(GERSTNER, F.A. von) KREEFT, Christopher First Russian railroad from St.Petersburg to Zarscoe-Selo and Pawlowsk, established by Imperial decree of 21st March, 1836, and carried into execution by a company of shareholders in Russia, England and Germany. Translated from the German. St. Petersburg, 1837. London, (1837)
8vo. 44pp. Wrappers. Preserved in pamphlet case. The first Russian railway, built by the Viennese engineer, Franz Anton Ritter von Gerstner, was a short experimental line of about 50km from St.Petersburg to Pavlovsk. With a 6ft gauge, the line opened throughout in 1839. The present work includes large portions of von Gerstner's reports and describes the civil engineering of the line. The ironwork for the permanent way was provided by the Butterley Company, the Bedlington Iron Works and by Guest, Lewis & Co., while the first locomotives came from Robert Stephenson & Co., Timothy Hackworth and from the Belgium locomotive firm of Cockerill. Details and quantities of what had been provided by which firm are given.The railway was experimental only in the sense that it was not clear at the time if either the line or the locomotives would be able to stand up to the Russian winter for Gerstner had always envisaged it as the first section of a much wider network linking Moscow and St.Petersburg and connecting the manufacturing centres of the country. In order to achieve this ambitious project the Company needed to raise foreign capital. Thus the work, written by the Company's London agent, extolls the advantages of the scheme. Gerstner's railway was a complete success but the construction of the St.Petersburg-Moscow railway, begun in 1843, was entrusted to a Russian engineer and the capital raised in Russia.
£380
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