History of the Petersburg Tram: the Presidential Library collections have been enriched with unique materials

The collection "Petersburg Tram", represented on the portal of the Presidential Library, has been enriched with digital copies of unique documents that reveal details of the organization of the first public electric transport.

According to the financial report and the album of executive drawings for the construction of the St. Petersburg city electric tram from 1905 to 1908, it is possible to trace in detail how the infrastructure was created for the "most democratic" mode of transport, as it was called.

The first electric car went along the streets of St. Petersburg on September 29, 1907, but this long day was preceded by a long history. A new type of transport could not be started immediately. The well-known predecessor of trams - the so-called horse, horse-railway city road, had serious shortcomings: the speed was small - 8 km / h, and horses are not so profitable and reliable in work. The search for an alternative mode of transport began. The first successful experience of "arriving on a wagon traveling on rails driven by electric power" was conducted as early as 1880 by the Russian engineer F. A. Pirotsky, but the owners of the horse-railroads did not support the invention. Conversion of the horse-drawn road to electric power required a lot of money, the monopoly did not see any benefits to itself. In the financial report on the construction of the St. Petersburg City Electric Tram for 1905-1908, an electronic copy of which is represented on the portal of the Presidential Library, there is a record: "1. Expenditures for the purchase of an enterprise from the former Joint-stock Society of horse-drawn railways in St. Petersburg ... 4.177.069 rubles. 42 kopecks".

Given the layout of St. Petersburg, it was necessary the total reconstruction and construction of new facilities. It was necessary to proceed with the reorganization of many bridges: some to expand, others to strengthen for the movement of heavy wagons. We needed a power plant and five transformer substations to provide power to the contact network. The contract for the competition was won by the American electro technical company "Westinghouse". Despite the high competition, Westinghouse received most of the construction contracts. From the financial report: "With individual firms and individuals, one or several contracts were concluded in the amount of 15,173,718 rubles. 84 kopecks, namely: 1. Joint Stock Company Westinghouse - 10 contracts. 2. Russian Electricity Westinghouse - 1 contract. "The list of all firms and contractors from the financial report indicates that 36 more participants were involved. The scope of work is impressive: it was necessary to lay an additional 208 km of tracks, to reconstruct six existing conical parks, to build two new tramways. It is noteworthy: on the title page of the financial report on the construction of the St. Petersburg City Electric Tram for 1905-1908 stands the resolution "To reject due to overstating the norms for payment for digging and cleaning the land ...", and then: "Reduce the expense" and "I approve".

In 1907 the first stage was finally completed. On the day of the grand opening of the tramway, road designer Heinrich Graftio himself conducted the first tram from Admiralty to Konnogvardeisky Boulevard, through the Annunciation Bridge to the intersection of the 8th Line with Bolshoy Prospekt of the Vasilievsky Island. It is curious that the route of the first tram ran through the territory where the Presidential Library is located today (Senatskaya Square, the historic building of the Synod) and the Museum of Urban Electric Transport (Vasilievsky Island). Soon new tramways and routes emerged, the traffic movement has been actively developing. By electronic copies of maps of tramway routes of different years, as well as other documentary evidence collected in the Presidential Library, one can get a clear picture of the growth and development of the St. Petersburg tram network.