Carriage No. 1 Russian Empire- this was the name of the train on which Tsar Nicholas II, together with the headquarters and his retinue, traveled around the country, making inspection trips, official visits, or simply traveling with his family. The train was a genuine palace on railway wheels, inside which Nikolai Alexandrovich had the opportunity to live and work in the conditions familiar to the monarch. When World War I broke out, the imperial cortege became the permanent residence of Nicholas II. Here, on March 2, 1917, he signed an abdication.

Characteristics of the royal train

The construction of the main locomotive of the great power began according to the personal order of Tsar Alexander III, who decided that the Russian monarch should have separate means of transportation during internal inspections and foreign travel by rail. Already after the death of Alexander Alexandrovich, the Imperial train (1896) was built for his heir in the workshops of the Nikolaev railway, which over the course of time changed the composition and the number of cars in accordance with the growing state requirements and the number of Romanov juniors.

For example, in 1902, the tsar's personal railway echelon consisted of ten carriages: the sleeping room of the Emperor and the Empress, the reception room, the study, the kitchen, the dining room, the nursery, the offices for servants, railway workers, retinues, family members, the luggage department, as well as a specially equipped chapel. All finishing from the best materials and in the latest artistic fashion - polished mahogany, French bimetal, silver, leather and other materials, which allowed decorators to transform the royal cortege on rails into an ideal combination of comfortable movement and work functions.

Photos of the imperial train

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After the abdication of the emperor, the luxurious railway cortege was left without an owner, after which a series of transitions from hand to hand began. From the Tsar to the Provisional Government, from Kerensky to Trotsky, after which the famous train finally fell victim to the civil war. The last remains of the royal railway luxury were destroyed in 1941, and only photographs of the imperial train and its decorative furnishings have survived to this day.

The walls and furniture were upholstered in English style with floral ornaments.

Dining room view

Women's coupe.

Women's coupe.

Interior view one of the carriages.

A women's coupe, perhaps for princesses.

Walls, ceilings and furniture of polished oak, walnut, white and gray beech, maple and Karelian birch were covered with linoleum and carpets.

The interior of one of the carriages.

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The salon had mahogany upholstered furniture. The walls, sofas, armchairs and chairs were lined with striped pistachio curtains; The plush carpet on the floor had a proven design.

Dinner car.

The interior of one of the carriages.

Compartment for the maid of honor (junior courtier).

Bathroom.

Canteen.

Carriage for receiving guests.

Compartment of Nicholas II.

The interior of one of the carriages.

Toilet.

The interior of one of the carriages.

The walls, painted blue and decorated with gilding, looked beautiful.

The interior of one of the carriages.

Dining room in the restaurant.

Dining room in the restaurant.

Grand Duchess Anastasia on the Imperial train in 1916.

Empress Alexandra, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarevich Alexei.

Tsar Nicholas II in the train window.

The tsar with the generals at dinner.

The train was built between 1894-96 by the Nikolaev railway company.

One of the carriages.

At the Imperial Court, vehicles have always been given attention, as they traditionally occupied an important place in the daily life of the court. Since the Russian tsars for centuries rode on horseback, in carriages and sleighs, there was a Court Stables Office to serve them at court.

It must be emphasized that Russian monarchs were quite mobile. V Russian history included the famous trip of Empress Catherine II to the Crimea. The empress was accompanied by a huge staff of servants and courtiers. In addition, in this "action" she was accompanied by the diplomatic corps, who had lived quietly in St. Petersburg for years. It goes without saying that such a large-scale trip required tremendous efforts of the Court Stables. During a trip to the Crimea in 1787, the motorcade of Empress Catherine II consisted of 14 carriages and 124 sledges, at each station 560 horses were waiting for it to be replaced. The carriage of Catherine II, according to eyewitnesses, was a whole carriage, consisted of several compartments (an office, a living room for eight people, a gambling hall, a small library) and was equipped with all the amenities possible at that time. This mobile "estate" was set in motion by the forces of thirty horses and possessed an enviable smoothness of movement. By the end of the 18th century. the crews were used by representatives of all strata of the privileged society, and, in the opinion of Catherine II herself, "the excess in the crews exceeded the limits of moderation." Therefore, in 1779, a special decree was issued, strictly regulating the type of crew and the form of departure for different classes population.

Coupe carriage of Catherine II. 1793-1795

There were very few cases when palace carriages were used to save the lives of members of the imperial family. So, on December 14, 1825, after the first unsuccessful attack of the Horse Guards on a square of rebels lined up on Senate Square, Nicholas I sent his personal friend Colonel V.F. Adlerberg to the equestrian V.V. Dolgoruky with the aim of "preparing suburban carriages for mother and wife", in order to "escort them to Tsarskoe Selo under the guise of cavalry guards in extreme cases" 296.

There are many examples of the "transport" mobility of Russian monarchs. So, Nicholas I, distinguished by extraordinary endurance, withstood long journeys on horseback. From the Krasnoselsky camps, he rode on horseback to Alexandria for dinner 12 miles away and then returned back to the camps. His successors were also highly mobile.

To serve the needs of the monarchs and their numerous environment by means of transportation in the second quarter of the 18th century. was formed the Court Stables Office 297, by the beginning of the XX century. it was called the "Court Stables".

The jurisdiction of the Court Stables section included the purchase of horses, both in Russia and abroad, the treatment of horses in the Treasury horse infirmary; cases of horses brought or donated to the emperor by noble foreign persons; cases of fallen horses and the erection of monuments over them; providing horses with fodder; sale of various types of carriages, carriages, carriages, phaetons, landau, cabs, chairlifts, etc .; production of harnesses for crews; purchase of carriages and harnesses in Russia and abroad; management of state stud farms; Head of the Stables Hospital; Horse infirmary and Stables Church. In other words, to late XIX v. in the Ministry of the Imperial Court there was a powerful structure, the leaders of which were firmly seated in their places and were very jealous of the possibility of the appearance of "alternative" modes of transport at the Imperial Court.

Each of the Russian emperors had “their own” life coachman, and Nicholas II also had “his own” driver. All of them lived at the imperial residence, since their services were required by the monarchs almost daily.

The nuances associated with personality traits Russian autocrats. So, Nicholas I, following the precepts of his father, practically did not use closed carriages. He also loved fast, dashing driving, driving a colossal number of miles with inspectors all over the country. On trips, his carriage or sleigh was driven by his personal coachman. However, after in 1836 (on the road from Penza to Tambov, 14 versts from the small town of Chembar on the descent from the mountain opposite the village of Shaloletki) the coachman did not restrain the horses and turned the tsar out of the carriage, Nicholas I began to use local coachmen when driving along unfamiliar road.

It is noteworthy that in spiritual testament, drawn up in 1844, Nikolai Pavlovich considered it necessary to remember his coachman Yakov, although he served in another department and did not belong to the tsar's room servant: “Art. 12. I wish that all My room servants, who faithfully and diligently served Me, would be converted to boarding schools. To this same servant I lament the Leib-Reinknechts and my coachman Yakov ”298.

Emperor Nicholas I in a sleigh. NOT. Sverchkov

Frol Sergeev served as a life coachman for Alexander II throughout his reign. Since revolutionary terrorism forced Alexander II to move around St. Petersburg in a closed carriage, the traditional “tsar-coachman” communication system was in effect. A cord was tied to the driver's right hand, for which the king pulled if it was necessary to stop the carriage at his request. When on March 1, 1881, the first bomb thrown by a terrorist destroyed the rear wall of the tsar's carriage, the "running gear" was not damaged. Therefore, there was a full opportunity to immediately take the king away from the place of the assassination, which the coachman was going to do. However, Alexander II himself ordered the coachman to stop, and when he felt that he was not going to carry out his order, "he pulled the cord tied to the coachman's hand with force and did not release it until the coach stopped."

A carriage with a dilapidated rear wall has survived to this day. It is exhibited at the Cameron Gallery in Tsarskoye Selo. According to a stable legend, this carriage was presented to Alexander II by Napoleon III, with whom they together survived the assassination attempt of the Pole Berezovsky in Paris in 1867. This carriage was allegedly sheathed with metal sheets - "armored". But this carriage was in use only since 1879, and it was made by Russian craftsmen in the workshop of I. Breitingham, and, as you know, Napoleon III lost power in 1870. In reality, there was no armoring, and in order to protect the emperor, the wheels of all winter carriages tsar was covered with a "thick layer of gutta-percha." This was done on the assumption that "the soft part of the wheel partially paralyzes the action of explosives."

