The Russian Railway Museum is situated next to

Baltiysky railway station St. Petersburg-Baltiysky (russian: Балти́йский вокза́л) is a railway station in St. Petersburg, one of the busiest railway stations in Russia by volume of suburban traffic. The station was modelled by architect Alexander Kra ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. The museum was established in 1978, its current site and exhibition opened to public on 1 November 2017. The museum utilizes the nineteenth century locomotive shed of the Peterhof Railway built in 1857–1858, however a large second exhibition building and open exhibition areas have been added. This Russian Railway Museum maintained by the

Russian Railways Russian Railways (russian: link=no, ОАО «Российские железные дороги» (ОАО «РЖД»), OAO Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (OAO RZhD)) is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both manag ...

is not to be confused with th
Central Rail Transport Museum
owned by th
Federal Agency for the Rail Transport
and located on Sadovaya str.

History

In 1974, the trade union and the management of the Oktyabrskaya Railway decided to establish a museum for the employees of the enterprise. The first exhibition opened in 1978 and was located in the centre of

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, on

Liteyny Avenue Liteyny Avenue (russian: Лите́йный проспе́кт, ''Liteyny Prospekt'') is a wide avenue in the Central District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The avenue runs from Liteyny Bridge to Nevsky Avenue. The avenue originated in 1738 w ...

. Later a small group of enthusiastic railway workers proposed to preserve the historical rolling stock pieces. Their proposal was met by the railway management that provided a site in the southern outskirts of the city to store and repair locomotives and carriages. The museum in Shushary opened for public in 1991, and the nearby commuter rail station "16-th kilometer" used by visitors to reach the museum was renamed to " Parovozny Muzey" ("Museum of Steamers"). The museum occupied 7500 square meters and possessed 40 exhibits including 18 locomotives of different kinds. In May 2001,

Varshavsky railway station Varshavsky station (russian: Варша́вский вокза́л, ''Varshavsky vokzal''), or Warsaw station, is a former passenger railway station in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is located to the south of the city centre, and was in operati ...

in St. Petersburg was closed for the scheduled passenger services and the most valuable part of the museum's collection in Shushary was placed along its platforms. In August 2001, the new site of the museum was opened for public. On 20 thousand square meters, about 80 items of historical rolling stock were put on display. Once the collection was relocated to the central part of the city, the number of visitors has sixfolded, and the museum became one of the popular places of interest of its kind. Visitors could also make a rail journey on a train pulled by a retro steamer. However, as the Varshavsky station building was provided exclusively for the commercial use, the museum had no indoor exhibition. Besides, the tracks of the former station were to be removed to free up the space for the planned residential construction. Thus in 2007-2012, the project of the new site was drawn and by late 2017 its construction was accomplished. On 30 October 2017, the renewed site of the Russian Railway Museum was opened in the reconstructed building of the former locomotive depot of the

. It consists of indoor and outdoor exhibitions storing around 35000 historical artifacts including 118 items of rolling stock. Being one of the biggest railway museums in Europe, in 2019 the museum became a nominee for the

European Museum of the Year Award The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) is presented each year by the European Museum Forum (European Museum Forum, EMF) under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The EMYA is considered the most important annual award in the European mu ...

by the

European Museum Forum The European Museum Forum is a museum organization under the Council of Europe. It is an independent, non-profit-making charity, registered in the United Kingdom and founded in 1977. The European Museum Forum organizes the annual European Museum ...

Overview

Most of the exhibits were previously displayed in the October Railway Museum at the former

. However, more exhibits have been added to the collection and much of the museum collection is under the roof. The whole story of railways is shown from

Richard Trevithick Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He w ...

to the present day. Two HO railway models are also present. One model is of Russia’s first passenger railway – the Tsarskoye Selo Railway and the second of

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, ...

Station. The RT-23 Molodets railway missile train and the Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 gun#1938 Railway gun TM-3-12 Railway gun are parked outside at the open exhibition area. One of the unique pieces is the TEP-80 (ТЭП-80) diesel locomotive that set the world record of diesel train speed – 271 km/h – in 1993. The museum features the first

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

built in Soviet Russia in 1924 by

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

's decree. Interactive elements such as a simulator of TEP-70 (ТЭП-70) locomotive are available. The museum provides lecturing and educational facilities. Most of the locomotives and cars may be only watched from the outside, but there are ones that may be boarded. The environment of the museum is designed to be disabled-friendly. Full descriptions of exhibits are provided in both Russian and English. Guided tours are provided at extra charge.

References

External links

The Official Museum Website

A further Official Museum Website

A drone view of the museum
*

by Harvey Smith with

Announcement on the European Route of Industrial Heritage site
{{authority control Transport museums in Saint Petersburg Railway museums in Russia

Railways 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 prep ...

History

Overview

See also

References

External links