Interesting facts about the first railway. Interesting facts about trains (15 photos)
1. A railway is an ordinary thing for a modern person. Few people today have never traveled by train or long-distance train.
2. Traveling by rail is 45 times safer than traveling by road. The risk of getting into an accident on a train is significantly lower than in a car.
3. Today (on average) every Russian travels by rail about 9 times a year. And the total number of guests has long exceeded 1.3 billion people a year.
4.And the first trains in Russia and Europe were available to about 9% of the population of those cities between which rail links were established.
5. The advent of the steam locomotive at the beginning of the 19th century transformed the world, since from that moment people and goods could move around the world at unprecedented speeds.
6. The first passenger train in the world went on rails at a speed that barely reached 33 km / h. A little later, it was possible to accelerate to 38 and even 42 kilometers per hour.
7. The opening of the Moscow - St. Petersburg railroad was a real event. But ordinary people were in no hurry to use the innovation. A terrible rumbling thing caused genuine fear.
8. In order to promote rail transport to the masses, it was decided to make travel free. And this measure had an effect. Trains soon ceased to be afraid.
9. But the history of the action was short-lived. It was possible to ride back and forth for free only in the first three days after the opening of the corresponding branch of the railway.
MODERN SPEED TRAIN "SAPSAN"
It's a pity that free travel from Moscow to St. Petersburg is a thing of the past.
10. In 1830, the first steam-powered American railway from Liverpool to Manchester opened. Decades later, the United States has crossed hundreds of thousands of railroad miles.
11. Today, the descendants of these early railways, including the CSX Railroad, continue to play a key role in American life, carrying millions of freight cars each year.
QINGHAI-TIBETAN SINGLE-WAY RAILWAY
12. Qinghai-Tibet Single Track Railway - the highest road on the planet every year attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world to admire the magical Tibetan landscapes of the "roof of the world" at an altitude of more than 5000 km above sea level.
13. No sea or air company can offer such romance. Of course, such extreme conditions require special trains.
14. The cars are fully sealed, equipped with personal oxygen masks and an oxygen supply system if necessary, and at intermediate and observation stations, passenger cars naturally do not open, because there is nothing to breathe outside of them. The Chinese themselves feel extraordinary pride in their engineering structure and place it on a par with the Great Wall of China.
15. When Englishman Richard Trevithick started his first practical steam locomotive in 1804, its speed was less than 16 kilometers per hour. Today, trains travel 30 times faster on high-speed rail lines.
TRANS-SIBERIAN HIGHWAY
16. Among the domestic railways, the most remarkable was and remains the Trans-Siberian Railway. She has many statuses. For example, this railway is known as the longest in the world. Today it has more than 9,400 kilometers of track and represents a whole network of railways between Moscow and the Russian Far East. In addition, the road has branches to all neighboring border countries.
17. The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began in full force back in 1891, under the personal control of Sergei Witte, who, then the Minister of Finance, clearly understood that Russia simply had to be a strategic partner between the West and the East.
18.In order for the construction of the road and related infrastructure to keep pace with each other, the Russian leadership began construction from the east and west simultaneously, striving inland. To understand the full scale of the project, it is enough to say that only in 2002 the complete electrification of the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed!
19. Having reconstructed some sections of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the early 2000s, Russia organized the first permanent corridor of large-scale freight traffic between China, Mongolia, Belarus, Poland and Germany, which significantly increased trade turnover and contributed to the further development of the Far East as a strategic region.
20. The original name of the road is the Great Siberian Way. And he is great not because the construction of the road took almost a century, but because the Russian government then deliberately refused Western "help", not wanting to allow the growing influence of foreign capitalists in the Far East. They built only with OWN forces! And they could! Built!
21. No wonder they say that driving along the Trans-Siberian Railway means seeing half the world. Is it a joke? The famous Photographer Todd Selby, who has come a long way from Paris to Shanghai by rail, claims that this is the real truth: “It's fantastic to wake up every time, look away from the map and try to understand where you are ... It's already the seventh day of travel, and we are all still in Siberia! Siberia is very large. And Baikal is very big. But this is just a part of great Russia! "
OMSK RAILWAY STATION
22. Transsib is 9438 kilometers, more than 8 days on the way. On the route, the train stops at 97 major stations and passes many smaller ones.