Emperor Alexander II in the sleigh of a random "vanka"

The carriage of Alexander II dilapidated by a bomb explosion

As a result of the explosion, the rear wall of the carriage, although it was damaged, but neither the body in front and on the sides, adjacent to the goats, nor the goats, nor the roof of the body, nor wheels, nor axles, nor springs - four longitudinal and one transverse, - no drawbar did not suffer at all. The pillows in the carriage remained intact. In the opinion of competent persons, despite the damage, the carriage remained on the move and was able to immediately take the emperor away from the explosion site.

Alexander III also had "his" coachmen and "his" communication system with them. When he needed to call a carriage, he went to the writing table in his office and “touched the bell to the stable, which was given to him by the carriage, depending on how he pressed the button” 300.

It is noteworthy that strict norms of etiquette also regulated the order of travel of the first persons of the empire. Thus, Russian empresses were not allowed to travel alone in open carriages outside the royal residences, except for Peterhof. This precedent was legalized and persisted until 1917.301

However, it should be noted that with all the traditionalism of the Imperial Court, the most close attention was always paid to the comfort of the first persons. In addition, speed is a very important factor. In other words, speed, comfort and personability were the main criteria for vehicles at the Imperial Court. Therefore, technical innovations in the field of movement were followed very closely.

Traveling with the imperial family was generally associated with either business travel or leisure travel. Travel routes were determined by the capabilities and characteristics of the means of transport.

One of the main routes is the trips of Russian monarchs and their family members to Europe. These trips with official and unofficial visits to numerous European relatives were made almost every year. Especially close ties existed with the German dwarf courts, since almost all Russian empresses are German by birth.

Emperor Alexander II with Empress Maria Alexandrovna

The retinue of Russian emperors was huge for the dwarf European courts, who counted every penny. As one of his contemporaries wrote, describing the visit of Empress Maria Alexandrovna to her small homeland in 1864: “The whole of Darmstadt was teeming with Russian military and civilian ranks in a variety of uniforms, which made up the numerous Imperial retinue, couriers and court attendants, and in appearance was completely similar to St. Petersburg "302.

It is noteworthy that all Russian empresses have financed their European relatives for years in one form or another. So, Maria Alexandrovna annually sent 20,000 rubles to Darmstadt. "For the needs known to the empress." The Empress Maria Feodorovna also kept her parents' yard 303.

We also went to resorts - "to the waters." The Russian aristocracy inherited this tradition from the time of Peter I. Up to the 1860s. trips to Europe took place in horse carriages. It was hard physically and for a long time by the standards of the gradually accelerating pace of life. However, Russia gradually developed its own railway network, which in the 1860s. connected to European rail lines.

Railway

In the second quarter of the XIX century. fundamental changes have taken place in the development of means of transport. First, in October 1837, the Tsarskoye Selo railway was opened. On the opening day, Nicholas I personally drove in the first train, which consisted of a steam locomotive with a tender and 8 cars. The whole journey from the capital to Tsarskoe Selo took 35 minutes. The king was in his carriage, mounted on an open cargo platform.

Train of the Tsarskoye Selo railway. 1837 g.

We can say that this carriage, installed on a railway platform, became a symbol of the Nikolaev era, since most of the reign of Nicholas I fell on the formation of steam transport. Only at the end of the reign of Nicholas I, in 1851, was the construction of the railway from St. Petersburg to Moscow completed. Steam locomotives and carriages were purchased for the new railway. By order of Nicholas I, the first 42 passenger and 120 freight locomotives were purchased in England. Later, they additionally purchased another 72 passenger and 580 British freight cars. Such large-scale purchases indicate that the development of railway transport was among the main tasks for the country's leadership.

Since the tsar paid much attention to the railway under construction, he became its first passenger, having traveled from Moscow to Bologoye. A special train was prepared for this trip. It consisted of a foreign-built steam locomotive, a saloon car, a kitchen car, a bedchamber, a dining car, a service car, and suite cars (which gave the prestigious abbreviation SV). The cars were connected by covered passages. Some of these cars were already made in Russia, they were built in 1850-1851. at the Petersburg Alexandrovsky plant 304.

The length of the "Own" imperial carriage was 25.25 m, and it rested on two four-axle bogies, which is new and unusual even for the beginning of the 20th century. (after all, at that time, twenty-meter-long passenger carriages had just begun to enter railway practice). The carriage was painted blue on the outside, and the windows on either side of the car were crowned with gilded double-headed eagles. The ceiling of the royal carriage was covered with white satin, the walls were upholstered with quilted crimson damask. The same material was used to cover furniture, for which French decorators from Lyon were invited. There were bronze clocks on the tables; the interior was also decorated with vases of Sevres porcelain and bronze candelabra. Mosaic doors opened and closed completely silently, and fresh air was brought in through bronze ventilation pipes decorated with weathercocks in the form of eagles at the top. The heating pipes were disguised with bronze grilles, which also successfully served as spectacular decorative details 305.

Imperial train. Grand Ducal Branch

Imperial train. Emperor's bedchamber

Imperial train. Empress's bedchamber

These cars were first used for high-ranking passengers in 1851 in preparation for the jubilee - the 25th anniversary of the coronation of Nicholas I. The court departments used the capacity of the new railway to the maximum for transporting various goods to Moscow. So, two horses of the emperor and 8 city carriages were loaded onto one of the platforms. On other platforms - crews of the suite. The imperial staff departed from Petersburg on August 19, 1851 at half past four in the morning. Since the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was riding in the royal composition, the Chief Administrator of Communications Count P.A. Kleinmichel, chief marshal A.P. Shuvalov and physician-in-chief M. Mandt, "to make sure, each in his own part, whether the passage for the empress will be at peace" 306. The empress's carriage consisted of "three elegantly decorated rooms, with a fireplace, a kitchen, a cellar and a glacier" 307. It was planned that the travel time would be 18 hours, but the imperial staff arrived in Moscow only 23 hours later.

Subsequently, several more wagons of various functional purposes were added to this train. During operation, some cars were modernized and rebuilt in order to improve their interior decoration and technical arrangement. The first tsarist train was used for travels in Russia until 1888.

Under Alexander II in the 1860s. started in Russia fast development railway network. For the imperial family, this is important, because for the Empress Maria Alexandrovna in the Crimea they acquired the estate of Livadia, where the imperial family began to go on vacation every year.

It should be recalled that the first trip to the Crimea was undertaken by Catherine II. And in 1837 the family of Nicholas I left for the Crimea for the first time. It was then that Empress Alexandra Feodorovna received from Nicholas I the Oreanda estate as a gift “with one condition that the Pope would not take care of him at all and that she would build herself such a house there as she was. want to ”308. Subsequently, the architect A.I. Stackenschneider built a palace there, which after the death of Alexandra Feodorovna became the property of her second son, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich.

Allocation of seats on the imperial train during the highest journey from Copenhagen to Livadia in 1891

Traveling to the Crimea for Empress Maria Alexandrovna's poor health was very tiring. For her, they tried to plan a route as "calm" as possible, so that most of it would pass by rail and water. So, in 1863, Maria Alexandrovna left for the Crimea from Tsarskoe Selo on September 11. The route went as follows: on horseback from Tsarskoe Selo to Sablino station and further along the railway to Moscow. Then on horseback to Nikolaev, through Tula, Oryol and Poltava. From Nikolaev along the Dnieper and the Black Sea to Yalta. From it along the highway to Livadia. The entire route of 2,328 versts took seven days 309.

Since in the 1870s. Empress Maria Alexandrovna was diagnosed with a serious pulmonary disease, and, as a rule, she spent the winter in European resorts, then in 1872 an order was placed in France for the construction of a new train for the Empress's trips abroad. France was chosen because it was cheaper to build a train there than in other countries 310. Supervised the execution of the order by the Imperial Trains Inspectorate.

The empress's railway staff was formed gradually. In 1872, the first seven carriages were purchased in France; they cost the treasury 121 788 rubles. 311 The possibility of their adaptation to the Russian track by the Main Society of Russian Railways cost another 17,787 rubles. The freight car, purchased separately from this batch, was equipped with a glacier and adapted for the transportation of provisions (1839 rubles). Somewhat later, four more new cars (RUB 51,620) 312 were purchased at the Milton Pay and K 0 plant. As a result, the tsarist train was equipped with 10 carriages 313. This train began to be intended only for overseas travel, since it was built to fit a narrower European-standard railway track.

