

Finally, in 1902, upon the expiration of the city's contract with the horse-drawn railway society, the entire transport infrastructure, together with the rolling stock, was transferred to the city, and the design of the future tram system began in St. Petersburg.

The appearance of the tram

It was not possible to launch a new type of transport immediately: the layout of St. Petersburg differed significantly from the layout of most Russian cities, but in the end they decided to stop at the diametrical-ring system. It was assumed that 24 tram routes would connect each district with any part of the city. Due to the fact that the lines ran through 65 bridges, the crossings had to be reconstructed. Old bridges could not support the weight of the tram with passengers. Also, according to the project prepared in 1903, it was necessary to lay an additional 208 km of rail tracks. In addition, it was required to build a central power plant, 9 electrical substations, reconstruct 6 equestrian parks and additionally build 2 new tram parks. The total cost of the project was estimated at 52 million rubles, the work was supposed to be divided into 4 stages and completed by 1925. The Westinghouse American Electrical Society won the international tender for contractors. Its offices were located at 11 Nevsky Prospekt and 61 Gorokhovaya Street. The stated deadlines for completing the work were violated and delayed, but the city authorities did not dare to reissue the contract.

The first tram depots of the city were Vasileostrovsky (Sredny Prospect V.O., 77), Petersburg (Bolshaya Podyacheskaya, 24/2) and Moskovsky (Moskovsky Prospekt, 83).

Tram start

Tram traffic in St. Petersburg was opened on September 29, 1907. The first route connected the Main Headquarters with the 8th line of Vasilyevsky Island.

For the capital Russian Empire purchased 190 wagons from the British company Brush. To regulate the work of a new mode of transport, instructions and rules were formed. So, the movement began at 7:30 and ended at 23:00. The conductor could put no more than 34 people on the tram. Also, at first, places in the cars were divided into classes. The fare for a passenger in the first class cost 6 kopecks, for a trip in the second class they paid 4 kopecks. True, a year later this practice was abandoned, and the fare became the same for everyone - 5 kopecks for each tariff section. Until 1916, a zone-based fare system operated in St. Petersburg. The route was divided into several zones, tickets for each section were of different colors. So the conductor at the same time had 6-8 coils with different-colored tickets for different zones. Tariff sections did not overlap, but overlapped each other, and the conductor had to remember the boundaries of all zones, to which passenger how many tickets he sold and when to land whom. It was also the responsibility of the conductor to prevent people in dirty clothes and passengers with pets from entering the cabin.

The car driver's place was located in an open area, separated from the passenger compartment, and in winter the car drivers actually worked on the street. Saved only fur coats with fur collars and hoods. Conductors worked in similar conditions. They were supposed to be on the back platform, also open, in order to monitor the boarding and disembarking of passengers. In addition, when the car was moving, they were responsible for safety: the conductors passed the intersections, standing on the footboard of the car, in order to stop those who wanted to jump into the tram on the move in time.

The tram traffic was actively developed. Already by 1908, the total length of the routes was 58 km of double track. For 7 years, the profit from transportation increased 10 times and exceeded 10 million rubles, which made it possible to bring the city budget out of a state of permanent deficit. By 1914, the tram already ran along almost all the main streets of the city: it appeared on Ligovsky Prospekt, the Obvodny Canal Embankment, Vosstaniya Streets, Kirochnaya, Zakharyevskaya, Shpalernaya, Tverskaya, Nekrasova and others. The steam engine line on Bolshoi Sampsonievsky Prospekt was electrified and modernized. For the convenience of passengers, the City Duma introduced an additional designation of tram route numbers using a combination of two colored lights.

Tram from 1917 to 1941

With the outbreak of the First World War, the development of the tram network slowed down due to rising fuel prices and a shortage of maintenance personnel. As a result, the production of trams on the line has decreased, and the fare has risen in price. At the beginning of 1917, 29 tram and 9 horse-drawn routes, as well as 1 steam engine line, were operating in Petrograd.

After the Civil War, the tram economy of Petrograd finally fell into decay. At the end of 1918, the number of routes was reduced to 9 (only for communication between the center and the outskirts), the Lanskoy tram depot (No. 5) and partially the Moscow tram depot (No. 1) were mothballed, the construction of the Christmas tram depot (No. 6, named after Skorokhodov) was postponed .

Since 1921, the situation has improved, new lines appear. In 1922, the last route of the steam engine was electrified, traffic along the central highways of the city was resumed, and the number of rolling stock on the line increased. The tram industry began to develop actively again: in the period from 1925 to 1936, 3 tram depots and several substations were built. And in 1927, the first locally produced trams, MS (motor steel), came off the assembly line of the Krasny Putilovets plant (now the Kirov Plant), which replaced the old English Brush. These were two-axle wagons with a steel body frame, which made them more durable than English ones. MS cars were produced in a wide range of modifications: from MS-1 to MS-4. During operation, some motor cars of the MS type were converted into trailers. They did not have a control cabin and electrical equipment. Such cars received the abbreviation MSP (motor steel trailer).

By the end of the 1920s, the production of trams on the line was almost five times higher than the level of 1921, but the shortage of rolling stock was still felt. The capacity of the two-axle wagons that ran around the city in the 1920s was small and could not fully meet the growing needs of the city. Since 1927, tram trains of three cars began to be operated - "tees". In 1931, twin trains of four cars were introduced, however, they could not cope with the passenger traffic of the three-million metropolis. There was a need for a new generation of trams.

