The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1858-11-09
RaiIroads i'm Russia,
1From Bayard Taylor's letters to the New
Trihnne.l


/ On the Northern side of the city of Mos
cow, just outside the low earthern barrier,
stands the great railroad station. The prin-
cipal train from st. Petersburg leaves daily
at noon, and reaches its destination thenext
morning at eight-6050 versts, or 400 hun
dred English miles, in twenty-four hours
The fares are respectively 19, 13 and 9 ru-
bles, for the. first, second and third class.
The station building is ON the most imposing
scale, and all the operations of the road are
conducted with the utmost precision and
regularity, although perhaps little slower
than in other countries The first class car
riages are divided into compartments, and
] luxuriously cushioned, as in England; the
second class are arranged exactly on the
American plan Tin fact, believe they are
| built in America) except that the seats are
not so closely crowded together. The en-
| trance is at the end, over platform on which
the brakesman stands, as with US. As the
day of our departure happened to be Mon
/ day, which is considered SO unlucky a day
among the Russians that they never travel
/ when they can avoid it, there was just a
/ comfortable number of passengers. We
bade adieu to our obliging friend, Col. Clax-
! ton, whose kindness had contributed so
much to the interest of our visit, and as the
i dial marked noon, steamed off for St. Peters
bnrg.
/ Straight as sunbeams, the four parallel
+ lines of rail shoot away TO the northwest,
and vanish far off in sharp point of the
! horizon. Woods, hills, swamps, ravines,
rivers, may intersect the road, but it swerves
not a fair from the direct course, except
where such detection is necessary to keep
the general level between Moscow and the
Volga. After passing the Faldai Hills,
about half way to st. Petersburg, the course
/ is almost as straight as if drawn with a
ruler for the remaining two hundred miles
| The Russians say this road is only to be
/ looked upon as an article of luxury. The
Emperor Nicholas consulted his own con-
senience and the facility of conveying
troops rather than the convenience of the
1 country and the development of its resour-
ces. B; insisting upon the shortest possible
distance between the two cities, lie carried
| the road hundreds of verStS through swamps
where an artificial foundation of piles
were necessary; while by ben ling its course
! a little TO the South, nearer the line of the
highway, not only would these swamps
have been avoided, but the cities of Novgo-
red, Eadai and TorsEok, with the cultya-
ted and settled regions around them, would
have shared in the advantages and added to
the profits of the road.
In its construction and accessories. one can
truly say that this is the finest railway in 1he
world. Its only draw back is an occasional
roughncss the cause of which, / suspect, lies
in the cars rather than the road itself. There
are thirty-three stations between Moscow
and St. Petersburg. Al tie most of these,
| the staton-houses are palaces, all built ex-
actiy alike, and on scale of magniicence
which scorns expense. y great deal CT
needless luxury has been wasted upon them
The bridges, too, are models of solidity and
durability. Every thing is on the grandest
SCALE and punctuaiity and exactness of the
running arrangements are worthy of all
praise. But at what Il cost has all this been
accomplished This ro.d, 400 miles in
length, over a level country, with very few
cuts, emhankments and bridges, except be-
tween Moscow and Tver (about one-fourth
of the distance) has been built at an expense
of 120000,000 of rubes (S90,000, ,000) or
1925, 900 per mile. When one takes into
consideration the cheapncss of labor in Rus
sia, the sum becomes still more enormous.
The work was not only conducted by
American engineers, but Mr. Winan, the
chief engineer, is at present carrying on the
running business under a contract from the
government. His principal assistants are
also Americans. This contract, which was
originally for ten years, has yet three years
to run, at the end of which time Mr.. Winans
will be able to live upon what he has earn
ed. His annual profit upon the contract is
| said to be one million rubfes. Some idea
Of its liberal character may be obtained
from the fact that his allowance for grease
alone is three silver copecs verst for each
wheel-about 81 csats per mile or with an
ordinary train, some 800 for the run from
Moscow to st. Petersburg. His own part
of the contract is faithfully and admirably
discharged, and he is ofcourse fairly entitled
to all he can make. 1t is not to be wonder
ed at, however, that the receipts of the road
last year exceeded the expenditures by few
thousand rubles only.
The fact IS, even yet the road does not ap.
pear to be conducted with view to profit
The way traffic and travel which railroad
companies elsewhere make it point to en-
courage, is here entirely neglected. There
are none but through trains, and but single
passenger train daily. Besides this, &c
freight is taken at the way stations, unless
there should happen to be little room to
spare, after the through freight is cared for
Tver, through which the road passes, is al
the head of the navigation on the Volga,
and, after Mai Novgorod, the chief centre
of trade with the regions waite. by the
mighty river as far as the Caspian Sea; yet
I am informed, there is no special provision
made for affording the facilities of commun-
ication which this place so much needs.
Russia, however, is soon to be covered
with general system of rail road commu-
nications, which, when completed, must ex-
excise vast influence on her productive
and commercial activity. \ road from Mos
COW to Najoi Novgorod en- the Volga
where the grand annual fair is always
held has been commenced, and will proba-
bly, be finished in from three to five years
The distance is about $50 miles, and the es-
innate expense $4,000 per mile. The
road from St. Petersburg to Warsaw lit
tie over 700 miles in length-has been in
progress for some years past and will be
, finished, ii is said, by the close of the year
1860 In September it will be opened as
far as Pskov German 90 Pieskow " at the