Imperial Train Wreck- train accident Emperor Alexander III October 17, 1888 on the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov (now Southern) railway, as a result of which neither the emperor nor his family were injured, emerging from the terrible wreckage unharmed. The rescue of the imperial family was declared miraculous and caused joy among citizens throughout Russia. A temple was erected at the site of the disaster.
Crash site
Course of events
Crash
Consequences of the crash
A terrible picture of destruction, echoed by the screams and groans of the mutilated, presented itself to the eyes of those who survived the crash. Everyone rushed to look for the imperial family and soon saw the king and his family alive and unharmed. The carriage with the imperial dining room, in which Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodorovna, with their children and retinue were, was a complete wreck.
The carriage was thrown onto left side embankment and presented a terrible appearance - without wheels, with flattened and destroyed walls, the carriage was reclining on the embankment; part of its roof lay on the lower frame. The first shock knocked everyone to the floor, and when, after a terrible crash and destruction, the floor collapsed and only the frame remained, everyone ended up on an embankment under the cover of the roof. It is said that Alexander III, who possessed remarkable strength, held the roof of the carriage on his shoulders while the family and other victims climbed out from under the rubble.
Covered with earth and debris, the following emerged from under the roof: the Emperor, the Empress, the heir, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich - the future last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna, and with them the retinue invited to breakfast. Most of the people in this carriage escaped with light bruises, abrasions and scratches, with the exception of the adjutant of Sheremetev, whose finger was crushed.
In the entire train, which consisted of 15 cars, only five cars survived, stopped by the action of Westinghouse automatic brakes. Two locomotives also remained intact. The carriage in which the court servants and pantry servants were located was completely destroyed, and everyone in it was killed outright and found in a disfigured state - 13 mutilated corpses were raised on the left side of the embankment among the wood chips and small remains of this carriage. In the carriage of the royal children at the time of the crash there were only Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, thrown out along with her nanny onto an embankment, and the young Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, taken out of the wreckage by a soldier with the help of the sovereign himself.
Elimination of consequences
The news of the crash of the imperial train quickly spread along the line, and help was rushed from all sides. Alexander III, despite the terrible weather (rain and frost) and terrible slush, himself ordered the extraction of the wounded from the wreckage of the broken carriages. Empress with medical personnel walked around the wounded, gave them help, trying in every possible way to alleviate the sick’s suffering, despite the fact that she herself had an arm injured above the elbow, and that she was left in only a dress. An officer's coat was thrown over the queen's shoulders, in which she provided assistance.
In total, 68 people were injured in the crash, of which 21 people died. Only at dusk, when all the dead were informed and not a single wounded remained, the royal family boarded the second royal train (Svitsky) that arrived here and departed back to the Lozovaya station, where at night they served at the station itself, in the third class hall. the first prayer of thanks for the miraculous deliverance of the king and his family from mortal danger. About two hours later, the imperial train departed for Kharkov to travel to St. Petersburg.
Commemoration of an event
The event of October 17 was immortalized by the establishment of many charitable institutions, scholarships, etc. A monastery was soon built near the crash site, called Spaso-Svyatogorsk. Here, a few fathoms from the embankment, a magnificent temple was built in the name of Christ the Savior of the Most Glorious Transfiguration. The project was drawn up by the architect R. R. Marfeld.
To perpetuate memory miraculous salvation The royal family in Kharkov took a number of other commemorative events, in particular, the creation of the Kharkov Commercial School of Emperor Alexander III, the casting of a silver bell for the Annunciation Church (now the cathedral), etc.
In addition, chapels and temples of the Tsar's patron saint, Prince Alexander Nevsky, began to be built throughout Russia (for example, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tsaritsyn).
Events after the October Revolution
Notes
Links
- “The crash of the Tsar’s train in 1888 near Kharkov” - an article on the reference and information portal “Your Beloved Kharkov”
- Topographic map of the section of the Southern Railway where the Imperial Train crash occurred, on the website
Description
Imperial Train Wreck
Imperial Train Wreck- a disaster that happened to the train of Emperor Alexander III on October 17 (29), 1888 on the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov (now Southern) railway, as a result of which neither the emperor nor his family were injured, emerging from the terrible wreckage unharmed. The salvation of the imperial family was interpreted as miraculous in the church and right-wing press; An Orthodox church was erected at the site of the disaster.