In the early 1930s, a group of Soviet engineers led by D.I. Kondratyeva went abroad to study the experience of foreign colleagues for the design of a large-capacity tram. The attention of specialists was drawn to the four-axle cars of the Peter Witt company, which were operated in the USA. They were taken as a basis for the development of Leningrad trams of the 1933 model. The production of such trams was organized at the Central Car Repair Shops, located on the territory of the tram park them. Leonov on Vasilyevsky Island. And already in 1934, the Car Repair Plant (VARZ-1) was opened in the city and the production of tram cars was moved to its site. These cars were named MA (motor American type) and PA (trailer American type), and Leningraders began to call them "Americans". Later, in order to combat cosmopolitanism, the name of the car was changed to LM-33 (Leningrad motor car, developed in 1933).Apart from big size they favorably differed from other trams of that era by the presence of another - central - door, next to which there was a conductor's place. It was through it that passengers got into the car, immediately paid for the fare and took their seats, and exited through the front or back doors. It was convenient and speeded up the landing and disembarkation. The "American" went down in history as a long-lived tram: LM-33 was operated for 46 years - from 1933 to 1979.

Blockade tram

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, the Leningrad tram industry had the best performance for the entire time of its existence. 750-800 trains (1835 wagons) ran daily on 42 routes. The route network consisted of over 700 km and connected all districts of the city in such a way as to provide passengers with trips without transfers. At the beginning of 1941, they started building a number of new lines, designing several parks at once. But the war prevented these plans from being realized. More than 4.5 thousand employees of the Tram and Trolleybus Department (TTU) were mobilized. Women and teenagers came to their jobs, retired production workers returned. The qualifications of many new workers were low, and experience had to be acquired already at work, in the harsh conditions of war and blockade. The specifics of the work of TTU has also changed. Leningrad was big medical center where a large number of the wounded were brought. From ambulance trains to hospitals and hospitals, they were delivered by trams. For these purposes, part of the "Americans" was converted into ambulance cars: the salon was freed from seats, instead of them there were brackets in three tiers - for stretchers, heating was installed in the cars and tanks with hot water to promptly provide first aid to the injured.

Freight trams worked in an enhanced mode: they delivered equipment intended for evacuation to railway stations, transported raw materials and fuel for plants and factories, food to shops and sand for foundry needs.

By the end of November 1941, due to power outages, destruction contact network and snow drifts, breaks in tram and trolleybus traffic became more frequent. And on December 8, the regular movement of electric transport stopped. The next day, by decision of the city executive committee, eight tram routes were abolished. Separate cars were still moving along the Leningrad highways, but on January 3, 1942, due to a power outage, the last tram trains froze on snow-covered streets. “... From Moscow to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra itself, there is a chain of trolleybuses, covered with ice, covered with snow, also dead - like people, dead. One after another, in a string, several dozen. Are standing. And at the Lavra on the tracks there is a chain of trams with broken windows, with snowdrifts on the benches. They are also worth it ... Have we ever traveled in this? Weird! I walked past the dead trams and trolleybuses in some other century, in another life, ”Olga Berggolts describes those events in her Leningrad Diary.

In the most severe blockade winter, Leningraders were forced to get to work on foot, and in inhuman conditions of hunger and terrible cold, it was extremely difficult for people to overcome even the shortest distances. The city needed a tram. All the forces of the employees of the Tram and Trolleybus Department were thrown into the restoration of tram traffic. A significant part of the TTU staff during the siege were women: almost 90% of rolling stock mechanics, electricians in the energy service, repair workers in the track service, 99% of car drivers. They were strengthened by the belief that the day when the tram will again take to the streets of the city is not far off. To reopen freight and passenger traffic, it was necessary to restore approximately 150 km of the contact network - almost half of the city's network. And finally, on March 8, 1942, the first freight trams returned to the line. With their help, the cleaning of the city from garbage, snow and sewage was significantly accelerated. And on April 15, passenger tram traffic resumed. At first, only five routes were opened, running diagonally across the city, so that passengers could get to any area with just one change. In 1943, the number of routes increased.

The complete liberation from the blockade on January 27, 1944 radically changed the situation in the city. During the year, the population of Leningrad increased by 372 thousand people and amounted to more than 930 thousand inhabitants. Significant expansion of tram traffic was required. Already by 1944, 9 more routes were launched, and by January 1, 1945 there were already 20 of them, 850 wagons worked daily in the city.

post-war period

Immediately after the war, the restoration of tram cars went into full swing. By order of the party bodies of Leningrad, about forty industrial enterprises of the city were given the task of helping tram workers. Leningrad workers repaired about 400 carriages, and a large number of spare parts entered the tram depots. In 1947, the engineers of the Carriage Repair Plant developed the first all-metal tram cars- LM-47 and LP-47. For considerable weight, rounded shapes and ivory coloring among passengers, they were nicknamed "elephants". The next models - LM-49 and LP-49, which appeared already in 1949 - had less weight, more advanced equipment, driver's cabins fenced off from passengers and many other changes, but the nickname "elephants" was transferred to them.

