Kremenchug tram

Horse tram (1886–98)

In the 19th century, Kremenchug, due to its geographical location and the development of trade, was the largest industrial city in the Poltava province , with numerous factories and enterprises ^[1] . Kremenchug pier in terms of cargo turnover ranked second after Kiev among the ports of the Dnieper . Railway stations Kremenchug and Kryukov were the busiest in the province. In Left-Bank Ukraine, the city ​​ranked second after Kharkov in population, industry and trade ^[2] . The active development of the city necessitated the intracity transport system.

Around the year 1886, one of the first in the Russian empire a horse -horse was launched in Kremenchug - horse-drawn rail transport systems ^[3] . Konka was used to transport goods from the quarry to the station ^[4] . In 1887, for the first time, the question was raised about the construction of an intracity passenger system in Kremenchug ^[5] .

Eight years later, in 1895, the Kremenchug Duma decided to conclude a concession agreement on the construction of a horse-drawn public transport system in the city. The contract was concluded on November 22 with the collegiate adviser Viktor Mikhailovich Polyakov. According to the terms of the contract, the concessionaire intended to operate the tram lines for 45 years, followed by their free transfer to the city property. The city had the right to buy the system in 20 years. The total length of the tram tracks was to be 8 kilometers. According to the technical project, the creation of the following three lines was planned ^[5] :

• Ekaterininskaya Line (3.2 km): City Garden - Ekaterininskaya Street (Sobornaya) - Cathedral Square (Pobedy) - Dneprovsky Lane - Naberezhnaya Street (now at the site of the lane and Prydniprovsky Park Street) - Steamship Pier (near the modern River Station );
• Kiev-Kherson Line (3.2 km): Kharchevaya Street near the Kryukovsky Bridge (Shevchenko) - Malaya Nikolaevskaya Street (Ukrainian) - Kherson Street (Lieutenant Pokladova) - Merry Street (1905) - Kievskaya Street (Pobedy), before unification with the Catherine Line ;
• Aleksandrovskaya Line (2.3 km): Steamship Pier - Aleksandrovskaya Street (Pervomayskaya) - Fairground, near the station (Station Square, Halamenyuk Street).

The movement of horse trams was to begin within two years after the technical project was approved by the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Empire . The project was approved on June 18, 1896 ^[5] .

Launch of the electric tram (1899)

After the opening of the first electric tram systems in the cities of the Russian Empire (in Kiev and Nizhny Novgorod ), other cities that did not have their own funds for the organization of electric transport began to actively attract foreign companies for this, transferring tram service to them as a concession. The first such city was Yekaterinoslav (now the Dnieper), where the French joint-stock partnership was supposed to finance the construction of the tram system. In 1896, the partnership shares were bought out by the Belgian anonymous society. The total contribution of the Belgian companies in the purchase and construction of horse-drawn railways and trams in the Russian Empire for the period from 1881 to 1901 amounted to 57,143,800 francs ^[6] .

After Yekaterinoslav, the Belgian society received concessions in another six cities of the empire until 1900: Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi), Kursk , Orel , Vitebsk , Sevastopol , and also in Kremenchug ^[7] , where in June 1897 the city council allowed concessionaire Polyakovo to replace the equestrian traction on the electric. After deciding on the use of electric traction, a new technical project was developed. The new deadline for completion was September 1899. The technical project was approved by the Ministry of the Interior in December 1897 ^[5] .

In May 1898, Lev Isaakovich Weinstock (Weinstock) arrived in Kremenchug to set up the tram from Petersburg , authorized by Polyakova, representative of the Belgian society in Russia ^[5] . The new concession agreement was signed by the City Council on May 2, 1898. The agreement was concluded for 50 years and, in addition to the tram and power station, provided for the concessionaire to equip the city electric lighting. The city received the right to purchase the lighting system at a cost established by the experts. The concessionaire undertook to transfer 42 arc lamps with a force of 10 amps each gratis ^[8] .