When developing the train project, great attention was paid to the comfort level of the train and its finish. Taking into account the Empress's illness, one of the main requirements was to ensure a comfortable temperature and ventilation for the composition 314. The quality of these works was monitored by the empress's physician, professor S.P. Botkin. So, at temperatures from + 8 ° to -20 ° degrees, the composition should maintain a constant temperature from 13 to 15 ° C g, both "at the floor and at the ceiling." It also provided for the possibility of changing the temperature in the compartment regardless of the temperature in the corridor. For this, a signal button was installed in the compartment. In the empress's carriage and in the large salon, “humidifiers” were installed to maintain a certain level of humidity (48–58% in winter). Air-conditioning fans were installed in four cars of the train to cool the incoming air cars in summer. With the doors and windows closed, the temperature in the carriages should have been 5 ° C lower than the outside air. 315

The furnishings for these cars were also ordered from France. The contract with the French factories "Milton Pay and K 0" stipulated that "these wagons must be supplied with all the necessary furniture and other accessories ... except for linen and washing appliances, table candlesticks and candelabra, ashtrays and matchboxes" 316.

The interior is really royal, so, in the empress's carriage, a washbasin made of silver 317 was installed. It is curious that although at this time water closets (toilet) were already provided in the carriages, according to tradition, the list of ordered items also mentions "white porcelain vessels of the night with gilding" 318.

The Empress first traveled abroad in a new train in December 1873. During this trip, some shortcomings in the equipment of several cars were revealed. These were trifles (many water tanks leaked, the water pipes running under the bottom of the carriages froze, dishes rattled on the move, the blinds sagged, it turned out that the seats on the sofa were uncomfortable), but they were immediately eliminated 319. After all the alterations and modifications, the cost of the royal train for foreign travel was 320,905 rubles.

By the 1880s. the Russian railway network has expanded significantly. For Emperor Alexander III, railways have become an integral and familiar part of everyday life. By the end of the 1880s. The imperial family had a car fleet, which began to form even under Nicholas I.

In one of the trains, which consisted of 10 cars, on October 18, 1888, the royal family almost died as a result of a train disaster that occurred near the town of Borki near Kharkov. As the investigation established, the cause of the catastrophe was a significant excess of the speed of the heavy tsarist train and the defects made during the construction of the railway. This tragic event became an important milestone in the family calendar of the last Romanovs. At the time of the disaster, the entire royal family (6 people), with the exception of little Olga, was in the dining car. The fact that the whole family survived under the wreckage of the carriage, and the footman who poured cream into Alexander III's tea, died, was perceived by them as divine providence. Naturally, many myths arose around this event, the most widespread of which was described by S.Yu. Witte. According to him, "the entire roof of the dining car fell on the emperor, and it was only thanks to his gigantic strength that he kept this roof on his back, and it did not crush anyone" 320. In fact, at the time of the train crash, the walls of the carriage moved and delayed the roof of 321 from falling. Based on the materials of the investigation, it was established that 21 people died and 24 were wounded during the disaster. Later, two more of the wounded died.

In April 1888, a decision was made to establish the Imperial Russian Historical Museum. In December 1888, the highest decision ordered to deposit in the museum a silver glass that was in the dining car of the Imperial train on October 17, 1888 and damaged during a crash near the Borki station. The family took it as a miracle that they managed to survive during the train disaster. Nicholas II annually recorded this day in his diary as a highly solemn day. On October 17, 1913, he wrote: "A quarter of a century has passed since the day that the Lord saved our family from death in a train crash!"

After the crash of the Tsar's train in Borki, the expert commission revealed serious technical flaws in the design of the train and significant violations of the basic rules of its operation. Based on the findings of this commission, a decision was made to build a new train for royal family.

Already on October 28, 1888, by the highest decision, a commission was established to resolve issues related to the formation of the concept of the future tsarist train. The main thing for the commission was the definition of the type of new imperial carriages, their comparative analysis with the existing analogues operated by the heads of European states.

On June 28, 1889, the Minister of Railways A.Ya. Gubbenet on the preparatory work done. During the report, the need to build a new train for overseas travel of the emperor and his family was discussed, since the special train for overseas travel in operation had become dilapidated and did not meet the requirements of traffic safety. Thus, in October 1888, initially it was about the construction of two trains: for internal and for foreign trips of the royal family.

The trains were conceived as palaces on wheels. Along with luxury and convenience for travelers, they must provide a smooth ride and an adequate level of safety. To determine the number of people accompanying the emperor on his trips abroad, the guards made a list of passengers usually accompanying the king on his travels. As a result, it was decided that the tsarist train will include 11–12 wagons, with a total weight of about 400 tons.

Royal train in Denmark (Strib). Photo of 1887

In order to determine the standards for wagons of this class, one of the railway engineers was sent abroad to inspect the relevant trains and visit factories capable of fulfilling such an order. Naturally, word of a large potential order quickly spread among stakeholders. Numerous appeals to the commission followed with proposals from foreign firms wishing to manufacture wagons of this class. They undertook to prepare the required composition in one or two years. After careful consideration, all applicants were rejected. In November 1889, a principal decision was made to place a prestigious order at the Aleksandrovsk Mechanical Plant of the Nikolaev Railway.

The carriages in the train were supposed to be distributed as follows: in the first car there was a power plant with its attendants. The second car is a baggage car. The third carriage with compartments of the first and second class was intended for servants. In the fourth car, in seven compartments, the first persons of the royal retinue were located. The fifth carriage on the 6th compartment was occupied by the Minister of the Imperial Court, the commander of the main imperial apartment, the head of the security, the knight marshal, the medical officer, one spare compartment.

The sixth carriage, also for compartment 6, is for women. It housed the little Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna and her bonnets. A separate compartment was planned for the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna. Two single compartments were intended for maids of honor. The Empress's maids rode in a two-seater compartment. The sixth compartment was intended for maids of honor. The level of comfort in this carriage provided for a separate toilet room in each of the two grand ducal compartments and another common toilet for the maids of honor and their maids. The seventh carriage was called the grand ducal car. It was designed for coupe 5. The first of them was intended for the heir-Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, the future Emperor Nicholas II. The second two-seater compartment was intended for the young Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and his tutor. The third compartment was occupied by the Tsar's second son, Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich. There were two toilets in the carriage.

The next two carriages were called imperial. The eighth carriage is a sleeping one. Two separate bedchambers for Alexander III and for Empress Maria Feodorovna were delighted in it. The emperor's bedchamber was lined with morocco. Each bedroom had three windows. The emperor's bedroom had a table, a sofa, a small dressing table, double wall lamps and a washbasin. Each bedroom has its own toilet facilities. The interiors of the premises of the emperor and the empress differed in style. In the same carriage, a dressing room was arranged, there were two compartments for the emperor's valet and for the empress's chamber-frau. To heat the carriage, a steam boiler was placed in it.

The ninth carriage housed the imperial salon and the tsar's study. The tenth carriage housed the imperial dining room; it was divided into three sections: a dining room, a snack bar and a buffet. Only members of the royal family used these four out of 10 carriages of the train (bedchamber, dining room, nursery and grand ducal), distinguished by a special luxury of decoration.

The two trailing wagons are utility ones. In the eleventh carriage there was a kitchen, which also consisted of three sections: a kitchen, a buffet, and a section for provisions. In the twelfth carriage of the second class, there were compartments for 4 cooks and 4 waiters, as well as 14 berths for servants and 6 places for Cossack guards. In total, the carriage was designed for 32 berths with one shared toilet.

Initially, in order to save space, it was supposed to illuminate the composition with candles only and do without electric lighting. Then the option of gas lighting was considered, but after some hesitation, electric lighting was arranged on the train. Each compartment was equipped with 1-2 lamps in the Art Nouveau style. Installed incandescent lamps for 8, 16 and 25 candles each at a voltage of 50 volts were powered by a dynamo and batteries. In total, there were 200 electric lamps on the train. For the first time, electric lighting was tested on a tsarist train in the fall of 1902 during the traditional trip of the family of Nicholas II to the Crimea. In the daytime, besides the windows, light entered the carriages through the skylight windows. For communication between all the cars, a telephone network was installed.

The cars are heated by steam. For cooling the carriages in the summer, special “wind turbines-refrigerators”, prototypes of future air conditioners, were envisaged. The air got through special air intakes into elegantly finished boxes with channels, lined with ice and salt, and, having cooled down, got into the carriage. All water supply pipes were made of copper. The width of the corridors in the imperial cars was 72 cm, in the rest - 70 cm. The floors were covered with linoleum and carpets. The thickness of the partitions between the compartments to lighten the total weight of the carriages did not exceed 3 cm.