In the 1950s and 1980s, the tram route network underwent many changes. He left Nevsky, parts of Moscow, Kirovsky prospects and Stachek Avenue. One could get the impression that the tram's days were numbered. Moreover, in those years there was a tendency in the world to replace rail transport with trackless transport. But the Leningrad tram retained and even strengthened its position. During the period 1950-1959, not only 74.1 km of tram lines were removed, but also 70.2 km were built. The organization of four new routes brought them total by the end of the decade to 39. Daily, 1,506 wagons were on the routes. In the 1980s, the organization of transportation routes to metro stations became popular. For example, when the Pravoberezhnaya metro line opened, a tram line was laid along Kosygin Avenue. And from the Rzhevka terminal station to the Ladozhskaya metro station, trains of route No. 64 began to run. In 1988, a reversal loop was built at the other end of the city, near Udelny Park. From here, past the Pionerskaya metro station to Shavrova Street, large-capacity tram trains went with a small interval of movement.
Since 1958, tram cars of a new generation - LM-57 - began to appear on the streets of the city. They differed from the previous ones in smoother forms, as well as in an "increased comfort" cabin: heating and regular soft seats appeared both in it and in the cab. The car seemed unusually "elegant", for which the passengers affectionately nicknamed it "dude". VARZ built over 700 such cars. The heated interior and the silent running of the "dude" pleased the passengers, but the fact that these cars could only work as single cars immediately created difficulties. Reducing the intervals of movement between cars increased the carrying capacity, but led to traffic jams at intersections. A way out was found: stops appeared on the streets of the city, at which passengers were allowed to board and disembark simultaneously for two single cars. By the way, in the LM-57 model, in connection with the proposed transition to conduction-free service, radio broadcasting appeared. The very idea of ​​such a reorganization was voiced back in the 1930s, but due to certain reasons, the possibility of bringing it to life appeared only by the end of the 1950s. On December 1, 1958, this idea began to be realized in Leningrad. Ticket offices are installed on the trams. Now, according to the rules, the passenger himself had to drop a coin into the cashier and tear off his own ticket. It was believed that in a society striving for a bright communist future, conscience was the best controller. This fare payment system was introduced gradually, there were difficulties with the rearrangement of door drives for automatic control from the driver's cab of a motor car, radio communication equipment for notifying passengers, the purchase of cash boxes, etc. Conductors were initially removed from motor cars, and subsequently were removed from trailed. The last conductor (Lydia Ivanovna Ratnikova) went on her last flight on February 26, 1970 from the tram park named after. Blokhin. The duties of the conductor to monitor the payment of fares, transfer the proceeds to specialized cash desks of the depot, draw up payment documentation, notify passengers on the way by radio, sell subscription coupons, were now assigned to the driver's staff, who were charged with a corresponding salary supplement for this. In the last decade of Soviet power, cash desks were gradually replaced by composters. Now passengers had to purchase special travel coupons in advance (at stops at kiosks or from the driver), and pay for travel by composting these coupons in the passenger compartment. However, in the early 90s of the XX century, due to the unstable economic situation, transport enterprises were forced to return the position of the conductor.

In 1968, LM-68 cars appeared, nicknamed "aquariums" - for a partially glass roof. A little later, in 1972, the production of the next modification of this tram began - LM-68M, which received the nickname "Mashka" among trams for the letter "M" in the name.

Old types of trams constantly gave way to new ones. On May 1, 1968, the operation of two-axle wagons ceased. In the early 70s, they stopped carrying passengers along the streets of the city “Elephants” - LM-47. On March 18, 1979, a train of the LM-LP-33 "American" type, the first model of large-capacity four-axle cars, made a farewell trip around the city. In 1983, cars produced at the Ust-Katavsky plant - KTM-5M3 - began to appear in the city, and soon the cars LM-49, LM-57, LM-68 were decommissioned.

In the 80-90s of the 20th century, VARZ actively produced articulated cars, the largest of which was LVS-86. To date, these cars still make up the majority of the St. Petersburg tram fleet. In terms of comfort and their technical data at the time of release, they were at the level the latest achievements equipment, had a comfortable driver's cab, ventilation and reliable heating, a contactor or thyristor-pulse control system. Also in the late 80s - early 90s, experimental eight-axle cars LVS-89 and LVS-93 were produced, which were not put into serial production due to the economic difficulties that befell our country in the early 90s.

Freight tram

For the first time, freight tram transportation in Petrograd began even before the Great October revolution. At first, freight tram platforms were attached to ordinary passenger cars. At the same time, a postal tram appeared, converted from a passenger one and delivering correspondence from the Main Post Office to the city stations.

In the early 1920s, several passenger motor cars were completely converted into freight cars. They began to be used to deliver various goods to the enterprises of the city. A little later, in 1925-1926, 40 cartless motor cars were built at the Krasny Putilovets plant. The demand for freight transport has grown steadily. So, for example, during the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939, when the load on the railway increased greatly, there were not enough freight tram cars, and part of the cargo between the city stations had to be transported by a shunting steam locomotive on small platforms directly along the tram tracks. After that, in 1940, it was decided to build 20 more freight tram cars.

Prior to the blockade of Leningrad, the cargo tram was actively used for evacuation various enterprises and institutions. Thus, in particular, the Hermitage collections were evacuated with the help of freight wagons - fortunately, the tram tracks ran nearby. During the blockade, after the tram service was interrupted in the winter of 1941, the freight tram was launched before the passenger one. He took on the important function of cleaning the streets of the city, thereby preventing the development of an epidemic, and was also used to transport raw materials to city enterprises and deliver products to stores.

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, cargo tamvais continued to deliver raw materials and export finished products from enterprises, which are difficult or almost impossible to bring access roads. railways. Until 1971, there was a cargo tram fleet named after. Krasutsky, located next to the tram park number 1 on Moskovsky Prospekt. Later, it was liquidated as an administrative unit, and the cars were transferred to trampark No. 1, although this did not affect the volume of freight traffic.

Despite the demand for freight trams in our city, the rolling stock fleet was updated irregularly. Until the cessation of freight traffic in 1997, mainly pre-war wagons were used. Since the beginning of the 1990s, with the closure of many enterprises, the demand for freight tram transportation began to fall. The last enterprise that used the services of a cargo injury in our city was "Sevkabel".

"DIVO" Russian book of records and achievements

HUMAN ACTIVITIES: Science and Technology:Public transport

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

RUSSIAN HORSE

In Russia, the horse-drawn carriage appeared in St. Petersburg in 1860, first as a freight train, connecting the 17th line of Vasilyevskaya: the islands with stock exchange warehouses. And in 1866, three passenger lines began to operate - Nevskaya, Admiralteiskaya and Sadovaya. In 1872, the first horse-drawn line was built in Moscow. In the early 1880s, there were horse-drawn trams in Odessa, Kharkov, Tiflis, Riga, and Rostov-on-Don.

FIRST TRAM

The first tram in Russia appeared in St. Petersburg. On August 22, 1880, at 2 pm on Peski, at the corner of Bolotnaya Street and Degtyarny Lane, the Russian inventor Fyodor Apollonovich Pirotsky demonstrated the first electric tram. Pirotsky, an employee of the main artillery department, solved the problem of transmitting electricity by rail. Later, on an abandoned railway line in Sestroretsk, he managed to move a tram along the rails, which was located at a distance of a kilometer from the current source. The owners of joint-stock companies of horse-drawn railways saw a dangerous competitor in the electric car. Therefore, Pirotsky, unfortunately, did not go further than experiments. And only 12 years later (in 1892) tram traffic began in Kyiv. The length of the first branch was 1.6 kilometers. Then the tram lines were built in Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Yekaterinoslav.