The place of the train accident was the village (settlement) of Borki, then located in the Zmievsky district of the Kharkov province. Located near the Dzhgun River, approximately 27 km from Zmiev. In the last quarter of the 19th century, the village had about 1,500 inhabitants, grain was supplied and there was a station on the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov railway.
The accident of the Imperial train occurred on October 17, 1888 at 14:14, on the 295th kilometer of the Kursk - Kharkov - Azov line, south of Kharkov. The royal family was traveling from Crimea to St. Petersburg. The technical condition of the cars was excellent; they operated for 10 years without accidents. In violation of railway regulations of the period, which limited the number of axles in passenger train up to 42, in the imperial one, which consisted of 15 cars, there were 64 axles. The weight of the train was within the limits established for a freight train, but the speed of movement corresponded to that of an express train. The train was driven by two locomotives and the speed was about 68 km/h. Under such conditions, 10 cars derailed. Moreover, the path to the crash site passed along a high embankment (about 5 fathoms). According to eyewitnesses, a strong shock threw everyone on the train from their seats. After the first shock there was a terrible crash, then a second shock occurred, even stronger than the first, and after the third, quiet shock, the train stopped.
A terrible picture of destruction, echoed by the screams and groans of the mutilated, presented itself to the eyes of those who survived the crash. Everyone rushed to look for the imperial family and soon saw the king and his family alive and unharmed. The carriage with the imperial dining room, in which Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodorovna, with their children and retinue were, was a complete wreck.
The carriage was thrown onto the left side of the embankment and presented a terrible appearance: without wheels, with flattened and destroyed walls, the carriage was reclining on the embankment; part of its roof lay on the lower frame. The first shock knocked everyone to the floor, and when, after a terrible crash and destruction, the floor collapsed and only the frame remained, everyone ended up on an embankment under the cover of the roof. It is said that Alexander III, who possessed remarkable strength, held the roof of the carriage on his shoulders while the family and other victims climbed out from under the rubble.
Covered with earth and debris, the following emerged from under the roof: the Emperor, Empress, heir Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich - the future last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna, and with them the retinue invited to breakfast. Most of the people in this carriage escaped with light bruises, abrasions and scratches, with the exception of adjutant Sheremetev, whose finger was crushed.
In the entire train, which consisted of 15 cars, only five cars survived, stopped by the action of Westinghouse automatic brakes. Two locomotives also remained intact. The carriage in which the court servants and pantry servants were located was completely destroyed, and everyone in it was killed outright and found in a disfigured state - 13 mutilated corpses were raised on the left side of the embankment among the wood chips and small remains of this carriage. In the carriage of the royal children at the time of the crash there were only Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, thrown out along with her nanny onto an embankment, and the young Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, taken out of the wreckage by a soldier with the help of the sovereign himself.
The news of the crash of the imperial train quickly spread along the line, and help was rushed from all sides. Alexander III, despite the terrible weather (rain and frost) and terrible slush, himself ordered the extraction of the wounded from the wreckage of the broken carriages. The Empress and the medical staff walked around the wounded, giving them help, trying in every possible way to alleviate the suffering of the sick, despite the fact that her arm was injured above the elbow and that she was left in only a dress. An officer's coat was thrown over the queen's shoulders, in which she provided assistance.
In total, 68 people were injured in the crash, of which 21 people died. Only at dusk, when all the dead were informed and not a single wounded remained, the royal family boarded the second royal train (Svitsky) that arrived here and departed back to the Lozovaya station, where at night they served at the station itself, in the third class hall. the first prayer of thanks for the miraculous deliverance of the king and his family from mortal danger. About two hours later, the imperial train departed for Kharkov to travel to St. Petersburg.