For the manufacture of carcasses, in addition to metal, it was required various types wood, they were bought in London. Teak, ash, mahogany and oak were used during construction and decoration. The car bodies were carefully painted blue in several layers. Outside above the upper part of the windows were attached bronze, gilded artistic forging state emblems... The roof was made of red copper, painted light gray. The "accordions" of the passages between the carriages were made of black leather. Since it was required to reduce the weight of the train, no armor was installed on the cars.

Already during the construction of the train for the emperor's trips abroad, it was decided to use it for the internal trips of the royal family. For this, a procedure was developed for changing the slopes of the foreign gauge of 1435 mm to the Russian gauge of 1524 mm. In addition, the design of the train provided for the possibility of its crossing by ferries through the Great and Small Belt straits, since Alexander III often visited his wife's relatives in Denmark. Initially, changing slopes took up to 3 hours on each carriage. That is, it took up to three days to "change the shoes" of the entire train. In extreme cases, the railroad workers were packed at 6 pm. Since it was inconvenient for high-ranking passengers, a special car-lift was installed at the Verzhbolovo border station in 1903 to speed up the process. It cost the treasury 206 thousand rubles.

The first test ride of the tsar's train (for travel abroad) took place on January 20, 1893. The Svitsky carriage passed from St. Petersburg to the Tosno station and back. The first to try the train were the newlyweds - grand duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich. They set off from New Peterhof to Sevastopol in early August 1894. After this trial run, on August 24, 1894, the tsarist staff was officially accepted into operation. A train of 10 cars for traveling within Russia was commissioned by 1897.

However, Emperor Alexander III did not have to use the new trains. By this time he was terminally ill. At one time, they still wanted to use the composition, since the doctors expected the king to travel to a climatic resort on the island of Corfu. But the pace of development of the fatal disease dictated a completely different course of events, and the emperor, having learned about the disappointing forecasts, refused to leave the territory of the country, moving to die in Livadia, which was close to him. Therefore, Nicholas II became the real owner of the new train. He traveled a lot both across the country and abroad, and his fleeting remarks led to the further improvement of the material part of the tsarist staff. So, in January 1902, Nicholas II dropped that the train of the French president had a smoother ride. As a result of comparative running tests, the bogies were changed. Since the purpose of the tsar's trips was different, the composition of the trains in the tsar's train was constantly changing, and individual cars had different mileage. So, on January 1, 1907, the mileage of the imperial bedchamber car across the territory of Russia was 28,003 versts, the grand ducal carriage - 44,876 versts. Abroad, the bedchamber car "ran" 72,957 versts, and the grand ducal car - 71,816 versts.

Nicholas II in the window of his own train. Photo of 1917

The tsarist staff was especially actively used after Nicholas II took over the duties of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army in August 1915. On the same train, in a saloon car, he signed his abdication on March 2, 1917.

Until 1905, Nicholas II used trains built by order of his father, Alexander III. But since Nicholas II traveled around the country quite often, then gradually on each railway its own royal train began to form. By 1903, the fleet of the imperial trains already consisted of five trains. The first is the Imperial train of the Nikolaev railway for the travels of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna with carriages on four-axle carts. The train consisted of 10 cars. The second is "His Imperial Majesty's Own" for long-distance travel across Russia, commissioned in 1897, on four-axle bogies. The third - the Imperial train "for a foreign track", which entered service in 1894, consisted of 11 cars on four-axle bogies. The fourth was the "Imperial suburban train" with three-axle cars for traveling in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, which included 13 cars. Fifth - the Imperial train of the Kursk railway "for travels of foreign and local nobility" with 16 322 three-axle cars.

Domestic political events significantly influenced the increase in the fleet of imperial trains. It was necessary to strengthen measures to ensure the security of the emperor in the conditions of a brewing revolutionary explosion. Therefore, in the early 1900s. construction began on the second "copy" of the Russian Imperial Train. The construction of this train was completed by 1905. 323

It was the twin trains that provided "cover" for the king, constantly changing places on the route. A similar practice in protecting the tsar developed back in the late 1870s. under Alexander II. Special personnel were assigned to the backup train from among the room servants with the task of constantly flickering in the windows of the carriages, giving them a residential look.

The memoirists' descriptions of the Imperial Train have come down to us. Head of the Chancellery of the Ministry of the Court A.A. Mosolov recalled: “In the first car there were a convoy and a servant. As soon as the train stopped, the hour ran to take their places at the carriages of Their Majesties. The second carriage contained the kitchen and rooms for the head waiter and cooks. The third car was a mahogany dining room; a third of this carriage was set aside for a living room with heavy draperies and furniture upholstered in velvet damask; there was also a piano. The fourth carriage was crossed in full width by a corridor and was intended for Their Majesties. The first compartment was a drawing-room of the Empress in gray-lilac tones. If the Empress was not on the train, the compartment was locked with a key. In the fifth carriage there was a nursery: the draperies were of light cretonne, and the furniture was white. The ladies-in-waiting were accommodated in the same carriage. The sixth carriage was assigned to the suite. It was divided into 9 compartments, of which one - double in the middle of the carriage, was intended for the Minister of the Court. Our compartments were much more spacious than international sleeping cars. Comfort was provided, of course, completely. Each door had a frame for a business card. One compartment was always free: people who introduced themselves to Their Majesties on the way and for some reason were left on the train were placed in it. The seventh carriage was for luggage, and the eighth was the inspector of the Highest trains, the commandant of the train, the attendants of the suite, the doctor and the pharmacy. The carriages were lit with electricity, heated by steam heating, and each compartment had a telephone. At the head of the sofa there was a stop valve handle. A conductor was on duty around the clock in the vestibule of the car. The interior finishing of the cars was carried out by the leading specialists of the firms G.G. Buechtger, N.F. Svirsky and others. "

They tried to keep the carriages of the imperial trains on each of the tsar's railway routes. Therefore, the Imperial train could be quickly equipped with the required number of wagons. These routes, as a rule, were constant, since the king's trips to the suburban palaces, to Belovezh, Livadia and Spala were carried out from year to year.

Especially often the imperial composition was used by the tsar during the First World War. For maneuverability and secrecy of movement, the royal train was completed with an incomplete train. Adjutant wing Colonel A.A. Mordvinov recalled that the Imperial train was small. It consisted in the center of His Majesty's carriage, where the Emperor's bedroom and study were located; next to it is a suite, on the one hand, and on the other, a dining car. Next came the kitchen with a sideboard, a carriage with a military field office and the last carriage, where the railway engineers and the commander of the road along which the train followed. When the tsar came to the front at Headquarters, he remained to live on his train. When in the summer of 1915 Nicholas II assumed the duties of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and began to spend most of his time in Mogilev, where his Headquarters was located, the Empress and her daughters often came there. In fact, in 1915-1917. the imperial train became one of the permanent residences of the last Russian emperor.

The Tsar's train, in which Nicholas II signed the abdication of the throne. Exposition of the Peterhof Museum of the 1930s.

After the abdication of Nicholas II in March 1917, his trains were used by the ministers of the Provisional Government for six months. After the Bolsheviks came to power, the famous train of the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council L.D. Trotsky. He enjoyed the amenities of the Imperial Train, including a garage car, built in 1915 for the train of Nicholas II.

Since the late 1920s. and until the second half of the 1930s. in Peterhof in Alexandria Park, within the framework of an exhibition dedicated to the life of the imperial family, 2 carriages with an exposition telling about the abdication of Nicholas II were presented. This pair also included a saloon car, in which on March 2, 1917, Nicholas II signed his abdication.

The fate of all the luxurious royal carriages turned out to be sad. Most of them are lost in the fire Civil War.

The surviving carriages were lost in 1941, and today on the territory of the Russian Federation none of the original imperial trains have survived. However, our neighbors, in the Suomi Railway Museum, exhibit three carriages from the same imperial train. Some memorial things that were in the tsar's wagons have been preserved in the funds of the Peterhof Museum-Reserve 324.

"His Imperial Majesty's own garage" 1905-1918

Cars appeared in the everyday life of the royal family thanks to Prince Vladimir Nikolaevich Orlov 325, who in 1903 drove his car to the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo for the first time. For the tsar, the first acquaintance with such technical innovations began in the summer of 1895, when in Peterhof he was shown a "steam bicycle" - a French steam motorcycle from the "Millet" company, produced in 1893.