23. And there is also half of the way on the Transsib. The station, located exactly in the middle of the railway between Moscow and Vladivostok, is called that. The distance from "Half" to both cities is the same.
24. The Transsib is also considered the coldest railway. Part of it passes through the climatic zone, where -62˚C is the usual temperature. Interestingly, the coldest point of the route does not coincide with the northernmost one.
25. When the first Japanese Shinkansen appeared in 1964 before the Tokyo Olympics, its speed exceeded 209 km per hour. Since then, the maximum speed of these trains has grown steadily. The current world record is 603 kilometers per hour.
RAILWAY IN THAILAND, IN MAEKLONG
26. No less amazing is the Thai railway, which passes through a real market! 60 km west of Bangkok in the town of Maeklong, a food market located right on the railroad tracks quickly folds its grocery stalls, rolls up awnings and scatters right in front of the trains several times a day.
27. But the most amazing thing is that even at this time the trade does not stop! From the open windows of the train, money flies into the merchants, and fish, sweets, fruits and other purchases fly back into the windows. The main thing here is to be able to catch!
28. Although the passengers have a knack for this business after wiping their eyes from the broken tomatoes and the phrase "again did not catch!" After the trains have swept by, the boxes with the remaining vegetables, fish and other goods are returned to the rails and trade becomes more civilized.
29. Japan is no longer alone in high-speed rail: France, China and Germany are also working on trains that can reach extreme speeds.
30.The United States is currently developing plans to build a high-speed rail line that will connect the California cities of San Francisco and Anaheim.
RAILWAYS IN NEW ZEALAND
31. The Napier-Gisborne Railroad is unique in that it crosses the main airstrip at Gisborne Airport in New Zealand. It is the only railway in the world where the air traffic control service allows or prohibits trains from crossing the runway to continue their route.
32 Sometimes planes and trains are literally seconds apart! This outlandish "denouement" is almost the first offer to a tourist from New Zealand guides! A steam locomotive and an airplane racing towards each other is a common sight for Hollywood or Indian films, but not for everyday life!
33. The first freight railway in Russia was only 2 kilometers long. This miracle of science and technology of its time was powered by Horse Traction!
34. The longest freight trains in the history of the railway traveled to different parts of the world. One transported coal (neither more nor less - 42,000 tons per trip) to Uraliz Ekibastuz back in the Soviet era. The train consisted of 440 cars. Their total length exceeded 6.5 kilometers.
35. The record was broken in South Africa. Here a train of 660 wagons entered the route. Their total length was 7.3 kilometers. But the experiment, unlike the Soviet one, had no practical meaning. The canvas could not withstand the load, and the railway had to be closed for a long time for repairs.
"TUNNEL OF LOVE" IN UKRAINE
36. "Tunnel of Love" is a picturesque three-kilometer section of the railway located near the village of Klevan in Ukraine. It leads to a fibreboard factory.
37. The train runs here three times a day, supplying wood to the Orzhevsky woodworking plant. It is the train that makes the growing branches of the trees go around the tracks and keeps the tunnel in this state.
38.The beautiful green corridor in sunny summer attracts couples in love, and in autumn and winter photographers who want to capture this beautiful miracle of nature. It is believed that if you, having visited the "Tunnel of Love", make a cherished wish, then it will certainly come true.
BAIKAL-AMUR MAIN
39. The whole country built the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The best youth from all over the Soviet Union came, worked, settled down. Families were created here, they performed real labor feats, discoveries happened.
40.BAM was designed as part of a systemic project for the development of significant natural resources of little-explored areas, along which, in fact, the road was laid.
41. On the way of the BAM, it was planned to build about ten territorial-industrial complexes-giants, but Gorbachev's restructuring made it possible to complete only one South Yakutsk coal complex.
42. Then privatization with great hopes handed over to private hands a number of resource deposits, but instead of loading the BAM's capacities and massive development of mineral deposits in the area of \u200b\u200bthe highway "at the exit", only oligarchs with yachts turned out.
43. By the beginning of the 2000s, almost all projects for the development of the Baikal-Amur Mainline zone were suspended under the "ideological" pretexts of inexpediency, and the decision of the Soviet leadership to build the BAM was diligently hung with the stigma of erroneousness and futility. Although this project for half a century was considered simply vital for Siberia and the Far East, according to all experts.