In 1899, the city duma changed the planned tracing of the tram routes: the lines were extended to the power station at the foot of the Sandy Mountain, between Ekaterininskaya (now Sobornaya) streets and Troitsky Lane (now - Chkalova Street). The development of the line at Kryukov over the bridge was canceled. The Russian gauge was approved, and the carriage of goods by tram routes was also permitted ^[5] .

On February 2, 1899, the Kremenchug Trams Joint-Stock Company was registered in Belgium. The company's board was in Belgian Liege , the authorized capital was 3 million francs ^[6] . On November 29, 1899, the Imperial Decree (No. 74, published in the Assembly of Laws and Orders of the Government for the first half of 1900, published under the Governing Senate) authorized the activities of the Belgian anonymous joint-stock company Kremenchug Trams (Tramways de Krementschoug, société ané The society received the right to operate the “electric railways” in Kremenchug, as well as the design and operation of electric lighting in the city ^[9] . Weinstock officially handed over the rights to service the lines to the public. The direct construction of the lines was transferred to contractors - the Joint-Stock Partnership “Company of Traction and Electricians” (Compagnie de traction et d'elecité) in the person of Georges Chaudoir ^{[2] [5]} .

In the spring of 1899, the construction of an infrastructure for an electric tram began in Kremenchug . Beyond the city limits, at the foot of the Sand Mountain, a power station was built. Nearby were equipped workshops, director's house, office. A wooden bridge was built across the Krivaya Ore River ^[2] , poles for the contact network were installed, electrical equipment was brought. Motor and towable passenger cars were ordered, as well as three electric locomotives for freight traffic. In November, test traffic was carried out along all three lines. Regular traffic on the Ekaterininskaya line began on December 11, a day later the trams were launched along the Kiev-Kherson line, and a day later - along the Aleksandrovskaya line. The total length of the lines was 9.1 km ^[5] .

Thus, Kremenchug became the sixth city in the territory of modern Ukraine, in which the electric tram system was created (after Kiev , Yekaterinoslav , Yelisavetgrad , Sevastopol and Zhytomyr ). Interestingly, the Kremenchug tram was launched 8 years earlier than a similar system in metropolitan St. Petersburg . The launch of the tram made it possible to connect important urban objects with each other. In addition to the steamboat quay and the station, the tram covered the main educational institutions of the city ( Mariinsky Gymnasium , Aleksandrovskoe real school , Zemstvo vocational school and others), county post office , city ​​council , banks, theater , market square , the main cathedral of the city and other important city institutions . The appearance of a stop near the City Garden , which was located outside the city limits, made it possible to increase its previously low attendance. The paved tracks crossed the Zemstvo railway, which provided for the possibility of combining the railway and tram systems in the future (implemented in 1913) ^[5] .

The streetcar on the eve and during the First Russian Revolution (1900-1906)

In 1900, a note on the collision of the Kremenchug trams with explanations from the tram department was published in the newspaper " Poltava provincial Gazette ". From the note it follows that the conductors and wagon drivers received 80 kopecks. in a day. The maximum salary for the month did not exceed 20 rubles. On the line there were 14 trams, which served 20 brigades (each brigade consisted of one conductor and one wagon driver). 14 brigades were supposed to appear at the service in the power station by 7 am, the working day lasted until 11 pm. During the day, between 10 am and 6 pm, one lunch break was taken, without a clearly defined time. For the shift at lunchtime, 3 brigades were assigned, beginning service at 10 am. The working day, therefore, was 15-16 hours a day, of which 9-10 hours of continuous work. There were also 3 reserve brigades, which was supposed to provide wagon drivers and conductors up to 4 days off per month. Entered the service left a pledge of 50 rubles. From earnings, the cost for the form was deducted ^[10] .

A ticket for the tram cost 5 kopecks. The average salary of a qualified worker in the 1900s was 10–12 rubles (the average annual salary in the Poltava province was 160 rubles 86 kopeks ^[11] ), and ordinary workers received less. As a result, the tram as a means of transportation was not available to all ^[12] .

