The broad gauge Murom Railway (russian: Муромская железная дорога, or Muromskaya zheleznaya doroga) is a subdivision of the state-owned

Gorky Railway The Gorky Railway (Горьковская железная дорога) is a subsidiary of the Russian Railways headquartered in Nizhny Novgorod (formerly known as Gorky, hence the name). The railway network serves nine federal subjects of the R ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It was built between the towns of

Kovrov Kovrov (russian: Ковро́в) is a city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Klyazma River, a tributary of the Oka. Kovrov's population as of the 2021 Census was 132,417, down from 145,214 recorded in the 2010 Censu ...

and

Murom Murom ( rus, Муром, p=ˈmurəm; Old Norse: ''Moramar'') is a historical city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which sprawls along the left bank of the Oka River. Population: History In the 9th century AD, the city marked the easternmost settle ...

in 1874-1880. L steam loco 4

Overview

The Murom Railway, 107 km, was opened officially on January 1, 1880, and operated from the beginning by the Nizhnyi Novgorod Railway with 13 locomotives, of which eight (class V) were built at state owned Votkin Works in 1877 - 1878, located at

Votkinsk Votkinsk (russian: Во́ткинск; udm, Вотка, ''Votka'') is an industrial town in the Udmurt Republic, Russia. Population: History It was established in April 1759, initially as a center for metallurgical enterprises, and the economic ...

. The five class B locomotives were built by Schwartzkopff Werke (formerly L.Schwartzkopff) in Berlin, Germany in 1878. The ten kilometre extension was built in 1885, when the line was taken over by the state. The Murom Railway connected Nizhnyi Novgorod railway with private Moscow - Kazan Railway making both Murom and Kovrov, important

railway junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge), provided by ''points'' ( ...

s. After its construction, up to 80% of goods from Kovrov were bound for the

Nizhny Novgorod Fair Nizhny Novgorod Fair (''old name — Makaryev Fair'') (russian: Нижегородская ярмарка) was a fair in Nizhny Novgorod held annually every July near Makaryev Monastery on the left bank of the Volga River from the mid-16th century ...

through the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod Railway. The Murom Railway was merged into the Moscow - Kursk and Nizhnyi Novgorod Railway complex in 1893.

Traffic

The Murom Railway favored trade growth and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

's bread supply and provided metal and forest for

Central Russia Central Russia is, broadly, the various areas in European Russia. Historically, the area of Central Russia varied based on the purpose for which it is being used. It may, for example, refer to European Russia (except the North Caucasus and ...

. In the early 20th century, Murom received

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manu ...

, and

manufactured goods Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a rang ...

Rolling stock

The

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...

of the Murom Railway included thirteen

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s (eight of them from the Votkin Factory, the other five from a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

company named ''Schwartzkopff'') and 300

cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, people in ...

. Rolling stock maintenance and repairs were done at railway repair shops at the Murom

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

. Also, they built a three small locomotive

depot Depot ( or ) may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Island, Kemp Land, Antarctica * Depot Island, Victoria Land, Antarctica * Depot Island Formation, Greenland Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in ...

s and car sheds in Kovrov, Selivanovo, and Murom.

Track replacement

In 1872-1882, the Murom Railway was owned by a joint stock company. In 1888, they began a complete replacement of

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

rails with the Russian-made

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

rails made in nearby located Kulebak Iron Works.

Merger and nationalization

In 1895, the Murom Railway was merged with the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow-Kursk Railways. In May 1918, all of the Russian railways were

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

and transferred under the authority of the

People's Commissariat A People's Commissariat (russian: народный комиссариат; Narkomat) was a structure in the Soviet state (in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in other union and autonomous republics, in the Soviet Union) from 1917– ...

for Communications (Народный Комиссариат Путей Сообщения).

References

Russian Railways Official Site
{{coord, 56.0000, N, 41.6000, E, source:wikidata, display=title Railway lines in Russia Rail transport in Vladimir Oblast Railway lines opened in 1880