In 1883, for the first time, the power supply of a tram was carried out through an overhead contact wire, like in modern trams.

In Moscow, the first trams appeared in1899. And in St. Petersburg, only in 1907, that is, 27 years after and inventions.

FIRST TAXI

The first taxi car appeared on the streets of St. Petersburg in 1907. And in Moscow, the first taxis - French Renaults and Italian Fiats - ran on June 21, 1925. And only in 1932, domestic GAZ-A6 cars appeared in taxis, and since 1936 - M-1 cars (the famous "emki").

FIRST MOSCOW BUS

In Moscow, the first bus began to run on April 18, 1922. The cost of a ticket "for one station" was a quarter of a million paper rubles. The entire flight consisted of two stations. The first bus had neither its own number nor any specific timetable. It was possible to “capture” the bus and get into it only by chance.

Regular bus traffic opened in Moscow on August 24, 1924. In total, 8 cars of the English company Leyland cruised, which could develop a maximum speed of 30 kilometers per hour.

FIRST TROLLEYBUS

The first Russian trolleybus was created in 1933 at the Moscow Dynamo plant. From November 1933, a lot of people gathered on the square of the Belorussky railway station. Everyone was looking towards the Leningrad highway. Soon a "horned" one appeared on the road, returning from his first trip from the Belorussky railway station to the village of Vsekhsvyatsky.

FIRST METRO

The first project for the construction of the Moscow Metro - "off-street railway", as it was then called, was developed by the Russian engineer P.I. Balinsky and at the end of 1902 was considered in the Moscow City Duma. He immediately aroused a wary attitude towards himself: after all, it provided for the gratuitous alienation of urban lands around land lines, the demolition of many houses. Shareholders of the tram companies were afraid of competition, the clergy dubbed the subway a "sinful dream", and the project was rejected. A few years earlier, a project to build a metro in St. Petersburg was rejected in exactly the same way.

The first subway in our country was opened in Moscow on May 193S. The first stage was 11.6 kilometers long and had 13 stations (two lines - from Sokolniki to the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Culture and to Smolenskaya Square). 15 pairs of four-car trains ran along these lines per hour, carrying 177,000 passengers per day.

RECORDS OF THE METRO

The busiest metro in the world is in Moscow. Between 8 and 10 million people use its services every day. In May 1990, the Moscow Metro had 141 stations, 49 transfer hubs, 428 trains that ran along 227 kilometers of track. Occupying the fifth place in the world in terms of the development of the railway network, the Moscow metro firmly holds the palm in terms of the number of passengers transported per day.

INSTEAD OF BUSES - FUNiculars

The largest number of cable cars is in the Georgian city of Chiatura. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world. Cableways are the main mode of transport here: dozens of lines link the city center with mines and workers' settlements. Some of them are passenger.

THE MOST NORTHERN TRAM

Closest to the North Pole is the tram line in Ust-Ilimsk with a length of 16 kilometers. Since 1991, the northernmost tram in the world has been running on it. The tram line connects the city with the forest complex.

The first tram in the Russian Empire was launched on May 2, 1892 in Kyiv, it was built by engineer A.E. Struve. Then he appeared in Nizhny Novgorod, Elisavetgrad, Vitebsk, Kursk, Odessa, Kazan, Tver, Yekaterinodar, Yekaterinoslav. In the Asian part of Russia, the first tram line was opened on October 9, 1912 in Vladivostok. In the capital cities - St. Petersburg, Moscow - he had to endure the struggle with competitors - horse racing (in Kyiv there was practically no such struggle because of the difficult terrain - the horses could not cope with steep climbs).

The oldest tram in modern Russia is located in Kaliningrad. During the opening of the electric tram in 1895 (the horse tram had existed since 1881), this city was called Königsberg and belonged to Germany.

The owners of horse-drawn carriages, private and joint-stock companies, who at one time received the rights to build "horse-drawn railways", for a long time did not want to return these rights back. The law of the Russian Empire was on their side, and the issued rights stated that the city council could not use any other type of transport on the streets for fifty years without the consent of the "final" owners. In Moscow, the tram went only on March 26, 1899, and in St. Petersburg - only on September 16, 1907, despite the fact that the first tram line there was laid back in 1894 right on the ice of the Neva.

"Ice" trams ran on several routes: Senatskaya Square - Vasilyevsky Island, Mytishchi Square - Petrogradskaya Side, Field of Mars - Vyborgskaya Side. The rails and sleepers were simply laid on the ice surface, and the wire poles were frozen into the ice. Ice trams began operating in the winter of 1904-05. Vesnin.A. A. Where are you in a hurry, Russian tram? Brief essay on the history of trams in Russia from the journal "Science and Life", M., July 2005

Their appearance was due to the fact that horse cars were actually monopolists: under the terms of the contracts, horse railway companies had a lease land plots all main streets. However, trams were allowed to run on the ice of the Neva even after the trams lost their monopoly on public transport. At least a photograph of such a tram, dated 1914, has been preserved.

Before the revolution, a unique suburban line to Strelna, Peterhof and Oranienbaum, ORANEL, appeared in St. Petersburg, which in 1929 was included in the city network.

Tram in pre-revolutionary Russia(unlike the United States) was not a common phenomenon and its appearance was associated with the economic status of cities, the availability of solvent demand among its inhabitants and the activity local authorities. Until 1917, in addition to the systems in Moscow and St. Petersburg, traffic was opened in about a dozen cities, among which half were commercial and industrial cities on the Volga (Tver, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn). books by Mikhail Dmitrievich Ivanov Moscow Tram: History Pages", published by Mosgortrans for the Centenary of the Moscow Tram in 1999. The book is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Moscow tram. G. Prokoppets. History of the tram chapter 7

Before the Revolution, most of the tram networks that were opened were narrow-gauge. However, in terms of wagons, the preponderance was in favor of broad-gauge ones, since the two largest networks of the country, Moscow and Petrogradskaya, were broad-gauge. In Rostov-on-Don, the tram had a Stephenson gauge of 1435 mm, in Kyiv - 1511 mm (due to little difference with the standard gauge of 1524 mm there was compatibility in terms of rolling stock). Some cities had two networks of different gauges, for example, in Nizhny Novgorod, the upper network was narrow-gauge, and the lower one was broad-gauge.