The investigation into the causes of the crash with the tsar's train in Borki, with the knowledge of the tsar, was entrusted to the prosecutor of the criminal cassation department of the Senate A.F. Koni. The Minister of Railways, Admiral K.N. Posyet, and the Chief Inspector were brought into the investigation and dismissed railways Baron Shernval, inspector of imperial trains Baron A.F. Taube, manager of the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov Railway engineer V.A. Kovanko and a number of other persons. The main version was a train crash as a result of a number of technical factors: poor track condition and increased train speed. A few months later, the unfinished investigation was terminated by imperial command.
Another version of events was outlined in the memoirs of V. A. Sukhomlinov and M. A. Taube (the son of an inspector of imperial trains). According to it, the crash was caused by the explosion of a bomb planted by an assistant cook of the imperial train, associated with revolutionary organizations. Having planted a time bomb in the dining car, calculating the moment of the explosion to coincide with the royal family's breakfast, he got off the train at the stop before the explosion and disappeared abroad.
A monastery was soon built near the crash site, called Spaso-Svyatogorsk. Right there, a few fathoms from the embankment, a magnificent temple was built in the name of Christ the Savior of the Most Glorious Transfiguration. The project was drawn up by the architect R.R. Marfeld.
On May 21, 1891, on the last trip of Empress Maria Feodorovna with her daughter Ksenia Alexandrovna and the Grand Dukes to the south, in their presence the ceremonial laying of the temple took place in Borki, at the site of the disaster. The highest place of the embankment, almost at the railway bed, was marked with four flags - this is the place where the Grand Duchess's carriage stood during the crash and from which Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna was thrown out unharmed.
At the foot of the embankment a wooden cross was placed with the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands - this is the place where she stepped imperial family, emerging unharmed from the wreckage of the dining car; a cave chapel was erected here. At the place where the empress and her children cared for the sick, the administration of the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov railway established a public garden, which was thus located between the temple and the chapel.
...Thy lovingkindnesses, G(o)s(po)di, are filled with the essence of our destiny: you did not deal with us according to our iniquities, you did not repay us according to our sins. Most of all, Thou didst surprise Thy mercy upon us on the day when our hope did not perish in the slightest, Thou didst show us the salvation of Thy anointed most pious sovereign, our EMPEROR ALEXANDER ALEKSANDROVICH, wonderfully preserving him and his wife, the most pious Empress EMPRESS MARIA FEODOROVNA and all their children in the gates of mortals. We do not bow our hearts and knees before You, O Lord of life and death, confessing Your ineffable m(e)l(o)s(e)rdie. Grant us, G(o)s(po)di, the memory of this terrible visit of Yours, to have a firm and unceasing memory from generation to generation, and do not leave Your m(i)l(o)sweetness from us...
During the Great Patriotic War the temple was blown up and the chapel damaged. Without a dome, this unique architectural structure stood for more than 50 years. In the early 2000s, the chapel was restored with the help of railway workers. Almost all services of the Southern Railway took part in the restoration: builders, signalmen, power engineers. The “Dobro” charitable foundation, construction organizations: SMP-166 and 655, and the limited liability company “Magik” took part in the restoration.
In Soviet times, the railway stopping platform between the Taranovka and Borki stations was called Pervomaiskaya (like the nearby village) and was little known to anyone except local residents. Recently, it was returned to its original name “Spassov Skete” - in honor of the event that took place here more than 100 years ago.
To perpetuate the memory of the miraculous salvation of the royal family in Kharkov, a number of other commemorative events were undertaken, in particular, the creation of the Kharkov Commercial School of Emperor Alexander III, the casting of a silver bell for the Annunciation Church in Kharkov, the establishment of a number of charitable institutions, scholarships, etc.
At the Borki station, a disabled home for railway employees was opened, named after the emperor. On October 17, 1909, a monument to Alexander III was unveiled in front of the entrance to the building of the nursing home. It represented a bust of the emperor in a frock coat and cap on a pedestal of pink granite. The money for the monument was donated by railroad employees. After the revolution of 1917, the bust of the tsar was thrown down, but the pedestal with the damaged bronze bas-relief has survived to this day.
In addition, chapels and temples of the Tsar’s patron saint, Prince Alexander Nevsky, began to be built throughout Russia (for example, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tsaritsyn).