Serpolle system car. 1888 g.

Crimea. Hunting lodge.

To the right of the Emperor V.N. Orlov - the first chauffeur of Nicholas II

At the beginning of the XX century. cars quickly entered the daily life of wealthy people in Russia. So, Nicholas II wrote in his diary on May 12, 1904: "On Wednesday, for lunch, Misha 326 came to Tsarskoe Selo from camp 327 by car." In this phrase, the king first used the term "car", before that, as a rule, he used the term "motor". In the diaries of Nicholas II, one more term is found - "motivated". From the entourage of Nicholas II, the first in 1901-1902. the cars were purchased by the Minister of the Imperial Court, Baron V.B. Frederick and Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich. These were French cars of the Serpollet system. During the royal family's trips to Germany, regular walks in the suburbs of Nauheim began in the car of the brother of the Empress of Hesse, Duke Ernest.

Russian monarchs began to make regular trips by car only in 1905. Nicholas II was at first wary of the new technique, but after a test drive he also put Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna in the car. The king liked the novelty so much that he traveled by car almost every day. Prince Orlov, fearing endangering the life of the king, actually turned into his chauffeur. He wrote in the spring of 1905: "The Emperor fell in love with the car and decided to buy himself a few too" 328. The aristocratic elite of Petersburg immediately reacted to this news with rumors. Thus, A.V. Bogdanovich wrote in her diary on August 16, 1906: “The favorite is now Prince. Orlov, who drives the royal couple in his car every day. This is now their only hobby and entertainment ”329.

This really big hobby even became the object of family jokes. In the toilet (WC) of Nicholas II in the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoye Selo, a caricature of the tsar was hung on the wall, in which he was depicted sitting in the car "Bianco T" 330.

The issue of purchasing cars was coordinated with the Minister of the Imperial Court V.B. Fredericks. The adjutant wing, Prince Vladimir Nikolaevich Orlov, was responsible for the purchase of cars for the royal garage, from 1906 to 1915 he was the head of the Military Campaign Office of Emperor Nicholas II.

The first cars purchased by Orlov appeared in the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoye Selo at the end of 1905, then there were French and German cars. A representative limousine (phaeton) of Delaunnay-Belleville was purchased in France. It was used for short trips to the suburbs and St. Petersburg. For long-distance trips, we bought several high-speed Mercedes cars of the 16–40 modification. If the car "Delaunnay-Belleville" amazed with luxury, then cars "Mercedes" were already considered one of the fastest. In 1904, the tourist version of the Mercedes could maintain a speed of 85 miles per hour. It was these cars that laid the foundation for the car park of the Imperial Garage.

After the first cars appeared, the fleet of which was constantly increasing, it became necessary to solve personnel problems. Prince V.N. Orlov initiated the opening of the Imperial School of Chauffeurs. He also picked up a personal chauffeur for Nicholas II. It was a Frenchman with impeccable recommendations - 25-year-old Adolphe Kegresse. For some time V.N. Orlov constantly traveled with a new chauffeur, checking him.

Delaunnay-Belleville. On the radiator there is a swastika, the symbol of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Photo of 1915

"As an experience" Imperial garages were created in Tsarskoe Selo and Peterhof in 1905. In 1906 it acquired an official status. By the end of 1906 there were already six cars in the garages, which cost the treasury 100,000 rubles. Since that time, the cost of equipping garages and purchasing cars has grown steadily. In 1906, the tsar spent 77,277 rubles on garages, in 1908 - 69,700 rubles, in 1909 - 65,000 rubles, in 1910 - 33,000 rubles. The most significant expenses fell on 1911, when 96,681 rubles were spent. By 1911-1912. the amount of costs has stabilized at the level of 58 600 rubles. Thus, according to the most conservative estimates, from 1905 to 1912 the Ministry of the Imperial Court spent about 550,000 rubles on the purchase of cars and equipment for the imperial garages. These funds were used to purchase not only cars, but also to build new premises for the Imperial Garage. Garages appeared not only in Tsarskoe Selo and Peterhof, but also in other royal residences - in the Winter and Anichkov palaces in St. Petersburg, in Gatchina, in Livadia.

By 1910, there were 21 cars of various modifications in the Imperial Garages. Among them - five open landau cars, intended personally for Nicholas II and his family 331. It is worth noting that Nicholas II preferred open cars. This decision was dictated by a political choice. Nicholas II believed that the tsar should be visible to the people. And although the guards repeatedly urged the tsar to move around the city in a closed car, Nicholas II, as a rule, rode in open limousines.

Nicholas II preferred luxurious French cars from Delaunnay-Belleville. During the 19th century, the French company Delaunnay-Belleville was engaged in the manufacture of steam boilers and locomotives. In 1904 she made her first car. The photographs that have survived to this day clearly show the peculiar cylindrical shape of the car bonnet. it constructive solution reminded of the company's roots.

By 1907, the quality, power and reliability of the Delaunnay-Belleville limousines made them popular among the aristocratic circles of the European monarchical courts. In 1909, by order of the Russian Imperial Court, the company manufactured a special version of the car. It was designated "Delaunnay-Belleville - 70 S.M.T." Abbreviation "S.M.T." ("Sa Majesti le Tsar"), from French - "His Imperial Majesty." It was a powerful and reliable car weighing 4 tons with an engine power of 70 hp. with. (engine capacity - 11.5 liters, 6 cylinders), capable of speeds up to 100 km per hour.

Family near the garage. Left "Delaunnay-Belleville", right "Mercedes" Livadia. Photo of 1914

Inspection by Emperor Nicholas II of military vehicles after a run of 3000 km. Peterhof. Alexandria. Photo of 1912

Driving a car was difficult enough back then. Instead of the usual three pedals in the royal car, there are nine pedals. Two pedals for left and right brakes, "mountain brake, or stop", accelerator, pedal for increased oil supply to the engine, pneumatic whistle. In addition, there were levers for the starting device, pneumatic jack, tire inflation. This entire system was powered by compressed air supplied from special cylinders. The car was also started with compressed air. The car could quietly get under way and drive several kilometers only on the supply of compressed air. In comparison with the samples of the same company, purchased in 1906, this was a more perfect model. So, it used not a chain transmission from the engine to the wheels, but a cardan.

Naturally, orders from the Russian Imperial Court were extremely prestigious for Delaunnay-Belleville, so the S.M.T. made with great care and luxury. This car until the First World War remained one of the most luxurious cars in the world. Its reputation has survived two world wars. The last "Delaunnay-Belleville" was produced in 1948, but the "golden age" of the company came precisely in the period from 1907 to 1914, when it supplied its cars to the Russian Imperial Court.

In the Tsarskoye Selo garage, in addition to the personal cars of the emperor, there were ten more cars, which were used mainly by the retinue of Nicholas II. Among them were 3 German Mercedes cars (modification 16-40) 332, 3 French cars from Delaunnay-Belleville 333, Panhard-Levassor 334, Serex 335 and one English car 336. In addition to them, there were also domestic cars of the firms "Lessner" 337 and "Russo-Balt" 338 in the garage. Russo-Balta cars were the most luxurious domestic cars. On the radiator plug of these cars, the plant had the right to install a figurine of a two-headed eagle - the symbol of the Russian Empire.

Since, over time, trips began to be undertaken over long distances, and the emperor was accompanied by many persons under the protocol, four trailer trucks with 339 beds were purchased along with ordinary cars. Cars for officials were purchased at public expense. So, at the disposal of the palace commandant were two cars "Mercedes" 340. In 1910, the annual maintenance of the Imperial Garage cost the Ministry of the Imperial Court 126,000 rubles.

To service the equipment, 21 drivers worked in the garage, at the rate of one driver for each car. By 1910, automobiles had become an integral part of the everyday life of the imperial family. They quickly got used to them, although at first there were a lot of misunderstandings when using them. They are mainly associated with the car "accidents" of that time. The sight of mechanical "monsters" drove horses and cows into a frenzy on the roads, which became uncontrollable. Sometimes the emperor personally compensated the victims for the lost goods or ordered that the victims be sent to the hospital 341.

The garage continued to develop. In 1911-1912. 14 more modern cars of various classes are being purchased for it. Among them are four open 342 landau cars, five 343 phaetons and two 344 buses. The palace commandant also received two new powerful 345 open cars. It is noteworthy that the bodies for all the tsarist cars have been manufactured since 1909 by only one French company, Keller, although cars were bought on different chassis (Rolls-Royce, Renault, Peugeot, Mercedes). In addition, a racing, four-cylinder "Mercedes" with 40 hp appeared in the garage. e., acquired in 1910, Most likely, it was bought for the needs of the personal protection of the king, who accompanied him on all trips.