In 1917, the tram in Moscow and other cities was unstable - due to hostilities, street battles, strikes, power outages; there were cases of traffic closures for several days in a row.

During the Civil War and War Communism, the tram went through hard times. The tram facilities of the front-line cities suffered damage during the hostilities. For soldiers, workers and employees, the Soviet authorities introduced free travel on cards, because of which the tram economy lost its sources of funding, and therefore the ability to retain specialists, repair and maintain cars and tracks.

The tram service everywhere fell into decay and actually ceased to exist. So, in Moscow at the beginning of 1920, only 9 cars were in passenger traffic - at the request of organizations.

Since 1921, the period of restoration of tram traffic in the cities of the RSFSR began. The practice of free travel on the tram, introduced during the period of war communism, was abolished, which helped improve working conditions on the tram, re-engage specialists and leaders, and repair many previously abandoned cars. In 1922, for the first time after a long break, new sections were opened for traffic in Moscow.

The importance of the tram for the new authorities is evidenced by the phrase said by the "all-Union headman" M.I. Kalinin: "If a tram works in a city, then Soviet power operates in the city." The tram networks of Moscow and Petrograd were restored and developed rapidly. At that time, tram lines were opened in cities that had not previously had a tram. Ilf and Petrov's "The Twelve Chairs" ironically describes the building of a tram in Stargorod, the prototype of which was probably the building in Bogorodsk (now Noginsk), although Voronezh also disputes this honor.

The development of the tram in the pre-war period. 1929 also marked a new milestone in the development of trams in big cities. In Moscow, not only tram traffic grew, but also automobile traffic - trucks and cars. On the section of Tverskaya Street from Strastnaya to Triumfalnaya Square, for the first time, tram traffic was filmed to facilitate the traffic flow. In other places, for the same purpose, they began to re-lay tracks from the middle of the carriageway of the street, and sometimes from busy streets to parallel ones. At the same time, the intensity of traffic on the tram was growing, and the tram - the main transport of the city - could no longer cope with passenger traffic. It was decided to build a subway, and in 1935 its first line in the USSR was opened.

Since then, the role of the tram in Moscow (and then in other cities where the metro was opened) began to decline. The Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in July 1935 read: "In connection with the development of the metro, bus and trolleybus traffic in the city center, it is necessary to remove tram traffic from the most busy streets and move it to the outskirts of the city."

Nevertheless, the tram successfully competed with the metro. So, in St. Petersburg, right up to the beginning of the "tram pogrom" in the 1990s, the tram was not inferior to the metro in terms of the share of passenger traffic.

Several attempts to create more advanced models of rolling stock date back to the 1930s.

In 1934, a design bureau was organized in the Moscow tram depot named after Shchepetilnikov, which developed a new tram project. In 1936, 4 prototypes were built at SVARZ, and after the project was finalized in 1939, the production of cars, called M-38, began in Mytishchi.

These cars corresponded to the world technical level of those years. For the first time in the Russian and Soviet tram industry, they had an all-metal welded body, a new type of bogie with rubberized wheels, an indirect rheostat-contactor control system that made it possible to operate the car according to the system of many units (although this possibility was never used in practice), they were equipped with a pantograph and a regenerative electric brake. The M-38 cars had a length of 15 m, a mass of 20 tons; four engines had a total power of 220 kW. The car had three automatic folding doors (the middle door was a double one).

The capacity of the car was 190 people, the car had excellent dynamic qualities and a maximum speed of 55 km/h. From 1939 to 1941, 60 cars were produced.

In 1936, a train was built at the Leningrad VARZ from motor and trailer cars MCH / PCH (later designated LM / LP-36). The cars had an all-metal welded body, weight 21.5 tons, three automatic doors, an indirect rheostat-contactor control system.

Some of the solutions applied in this train turned out to be unsuccessful; it did not go into the series. books by Mikhail Dmitrievich Ivanov Moscow Tram: History Pages", published by Mosgortrans for the Centennial of the Moscow Tram in 1999. The book is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Moscow tram. G. Prokoppets. History of the tram chapter 8

Also, all-metal wagons (KTC) were built in Kyiv.

Unfortunately, not a single copy of the M-38, LM / LP-36 or KTC has survived to this day.

Tram during the war. Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 caused great damage to the tram facilities of the USSR. fighting, bombing, sabotage led to damage or destruction of wagons, tracks, buildings and depot equipment. Damage to energy facilities also led to tram stoppages. Tram facilities were deprived of trained personnel due to mobilization and departure to the People's Militia; I had to hastily prepare new personnel to replace them. The proportion of women among workers has increased dramatically, and the burden on them has increased many times over. Equipment and tracks during the war years were not fully serviced and worked "for wear and tear".

Martial law was introduced in the cities of the USSR. The blackout mode required on the tram at night to reduce the interior lighting and the incandescence of headlights and lamps, to take measures to eliminate sparks during current collection, to mask depots, workshops and factories.

In Moscow, as in other cities, rules of conduct for air and chemical alarms were developed for tram personnel. Fire and recovery teams and trains were created to quickly eliminate the consequences of the bombing. Shelters and shelters were built. The air raids, which began on the night of July 21-22, 1941, were then repeated every night, making it impossible to repair the cars at night. As a result, their service has deteriorated. The hasty arrangement of wagons on the streets during the announcement of alarms led to accidents.