In December 1904, workers' strikes began in Kremenchug, which continued in February 1905 with a new force. The "laundry workers", candy factories, shoe factories were on strike. On February 7, the strike became general: “Handicraft workshops, factories, factories, trams , printing houses, cab drivers, mills, trade establishments do not work”. After the declaration of martial law in the city, the strike was stopped. In October 1905, protests were again held in the city as part of an all-Russian political strike . In 1906, in Kremenchug, a decision was made about a 9-hour working day ^[13] .

The development of new lines and freight (1906-1913)

According to the Central Statistics Committee of the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Empire, in 1904 there were 12 electric torches in Kremenchug (against 703 kerosene). The length of electric tram lines was 7.8 versts ^[14] (approximately 8.3 km). At the end of 1905, construction began on a new 2.1 km long suburban tram line. The line probably led to the Provincial Zemstvo Hospital . According to the memoirs of Valentina Timofeevna Fedko , Honored Doctor of the Ukrainian SSR , the tram, stopping at the hospital gate, solved the problem of its transport accessibility: the hospital was located in a desert area, where “cabmen, even for high fees, refused to go at night” ^[15] (the hospital was in place modern first city hospital named after Bogayevsky ). In the memoirs it is also mentioned that the line ran along the Gay Street, for which the pavement of the street was lined with stone ^[16] .

In 1906, the Kremenchug Tram Company transferred its concession rights to the Belgian Tram and Electricity Association ^[2] (Societe Generale de Tramways et d'Application de l'Électricité). The Italian Cesidio del Proposto (Cesidio del Proposto) ^[17] became a representative of the society that united the trams of Kremenchug, Sevastopol, Nikolaev , Yaroslavl and Ekaterinodar (Krasnodar).

In the spring of 1907, the tram in Kremenchug temporarily did not go due to severe flooding, from which the city located on the Dnieper River often suffered. Water was flooded "all the bulk of the city" ^[18] . The generator in the power plant was damaged. The office subsequently replaced it with a more modern one, which expanded the possibilities of tram transportation ^[19] .

By the end of 1907, the cumulative network length was 10.6 km. The interval of passenger traffic on intracity lines was 10 minutes, on a suburban line - 20 minutes. The tram infrastructure was actively used for cargo transportation: it is known that on the Aleksandrovskaya line, connecting the station with the pier, subsided rails because of the daily traffic along forest paths ^[5] . In 1909, freight traffic began on the tram tracks between the flour mill and the city’s quarry. Transportations were carried out by tram freight electric locomotives and platforms, and also railway cars ^[5] . The flour-grinding enterprise (the merchant of the German merchant's mill) was located on Gay Street, along which the routes of the third passenger route passed. The city quarry (or quarry) was located near the Provincial Zemstvo Hospital, where the passenger line also led. Freight traffic was carried out on the tracks at night. According to the agreement concluded in the same year between the Duma and the Belgian society, in 1910-1912 it was planned to build a new freight line away from the main streets of the city, along the Dnieper. A passenger line to Kryukov was also planned across the bridge and the line from Sandy Mountain across the Fairground to Novo-Aleksandrovskaya Street (Leonova Street). In addition, the Belgian Society undertook to build a protective dam along the new coastal cargo line by October 31, 1916 to avoid flooding ^{[2] [5]} . Operation of the line itself began in 1910 ^[2] .

The profitability of the Belgian tram enterprises grew. In 1909, the following lines were published in Bourse de Bruxelles: “It is in our enterprises in Russia that we find a completely exceptional vitality. Russian trams give the highest increment in revenue. ” For 1909, the increase in revenue in Kremenchug ranged from 6 to 9 percent ^[20] . Proceeds for the operational year from April 1, 1909 to April 1, 1910 amounted to 14.9 thousand rubles for passenger transportation and 2.1 thousand rubles for cargo transportation ^[5] .