As the emperor's garage grew rapidly, and the palace elite moved from carriages to comfortable, luxurious cars, there was an urgent need to expand the garage. In August 1910, the Minister of the Imperial Court V.B. Frederick wrote to the Tsar that due to the growth in the number of cars in the Imperial Garage, it became necessary to build a second stone building for him in Tsarskoe Selo, new buildings in Peterhof and St. Petersburg. The most important provision of this document was that V.B. Frederick proposed to build a new building in Tsarskoe Selo for "only" 35 cars (30 cars, 2 trucks and 3 cars for the palace staff).

Rolls-Royce symbol

Probably, it was in 1910-1911. a building was built in the Black Courtyard of the Winter Palace, in the area of ​​the palace kitchens. This garage has survived to this day. In 1911, during the construction of a new palace in Livadia, a garage was also built, for which two "timeless" Rolls-Royce "Silver Ghost" were purchased, these cars were used until 1917.

The document prepared by V.B. Fredericks, has its own history. By 1910, apparently, serious friction arose between the unofficial "owner" of the garage - Prince V.N. Orlov and the Minister of the Court V.B. Fredericks. These misunderstandings were mainly related to the financial situation around the garage and its uncertain position in the structures of the Ministry of the Imperial Court. Financial problems were caused by the uncontrolled spending of significant funds for the purchase of more and more new cars and the high cost of maintaining the garage itself 346.

Since it was supposed to spend significant sums from the budget of the Ministry of the Imperial Court on garage construction, a decision was made to develop a special "Regulation" on the Imperial Garage. Since the personal garage of His Majesty is intended exclusively to serve the needs of the royal family, its functions were determined after personal agreement with Nicholas II.

V.B. Frederick, who had a serious influence on the tsar, apparently decided to take advantage of the situation and legally limit the "spread" of the garage in breadth. Therefore, the minister proposed to stop the unjustified purchase of new cars in large quantities. He believed that the 30 available cars is quite enough, given the fact that only once a year, in addition to constantly servicing the emperor and his entourage, the garage uses all its vehicles during the annual maneuvers in Krasnoe Selo, lasting 5-6 days. According to V. B. Fredericks, in 1910 the garage was sufficiently equipped with modern cars, and in the current year he rented only 4 cars, and even then only because 4 of the imperial cars were sent abroad. The minister drew the attention of Nicholas II to the fact that the costs of the garage are spelled out in the budget of the Ministry of the Imperial Court, but at the same time the real costs exceed the funds established by the budget. Therefore, an increase in the number of cars and the construction of new buildings, which will require additional staff, will make the maintenance of the Imperial Garage a bill for the budget of the Ministry of the Imperial Court.

Formally, V.B. Frederick, of course, is right, but he did not take into account the peculiarities human psyche... There are never too many good cars for a person who loves them. Especially when there are financial opportunities. Therefore, the garage continued to grow. Nicholas II ordered to approve the expected significant expenses. Apparently, this decision was influenced by the tsar's fascination with cars, and the influence of Prince V.N. Orlova, and the fact that cars have become an important part of the everyday life of high society. Prince V.N. Orlov strongly supported the imperial family's passion for cars. So, in 1913, the nine-year-old Tsarevich Alexei was presented with a tiny two-seater "Bebe Peugeot" with an engine of 10 liters. with. 347

The only thing that the minister managed to do was to subordinate in June 1912 "His Imperial Majesty's own garage" to the manager of the Court stable section von AA Greenwald 348. It was a compromise with V.N. Orlov. On the one hand, the "horseman" Greenwald did not interfere in the affairs of the garage and V.N. Orlov continued to be its unofficial leader, on the other hand, the formal subordination of the garage of the Stables section gave the right to financial control over its activities by the Ministry of the Imperial Court.

The daily life of the Imperial Garage gave rise to many problems that had to be promptly resolved. And first of all, these are personnel problems associated with the search for qualified drivers and competent car maintenance technicians. Since at that time car service services had not yet appeared, the drivers were required not only to be able to drive a car perfectly, to be able to determine the nature and location of the malfunction, but also to eliminate it. These tasks were solved by the Imperial School of Chauffeurs.

The services involved in ensuring the personal safety of the emperor demanded maximum attention from drivers when transporting members of the Imperial family. Since the tsar preferred open limousines, the drivers were obliged to be ready for decisive action to save passengers and in the event of a possible assassination attempt on Nicholas II. The very possibility of such an assassination attempt after the events of the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. was real. Once Tsarevich Alexei and his French teacher P. Gilliard got into one of the first traffic jams in St. Petersburg. As they were traveling in an open car, passers-by, recognizing the Tsarevich, instantly surrounded the car, a crowd gathered, from which they hardly got out.

There were not many drivers in Russia at that time. A qualified driver from the Tsarskoye Selo garage could easily get a job with any titled owner for a large salary, so they tried to keep them in the service in the Ministry of the Court. All of them received a fairly high salary, which included the so-called canteen and apartment money, but the constantly growing demand for drivers forced them to promptly raise their salaries. So, in May 1914, Prince V.N. Orlov, in his note addressed to Nicholas II, pointed out: “The salaries of the garage workers are now as follows: the drivers of the Imperial cars receive 90-100 rubles, other workers - 50-80 rubles a month. But Your Majesty should be aware of the fact that even in private houses they pay much more than this salary ”349. He stressed that working in a garage is not easy. Many employees worked without vacation and sometimes at night in order to complete the repair of the Tsar's car. He argued that the level of salaries for workers from drivers to washers (the latter received 25 rubles a month) was not at all high. And there are no opportunities to raise their salaries with tight "budget" limits.

Tsarevich Alexei in the car. Livadia. Photo of 1913

At the same time, Prince V.N. Orlov reproached the Control of the Palace Administration for endless financial "nagging", which, in his opinion, distracted the head of the Mechanical Department of the garage A. Kegress and his assistant from their immediate duties. V.N. Orlov, seeking a favorable financial regime for the garage, put forward the main argument - he told the tsar that numerous reprimands and demands from the palace administration and the Control made A. Kegress several times ask V.N. Orlova about dismissal. Prince V.N. Orlov stated that he considered A. Kegress “an irreplaceable worker, and I am afraid that his dismissal would be a great loss for the garage” 350. Further, Prince V.N. Orlov asked the tsar that the Minister of the Imperial Court V.B. Frederick ordered the Palace Financial Administration not to intervene in the problems of determining the level of wages for workers. This is a very characteristic note showing that Prince V.N. Orlov continued to be the actual "owner" of the Imperial garage, resolving all controversial issues directly through the emperor. And the demand not to interfere in the financial affairs of the garage, which was part of the structures of the Ministry of the Imperial Court, is unprecedented.

However, life was constantly throwing up new problems. Since cars had to be transported after the emperor and by rail, at first ordinary open platforms were used for this. In February 1914, a decision was made to build a special garage car for the transportation of imperial cars. Initially, it was assumed that these would be two carriages, connected by metal bridges approximately 18 meters long. However, during the construction process, the dimensions changed somewhat. As a result, two four-axle cars were manufactured, each of which was 20 meters long. This closed garage could hold five cars, utility rooms for repairs, parts and fuel. A car garage car was hooked up to the tail of the tsarist train. Cars drove out of it along special metal ramps at the end of the car.

Emperor Nicholas II on a walk in the Crimea. Photo of 1914

The work on this order was dramatically accelerated after Russia entered the First world war... From September 1914, Nicholas II began to travel regularly to the front. The garage car was transferred to Tsarskoe Selo in March 1915, and in August 1915 the acceptance certificate of the railway garage was signed. This was very important, since it was in August 1915 that Nicholas II assumed the duties of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. He continued to travel regularly to the fronts. At this time, V. Schoffer 351 was in charge of the Imperial Garage. A. Kegresse, a really great master, remained the emperor's personal driver. According to the testimony of the last palace commandant V.N. Voeikov, he even traveled on the Crimean roads near Livadia at a speed of “60–70 versts per hour” 352.

The emperor's garage continued to grow during the war years. But it increased not at the expense of luxury cars, but at the expense of cars that might be needed in a war. So, in the winter of 1915/16, a sleigh car (2 copies) was developed for the tsar. One of the two manufactured machines was handed over to the service of the head of the Tsar's personal security, Colonel A.I.Spiridovich. By the beginning of 1916, there were 56 cars in the Imperial garage. Among them - 9 personal cars of Nicholas II, 19 cars for the suite, 3 courier cars, 15 utility and 10 cars for courtiers 353.