In Anapa on August 15 (27), 1893 “in memory of the miraculous saving of the lives of Their Imperial Majesties and the August Family during the crash on October 17, 1888 royal train“a temple was founded in the name of the saints the prophet Hosea and Andrew of Crete (the day of the crash of the imperial train fell on the day of church memory of these saints). The author of the temple project was the architect V. P. Zeidler. Construction of the temple was completed in 1902; Around 1937, this temple was demolished (due to the need for bricks to build club and school buildings). In 2008, a chapel in the name of the prophet Hosea was erected on the site of the destroyed temple.
By decree of the Governing Synod, a special prayer service was compiled and published in honor of miraculous image The Savior Not Made by Hands, since at the time of the crash Alexander Alexandrovich had with him a copy of the ancient miraculous Vologda icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands.
Landscape artist S. I. Vasilkovsky painted the painting “The Crash of the Tsar’s Train near Borki Station on October 17, 1888,” which was originally kept in the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III (now the State Russian Museum) in St. Petersburg.
Carefully preserved by the parishioners of the Church of the Intercession Holy Mother of God a legend about two icons located on the right side of the temple, which was consecrated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. They were written in gratitude to the miraculous salvation of Emperor Alexander III (father of the holy royal passion-bearer Nicholas II) and his entire family during the crash of the royal train, which occurred on October 30, 1888 near the Borki station. The eldest son Nikolai, sons Georgy and Mikhail, daughters Ksenia and Olga, Alexander III himself and Maria Fedorovna were in mortal danger. Their rescue was truly miraculous: the royal family remained unharmed among the wreckage of the broken carriage.
On the same day, the future Tsar Nicholas II would write in his diary: “We all could have been killed, but by the will of God this did not happen. During breakfast our train derailed. The dining room and the carriage were destroyed, and we came out of it unharmed. However, there were 20 people killed and 16 wounded... there was a prayer service and memorial service at the Lozovaya station.” During the crash, the roof of the carriage fell on Emperor Alexander III. He was able to hold her on his back, so everyone in the dining car survived. The grand ducal carriage turned across the track and tilted over the slope. The force of the blow was so powerful that Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich was thrown onto the slope. Six-year-old Olga was saved by her nanny, who managed to push her out before the walls and ceiling of the carriage began to collapse. In the next carriage the servant was killed.
Immediately after the crash, Emperor Alexander III, who received a severe bruise to his leg (the dog lying at the feet of the Sovereign at the time of the disaster was killed) and Empress Maria Feodorovna, not paying attention to the wounded hand, provided assistance to the victims. It is significant that among the destruction and debris, the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, located on the train, was found untouched in its original place.
All of Russia was shocked by the possible dire consequences of the crash. A temple was erected at the site of the disaster in Borki, thanksgiving services were held throughout the country, chapels were built, and icons were created.
In the Khomutov Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, two icons dedicated to this event were ordered at once. One was for the Intercession Church, and the other, more expensive, in a gilded metal chasuble, decorated with enamel, was intended as a gift to Tsar Alexander III himself. At the bottom of the icon there is a dedicatory inscription: “In memory of their miraculous deliverance Imperial Majesties Sovereign Emperor Alexander III, Empress Empress Maria Feodorovna, their entire august family, during the crash of the royal train near the Borki station on October 17, 1888, from the owners of the peasants of the village of Khomutovo, Bogorodsky district, was donated by the parishioners of the village of Khomutova to the church.” According to legend, the icon was delivered to the Emperor, who was grateful to his subjects for the gift, prayed to the saints of God depicted on it and ordered that the image be left in the Church of the Intercession. So there were two almost identical icons in the temple.
They depict the heavenly patrons of members of the royal family - the blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the holy Prince Michael of Tverskoy, the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga, the holy Great Martyr George the Victorious, the Venerable Xenia - and the saints whose memory falls on October 30: the prophet of God Hosea and the Monk Andrew of Crete. The dedicatory icon also depicts: the unmercenary martyrs Cosmas and Damian (patrons of the royal family), the martyrs Leontius and Eutropius, the holy righteous Lazarus, and at the top is the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands.