In 1910, elections were held for the head of the city. Izyumov Andrey Yakovlevich , during which the tram was launched in the city, was not elected for the next term. The following excerpt from the collection of voters of the Society of Homeowners of Kremenchug and Kryukov Posad, dated January 7, 1910, relates to the current authorities: “They forgot to satisfy the urgent needs of the citizens and at the same time vigorously planted those farms that cannot be considered essential : tram and electric lighting. Carried away by the ostentatious side of the municipal economy, the Old Believers likened our city to those ladies who rustle with silks and shine with clothes, but wear ragged and dirty linen. No, down with such figures. We need people who would give the poor bread and create a comfortable existence, and not a tram, which deprived many of their last means of livelihood ” ^[21] . The new main city was Gusev Pavel Grigorevich .

In January 1913, the issue of “free travel in tram cars to county police officers” was considered, but the proposal was rejected by the tram ^[22] . In February, in preparation for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Romanovs' house, the tram management, upon request, connected to the network of elements of electric holiday lighting of stores and other establishments ^[23] . Electricity and transport infrastructure developed: in March, the administration made a motion to lay pipes for the descent into the river Krivaya Ore for waste water of two new diesel engines ^[24] . Due to the replacement of the “steam engine of parallel steam engines with new generators” over the next three months, the power plant should have been able to “transfer the load 3 times more than the largest load since the station existed” ^[25] . In the spring, work was planned on replacing rail junctions to eliminate the shortcomings of the tracks and to ensure the safety of underground metal structures (see Wandering currents ). Relevant tests were conducted a year earlier ^[26] .

In April 1913, the city government prepared a draft agreement with the Belgian society on the organization of communication of industrial and commercial organizations of the city with railway lines. Freight turnover inside the city was to be carried out along the line passing along the dam, as well as along the passenger tram tracks. To cover the cost of re-equipping the railways, a few years before, a tax was imposed on goods transported by rail, 50 kopecks per car. In the draft agreement it was stated that “for the right to produce freight traffic on the terms of this Agreement, the Company is obliged to contribute to the city government for the benefit of the city for each run along one or more tram lines of each loaded railway car and platform from the point of departure to the point of arrival, and the mileage of one car is considered the distance from the point of departure to the point of stopping for the first unloading, a fee of 50 k. for 750 poods. transported cargo. This fee is obliged to raise by Oh every 10 years by 10 blocks from a 750-pound wagon. ” Transportation of goods by tram lines was to be carried out by the company by railcars and platforms supplied from the Kremenchug railway station ^[27] .

The tram before and during World War I (1913–1916)

As of 1913, the Belgian society was one of the largest employers in the city: the number of workers at the power plant and trams was 135 (for comparison, the Gebhold iron and foundry plant and the Ander Mechanical Plant numbered up to 80-100 people) ^[28] . By May 1, 1913, the city committee of the RSDLP issued a leaflet that spoke of the inevitability of the new revolution and which called on the workers for unity and solidarity. In response to the call of the Bolsheviks, 65 employees of the tram depot held a strike ^[11] .

A few days later, on May 8, the day of the air fleet of the Russian Empire was celebrated in the city. Citizens actively participated in raising funds for fleet reinforcement. During the day, the workers assembled “briskly” in tram cars and other crowded places. Contributors received a token: "for many, their breasts were decorated with a huge number of tokens - a living testimony of sympathy to the patriotic cause." An orchestra played on the balcony of the city government building , orchestras also traveled in trams ^[29] . In addition to celebrations, the tram also participated in the daily cultural life of the city until midnight, carrying visitors to evening performances at the Catherine Theater ^[30] .

In the fall of 1913, news began to appear in the newspaper reports indicating the decline of the tram system. So, in September, the newspaper wrote that “the tram began to play up a lot again,” which was expressed in long, up to an hour, delays in traffic on the lines. On the Kiev-Kherson line, the set of cars was reduced, as a result of which the waiting time increased ^[31] . In November, new tariffs were introduced: travel on one line began to cost 4 rubles, on two - 5, on three - 7 rubles, for students - 2, 3 and 4 rubles, respectively ^[32] . In winter, the issue of the quality of tram services as well as city lighting was raised again: the city government proposed to take measures to eliminate “extremely poor lighting in tram cars, houses and streets in the area of ​​Gay and Banniy Lane”, as well as to accelerate the movement of cars that became move “too slowly” ^[33] . The tram appeared in the reports of road accidents: “on the embankment at the end of the Ekaterininskaya line, another carriage, which was transferred to this line from Aleksandrovskaya, ran into the one behind the food barracks on the curvature of the tram.” As a result of the collision, wagon drivers and conductors were injured and wagon platforms were damaged ^[34] .