After February revolution 1917 and the fall of the monarchy, the entire car park of the Imperial Garage was requisitioned. On March 9, 1917, the entire material part of "His Imperial Majesty's Own Garage" was transferred to the disposal of the Provisional Government 354. After October revolution 1917 and the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, the former Imperial Garage passed to new owners. On January 26, 1918, the property of the former Court Stables and the former garage of His Imperial Majesty was transferred to the Auto Stable Base of the Workers 'and Peasants' Government. V.I. Lenin and L.D. Trotsky. Russia began to plunge into the abyss of the Civil War, which destroyed all the tsarist cars. Not a single car has survived to this day.

Irina guskova

Renunciation on wheels

One of the relics associated with the events of the February Revolution was the carriage of the Tsar's train. On March 2 (old style), 1917, in it, standing at the platform of the Pskov railway station, Nicholas II signed his abdication.

Before World War II, the tsar's carriage was a museum piece in Peterhof. PHOTO from the collection of the State Museum-Reserve "Peterhof"

In fact, in 1915-1917, the imperial train became one of the permanent residences of the last Russian emperor. It was a real "palace on wheels". The seven-car train was built in 1896 at the Aleksandrovsk Mechanical Plant. All cars had the same appearance. Coloring - dark blue with a thin gold border. At the beginning of the twentieth century, for security reasons, a second copy of the Imperial Train was built - its exact copy.

Arriving at the front at Headquarters, the emperor remained to live in his train, equipped with telephone and telegraph communications.

The head of the chancellery, A. A. Mosolov, in his memoirs recalled in detail his first trip on the tsar's train: “The tsar had two trains for his travels. In appearance, they could not be distinguished from one another ... Their Majesties rode in one of the trains, the second served ... for camouflage. Throughout the journey, the sovereign worked in his carriage. The train stopped at large stations ... The governors received invitations to get into the carriage and follow to the border of their province ... they made their reports on the way; if it was necessary to spend the night, they were assigned a compartment in the suite car. "

After the king's abdication from the throne, a photograph of the participants was taken in the carriage where this happened. historical event... She captured in all the details and the setting.

The further fate of the luxurious imperial carriages was very remarkable. After the revolution, they formed the famous train of the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, Leon Trotsky, who was not averse to trying on the tsarist luxury ...

In 1929, two carriages from the train of Nicholas II (the bedchamber with the tsar's office and the dining room) were transferred by the People's Commissariat of Railways to the Peterhof Museum. They were installed in the Alexandria Park near the Cottage Palace. The decoration of these cars by that time was almost completely preserved and during their museumification it was only slightly supplemented with some things from the Lower Dacha, which was especially loved by the family of Nicholas II.

A platform was erected near the carriages and two wooden rooms were built, in which the museum "Imperialist War and the Fall of Autocracy" was set up.

In 1941, the tsarist cars could not be evacuated, and during the hostilities they were badly damaged: they were burned and plundered. The skeletons of the carriages stood until the mid-1950s: after the war, apparently not seeing the memorial value in the tsar's "property", they did not begin to restore them. None of the original carriages of the imperial trains have survived in Russia today. And in neighboring Finland, in the Railway Museum in the city of Hyvinkää, three royal carriages are exhibited.

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A characteristic embodiment of the principles of museum work in the early Soviet period was the concept of the Museum "Carriages of the Former Tsarist Train" in Peterhof. By the end of the 1920s, the formation of the Peterhof museum complex was basically completed. In particular, in the seaside landscape park Alexandria, exhibitions have opened in the Cottage, the Farmer's Palace, and the Gothic Chapel. In the summer of 1927, an extensive thematic exposition unfolded in the Lower Palace of Nicholas II. All of them illustrated the crisis of autocracy in Russia from the standpoint of a new revolutionary ideology.

The historical monuments of Peterhof of the 18th - early 20th centuries made it possible to tell a story about the uniqueness of historical epochs and the way of life of the royal family from the first victories in the Northern War to the abdication of the last Russian emperor. Peterhof turned into a grandiose textbook on the history of the Russian Empire. However, even the most recent architectural monument, the Lower Palace of Nicholas II in Alexandria Park, was not a direct witness to the “collapse of the autocracy”. After all, the royal family left Peterhof on August 3, 1914. The history of tsarism in the Peterhof interpretation was incomplete.

Peterhof. Alexandria. The carriages of the tsarist train. 1920s-1930s. Photos from the archive of the State Museum-Reserve "Peterhof"

Therefore, the museum's researchers A.V. Shemansky and S.S.Geychenko made an original decision. The final section of the museum exposition, which tells about the collapse of the autocracy in Russia during the First World War, was housed in two carriages of the former imperial train, specially moved to Alexandria for this. According to the authors' plan, here, in the original interior, the story about the political situation in 1914-1917 and the circumstances under which the abdication of Nicholas II took place on March 2, 1917, should have sounded as effective and convincing as possible.

Visitors were interested not only in the new museum exposition, but also in the design and appearance carriages, the history of which was part of the excursion - however, very insignificant. The construction of the seven-car train of the Tsar's train was started in 1894 at the Aleksandrovsky Mechanical Plant of the Nikolaev Railway and was completed by February 1896. On the very first trips, it turned out that seven cars were not enough: two additional ones were already built in the workshops of the St. Petersburg-Warsaw railway, the third additional carriage was restored after the Tsar's train crashed in Borki on October 18, 1888. In 1902, the tsarist train consisted of ten cars - later two more were added to it. The train consisted of a power station carriage, a baggage carriage, carriages for the royal suite and servants, and a grand ducal carriage. The eighth and ninth carriages of the train, which were a sleeping car and a saloon car with the king's office, were called imperial. The tenth was saying modern language, a dining car, divided into three rooms: an imperial dining room, a snack bar and a buffet.

Imperial Train Carriages (top to bottom): Empress Boudoir. Salon. Canteen. The emperor's office. Photos of 1900-1910 from the archive of the State Museum-Reserve "Peterhof"

According to contemporaries, the imperial train looked more like a cozy home than vehicle". The carriages were painted blue and the seams were decorated with gilding. Panels, ceilings and furniture were made of polished oak, walnut, white and gray beech, maple and Karelian birch. The ceiling of the royal carriage was covered with white satin, the walls were upholstered with quilted crimson damask. The same material was used to cover the furniture. On the tables were bronze clocks, family photographs, the interior was decorated with vases of Sevres porcelain and bronze candelabra. The floors were covered with linoleum and carpets.

With the outbreak of the First World War, only three carriages were left in the train: the royal one, where there was a bedroom and an office, a suite of eight compartments and a dining carriage. The latter was used during the war for staff meetings with the participation of the emperor, it was in it that Nicholas II signed the abdication. This carriage, as well as the carriage with the emperor's study, were included in the "Cars" museum in Peterhof.

Transfer of two cars of the tsarist train to the Alexandria park, 1929

Secretary of the City Council of Peterhof Kozlovsky with a group of sailors of the Baltic Fleet at the cars of Nicholas II, July 1931

Peterhof. Carriages of Nicholas II in Alexandria, 1950s (?)

Carriages of Nicholas II in Alexandria. Russia, Leningrad. 1950s (?)

In May 1917, the train was sealed and transferred to Moscow, where it was on the siding. In 1929, two cars were transferred by the People's Commissariat of Railways to the Directorate of Peterhof Palaces-Museums. Initially, the cars were moved to the Novy Peterhof station. From there they were transported through the Alexandrinsky, at that time called Proletarsky, park along the laid rails and installed not far from the entrance to Alexandria, more precisely - at the fork in the alleys near the Gothic guardhouse.

After the renovation and construction of a special platform in 1930, the "Carriages of Nicholas II" museum received its first visitors. Next to the carriages there is a pavilion with an additional introductory exposition "Imperialist War and the Fall of the Autocracy". The interior decoration, furnishings and exposition of the museum in many ways resembled, and in many essential features even repeated the exposition of the Lower Palace. Two museums dedicated to the era of the reign of Nicholas II began to be perceived as a thematically integral exposition, visitors were encouraged to complete their comprehensive examination within the framework of one visit. The closure of the museum in the Lower Palace in 1936 led to the fact that this methodically thought out excursion route in Alexandria Park fell apart and largely lost its logic.