A month after the disaster, Alexander III recalled: “What the Lord was pleased to put us through, what trials, moral torment, fear, melancholy, terrible sadness and, finally, joy and gratitude to the Creator for the salvation of all dear to my heart, for saving my entire family, young and old! This day will never be erased from our memory. He was too terrible and too wonderful, because Christ wanted to prove to all of Russia that He still works miracles to this day and saves those who believe in Him and in His great mercy from obvious death.”
Two icons on the right side of the Intercession Church remind us of this today.
Today, October 29, 2010, marks the 122nd anniversary of the crash in 1888 (October 17, old style) near Borki of the Tsar's train of Alexander III with his entire family returning from Crimea. This tragedy and the miraculous salvation of the entire royal family are described very fully in the diary of Gennady Marchenko from Kharkov, who collected information about this disaster for 10 years. basart2007
A century-long barrier of time separates us from that tragic day. The materials of the investigation have long been carried out and read out, measures have been taken, dozens of words have been said and mountains of papers have been written up. For ten years now, ever since that first accidental reading about the crash of the Tsar’s train, I have been interested in this topic and more and more questions arise, everything is very ambiguous. However, I will do as always - first things first.
This is how the Government Gazette of November 1 (October 20), 1888 reports about this incident:
The imperial train leaving the station. Taranovka at noon on October 17, crashed at the 277th mile, between the station. Taranovka and Borki, on an embankment running through a rather deep ravine. At the time of the crash, Their Majesties the Sovereign Emperor and the Empress, with the entire August Family, and members of the Retinue were at breakfast in the dining car. When the first carriage derailed there was a terrible rocking motion; the following carriages flew off on both sides; The dining car, although it remained on the canvas, was in an unrecognizable form: the entire base with wheels was thrown away, the walls were flattened and only the roof, curled to one side, covered those in the car.
It was impossible to imagine that anyone could survive such destruction. But the Lord God preserved the Tsar and His Family: Their Majesties and Their August Children emerged unharmed from the wreckage of the carriage. All the people in this carriage were also saved, receiving only light bruises and scratches, except for Sheremetev’s adjutant, who suffered more than others, but not seriously. Unfortunately, the death of others from the broken parts of the train was accompanied by misfortunes. Killed 19...Wounded 18...
The Sovereign Emperor deigned to personally manage the organization of assistance to the wounded. Despite extremely bad weather, with piercing rain and heavy mud. His Majesty went down the slope several times to the dead and wounded and was placed on the suite train requested to the crash site only when the last wounded man was transferred to the ambulance train, which arrived on demand from Kharkov...>"
I think it is important to continue quoting, it is very eloquent: “Due to an obstruction on the way, the retinue train with Their Majesties and Their August Family was sent to travel along the Catherine line to Lozovaya station. At this station, the rural clergy invited, by the Highest command, served in In the highest presence, a memorial service for the deceased victims of the accident and a prayer of thanks to the Lord God on the occasion of the wondrous deliverance from the greatest danger...
The investigation will determine the exact cause of the train crash; but there can be no question of any malice in this accident."
This message itself already contains a severe contradiction - the investigation has not yet been carried out, but it has already been stated that there can be no talk of malicious intent. Why then, just a few moments after the crash, when groans and cries were heard from all sides: “What a horror! Assassination! Explosion!”, The Emperor said the phrase that has become historical: “We need to steal less!” The king probably had reasons for this. In my opinion, everything was predetermined, the only question was time - irresponsibility, negligence and theft had to do their job.
An investigation was ordered. The brilliant lawyer Anatoly Fedorovich Koni was entrusted to head it (he was disliked at court because of the case of Vera Zasulich: Koni was the chairman of the trial and allowed her acquittal). Everyone, of course, immediately thought of terrorists; the Narodnaya Volya members were only a short time ago. However, very quickly all the experts came to the decisive conclusion that there were no traces of a terrorist attack, just that the locomotive or its tender had gone off the rails. But a lot of magnificent, even impossible in terms of absurdity, but still real circumstances began to emerge.