However, new works were also carried out: in the fall, the tram management completed the free drainage of the Novosyolovka bogs, as an alternative to a fine imposed by the Duma ^[35] . In the same year, an electric cable was transferred to the tram management to carry out the lighting from Kremenchug to Kryukov Posad across the bridge ^[36] . Cable laying works, carried out under the supervision of engineer Bobrov, as well as the installation and connection of 11 street lamps, ended on February 12, 1914 ^[2] .

In 1914, Andrei Yakovlevich Izyumov was re-elected city head. In the same year, the country entered the First World War . With the occupation by the Germans of Belgium , communication with the headquarters of the Belgian tram society was lost ^[17] . In January 1915, the newspaper Pridneprovskiy Voices reported on the increase in tariffs for travel on tram lines. The tram management was supposed to hand over an additional amount of money collected to the city government cash department every week. The increase in fees was intended for a fund to help families who went to war, as well as to wounded and sick soldiers ^[37] (the increase occurred in many cities of the Russian Empire and was called the “tram penny”). The soldiers received the right of preferential travel. In mid-1915, problems with coal supplies began in the cities of the Russian Empire. In 1916, fuel prices rose sharply. This factor, as well as the inflation that intensified during the war, again forced the tram fare for 1 kopeck to be raised in January — February 1916 ^[38] .

Because of the war, the launch of a new line on the Sandy Mountain, as well as the construction of water protection structures along the Dnieper, was postponed. The City Council postponed the fulfillment of the obligations of the tram company from October 31, 1916 to January 1, 1919. As compensation, the partnership undertook to install 50 new lamps on the streets, which was also not fulfilled ^[2] . In 1915, the Lilpop, Rau and Levenshteyn factory was evacuated from Warsaw to Kremenchug. The plant, located on Sand Mountain, has established the production of ammunition necessary in wartime. The new tram line probably began to be used for transport support of the plant and artillery depots: it is known that in 1916 the plant, at the request of the city duma, provided fuel, lime and repair materials for the tram fleet ^[39] .

Revolution, civil war, tram closing (1917–1921)

In 1917, the length of the tram tracks was about 11.7 kilometers. During the year, an average of 2.8 million passengers were transported. Approved by the Duma new rates were 8 kopecks. for travel on one line, 12 - on two, 15 - on three. Soldiers and students paid 4, 6 and 7 kopecks, respectively. ^[40]

In 1917, the tram partnership set about arranging water protection structures along the Dnieper, 8 years after taking on the corresponding obligations. The total length of the constructed section of the dam was 200 meters ^[2] . In the spring, Kremenchug again suffered from a serious flood: the entire city, except for the Sandy Mountain, was flooded with water ^[41] .

In June, Kremenchug was seized by strikes : “Printers, workers in the city ​​tram , factory workers, all fringe factories” were on strike ^[42] . The city continued to experience problems with the supply of coal. In September, at a meeting of the Duma, the question of raising the cost of electricity and tariffs for travel was again considered. Belgian society motivated the need to increase the rising cost of labor, shortage of coal, as well as inflation. By that moment, the tram traffic in the city was stopped at least on the streets of Kherson, Merry and Alexandrov. Avksentiy Bogayevsky , a Kremenchug surgeon and public figure, proposed to solve the problem of lack of fuel by using the power of the Dnieper flow between the spans of the bridge. However, the Duma considered only a tariff increase or a stop of a tramway as possible solutions. Stopping the tram in the absence of other types of public transport would lead to problems in the delivery of pupils to educational institutions, as well as to the disruption of transport to the hospital. As a result, it was decided to raise tariffs: traveling along one line began to cost 15 kopecks, two - 20 kopecks, three - 25 kopecks. For soldiers and students, the cost was 4, 6 and 8 kopecks. respectively ^[40] .

