Romodanovsky railway station (Kazan station): history, reasons for closing

Among the great number of attractions monuments of architecture are always of great value. And the richer the history of the object, the higher its significance for descendants. One of those is the building at the railway station of Nizhny Novgorod.

Location

On the territory of the city, in the immediate vicinity of the metro bridge, is the Romodanovsky railway station, which to date has lost its original functionality. It is located at Kazanskaya Square, 1, which is at the end of the street. Chernigov on the right bank of the Oka River.

You can get to the former station both on public and private transport, moving from the Kanavinsky Bridge to the right along the lower embankment. In the modern city these streets are poorly animated, mainly here there are inhabitants of nearby areas, and only then come tourists. However, during the years of active operation of the station and port, the traffic along the route was constant.

At the moment, to evaluate the building from other angles, except for the facade, will not succeed, since it has the status of private property. But thanks to the preserved image, the interest does not dry up even with that condition.

The idea of creating

The history of the Romodanovsky railway station originates from the industrial and art exhibition held on the eve of the 20th century, after which a project was developed to create a railway line connecting Nizhny Novgorod with Kazan. According to the planned plan, the roads ran along the Oka River, not crossing the river, and the station was located near the pier, there were also mills of merchants Bashkirov and Degtyarev.

The construction of the building of the Romodanovsky station dates back to 1900-1904, with the first train passing along the rails of the line already in 1901. The object received its name from the village, where a new section of the railway was laid. In those days the settlement was considered quite large, which very quickly affected the significance of the new site. Even before the official completion of the construction of the Kazan Station, in 1903, the station acquired the status of a transport hub.

Appearance

The architecture of the building from the first day was very different, and therefore stood out among the usual facades. The name of the author of the Romodanovsky railway station in Nizhny Novgorod has not been preserved in history, only the name of the engineer who presented the project is in the sources - Tolmachev. Controlled the erection of the station by a man whose name and regalia are also not recorded in the archives. His name is Voronov. The structure is made in the style of classicism and today is among the most beautiful.

Modern appearance completely repeats the original idea of the architect, during the reconstruction, the smallest details were restored, which were refined according to the photos that have survived to the present day. Observance of accuracy when reconstructing domes was the most difficult process, they were corrected three times. For the work done to update the Kazan station, the authors were awarded awards at the festival "Architecture 2005".

Main directions

The geographical location of the station between the river and the mountain, abounding with landslides, did not allow to lay a sufficient number of railroad tracks for the realization of all ideas for passenger and freight traffic. Therefore, in the first years of the train went only to Kharkov, Timiryazev, located in Mordovia, and the regional Lukoyanov.

Gradually, new compounds and routes appeared. So, in the 30s, trains were added in the direction of Arzamas and Ruzaevka, and then to suburban Kudmu and Pavlovo. Before Kazan, trains from the Romodanovsky railway station began to travel from the second half of the 20th century.

The increase in the number of compositions and directions is due, in addition, to the presence of a whole mill complex here. In the years of active operation of the station, there was one freight depot and one carload depot, and transshipment to river vessels was also carried out from the berth.

Features of the railway line

The terrain through which the rails lay is not calm. Underground waters provoked frequent landslides long before the construction of the railway. To solve this problem throughout the entire site of the "Romodanovsky Station-Manor", drainage tunnels designed for the release of dangerous waters were pierced in the mountain. The facilities can be found in their place today.

Such a system of containment of landslides was once estimated by the silver medal of the Paris World Exhibition. The work was carried out manually, the length of the deepest tunnel exceeds 1.5 km. Much later, a project was discussed, involving the connection of two city stations with a tunnel that was to pass under Oka, but he did not advance beyond the stage of the idea. And the events that occurred after a while, made the final adjustments.

Completion of the story

Even in the days of the first passenger traffic, local residents cautiously and distrustfully treated this section of the road, but gradually the drainage and adit system proved its effectiveness. During the existence of the Romodanovsky railway station in Nizhny Novgorod, landslides occurred several times, but they did not present significant problems for the functioning of the station.

With all this, the gradual erosion of the banks with the waters and the steepness of the slope played a role, and the element still prevailed. In February 1974, a strong landslide blocked the railway line, overturning the tram, which was the reason for the closure of the station. At that time, the bridge connecting the two city stations had already been built, so they decided to continue the message without the participation of a dangerous stretch of paths.

The rails between the "Mysa" and "Gorky-Kazan" points were dismantled, but before the crowded railway station building was soon desolated.

Glory of the Kazan station

The railway line "Timiryazevo - Nizhny Novgorod" with an unusually beautiful structure at the final destination lasted 70 years from the day of official opening to the completion of direct activity. However, the fame of it is captured not only in archival data.

For the first time Romodanovsky station of Nizhny Novgorod was mentioned in the essay "Volga and Kama" by LN Andreev in 1902, where he described his journey, which began just from here. On the 110th anniversary, a book about the history of the architectural monument was published, sponsored by V. Semiletov and I. Savina. More than once Vladimir Krupnov, the current owner, talked about business and his connection with the station, its main structure.

In addition to literature, the building of the station got into the cinema, there were filmed a series, shot on the work of A. Tolstoy's "Walking through the agony." At the time the film was created, the station was no longer functioning, but in the frame the railway revived again.

New life

The stoppage of the entire station affected the adjacent buildings and they quickly came to desolation. After 19 years, the building was officially given the status of a monument of architecture, but it was possible to restore its former form only by 2003. Contributed to this Vladimir Krupnov, the creator of the business of manufacturing plastic cards. He chose the former station as an office for his company in 2001 and began to restore it.

Restoration was carried out by Viktor Zubkov, the initiator of the detailed preservation of the appearance of the building. His efforts have the opportunity to experience the spirit of history more than a hundred years ago. To date, the office of the NovaKart company, which is a private property, is located on the territory of the former Romodanovsky railway station. There are no excursions, therefore, with the exception of the facade, it is not possible to get acquainted with the interior of the monument of architecture.