The Tsar's train had the status of an "emergency train of extreme importance." In general, everything that had to do with the person of the sovereign was surrounded by extraordinary reverence. The composition of the train cars was determined by the Minister of Railways in agreement with the Minister of the Household and the head of security. In practice, this meant that the Minister of the Household submitted proposals (he was guided by his own considerations, taking into account, for example, the composition of his retinue), and the Minister of Railways approved them. The retinue was numerous, everyone wanted to travel comfortably and considered themselves entitled to demand separate compartments, or even a carriage. As a result, the royal train became longer and longer. Before the crash, it consisted of 14 eight-wheeled and one six-wheeled carriages, although the rules on trains of the highest persons (there were such instructions) limited the size of the train to winter time(from October 15) 14 six-wheeled carriages. In other words, the limit train was considered to have 42 carriage axles, but in reality the royal train numbered 64 of them. It weighed up to 30 thousand pounds, stretched over 300 meters and was more than twice the length and weight of an ordinary passenger train, approaching the weight of a freight train from 28 loaded wagons. But freight trains were not then allowed to travel faster than 20 versts per hour, and the Tsar’s train was scheduled to travel 37 versts per hour. In fact, before the crash he was traveling at a speed of about seventy.
One locomotive could not pull such a huge thing, two were coupled together. Under normal conditions, freight trains were driven this way; passenger trains were not allowed to do this for safety reasons. Nevertheless, two locomotives were attached to the emergency train. And two locomotives are, firstly, two drivers who had no connection either with each other or with the train. The Tsar's train was, in principle, equipped with a telephone, but after the modification it worked poorly, and the crew did not like to use it. It was not connected to steam locomotives at all. To communicate something to the driver, you had to climb over the tender and wave your arms. Secondly, two steam locomotives at a speed of over 40 versts per hour created dangerous additional lateral rolling, especially if their wheel diameters did not match. This is what happened with the royal train - one locomotive was attached as a passenger locomotive (Struve P-41), and the other as a freight locomotive (Ziglya T-164).
Immediately behind the locomotives there was a baggage car, which contained a small power station for lighting the train, then a workshop car, followed by the car of the Minister of Railways. Next were two kitchen carriages and a carriage for people serving the kitchen, a dining carriage, a grand ducal carriage, then a carriage of the imperial couple, the heir to the throne and five carriages of the royal retinue. The length of the train was 302 meters. According to experts, the crash occurred precisely because the swaying locomotive broke the tracks and went off the rails.
The imperial train traveled in this form for ten years. The railway workers associated with him, and even the Minister of Railways himself, knew that this was technically unacceptable and dangerous, but did not consider it possible to interfere in the important arrangements of the court department. The Minister of the Court, of course, did not delve into the technical circumstances, and the head of the royal guard, General Cherevin, especially since his job was to post a guard. There were two special persons responsible for technical safety - the chief inspector of railways, engineer Baron Schernval, and his assistant, technical inspector of the movement of imperial trains, engineer Baron Taube, but they job description was drawn up so stupidly that neither one nor the other knew what they were actually responsible for. All this confusion essentially rested on the Minister of Railways, Admiral Konstantin Nikolaevich Posyet, an old man with former naval merits: but not with railway ones - Posyet not only knew nothing about railways, but did not hide it and somehow even believed that such details do not concern him.
Anatoly Fedorovich Koni, who interrogated Posyet, tried to find out why he did not intervene and did not draw the sovereign’s attention to the incorrect composition of the train. Posyet perked up and said that he had even converted Alexander II. And he said that about ten years ago he was present at a meeting at the station of the German emperor. The German train quickly approaching the platform immediately stopped. “This is how they do it! - said Alexander II. “And we slow down and crawl towards the station.” “But they only have four cars,” Posyet objected. "So what's next?" - asked Kony. It turned out that there was nothing further. Wilhelm got out of the carriage, the king and his retinue moved towards him. It seems that Alexander did not understand that they tried to draw his august attention in such a delicate way to the problem of the train composition.