In the course of subsequent revolutionary events, Izyumov was removed from his post as mayor. During the years of the Civil War in the conditions of constant change of power and lack of electricity, the tram practically ceased to exist ^[43] . At the beginning of 1920, only one 400 horsepower engine operated at the power plant. In the spring, a steam turbine with a capacity of 3,000 horsepower was put into operation after repair, which made it possible to resume the interrupted supply of electricity to houses ^[2] . The tram for the year carried only 20 thousand passengers ^[38] .

In 1921, the tram worked only 2 months, after which passenger traffic was finally closed. In 1922, the power plant operated at 75% capacity. The tram tracks continued to be used for freight for a while: in 1922 the tram operated for 3 months, then the traffic stopped ^[5] .

Further fate (after 1922)

By 1921, the tram service was stopped in most cities of the former Russian Empire ( Pskov , Vladikavkaz , Simferopol, Evpatoria , Sevastopol, and others). Kremenchug was in economic decline. The need for passenger traffic fell, the city was not able to support the tram economy ^[44] . Some sources mention that the tram infrastructure of the city was dismantled and sold to Saratov ^[12] , where at that moment one of the destroyed lines was starting to recover after a long idle time.

After the end of the civil war and the establishment of Soviet power, during the period of the NEP , the city began to actively revive. In the cities of the Soviet Union , the restoration of the tram infrastructure and the launch of new lines began everywhere. In 1924, the question of the revival of the tram movement in Kremenchug was considered ^[2] . A representative from the Andre Marti plant (now the Black Sea Shipbuilding Plant ) came to the city from Nikolaev to discuss possible orders for tram spare parts ^[45] . However, the restoration of infrastructure, at a relatively low cost for repairing rolling stock, was too costly ^[2] . By 1927, after the launch of the lines in Tula and Stalino (now Donetsk), Kremenchug became the only city of the USSR in which the pre-war tram was not restored ^[46] . Instead, in 1927, it was decided to launch a passenger bus service in the city ^[47] , which received active development in the country at that time. In the same year, 11 more unused Kremenchug trams were sold to Yaroslavl ^{[5] [48]} , in which at that moment the tram system was experiencing a revival and where previously cars similar to Kremenchug were used. With the proceeds for Kremenchug 4 French buses were purchased ^[2] .

In 1940, the Soviet authorities once again raised the issue of the restoration of the tramway in Kremenchug, but these plans were not implemented due to the Second World War ^[5] . After the war, in 1966, the city trolleybus communication was opened. Some of the routes (№ 1, 2) partially duplicate the existing routes of trams.

From February 1900, representatives of the Kremenchug Tram were in the newly-formed Kremenchug branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Community , created for the exchange of technical knowledge among experts of Kremenchug and other cities of the Russian Empire. Joseph Vladimirovich Shirman, a process engineer, the first manager of the Kremenchug tram, served as the treasurer of the society. The society also consisted of Lev Abramovich Krol, a recent graduate of Kharkov Technical University , a process engineer, Shirman's assistant ^[49] .

Representatives of the trams actively participated in the life of the electrical engineering community, giving presentations at local and intercity events. In 1900, Shirman spoke at a meeting of the technical society in Kremenchug with a report "On the transformation of heat into work, the various methods developed by mankind in historical order, ending with those proposed today." Vladimir L. Veinshtok spoke with the report “On the Kremenchug Electric Railway and Electric Lighting” ^[49] , and also presented the Kremenchug trams at the First All-Russian Electrotechnical Congress in St. Petersburg in 1900 ^[50] .

Engineer Iosif Mikhailovich Soltykevich from the Sevastopol Tram Society, who for some time served as manager of the Kremenchug tram ^{[51] [52]} , made a proposal in 1903 to amend the rules of the Main Chamber of Measures and Weights in terms of checking electric meters: “... invite the person officially authorized to attend the check-in counter and sign the check-out act. Without such official confirmation of the correctness of misunderstanding misunderstanding can not always be settled " ^[52] .