44. It is gratifying that the current leadership of the country is seriously aimed at reviving the BAM and the region as a whole. And it's not just words. The Elginskoye field has been successfully operating recently, where the first coal was mined in the summer of 2011. An access railway line is being built connecting it with the main line.
45.The first super-heavy freight trains went along the BAM, allowing to carry 7100 tons instead of the previous weight norm of 4800 tons, which should increase the profitability of transportation several times. This became possible after the commissioning of new powerful two-section locomotives of the 2ES5K Ermak series and diesel locomotives 2TE25A Vityaz. The trains successfully overcome the most difficult part of the route - the Kuznetsov Pass.
46.The railway tracks on the pass were reconstructed and strengthened, the New Kuznetsovsky tunnel was put into operation. Note to critics: “The trains have started, they will not. The pass has been reconstructed, but it will not be once. "Ermaki" and "Vityazi" were put into operation, but are not at the design stage. " So, a bright future awaits BAM, because the road built with love cannot but live forever!
RAILWAY OF THE COMPANY "BALTIMOR AND OHAYO"
47. In 1827, Baltimore & Ohio became the first American company to be chartered to carry passengers and cargo. The company was struggling to create a steam engine that would help overcome rough and uneven terrain and eliminate horse-drawn traction.
48. Inventor Peter Cooper came to the rescue and proposed to design and build just such an engine. On August 28, 1830, Cooper's steam locomotive, named Tom Thumb (translated as "Thumb Boy"), on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the vicinity of Baltimore, went out to face off against a horse-drawn train. The locomotive immediately pulled ahead, and the leaders of Baltimore and Ohio, being impressed by what they saw, decided to switch their railway to steam traction. Soon, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became one of the most successful railways in the United States.
49. Do you want maximum security guarantees? Choose branded wagons of the TKS carrier. Their location in the train and modern technical equipment ensure safety and comfort during the trip.
50. Modern high-speed trains are driven by rail at a speed of 320-430 km / h. Experimental innovative trains are capable of accelerating to 603 km / h. And this, as scientists and engineers say, is far from the limit.
photo from open sources
1. Two lengths of the equator.
The total length of railway lines owned by Russian Railways is 85.2 thousand km. If all the available Russian Railways rails were to be laid out along the equator, it would be enough for two laps and a little more would be left. Moreover, one of these two circles was electrified and electric trains and electric locomotives could walk on it. The second circle would remain exclusively for diesel locomotives that smoke the sky from a chimney. The length of the electrified lines is 42.9 thousand km.
2. Russian railways consume up to 6% of all electricity generated in the country, or 44 billion kWh per year, and 10% of diesel fuel.
3. High-speed trains are the pride of Russian Railways. Their photographs are printed on posters and in booklets, banners with their advertisements hang everywhere on the company's website. Today, Russian Railways has five trains, which are called high-speed trains. Two of them - "Sapsan" and "Nevsky Express" - run between Moscow and St. Petersburg, between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod go "Sapsan", "Burevestnik" (twin brother of "Nevsky Express") and "Lastochka". And from St. Petersburg to Helsinki "Allegro" goes. The fastest of them are Sapsans and Allegro, in some places they travel up to 220 km / h.
4. The longest train route is Kharkov - Vladivostok (No. 053), the distance is 9722 km (in the opposite direction - 9715 km).
The longest direct routes are 10,267 km: Moscow  Pyongyang via Khabarovsk (direct car to train No. 001/002 Moscow Vladivostok) and Kiev → Vladivostok (direct car to train No. 053 Kharkov  Vladivostok).
5. The railway line rises to the highest point on the Transsib between the stations Turgutui and Yablonovaya. The train moves here at an altitude of 1040 meters. The second highest altitude is occupied by the Kizha station, which is west of Petrovsky Zavod, which is more than 900 meters high. And in the third place of the high-rise pedestal is Andrianovskiy pass, which is located west of Lake Baikal. Its height reaches 900 meters.
6. The coldest place on the railway is on the section of the Trans-Siberian Railway between the villages of Mogocha and Skovorodino. Interestingly, this site is not the most northerly in terms of geography, but the coldest in terms of climate. This place can be called a real pole of cold, as the temperature in winter here sometimes drops to - 62 degrees. It is hard to imagine how a railway was once laid in the permafrost zone.