During the critical days of October 1941, tram facilities, among other important facilities in Moscow, were prepared for destruction, and a state of siege was introduced in the city. Travel time was reduced, night traffic was reduced to the necessary minimum. The evacuation of residents from Moscow, the deterioration of the condition of the tracks and wagons, downtime due to even more frequent air alerts led to a reduction in traffic. The possibilities of the tram economy were also impoverished, requiring adaptation to changing passenger flows. Some of the routes were canceled, some were changed; subsequently, trams continued to monitor changes in passenger traffic and adapt the route network to them. At the same time, in the cities of the east of the European part of the country, the Urals, Siberia, where many enterprises were evacuated from the west, the problem of transporting workers was acute. Moscow and other cities transferred their wagons there. books by Mikhail Dmitrievich Ivanov Moscow Tram: History Pages", published by Mosgortrans for the Centenary of the Moscow Tram in 1999. The book is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Moscow tram. G. Prokoppets. History of the tram chapter 11

The thermite-switch plant and other subdivisions of the Moscow tram were involved in the manufacture of anti-tank hedgehogs, and a variety of military products were produced in the workshops. Wagon repairs at SVARZ were drastically reduced in order to produce military products. Throughout 1942, the work of the Moscow tram (and transport in general) continued to deteriorate, and by the winter of 1942-1943 the situation became critical.

This forced the Moscow City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Moscow City Council to take measures to improve the operation of the tram. For the summer of 1943, it was decided to sharply increase the volume of overhaul of tracks and repair of wagons. In autumn, due to the return to Moscow of previously evacuated institutions, the passenger tram was extended at night; the production of wagons on the line was increased. The tram, like the city, began to come to life again. The importance of the tram for ensuring the work of the Moscow industry was realized at the very high level. In 1944, thanks to the decisions of the Moscow City Council and the State Defense Committee, the tram began to receive assistance from a number of Moscow and Moscow region factories in the form of machine tools and equipment, parts, sleepers, rails. Replenished and frames of the tram. As a result, the output of wagons was increased. Was open new line to the city of Tushino, to a large machine-building plant (Plant No. 82 of the NKAP). Built in 1944-1945. and other objects: reversal rings, end stations.

It was difficult for medium and small tram enterprises. For example, in the rear of Gorky, German aircraft repeatedly bombed GAZ and other industrial enterprises. The tram also got it. After one of the raids in 1942, several kilometers of track in the Avtozavodsky district of the city were destroyed. Despite the lack of equipment, rails and sleepers, traffic was restored after 12 hours. The car repair plant did not operate during the war years - an ammunition production plant evacuated from Bryansk was deployed on its premises. By the end of the war, the Gorky tram approached "on its last legs" and required a lot of work to restore.

Tram tracks in many cities were used for freight transportation as backups for railway lines. For example, in Gorky, in the absence of a railway bridge across the Oka, a tram network directly connected to the railway was used to transport trains between its two banks. In Leningrad, tram tracks were also used to deliver goods to warehouses directly in railway cars by steam locomotives. Such use of tram tracks led to their rapid wear.

In Leningrad, even before the start of the war, in the event of the destruction of the only railway bridge across the Neva, an alternate route was prepared for rail traffic on tram tracks. books by Mikhail Dmitrievich Ivanov Moscow Tram: History Pages", published by Mosgortrans for the Centenary of the Moscow Tram in 1999. The book is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Moscow tram. G. Prokoppets. History of the tram chapter 9

The mass mobilization of vehicles for the needs of the front and the acute shortage of fuel exacerbated the problem of freight transportation for the needs of industry and the economy. Freight trams and trolleybuses were called upon to make up for this loss. In some cities, new branches were built to factories, warehouses, ports, and power plants. So, in Moscow, the length of freight routes increased by tens of kilometers during the war years. If necessary, part of the passenger cars were converted into freight cars, and new freight cars were also built.

In the cities to which the front line was approaching, trams were used for front-line transportation of troops, military equipment, ammunition. An example of the creation of an armored tram in Leningrad is known. For the transportation of the wounded in front-line cities, in cities with hospitals, part of the passenger cars were converted into sanitary ones.

The development of the tram in the post-war period. Immediately after the end of the Great Patriotic War, the tram economy faced a serious problem of restoring the destroyed infrastructure. And although most of tracks and rolling stock was quickly restored and put into operation, on some routes where the restoration was too laborious or impractical, the tram was replaced by trolleybuses and buses. Thus, one of the few intercity tram lines Kyiv - Brovary ceased to exist, where a bus was introduced instead of a tram.

While in metropolitan areas the tram was partially replaced by the metro, in cities with a population of less than a million people, the tram continued to develop dynamically.

After the war, the production of trams was also resumed at factories in Ust-Katav (Ust-Katav Carriage Works, UKVZ), Leningrad (Car Repair Plant, VARZ, now Petersburg Tram Mechanical Plant, PTMZ), Kyiv (Kyiv Electric Transport Plant, KZET), again started in Tushino near Moscow (Tushino Machine-Building Plant, former plant No. 82 of the NKAP), from where it was soon transferred to Riga (Riga Carriage Works, RVZ). The Kyiv and Leningrad factories mainly provided for the needs of their cities, the products of the other factories were distributed throughout all the cities of the USSR.

For the needs of the remaining few narrow-gauge tram farms, cars were imported from the GDR, "Lova" and "Gotha" (imported into large quantities and wide-gauge cars of these brands).

In 1959, the "Tatra era" began in the tram industry of the USSR: Czechoslovak trams of the Tatra brand of the Prague ČKD plant were imported in large quantities and still form the basis of the tram fleet of many cities in Russia, other countries of the former USSR and the socialist bloc

Conclusion: tram in Russia

In Russia, trams are often viewed as an obsolete form of transport, and a significant part of the systems are collapsing or stagnating. Some tram facilities (Shakhty, Arkhangelsk, Karpinsk, Grozny, Ivanovo, Voronezh) ceased to exist. However, for example, in Volgograd the so-called metrotram or "premetro" (tram lines laid underground) plays an important role, and in Magnitogorsk the traditional tram is steadily developing. In addition to Magnitogorsk, new tram lines have opened in Ulyanovsk, Kolomna, Kazan, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Pyatigorsk and some other cities over the past 15 years. The leader in the purchase of rolling stock is Moscow, where cars LM-99 manufactured by PTMZ, 71-619KT and 71-619A manufactured by UKVZ are supplied. St. Petersburg currently has the largest tram system, the smallest - Cheryomushki).

