At the end of the century before last, an electric tram was launched in St. Petersburg, but it did not travel on ordinary land, but on ice on which rails were installed. Thus, the organizers of the route managed to bypass the monopolists who owned horse trams in the city, because formally these companies owned transportation on the city land, and "ice trams" carried passengers along the Neva. Now it is hard to imagine, but the winters in the city were so long and harsh that this type of transport was in great demand.
The rails were laid right on the surface of the frozen river.
Four popular destinations
At first, the cars were small and moved in a natural way along an inclined route from one bank of the Neva to another, and this method of transporting passengers was called "rail roll". But soon it was replaced by a real tram, powered by electricity.
Transportation was carried out by the "Partnership for the operation of electricity MM Podobedova and Co. " Preparations for the launch of a "seasonal" type of transport cost 28 thousand rubles. Three tram lines were laid on the river ice: one connected Vasilievsky Island with Senatskaya Square, the second ran from Dvortsovaya Embankment to Mytninskaya, and the third connected Suvorovskaya Square with the Vyborgskaya side. The very last was the fourth tram line, which connected Suvorovskaya Square and the Petersburg side.
Promotional video:
The traffic opened on January 20, and ice trams stopped working on March 21. It is interesting that in the warm season, when the ice was melting, the ferry went in the same directions.
How the tram worked
The wooden poles on which the contact network was attached were frozen directly into the ice. The tram cars were powered by this network and moved at speeds up to 20 kilometers per hour - higher than the sleigh could develop. So the new mode of transport clearly outperformed the “outdated” modes of transportation.
The pillars were frozen right into the ice.
For the transportation of passengers, carriages from an ordinary horse tram were used, each of which could accommodate two dozen people. The single-track track provided for the possibility of siding.
Horse tram in St. Petersburg.
This type of transport was convenient and fast, and it only cost three kopecks to travel, so the ice tram was incredibly popular. During the season, he could carry about a thousand passengers.
Tram station.
It is interesting that for all the time of its work, not a single car of the ice tram has fallen under the ice, but wire breaks have happened.
The fare is three kopecks. Cheap and cheerful.
The design of a full-fledged tram system in St. Petersburg began after 1902, when the contract of the horse-drawn railways society with the city ended. However, the ice tram ran along the frozen river for another eight years, so for a long time it worked in parallel with its more modern cousin, the conventional tram.
Trams ran along the river until 1910 inclusive.
In the winter season of 1909-1910, the ice tram lines in St. Petersburg received passengers for the last time.
Author: Anna Belova