7. Annually 1,300,000,000 passengers use rail transport in Russia. That is, every resident of Russia uses the train 9 times a year. However, this figure is far from the limit. In the USSR, there were 15 train journeys for each person.
8. The Trans-Siberian Railway is considered the longest railway not only in Russia, but throughout the world. The length of this railway from Nakhodka to Moscow is 9,438 kilometers. There are 97 major stations on this road.
9. The middle station of the Transsib is called “Half”. From it to Moscow and to Vladivostok the same distance.
10. Before the revolution in Russia, there was the Main Society of Russian Railways of the same name, formed on January 26, 1857 in accordance with the imperial decree of Alexander II. The founders of the society were Russian, Polish, English and French bankers. The capital of the company was 275 million rubles in silver. The first chairman of the Board of Management of the society was Baron Pyotr Kazimirovich Meyendorff, and the chief director was Karl Caldignon, the chief inspector of bridges and roads in France.
Alena Yurievna Seliverstova
Intellectual game "We know everything about the railway"
Objectives:
Consolidate children's knowledge about railroad, rail transport, about safety rules on railroad... Form the ability to work in a team, help and support each other.
Develop visual and auditory attention, memory, logical thinking. -Form interest in railway professions.
Equipment: 4 puzzles, multimedia board, visual aids, musical accompaniment, yellow flags, semaphore, visual aids.
Organizing time. There are 4 teams participating in the quiz. For each correct answer, the team receives one puzzle; at the end of the game, the winning team must complete the picture. If the picture is not completely assembled, the team gets 2nd place, etc.
Command view: teams choose a captain, say their name.
("Locomotive", "Swallow", "Sapsan" and "Electric locomotive")
Poem about railroad(Read by a student).
What road? it's sweat on the temples
These are calloused hands, these are fathoms in the shoulders,
The sound of wheels under the carriage and the flickering of faces.
These are songs of steel of endless paths
A string of green semaphore lights
What road?
To understand this, you just need road
Give your heart!
1 task: "Show what I will name" (children from each team are invited to show objects in the picture railway terminology). Appendix # 1.
* Locomotive * Wagons * Rails * Sleepers * Tunnel * Overpass * Barrier * Crossing * High-speed train * Diesel locomotive
2 task: "Guess What's Hiding" (children are shown part of the illustration on the topic « Railway» , team members must guess what is depicted, 1 task for each team.
3 task: "Smart Questions" (questions are asked in turn to each team, if a player of one team cannot cope, the player of the other team answers)
What are the people who ride the train called? passengers
What part railroad can future passengers go? platform
How should passengers move to another apron? bridge
What's at the train station?
What is bought at the railway ticket office? ticket
What for? to go
What is noted on a train ticket? name, date, place, hour of departure and arrival
Why does a train station need loudspeakers? what was heard everywhere
Tell us about your child's behavior at the train station.
What kind of cars are there? Passenger, freight
if the yellow flag is collapsed what the driver does (goes faster)
Deployed (slow)
Who was the first to invent the steam locomotive? The Cherepanov brothers
4 task: "Collect the picture" (the teams are offered cut pictures of a steam locomotive and an electric locomotive, according to one of the fragments the children have to guess which picture whose team is collecting, then they collect the picture - who is faster)
While the teams are busy, a captains competition is held.
5 task: "Competition of captains"
Logic puzzle (one for all - who is faster): you are a machinist, your train has 5 carriages, each carriage has 2 conductors, each conductor is 25 years old. How old is the driver?
Which knot cannot be untied? Railway.
- "What I'm talking about?" (captains are offered definitions (alternately) by which they must guess about the hidden object). First, tail, zip, trailed, soft, blue, sleeping, crowded, tram, railway, compartment…. (railway carriage).
- "Who is faster?" (the captains are offered a tongue twister, who will pronounce it faster and cleaner): Thirty-three carriages in a row, chattering, chattering, chattering, chattering.
Poem (child reads).
The train is rushing into the distance somewhere
Passengers have been sleeping for a long time
Duty Driver
Stares out the window
And won't go to bed tonight
Before dawn, a guide
Both the dispatcher and the repairman,
Do not lie down for a moment
Because their job is
Transportation, long journey,
That is why these people
Not even time to take a nap!