“The amazing is nearby,” we say when we notice or get to know closer something that we passed by hundreds of times, but either did not know or did not pay attention .... I would also add “the unknown is around”, because often in life we ​​are surrounded by things so banal and familiar that for some reason we think that we know everything about them ... where such conviction and confidence come from can not be understood ... it is also not clear why, having lived a fair amount of years, knowing perfectly well, for example, what a tram is, we we know so little about him…when and where did he first appear, what did he look like, who was his predecessor…these and many others interesting facts and details from the history of trams and tram traffic, we can find out if we show interest

A tram is a type of street rail public transport for transporting passengers along given (fixed) routes. Used mainly in cities. This is probably the answer of anyone who is asked to characterize this type of public transport ...

The word tram is derived from English. tram (wagon, trolley) and way (path). According to one version, it came from trolleys for transporting coal in the mines of Great Britain. As a mode of transport, the tram is the oldest type of public passenger transport in the city and originated in the first half of the 19th century, originally horse-drawn.

Konka

In 1852, the French engineer Luba made a proposal to build railroad tracks through the streets. big cities for the carriage of wagons by horses. Initially, it was used only for cargo transportation, but after the construction of the first passenger lines, the horse began to carry passengers as well. Such a road was built by him in New York ....

and very soon a new type of transport spread to other cities in America and Europe.

And what about in Russia? ...Soon a horse-drawn carriage appeared here too.... In 1854, in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, near the Smolenskaya Sloboda, engineer Polezhaev built a horse-drawn road from longitudinal wooden beams covered with iron. In 1860, engineer Domantovich built a horse-drawn railway on the streets of St. Petersburg.

Despite the low speed (no more than 8 km / h), the new mode of transport soon spread and took root in many large cities and provincial centers.

For example, in St. Petersburg, horse-drawn railways ran along all significant highways from the center to the outskirts.

In most cases, the horse tram was built with the participation of foreign capital, and if at the beginning, this had a positive effect on the development of the transport network in cities, then over time it greatly slowed down the development process ... Firms that own horse trams became ardent opponents of the introduction of steam and electric trams ...

History of the electric tram

The prototype of electric trams was a car created by German engineer Ernst Werner von Siemens. It was first used in 1879 at the German Industrial Exhibition in Berlin. The locomotive was used to ride visitors around the exhibition area.

Siemens & Halske electric railway at the 1879 Berlin Exhibition

The first electric tram appeared at the end of the 19th century - in 1881 in Berlin, Germany. Four wagons clung to the locomotive, each of which had six seats.

Later, the train was shown in 1880 in Düsseldorf and Brussels, in 1881 in Paris (in a non-working state), in the same year in action in Copenhagen and finally in 1882 in London.
After success with the exhibition attraction, Siemens set about building a 2.5 km electric tram line in the Berlin suburb of Lichterfeld.

The car of the world's first electric tram line in the former suburb of Berlin Lichterfelde, opened 05/16/1881. Voltage 180 volts, engine power 5 kW, power was supplied through running rails until 1890. Photo 1881

The motor car received current through both rails. In 1881, the first tram, built by Siemens & Halske, ran on the railroad between Berlin and Lichterfeld, thereby opening tram traffic.

In the same year, Siemens built a tram line of the same type in Paris.

In 1885, the tram appeared in the UK in the English resort town of Blackpool. It is noteworthy that the original sections have been preserved in their original form, and the tram transport itself is carefully preserved in this city.

The electric tram soon became popular throughout Europe.

Portal view of the Rhine Bridge in Mannheim

Barcelona

The appearance of the first streetcars in the United States occurred independently of Europe. Inventor Leo Daft began experimenting with electric propulsion in 1883 by building several small electric locomotives. His work interested the director of the Baltimore horse-drawn carriage, who decided to convert the three-mile line to electric traction. Daft took up the electrification of the line and the creation of trams. On August 10, 1885, electric tram traffic was opened on this line - the first on the American continent.

Boston Tram-two-axle with open areas. USA.

However, the system turned out to be inoperable: the use of the third rail led to short circuits during rain, in addition, the voltage (120 volts) killed many unlucky small animals: (cats and dogs); and it was not safe for people. Soon, the use of electricity on this line was abandoned and returned to the horses.

Cincinnati. Ohio. USA.

However, the inventor did not abandon the idea of ​​an electric tram, and in 1886 he managed to create a workable system (instead of the third rail, a two-wire contact network was used). Daft's streetcars were used in Pittsburgh, New York, and Cincinnati.

Ice tram of St. Petersburg

In St. Petersburg, under an agreement with the owners of horse-drawn cars (it was concluded for 50 years), there should not have been any other public transport. In order not to formally violate this agreement, in 1885 the first electric tram ran on the ice of the frozen Neva.

Sleepers, rails and poles for the contact network crashed directly into the ice.

They were called "ice trams"

It is clear that it was possible to use this type of transport only in winter, but the fact that the time of horse-drawn trams was ending soon became completely clear.

steam horse

It is little known, but the fact, in addition to the traditional horse-drawn tram, was in St. Petersburg two more steam horse-drawing lines. The first line of a steam tram, or in the common people - a steam engine, was laid in 1886 along Bolshoi Sampsonievsky Prospekt and Second Murinsky Prospekt, although officially this line was called the “steam horse-drawn railway line”.

The steam engine had a number of advantages over horse racing: higher speed, more power. Due to the resistance of the owners of the horse-trams and the appearance of the electric tram, the steam engine did not develop - the steam tram line from Vosstaniya Square to the village of Rybatsky along the present Obukhov Defense Avenue became the last.

