Kronstadt fortress railway

Railroad tracks on the island appeared in the 1840s. The plots were built by various parts of the Naval and Military Ministries, without a general plan, and therefore received a feature: in the port, in the factory, in the warehouses, between the forts there were different gauges from 600 mm to 1250 mm. Not in all areas even by 1917 there was a locomotive traction: horses (konka) and hand trolleys continued to be used.

In the Soviet period, attempts were made to alter to standards: 750 mm for a narrow gauge and 1524 mm for a wide gauge. During the period of maximum development, the railway network on the island reached 46 versts ^[1] .

Initially, the railway track was narrow, the trolleys moved manually. Since 1891, a narrow-gauge port railway with a length of 26 versts operated on the territory of the city. The fortress road had a length of 16.5 versts. There were four stations on it, four steam locomotives walked. By 1917, there were 11 stations on both roads ^[2] .

As it was established by documents, the road sapper company (as well as the non-combat company of the brigade of the Kronstadt fortress artillery) serviced the road (military ministry), the port network (of the navy ministry) was serviced by sailors of the Kronstadt naval semi-crew and civilian crewmen by 1914 (were state of the Kronstadt Naval Plant), and not a special part of the railway troops:

In the area of ​​the Kronstadt fortress there is a fortress, with a length of 46 versts on the island of Kotlin and on both banks, a railway; but for the operation of this road, produced not only in summer, but, in abbreviated form, and in winter, there is no special railway station parts, and all maintenance and repair is carried out by a serf sapper company of ordinary personnel, who are forced to undergo not only the entire established course of classes, but also to fulfill other orders of a craftsman character.

- The report of the commission, chaired by the Infantry General A.K. Vodar, on the uprisings in Kronstadt on October 26-27, 1905 and July 19-20, 1906. From the book Military uprisings in the Baltic in 1905-06. "Center Archive, Party Publishing House, 1933, p. 98

Maintenance of the railway (Ministry of War) and rolling stock was entrusted to servicemen of the sapper company in addition to the main responsibilities. Overfatigue, extreme workloads and dissatisfaction with the conditions of service were often the cause of unrest in the Kronstadt garrison, including the fortress railway.

By mobilization, by August 1914, the Separate Kronstadt Railway Battalion was formed, consisting of two companies, of which the first company was intended to serve the railway tracks of Kotlin Island, and the second - the coastal forts of the Kronstadt Fortress - Krasnaya Gorka (with the Gray Horse battery), and Ino . Later, as the leading position of coastal batteries on the islands of the Gulf of Finland (Seskar, Powerful, etc.) was formed, the battalion was also given the responsibility of servicing the narrow gauge tracks of these islands. The battalion lasted at least until 1925, when the Kronstadt Fortress was transferred to the RKKF.

By 1941, the Red Banner Baltic Fleet of the RKKF had several separate railway battalions, of which at least two served the fortifications of the Kronstadt fortress (including Fort Krasnaya Gorka).

Speaking about the future history of the road, it will be important to recall that during the Great Patriotic War the armored train No. 9 of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet was formed, which for some time was based on the site of the current residential district “16 quarter” (station “Gorod”). According to the memoirs of I. Saksin, a former radio operator of an armored train ^[3] :

On the difficult days of September 1941, the Fleet command decided to build an armored train in Kronstadt, which would play the role of a mobile anti-aircraft battery on the one hand, and would strengthen artillery means on the other hand with a possible landing of an enemy from the sea or from the air. Seven railway platforms, four freight wagons, and a steam locomotive (with the driver Petrenko) were requisitioned from the city railway. Three half-towed 76-mm guns were installed on three platforms, previously removed from the destroyer "Stereguschiy" that had sunk in the Eastern Raid. To control anti-aircraft fire installed a special device.

Workers at the Marine Plant riveted an armored platform in record time, which housed the main command post, a radio station, a 3-meter range finder (also shot from the "Stereguschey"), a four-sided anti-aircraft machine gun, a DShK machine gun and two fast-firing machine guns. In order not to become a victim of a sudden raid by fascist aviation, weapons were installed on the tracks of the Gorod station, and its armored train left for the assembly and final fastening in the northwestern part of the island. Freight wagons were prepared for housing by personnel, insulated on the outside, and finished with plywood inside. For lighting, ship lights were used. Separate carriages housed a galley and a dining room, a sanitary unit and a shower room. We called our armored train lovingly - “Kronstadtets”.

- "Kronstadt. War. Blockade" St. Petersburg, 2005 - p. 40 -41

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the batteries of the Kronstadt fortress were disarmed, the warehouses were liquidated, which predetermined the subsequent liquidation of the railway.

At the moment, there are almost no traces of the existence of the railway network on the island. In the late 1980s. it was finally taken apart. However, according to local guides, the remains of rails and embankments have been preserved on some forts and deaf parts of the island. In particular, as of 2008, some routes and even one platform were preserved at Peter the Great Fort ^[4] . According to unverified data, in 2010, the tracks on the territory of Fort Peter I are in satisfactory condition. The fort has a local section of a wide gauge of 1520 mm with a KDE-163 crane installed on it, which is now not functioning.

The embankment from the Shants Fort to the Reef Fort was also preserved. Currently, it is very overgrown and swampy in places. Traces of sleepers and rails have been preserved on the western tip of the island, next to the enclosed territory of Rif Fort.

In the city (in the courtyard of one of the houses on Zosimov St.) a building belonging to the railway was preserved. Apparently, it was a workshop building or a forge. Nearby is also the former passenger building of the Gorod station. Now it is located on the territory of the Kronstadt Naval Cadet Corps.

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  Garages next to the Kronverksky Canal. At this place was the track development of the Gorod station.

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  The preserved workshop building (depot?) In the area of ​​the former Gorod station.

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  The preserved workshop building in the area of ​​the former Gorod station.

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  A fragment of the workshop building (depot?) Near the former Gorod station.

At the intersection of the Kronstadt Highway and the Citadel Road, in the district of the 16th quarter, the depot building, which belonged to the narrow-gauge railway of the Kronstadt arsenal, was preserved. There, under a layer of asphalt laid in the autumn of 2010, narrow-gauge rails leading to the gate “rest”.

Kronstadt fortress is a unique monument of fortification, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List . In Russia, Kronstadt is associated with the country's maritime glory, and the significance of the engineering structures of the fortress usually eludes the attention of specialists, citizens and tourists visiting Kronstadt. Currently, only the old-timers remember the railway existing on the island. In 2005, the newspaper Kronstadt Bulletin raised the question of preserving the memory of the railway and put forward the idea of ​​creating a small monument ^[2] . In November 2017, a division of 100 meters in the area of ​​mortar batteries was being restored by a military railway unit. In the future, the TM-180 gun will be installed. In 2019, the preserved buildings are recognized as an object of cultural heritage of regional importance ( KGIOP Order of May 31, 2019 No. 270-p) ^[5] .

• Forum about the Kronstadt fortress railway. [one]
• Modern and historical photographs of the railway on the island of Kotlin. Kronstadt (neopr.) . Archived July 19, 2012.
• "Railway in Kronstadt" project student 3 classes. [2]