By 1906, Pyotr Kirillovich Peshekerov ^[53] , who previously managed the rolling stock service of the Moscow city railways ^[54], became the new manager of the Kremenchug tram. Peshekerov participated in the Fourth All-Russian Electrotechnical Congress in Kiev, where he covered the issue of arranging Kremenchuk summer tramcars, as well as the dependence of electric power consumption on wagon stops and on weather conditions ^[55] . In 1910, Peshekerov was replaced by his former assistant, Wilhelm Wilhelm Penner, as a tram manager. The assistant manager was Yuli Vikentyevich Manchifort ^[56] . Already in 1911, Penner was replaced by Achelis Franciskovich Tibilleti, who served in this position at least until 1916. The posts of his assistants were consistently occupied by Sariban ^[57] , Winkelbon ^[58] , Bobrov ^[59] and Egert ^[60] . Peter Peshekerov after Kremenchug continued his activities in the field of urban electric transport in Kharkov and Moscow, in 1924 began to publish works on urban transport ^[61] , and from 1934 served as chairman of VNITOGET ^[62] (All-Union Scientific Engineering and Technical Society of Urban Electric Transport ).

In 1912, the son of the mayor, Boris Andreyevich Izyumov, while studying at the Electrotechnical Institute in St. Petersburg, chose the theme “A tram in the city of Kremenchug” ^[63] for his thesis.

By the opening of the Kremenchug system in 1899, 18 motor and 3 trailer cars were ordered ^[5] . The news of the purchase of 18 electric cars by the company Walker (Walker Manufacturing Company), located in the US city of St. Louis , was published in the journal "The Street railway journal journal" ^[64] . In 1900, 14 trams operated on the line ^[10] . In 1901, the tram control had 15 motor cars and one trailer ^[5] . In 1907, the tram fleet consisted of 16 motor cars with open areas on a two-axle bogie with a width of 1,524 mm ( Russian gauge ), while trailed cars were absent ^[65] . The carriages had 28 seats in the main part and 6 seats on the rear platform, the carriage of passengers on the front platform was prohibited ^[5] . In addition to winter cars, the summer (open) configuration was also used, since winter and summer operating conditions differed greatly ^[55] . Summer body replaced the winter while maintaining the same carts and electrical equipment. The construction of summer bodies cost 700 rubles per unit ^[65] . With the introduction of summer open cars with cross seats, revenue doubled from each car, compared with closed cars. The cost of electricity per wagon was 800 watts ^[55] . The approximate dimensions of the carrying surface of the floor of the tram was 15.9 square meters. Based on a square meter the price of the car was 378 rubles ^[55] .

Power plant in 1903 was 4450 horsepower ^[43] . In 1913, measures were taken to increase capacity ^[25] . A single-phase alternating current with a frequency of 50 Hz, with a primary voltage of 2000 volts , and a secondary voltage of 115 volts was used for illumination. The number of consumers in 1903 was 67 (versus 5525 in 1922 ^[2] ). For the tram used a constant current of 500 volts. The number of direct current consumers in 1903 was 3. 46 electricity meters were installed: for direct current, counters of the Thomson system were used, for alternating current, counters of the Hummel system were used by Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft, a Berlin company ^[52] .

Since 1899, the Kremenchug tram served three urban passenger routes. In 1905, one country passenger route appeared, probably leading to the Provincial Zemstvo Hospital. In 1910 a cargo route appeared along the Dnieper. The planned passenger line to the Sandy Mountain was probably also used after 1914 for freight traffic. It is not known at what stage the construction of a branch across the bridge to Kryukov ^[5] stopped.

Below are three urban passenger routes.