6 task: « Railway signs»
At the station, along the platform
Rules everywhere and everywhere
You should always know them;
Without them they will never go out
From the train station.
Each team is offered 2 signs that can be seen up close railroad, children should explain their meaning. Appendix # 2.
7 task: "Merry steam locomotive" (movable a game) ... The presenter has a sound signal and 2 yellow flags. Children walk to the music, at the signal, the trailers should line up behind their steam locomotive - the captain of 1 to 5 cars, pay attention to the leader's signals during the trip. If the yellow flag is collapsed, they drive fast, if unfolded - slowly, if the semaphore is red - stop.
8 task:
So that the ardor of fun does not fade away,
So that time goes faster.
Friends, I invite you
To the riddles quickly.
Contest of riddles (a riddle is prepared for each player, if he finds it difficult to answer, the captain comes to the rescue)
* There is a staircase in the field, the house runs up the stairs. (rails, sleepers, train)
* Although he has two eyes, he does not look all at once, And he always looks alone, the driver is watching him. (semaphore)
* Brothers on a visit equipped themselves, clung to each other. And they rushed on a long way, only left the smoke. (wagons)
* Both a horse and a worker, a hunter to water. He snorts, but drinks, he leads at home. (locomotive)
* For long distances, he rushes without delay. This train disappeared in an instant, it's called ... (express)
* Iron the huts are attached to each other. One of them with a pipe, leads everyone. (a train)
* I eat coal, I drink water, as I get drunk, I will add speed. I carry a train on a hundred wheels, and I call myself…. (locomotive)
* They are different, green and red. They run on rails into the distance, meet and wait for them everywhere. (wagons)
* Rushes, rushes iron horse, by iron rattles iron... Steam swirls, smoke swirls, rushes, rushes iron horse. (a train)
* He is always at the station, trains approach him. (platform)
I am the mistress of the mobile home
I will always give you tea.
Day and night I work without getting tired.
Name my profession! (conductor)
9 task: "Fun tasks" (each team in an envelope is offered a task for ingenuity - (teamwork)
* The bus goes out of town. What happens if he goes off the rails?
* A steam locomotive and a steamer are running along the rails. Who will be the first to arrive at the station?
* A diesel locomotive and an airplane flew across the sky. Who will fly faster?
* How it begins and how it ends passenger rail?
10. Facilitator asks questions with options answers:
1. As in the century before last they called railroad workers?
a) Coachmen;
b) Charioteers;
c) Travelers;
d) Plantains.
2. Which of these professions exist?
a) Highway flyer;
b) Path-walker;
c) Overseer roads;
d) Aprons controller.
(It railroad workerregularly bypassing the area allocated to him for the purpose of observation and protection railway track.)
3. Professional carrier of suitcases on railway station is ... Who?
a) Carrier;
c) Porter;
d) Itinerant.
4. What position is in the staffing table railway station?
a) Compiler of rails;
b) Compiler of minutes;
c) Train compiler;
d) Suitcase compiler.
5. What device allows the rolling stock (to trains) go from the main path to the adjacent ones?
a) Arrow;
b) The barrier;
c) Semaphore;
d) Shoe.
(Railroad switch.)
6. Which of these concepts does NOT exist?
and) Railway junction;
b) Railway line;
in) Railroad bed;
d) Railway spokes.
7. What is the name of the end railway track?
b) Departure;
c) Distillation;
8. What is the name of a rolling stock unit specially designed for traction of trains and not adapted by itself to carry passengers or goods?
a) Dynamo;
b) Locomotive;
c) Diesel;
d) Motris.
9. What kind of locomotives does NOT exist on Russian railways?
a) Passenger;
b) Freight;
c) Shunting;
d) Sports.
Poem (says the child)
Across the expanses railroad
Trains fly like birds ...
Dousing everyone with wind and smoke
And they honk us with a beep: "Vivat!"
Wheels beat like a drum roll
The rail beats off the melody
The carriages sing along to the beat
The rumble goes all the way to heaven!
And diesel locomotives are puffing hysterically,
The whole train is rushing forward by chance,
Passengers doze peacefully in the compartment,
The conductor carries branded tea ...
Well, we will wave our hand to them,
We wish you good luck on your way!
We wish railroad,
Never go off track!
