Moscow cargo tram

The freight tram operated within the Moscow tram network from 1915 to 1972 .

The emergence of a freight tram was associated with the need to transport goods, mainly firewood and food, during the First World War . The first line of the freight tram was carried out in May 1915 from the Ryazan-Ural Railway Station (now the Paveletsky Railway Station ) to Delovy Dvor on the Barbarian Gate Square. Transportation began in June of the same year. The rate was set at 2 kopeks per pood one way. The property of the commissariat, flour and food from warehouses, bread from bakeries were transported to the shops. From the end of August the tram was used to transport firewood to warehouses from railway stations; open platforms were equipped for their loading from old wagons. Freight traffic was carried out only at night.

After the October Revolution, freight traffic took a particularly important place: during the autumn delivery of fuel and spring removal of snow and garbage, passenger traffic was interrupted. Freight traffic, unlike passenger traffic, was almost year-round with the two seasonal peaks described above. From 1916 to 1919, the production of freight cars per line increased from 51 to 167 units. In 1918 alone, 15 motor and 24 trailer cars were converted into freight. In 1919, about 17 km of new tracks were laid for freight traffic, in 1920 - 10 km. Since 1919, the Butyrsky cargo fleet has been organized.

Since the middle of 1921, the volume of traffic began to decrease due to the transition to road transport.

A new expansion of freight traffic took place in the 1930s , after the majority of freight trains previously assigned to different fleets were transferred to the freight fleet. At the end of 1931 there were 139 freight cars in the Moscow tram. The cars were used for the largest construction projects: the Metro and the Palace of Soviets , and later the VSHV . Specially constructed trains-trailers with a lifting capacity of 50 tons were used to transport metal trusses for the construction of the Crimean , Bolshoy Krasnokholmsky and Bolshoy Ustyinsky bridges. Lines were laid to the bakeries on Gross Street and Koroviev Shah, to the mill in Sokolniki, Gortopa’s warehouses, the Stankolit , Krasny Proletary plants, Ordzhonikidze , the Svoboda , Bolshevik and Krasny Oktyabr factories.

The flourishing of the freight tram came in the years of the Great Patriotic War , when almost all the trucks were mobilized to the front. Already in September 1941, tram lines to the Mosgortop bases and the South River port were urgently built. Passenger cars were again actively converted into freight. From October 1942, a cargo tram operated around the clock. At the end of the same year, the total length of purely cargo branches was 38 km. As of January 1, 1945, there were 112 motor and 109 trailed freight cars and special-purpose cars. Transportation reached 7,000 tons per day.

After the end of the war, transportation volumes began to decline sharply - in 1953 they began to be 7 times less than in 1945. For 1951, 9.3 km of cargo branches were dismantled. Some revival took place in 1954-1955, when it was decided to use freight trams in residential construction.

In 1960, the Butyrsky freight depot was liquidated. Since 1960, transportation from the tram began to transfer to the cargo trolley . In 1956, 127 freight cars were on the inventory, in 1960 - 67, in 1966 - 30, and in 1971 - only 7 cars. In 1972, the freight tram was officially liquidated - the last 7 wagons, which were already used only for their own needs, were transferred from freight trailers to service ones.

It is reported about the possible revival of the freight tram in Moscow in the long term. ^[one]