Catherine Line (Route No. 1, Steamship Steamship - Power Plant)

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  Tram number 1 and 2 stop at the City Garden

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  Ways tram number 1 on Ekaterininskaya street

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  Ways tram number 1 on Ekaterininskaya street

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  Tram number 3 and the tram number 1 at the Postal Square

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  Trams number 1 and 3 at the Assumption Cathedral

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  Tram line number 1 on Maltsevskaya street

Tram number 1 had the following route:

• Power Plant (Depot)
• City Garden , Trinity Church
• Catherine Street (now Cathedral), crossing the streets:
  • Sennaya (now Halamenyuka)
  • Kharchevaya (renamed to Alekseevskaya in 1904, now Shevchenko)
  • Kherson (now Pokladova), near the City Council (in the place of the building House of Trade )
  • Kiev (now Victory)
• Cathedral Square (now Victory):
• past the Assumption Cathedral (now does not exist)
• through Postal Square (partially preserved), past the county post office (not preserved)
• past the Zemsky College (not preserved)
• Maltsevskaya Street (now at the site of Pridneprovsky Park Street)
• Steamship pier (near the modern River Station ).

The shipping pier had a reversal ring. Since the route consisted of one track, at least three partitions were installed for oncoming trams:

• near the City Garden, near the Trinity Church
• at Petrovskaya street (now Serdyuk)
• on Ekaterininskaya Street (now Cathedral).

Aleksandrovskaya Line (Route 2, Steamship Pier - Power Plant)

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  Tram number 2 on Aleksandrovskaya Street

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  Departure of tram number 2 at the Piazza Square

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  Ways of tram №2 along the Piazza Square

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  Tram at the marina (the final tram number 1 and 2)

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  Steamship Pier - the final tram number 1 and 2

Tram number 2 had the following route:

• Power Plant (Depot)
• City Garden
• Ekaterininskaya Street (now Cathedral)
• (First) Fair Square, Sennaya Street (now Halamenyuka)
• Aleksandrovskaya Street (now Pervomayskaya):
  • intersection with Kherson street (now Pokladova)
  • intersection with Kievskaya street (now Victory)
• Steamship pier (near the modern River Station ).

The route partially repeated route No. 1. In addition to the turning circle near the steamboat pier and two crossings that coincided with the first route, the second route had another crossing:

• near the City Garden, near the Trinity Church (coincides with route number 1)
• at Petrovskaya street (now Serdyuk street, coincides with route number 1)
• near the Alexander Bazaar Square (now the Central Market).

Kiev-Kherson Line (Route 3, Cathedral Square - Ukrainskaya Street)

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  Ways tram number 3 near the bank

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  Tram number 3 and the path of tram number 1 near the bank

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  Tram number 3 at the Mariinsky Women's High School

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  Tram number 3 near the City Council

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  Ways of tram number 3 (Kherson street)

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  Ways of tram number 3 (Kherson street)

Tram number 3 had the following route:

• Cathedral Square (now Victory Square), Assumption Cathedral (now does not exist).
• Kievskaya street (now Victory):
  • past the State Bank
  • past the Mariinsky women's gymnasium
• Merry Street (now 1905 Street), past steam mills
• Khersonskaya street (now Pokladova):
  • intersection with Ekaterininskaya Street (near the City Duma)
  • intersection with Aleksandrovskaya street
• Ukrainian street.

The trams made a U-turn at the Cathedral Square near the Assumption Cathedral. In the quarter between the street Elinskaya (now Mazepa) and the street Soldatskaya (now Borishchak), a passing of oncoming directions was organized ^[43] .

One of the buildings of the tram management in Kremenchug has survived to the present day (Liberty Avenue 8A, the former Avenue 60 years of October). The building is owned by Poltavaoblenergo OJSC.

The museum of urban electric transport in Yaroslavl exhibited miniature models of the summer and winter versions of the Walker trams, created by the fitter of the Yaroslavl Tram Depot No. 3 in 1974.

• The list of tram rolling stock of Kremenchuk on the site transphoto.ru
• Video report “Our Misto. 120 rokiv kremenchutskogo tram " (Ukr., Rus.)
• Kremenchug power station inside (2016)
• Route map of the Kremenchug tram