The very first railway in the world, designed to use steam engines, connected coal mines located near the English town of Shildon with the cities of Stockton-on-Tees and Darlington. Its official opening took place in 1825. The economic sense of this project was the prompt delivery of coal from the mines to the port for loading on sea ships. Transporting the world's first railroad quickly became a very profitable business. The commercial benefit was the reason for the construction of an additional line to the port of Middlesbrough. In the early days of the world's first railroad, coal trains were powered by steam locomotives, and passenger cars were pulled by horses.
Background
Underground mines in the vicinity of Shildon have existed for a long time. Before the advent of the world's first railway, coal was transported by carts. At the very beginning of the 19th century, a project for the construction of a canal emerged, which could have become a solution to the transport problem, but this idea was not implemented. The main obstacle was the disagreement of John Scott, peer of England and 2nd Earl of Eldon. In accordance with the plan drawn up by the engineers, the canal was supposed to pass through his land holdings.
The origin of the idea
The project for the construction of the first railway in the world was presented to the British Parliament for approval in 1821. The main investor was the merchant Edward Pease, who invested in this enterprise a huge amount at that time of seven thousand pounds. As the largest shareholder, he had a significant influence on the construction of the world's first railway. The project was approved by Parliament and the King, but there was no mention of the use of steam locomotives in the official building permit.
George Stephenson
The main investor and mastermind behind the project of the world's first railroad sought to find the most competent specialist capable of implementing advanced technologies for the early 19th century. He settled on George Stephenson, a talented engineer who already had experience in the design of steam engines. To manage the project, a special committee was created, whose members were appointed by the meeting of shareholders. The main investors in the venture belonged to the Quaker Christian Protestant movement. Among them was Edward Pease, who was later called "the father of the world's first railroad." Due to the confessional affiliation of the authors of the project, the Stockton-Darlington track is also known as the "Quaker Line".
George Stephenson was assisted in the planning by his son Robert. The engineer made a number of proposals designed to facilitate the implementation of the task, which was rather difficult by the standards of that era. For example, he recommended the use of malleable iron for the manufacture of rails. In 1822, Stephenson was formally appointed chief engineer by a shareholders meeting. In accordance with the final version of the project, the length of the world's first railway was to be about 40 kilometers. The distance between the rails is four feet eight inches (1.42 meters). Stephenson actively advocated the operation of steam locomotives and managed to convince shareholders of the promise of this idea. In 1823, the British Parliament gave special permission to use "self-propelled vehicles".
Opening
Edward Pease and George Stephenson jointly founded the first ever locomotive building plant. It was located in the city of Newcastle. On September 16, 1825, the first locomotive with a steam engine left the factory walls. It was soon introduced to the general public.
The cost of building the first railroad in the world far exceeded the original estimate. The company was forced to take out a short-term loan of £ 60,000. The shareholders hoped that the project would soon begin to generate profits, which would make it possible to repay the huge debt. The first railway in the world was built in 1825. Its official opening took place on September 27. The locomotive, pulling 21 carriages, set off at about 7 am. A horseman with a flag galloped ahead of the train. The train, equipped with seats, carried from 450 to 600 passengers. On some sections of the track, the train reached speeds of up to 24 kilometers per hour.
The first test was not without technical problems. The train made a forced stop, lasting 20 minutes, as a wheel fell off the car in which company representatives and engineers were traveling. Another half hour had to be spent on repairing the steam locomotive. The train covered a distance of 14 kilometers and was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of 10 thousand people in Darlington. This journey took a total of two hours. The owners of the enterprise considered the opening successful and organized a festive banquet.
Early operation
When the first railroad in the world appeared, the financial situation of the company that built it left much to be desired. The company was under the burden of debt and could not attract new loans. The launch of the road was the key to solving financial problems. By 1827, the company had paid off its debts. Its share price quickly rose from £ 120 to £ 160. The company began to generate profits that could be invested in the development of the world's first railway.
In the early stages, the track was used exclusively for transporting coal. During the first three months of operation, the traffic volume amounted to 10 thousand tons. The use of steam engines increased the amount of coal supplied and caused a significant drop in its market price. Soon the traffic volume reached 52 thousand tons per year.
