Railway Worker's Day. Presidential Library tell about First Minister of Railways P. Melnikov

On Railway Worker's Day, traditionally celebrated in Russia on the first Sunday of August, the Presidential Library invites readers to learn more about the life and achievements of a remarkable individual who made an invaluable contribution to the development of railways.

On August 3, 2024, the 220th anniversary of Pavel Melnikov's birth (1804-1880) is commemorated, a renowned Russian engineer, scientist, and honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He authored the first Russian theoretical work on railway engineering and served as the first Minister of Railways in the Russian Empire.

At the age of 14, Melnikov entered the Moscow Noble Boarding School of Vasily Kryazhev and successfully graduated from it. He was then accepted into the Military Construction School at the Institute of the Corps of Railway Engineers, where he was immediately enrolled in the third year of the institute.

"Melnikov's brilliant abilities, quick thinking, and talent were noticed even during his studies at the Institute of Railways," wrote Valerian Panaev, a railway engineer and memoirist in the book Four Ministers of Railways, which is available on the Presidential Library's portal. His career path can be described as a triumphant procession, as he began as a tutor and later became a brilliant professor of applied mechanics, while also performing various practical assignments.

At that time, railways were being built intensively in Europe, and engineers went abroad to learn about them. In 1837, the first railway in Russia opened, connecting St. Petersburg with Tsarskoe Selo. Later, Emperor Nicholas I considered building a railway from St. Petersburg to Moscow and sent Melnikov abroad to get informed with existing roads in the United States.

Upon his return, Melnikov compiled a detailed report about his trip and submitted many materials to the government for consideration. In early 1841, the emperor established a commission to design a railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow, including Melnikov and Nikolai Kraft among others.

The decree on the construction of the new railway, issued by Nicholas I, was announced on February 1st, 1842. According to this decree, Melnikov was appointed as the head of the Northern Highway Construction Directorate (Petersburg - Bologoye) and Kraft was appointed as head of the Southern Highway Construction Directorate (Bologoye - Moscow).

On November 19th, 1851, the official opening of the newly constructed railway took place. At 11:15 am.m., the first train departed from St. Petersburg on the railway that connected the two capitals. After 21 hours and 25 minutes, the train arrived safely in Moscow.

In the issue of the magazine Russkaya Starina for January – March 1886, Anton Shtukenberg, an engineer who was directly involved in the construction of the Nikolaevskaya railway in Russia between 1842 and 1852, writes in the final part of his essay "From the History of Railway Business in Russia": "I vividly remember the day when this huge machine started to run on the right track. Most importantly, on the first night after this event, a dark, autumn night when it was impossible to see the stars, the trains started running and we were moving away from Bologovskaya Station, as if lost in darkness. The engines moved back and forth on the tracks, irritating our nerves with their loud noises and whistles."

In Anton Stuckenberg's essay "From the History of the Railway Business in Russia: The Nikolaevskaya Railway in 1842-1852," which was first published in the journal Russian Antiquities in May and continued in November of 1885, the author details the construction of the railway from the initial idea for the project to its completion.

In 1862, Lieutenant General Pavel Melnikov was appointed as acting head of the Communications and Public Works Department. After the department was transformed into the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Empire in 1865, he became its first minister. Under his leadership, thousands of kilometers of railway lines were built in Russia. On his initiative, steam locomotives, railway cars, rails, and other railway equipment were manufactured at numerous factories.

In the collection of the Presidential Library, a rare edition from 1898 titled A Brief Historical Sketch of the Development and Activities of the Railways Department over One Hundred Years of Its Existence (1798–1898) is available.

The new type of transportation began to develop steadily. From 1865 to 1875, the average annual increase in Russian railways was 1,500 kilometers. The index of Russian railroads, published in 1887, already included 61 railroad lines, connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg to a wide network of not only Russian but also foreign cities. In 1891, construction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, the great route from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean, began.

Unfortunately, Pavel Melnikov did not live to see this, as he died on his 76th birthday, August 3, 1880, in the Novgorod Governorate in Lyuban (now Tosnensky District of the Leningrad Region).

"Melnikov brilliantly completed his course of studies, was one of the most educated individuals, with a clear and quick mind. He was a brilliant professor and a learned man who laid the foundation for railway construction. He trained many people in this field and, as a minister, gave strong impetus to road construction. Russia can be proud of this man," writes Valerian Panaev in his publication Four Ministers of Railways (1889).

The Presidential Library has a large collection of materials dedicated to the history of railway transport development in Russia. The electronic collection Territory of Russia, for example, includes not only digitized rare publications, studies, archival documents, and abstracts but also videos and documentaries about this topic.