Boudoir of the Empress in the carriage of the Tsar's train. 1900-1910 years. Photos from the archive of the State Museum-Reserve "Peterhof"

Peterhof. Alexandria. Museum "Carriages of the Former Tsarist Train". The platform and the appearance of the carriages, 1932. Photographer Yu. F. Nikolsky. Photos from the archive of the State Museum-Reserve "Peterhof"

The exposition of the museum "Carriages of the Former Tsarist Train", the last time it was created in the pre-war Peterhof, was prepared for a short century - it existed for about ten years. During the Great Patriotic War, the exhibition complex located in the carriages was virtually destroyed: the platform was destroyed, and the carriages themselves were carcasses. In the first decade after the end of the Great Patriotic War, the question of the possibility of restoring the cars remained open. Nevertheless, the revival of the museum turned out to be unrealistic: on February 18, 1954, a special commission of the October Railway ruled that due to the damage inflicted during the war, the cars had become completely unusable and could not be restored. In the summer of 1954, by order of the Department of Culture of the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council, the cars were dismantled. By the 1960s, only the ruins of the Lower Dacha in the northeast of Alexandria Park reminded of the original historical and memorial complex "The Last Romanovs in Peterhof", created by the museum's researchers in the 1930s. Out of almost a thousand items and memorial items that made up the interior of the carriages, 55 items have been preserved in the funds of the Peterhof Museum-Reserve, including writing utensils, furniture, and furnishings.

À PROPOS

Maria Andreevna Kattsova - specialist of the museum research department of the State Museum-Reserve "Peterhof".

Literature:

1. A. Shemansky, S. Geychenko. The last Romanovs in Peterhof. Guide to the Lower Dacha and the cars. L., 1932.

2. Shemansky A. Carriages of the former royal train in Alexandria: a guide. Peterhof: Edition of the Peterhof Museums, 1935.

3. Nicholas II. Abdication: [exhibition materials / ed. Art .: S. V. Mironenko, V. M. Tenikhin]. St. Petersburg: Abris, 1998.

4. Schenk F.B. Train to modern times. Mobility and social space of Russia in the age of railways. Moscow: New Literary Review, 2016.

The documents:

Archive of the State Museum-Reserve "Peterhof". PDMP 7357-ar. Inventory of museum property in carriages b. the royal train.

Archive of the State Museum-Reserve "Peterhof". PDMP 6193-ar. Inventory of museum property in carriages b. the royal train.

Archive of the State Museum-Reserve "Peterhof". PDMP 7358-ar. Inventory of additional exposition in wagons b. the royal train.

By the way, in 1915-1917 the imperial train became one of the permanent residences of the last Russian emperor. This train also included a saloon car, in which on March 2, 1917, Nicholas II signed his abdication. Having rummaged in the net, I found some materials about what the VIP trains of those times looked like and what they were. The rulers have always loved and appreciated trains, and considerable funds were allocated to equip them. Like now :)

For the construction of the Imperial trains, a special Imperial Construction Committee was formed, with direct supervision of the progress of the work of the Imperial Train Inspectorate.
In November 1889, a principal decision was made to place a prestigious order at the Aleksandrovsk Mechanical Plant of the Nikolaevskaya Railway. At the Aleksandrovsky Zavod, the construction of a seven-car train was completed by February 1896. However, during the very first trips, it turned out that seven cars were not enough. As a result, two cars were built already in the workshops of the St. Petersburg-Warsaw railway, and the third was restored after the aforementioned crash.

Already during the construction of the train for the emperor's trips abroad, it was decided to use it for the internal trips of the royal family. For this, a procedure was developed for changing the slopes of the foreign gauge of 1435 mm to the Russian gauge of 1524 mm.

Initially, changing slopes took up to 3 hours on each carriage. That is, it took up to three days to "change the shoes" of the entire train. In extreme cases, the railroad workers were packed at 6 pm. To speed up the process, a special car lift was installed at the Verzhbolovo border station in 1903. It cost the treasury 206 thousand rubles.

The wagons in the train were supposed to be distributed as follows:

V first car- a power plant with its staff.
Second car- luggage.
Third car from the compartment of the first and second class was intended for servants.
V fourth car the first persons of the royal retinue were located in seven compartments.
Fifth carriage the 6th compartment was occupied by the Minister of the Imperial Court, the commander of the main imperial apartment, the head of the security, the knight marshal, the life-doctor, one spare compartment.
Sixth car, also on the 6th compartment, - ladies'. Two grand ducal compartments. Two single compartments were intended for maids of honor. The Empress's maids rode in a two-seater compartment. The sixth compartment was intended for maids of honor. The level of comfort in this carriage provided for a separate toilet room in each of the grand ducal compartments and another common toilet for the maids of honor and their maids.
Seventh carriage was called grand-ducal. It was designed for coupe 5. The first of them was intended for the heir-Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, the future Emperor Nicholas II. The second two-seater compartment was intended for the young Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and his tutor. The third compartment was occupied by the Tsar's second son, Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich. There were two toilets in the carriage.
The next two carriages were called imperial.
Eighth carriage- sleeping. The emperor's bedchamber was lined with morocco. Each bedroom had three windows. The emperor's bedroom had a table, a sofa, a small dressing table, double wall lamps and a washbasin. Each bedroom has its own toilet facilities. The interiors of the premises of the emperor and the empress differed in style. In the same carriage a dressing room was arranged, and there were two compartments for the valet of the emperor and for the chamber-frau of the empress. To heat the car, a steam boiler was placed in it.
V ninth car housed the imperial salon and the king's study.
V tenth car there was an imperial dining room, it was divided into three sections: a dining room, a snack bar and a buffet. Only members of the royal family used these four out of 10 carriages of the train (bedchamber, dining room, nursery and grand ducal), distinguished by a special luxury of decoration.
The two trailing wagons are utility ones.
V eleventh car there was a kitchen, which also consisted of three sections: a kitchen, a buffet and a section for provisions.
V twelfth car the second class housed compartments for 4 cooks and 4 waiters, as well as 14 sleeping places for servants and 6 places for Cossack guards. In total, the carriage was designed for 32 berths with one shared toilet.
P.S. Later, another carriage was added, used as a church. Where can we go without her ...

By the way, too interesting fact... Lighting. Now for us it is all commonplace and simple. We do not even notice how the composition of the train is illuminated.
In those days, initially, in order to save space, it was supposed to illuminate the composition only with candles and do without electric lighting. Then the option of gas lighting was considered (which I can't think of), but after some hesitation, electric lighting was arranged on the train. Each compartment was equipped with 1-2 lamps in the Art Nouveau style.

Installed incandescent lamps for 8, 16 and 25 candles each at a voltage of 50 volts were powered by a dynamo and batteries; in case of damage to the car, there was a battery in the kitchen car, which provided lighting for the entire train for 3 hours. In total, there were 200 electric lamps on the train. In the daytime, besides the windows, light entered the carriages through the skylight windows.

They even made a connection. Incredibly, a telephone network was installed between all the cars. All carriages were equipped with Siemens and Halske telephones of their own system with a sink on a common telephone box screwed to the wall. Later, they were replaced by Erickson's phones with talk and ear shells on one portable tripod.

The Emperor's Bedchamber ...

The walls of His Majesty's office were trimmed with dark olive leather screed, and the ceiling was polished mahogany wood.

The bathroom was finished with a water-repellent mat. The bathtub itself was made in Paris from bimetal, its outer side was made of copper sheets, and the other, facing the inside of the bathtub, was made of silver. A shower was installed over the bathroom.

Her Majesty's apartment was arranged in almost the same way as His Majesty's office, with the only difference that instead of leather, a pale green English cretonne was used for the walls and furniture.

Canteen. Surprisingly "unpretentious".

This mustache ...

I look at all this, and I can't believe that it happened inside the train. If only for a day to be the emperor and ride.

Much more could be said. But the post is not a rubber one, and at least someone has read up to this point. Here is the kitchen. Traditionally a samovar. They cooked on wood, it is worth believing.

After the abdication of Nicholas II in March 1917, his trains were used by the ministers of the Provisional Government for six months. After the Bolsheviks came to power, the famous train of the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council L.D. Trotsky was formed from the imperial cars. He enjoyed the amenities of the Imperial Train, including a garage-car built in 1915 for the train of Nicholas II.

The fate of all the luxurious royal carriages turned out to be sad. Most of them were lost in the fire of the Civil War. The surviving carriages were lost in 1941, and today on the territory of Russia none of the original imperial trains have survived ...