Profitability
The first locomotives were not reliable. Their cast iron wheels were often the source of problems. Regular repairs took a lot of time and required additional financial costs. In the early days, steam locomotives were less economically profitable than horses. However, as technical problems were solved, their profitability increased. In 1828, a report was presented to a meeting of shareholders in which it was argued that the use of steam engines reduced transportation costs in half. However, some of the passenger trains still used horse traction.
Founding of Middlesbrough
The coal transportation business, which had become the main source of profit for the railway company, needed further development and expansion. Stockton Port could not accommodate enough ships. One of the company's engineers suggested building a new line to Middlesbrough. This plan was approved by George Stephenson and shareholders meeting. The deep water port of Middlesbrough could significantly speed up the coal delivery process. Before the appearance of the railway line, there were only a few residential buildings in this area. The transformation of Middlesbrough into an important transport hub was the reason for the city's emergence. Currently, its population is 174 thousand people.
Improvements
The railway was constantly modernized. In 1832, a second track was built. At about the same time, the use of horse-drawn traction for passenger trains stopped. Steam locomotives replaced horses. Train timetables and signaling were introduced, which subsequently became common on all UK railways. The power of the locomotives gradually increased. In 1839, the average speed of passenger trains was 35 kilometers per hour. The number of flights between Stockton and Darlington has reached six per day. On average, 200 thousand passengers used the railway services annually. The division of cars into three classes began, depending on which the fare was set. In 1863, the Stockton-Darlington line became part of the UK Northeast Railroad.
Basically, there is an opinion that the train is so banal, so boring, so commonplace, another thing is the planes with their hyperspeed like Mikhalkov's lines " I sat in a chair, ate breakfast... What? Arrived! " Or huge ocean liners, tearing apart the endless expanses of the sea, like beautiful oases in the middle of the desert. But believe me, the railway is also able to saturate its passenger with positive emotions and all kinds of interesting things.For example, the Qinghai-Tibet Single-Track Railway, the highest road on the planet, attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world every year to admire the magical Tibetan landscapes of the "roof of the world" at an altitude of more than 5000 km above sea level.
No sea or air company can offer you such romance. Of course, such extreme conditions require special trains. The cars are completely sealed, equipped with personal oxygen masks and an oxygen supply system if necessary, and at intermediate and observation stations, passenger cars naturally do not open, since there is nothing to breathe outside of them. The Chinese themselves feel extraordinary pride in their engineering structure and place it on a par with the Great Wall of China.
No less amazing is the Thai railway, which passes through a real market! 60 km west of Bangkok in Maeklong, a food market located right on the railroad tracks quickly folds up its food stalls, rolls up awnings and scatters right in front of the trains several times a day.
But the most amazing thing is that even during this time the trade does not stop! From the open windows of the train, money flies into the merchants, and fish, sweets, fruits and other purchases fly back into the windows. The main thing here is to be able to catch! :-) Although, I believe that passengers have a knack for this business after wiping their eyes from the broken tomatoes and the phrase “I didn't catch it again!” :-) After the trains sweep through, the boxes with the remaining vegetables, fish and other goods again return to the rails and trade becomes more civilized :-)
The Napier-Gisborne railroad is unique in that it crosses the main airstrip at Gisborne Airport in New Zealand. It is the only railway in the world where the air traffic control service allows or prohibits trains from crossing the runway to continue their route.
Sometimes planes and trains are literally seconds apart! This outlandish "denouement" is almost the first offer to a tourist from New Zealand guides! Agree, a steam locomotive and an airplane rushing to meet each other is a common sight for Hollywood or Indian films, but not for everyday life!
If you have already found your soul mate or are still only looking for, the railway strongly recommends visiting the wonderful "Tunnel of Love" located near the village of Klevan in Ukraine. This scenic 3-kilometer stretch of railroad leads to a fibreboard factory. The train runs here three times a day, supplying wood to the Orzhevsky woodworking plant. It is the train that makes the growing branches of the trees go around the tracks and keeps the tunnel in this state.
A beautiful, sunny summer corridor attracts couples in love, and in autumn and winter photographers who want to capture this wonderful miracle of nature. It is believed that if you, having visited the "Tunnel of Love", make a cherished wish, then it will certainly come true.