Also in the early 1880s, a steam engine line was laid along the Ligovsky Canal embankment.

Steam locomotives were stored in the Vyborg Horse Racing Park. As a passenger transport, the steam tram did not survive the horse tram much (the last run was in 1922), but it again appeared on the streets of besieged Leningrad to transport goods and weapons.

Electric tram in Russia.

Contractual obligations with the owners of horsecars in some cities delayed the development of electric trams in them. Somewhere, the tram tracks were laid parallel to the tracks of the horse-drawn tram in order to bankrupt it. Sometimes the city authorities simply bought out the horse-drawn roads in order to turn the horse-drawn tram into a tram. Thus, the first electric tram in Russia was first launched not in St. Petersburg, as many mistakenly believe, but in Kyiv.

Here he appeared in 1892 on Aleksandrovsky (Vladimirsky) descent. The builder is Siemens. Quickly becoming popular, he literally filled the whole city. Soon other Russian cities followed the example of Kyiv: a tram appeared in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896

Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine) 1897

Moscow, 1899

Smolensk

At the end of 1904, the City Duma announced an international competition for the right to carry out works. Three firms took part in it: Siemens and Halske, the General Electricity Company and Westinghouse. On September 29, 1907, regular electric tram traffic was opened along the streets of St. Petersburg. The first line went from the General Staff Building to the 8th line of Vasilyevsky Island.

After the appearance of the electric tram in 1907, the horse tram was gradually replaced by it, on September 8, 1917 it disappeared completely. The use of the horse-drawn carriage in Moscow continued until 1912.

Moscow

The old electric trams were very different from the modern ones. They were smaller and less perfect. They did not have automatically closing doors, the front and rear platforms were separated from the interior by sliding doors. On the front landing, the driver himself sat on a high stool with metal legs and a thick round wooden seat. In front of him is a tall black engine. With the inscription "Dynamo" on the lid.

Inside the wagons were wooden seats. In some, they were in the form of sofas for two passengers with common backs on one side of the car and armchairs designed for one person on the other. At the end of each car there was a place for the conductor. A special sign warned about this, so that, God forbid, someone would not sit in this place. The conductor (more often - the conductor) was often in a service uniform overcoat, or even just in a coat or fur coat. He had a huge leather money bag slung over his shoulder and a ticket board fastened to his belt. Tickets were of different denominations, depending on the distance of the trip and the number of settlement stations. Tickets were very cheap. Then the cost became the same, and the conductor now had a roller of tickets on his belt. A thick rope was stretched from the conductor to the driver through the entire car under the ceiling. When the boarding ended, the conductor pulled this rope, and the bell rang loudly at the driver on the front platform. There were no electrical signals then. From the second car, in the same way, the second conductor sent a signal to the back platform of the first car. Only after waiting for him and controlling the boarding in his car, the conductor of the first car could signal the car driver about the end of the boarding.

Standing passengers could hold on to canvas loops located along the entire cabin and hanging on a thick wooden stick. These loops could move along with the passenger, sliding along the stick. Later, the hinges began to be made of plastic. Added metal handles on the backs of the benches, as well as handles on the walls between the windows. But that was already much later. The windows opened completely. They went down to the bottom wall. Hanging out was not allowed. This was even written on the signs at each window.

Small children were entitled to free travel. But no one asked the child's age. It was just that there was a deeply embedded and whitewashed mark on the trim of the saloon doors, by which the height of the child was determined and whether he should be paid or not. Above the mark, the child already had to pay his own fare.

Intercity trams

Trams are primarily associated with urban transport, but intercity and suburban trams were also quite common in the past.

Tram following the route Pierrefitte - Cauterets - Luz (or vice versa) in the French Pyrenees. You can say intercity tram, which is not quite usual.

This is one of the most scenic spots a marked tram line that originated on the border of the 19th and 20th centuries, adorned with a bridge named Pont de Meyabat.

Intercity mountain tram in France

In Europe, the network of intercity trams in Belgium, known as the niderl, stood out. Buurtspoorwegen (literally translated as "local railways").

The first section of the local railways (between Ostend and Nieuwpoort, now part of the Coast Tram line) was opened in July 1885. Intercity trams were also common in the Netherlands. As in Belgium, they were originally steam trams, but then the steam trams were replaced by electric and diesel ones. In the Netherlands, the era of intercity trams ended on February 14, 1966.

Until 1936, it was possible to travel from Vienna to Bratislava by city tram.

Few people know, but there was an intercity tram in Italy. He connected Solerno and Pompeii.

There was also an intercity tram in Japan between Osaka and Kobe.

After the heyday, the era of which fell on the period between the world wars, the decline of the tram began, however, already somewhere in the 70s of the XX century, there was again a significant increase in the popularity of the tram, including environmental reasons and technological improvements.

Interesting facts about trams of the world

The largest tram network in the world is located in Melbourne, Australia.
The oldest tramcars still in normal service are cars 1 and 2 of the Manx Electric Railway. They were built in 1893 and operate on the 28.5 km Douglas en Ramsey suburban line].

The longest tram ride in Germany can be made from Krefeld, or rather its suburb St Tönis, to Witten. The length of the trip will be 105.5 km, it will take about five and a half hours to overcome this distance, and you will have to make eight transfers.

The longest non-stop tram route is the Coast Tram (Dutch Kusttram) in Belgium. There are 60 stops on this 67 km line. There is also a line from Freudenstadt to Öhringen via Karlsruhe and Heilbronn with a length of 185 km.

The northernmost tram system in the world is located in Trondheim.

A children's tram has been operating in Frankfurt am Main since 1960.

The third generation of trams includes the so-called low-floor trams. As the name implies, their distinguishing feature is the low floor height. To achieve this goal, all electrical equipment is placed on the roof of the tram (on "classic" trams, electrical equipment can be located under the floor). The advantages of a low-floor tram are convenience for the disabled, the elderly, passengers with prams, faster boarding and disembarking.