The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway in the world, today it has 9,300 km of tracks and is a whole network of railways between Moscow and the Russian Far East. In addition, the road has branches to all neighboring border countries. The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began in full force back in 1891, under the personal control of Sergei Witte, who, then the Minister of Finance, clearly understood that Russia simply had to be a strategic partner between the West and the East. In order for the construction of the road and the accompanying infrastructure to keep pace with each other, the Russian leadership began construction from the east and west at the same time, striving inland. To understand the full scale of the project, it is enough to say that only in 2002 its full electrification was completed!
After reconstructing some sections of the road in the early 2000s, Russia organized the first permanent corridor of large-scale freight traffic between China, Mongolia, Belarus, Poland and Germany, which significantly increased trade turnover and contributed to the further development of the Far East as a strategic region.
The original name of the road is the Great Siberian Way. And he is great not because the construction of the road took almost a century, but because the Russian government then deliberately refused Western "help", not wanting to allow the growing influence of foreign capitalists in the Far East. They built only with OWN forces! And they could! Built!
No wonder they say that driving along the Trans-Siberian Railway means seeing half the world. Is it a joke? The famous photographer Todd Selby, who has come a long way from Paris to Shanghai by rail, claims that this is the real truth: “It's fantastic to wake up every time, look away from the map and try to understand where you are ... The seventh day of the trip has come, and we still in Siberia! Siberia is very large. And Baikal is very big. But this is just a part of great Russia! "
If all the previous facts about railways did not make you feel strongly, then do not despair. There is still one railway in the world, which people do not get tired of admiring to this day! Well, even if you are an inveterate critic and the word “admire” is not for you, then don’t worry, you will find a huge “portion” for discussion and condemnation here for yourself too. What is this railway? This is BAM!
I would not like to argue with those who claim that BAM is a "dead end" of the Soviet era, that the zeks built it, that this entire territory of BAM is a huge zone or camp ... Whatever one may say, this brilliant engineering project is still around a huge number of tales and legends ... But, nevertheless, for thousands of thousands of BAM residents, this construction remained the happiest and faintest memory. And they speak of him as a bright, romantic, heroic and the best time in their life. And so it was.
The best youth from all over the Soviet Union came, worked, settled down. Families were created here, they performed real labor exploits, discoveries happened. BAM was built by the whole country.
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Through passes, rivers and swamps
We will lay the highway for centuries. Any work is not scary for us,
At the call of our hearts, we came here! "
BAM was designed as part of a systematic project for the development of significant natural resources of little-explored areas, through which, in fact, the road ran.
On the way of BAM it was planned to build about ten territorial-industrial complexes-giants, but very "promising" Gorbachev's perestroika, allowed to complete only oneSouth Yakutsk coal complex. Then, no less "promising" privatization with great hopes handed over to private hands a number of resource deposits, but instead of loading the BAM's capacities and massive development of mineral deposits in the area of \u200b\u200bthe highway "at the exit", only oligarchs with yachts turned out. By the early 2000salmost all projects for the development of the Baikal-Amur Mainline zone were suspended under the "ideological" pretexts of inexpediency, and the decision of the Soviet leadership to build the BAM was diligently hung up with the stigma of erroneousness and hopelessness. How truly "oligarchic" it is to hide behind the sudden "hopelessness" of the project, which for half a century was considered simply vital for Siberia and the Far East in the opinion of all experts.
The only thing that warms the soul is that the current leadership of the country is seriously aimed at reviving the BAM and the region as a whole. And it's not just words. Recently The Elginskoye field is successfully operating, where the first coal was mined in the summer of 2011. An access railway line is being built connecting it with the main line. In May of this year, the first freight trains of super-heavy weight went along BAM, allowing to transport 7100 tons instead of the previous weight norm of 4800 tons, which should increase the profitability of transportation several times. This became possible after the commissioning of new powerful two-section locomotives of the 2ES5K Ermak series and diesel locomotives 2TE25A Vityaz. The trains successfully overcome the most difficult part of the route - the Kuznetsov Pass.
The railway tracks themselves on the pass were reconstructed and strengthened, the New Kuznetsovsky tunnel was put into operation.Note to critics: “Trains have started, they won't. The pass has been reconstructed, but it will not be sometime. "Ermaki" and "Vityazi" were put into operation, but are not at the design stage. "
I am sure that a bright future awaits BAM, because a road built with love cannot but live forever!