However, the railway staff was extremely concerned about the comfort and peace of mind of the sovereign and his retinue. It was, for example, supposed to hook up the heaviest cars to the beginning of the train, behind the locomotive. But there was smoke, fumes, noise - and the heavy royal carriages were placed in the middle. All passenger trains were required to check the brakes after changing locomotives: when leaving the station, the train was accelerated and braked. And now a “Reduced Brake Test” is mandatory on the third kilometer after starting off with planned braking. But royal family They didn’t dare subject it to unnecessary shocks and shaking, so they didn’t check the brakes(!).
Theoretically, the train was equipped with both automatic and hand brakes. A conductor had to be constantly on duty at the hand brakes in each carriage in order to have time to pull the handle when the driver whistled. But the two heaviest royal carriages did not have a hand brake at all - again, so as not to bother the passengers with shaking. The conductors were ordered not to hang around in vain, but to help the servants. As for the automatic brake, after changing the locomotive at the Taranovka station, its pressure gauge did not show the pressure necessary for braking, and the brake valve on the tender became clogged and failed. They set off without any brakes: they couldn’t detain the Russian autocrat because of them! And the drivers that day drove without blowing their whistles on slopes when they should have slowed down.
However, as experts concluded, the lack of brakes no longer played any role in the crash picture. Rather, another circumstance played a role: the train contained a carriage with a faulty chassis. It was located directly in front of the royal ones, and was... the personal carriage of the Minister of Railways (!).
There was still one person in Russia who was seriously worried about the safety of the imperial family. He was Sergei Yulievich Witte, who then held the relatively modest post of manager of the South-Western Railways. In September 1888, when the royal train was traveling to Crimea, he was accompanied by his position on his section of the route by Witte along with the chief engineer of the South-Western roads, Vasiliev. Sitting in the Posyet carriage, they noticed a characteristic knock under the bottom. The reason for the knocking was not the rails, but the carriage itself; it tilted noticeably to the left. At the stop, Witte called the mechanics and pointed out the problem to them. The mechanics said that this often happens with this car, they tinkered with something and promised to do the repairs in Sevastopol. On the way back, the mechanics said that since the ministerial carriage had withstood the southern mountain roads, then nothing would happen to it now. Witte tried to appeal to Posyet himself, but he was going to bed and, through the servants, advised Witte to submit a report to the ministry. And Sergei Yulievich submitted it, describing the incorrectness of the formation and maintenance of the train special purpose. It seems that this played a role in his further rise: Alexander III remembered that only Witte cared about him seriously.
Then, during the investigation, Witte repeated his main recommendation: “The system of movement of imperial trains should strive not to violate all those orders and rules that usually operate on the roads.” That is, one should not consider violating basic safety rules a special sovereign privilege and believe that the autocrat and Newton’s laws are not written.
On the morning of that day, the royal train arrived in Taranovka an hour and a half behind schedule. Already on the previous stretch, the drivers, trying to catch up, drove with all their might, bringing the speed to almost 70 versts per hour. During a stop in Taranovka, General Cherevin, walking along the platform with Posyet, complained about being late. Cherevin had his own reasons for concern: in Kharkov, all gendarmerie measures to ensure the safety of the imperial family were calculated and adjusted exactly to the schedule of the royal train (secret agents cannot spend hours tramping on the streets).
Then, at the inquiry, Cherevin insisted that he had no idea what danger the train’s acceleration posed, and that if anyone had told him about this, he would have been the first to ask him to travel with all possible caution. But, according to him, Posyet at that moment was “counting the jackdaws on the roof,” and the technical inspector Baron Taube thanked the train crew for the fast ride and promised to repay them. At the same time, the manager of the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov railway Kovanko and the road inspector Kroneberg were present, and they should have known the condition of the tracks on the next stretch.
They built the road under a concession. It belonged to the shareholders and was put into operation ahead of schedule, since it was profitable for the board. Back in the late 1870s, there was so much abuse surrounding it that it was inspected by several government commissions. They recommended that the government buy the road to the treasury. It was assumed that the shareholders would receive a payment corresponding to the average annual profit of the road for the most profitable five years out of the last seven before the buyout for sixty years. It is clear that the board sought to inflate profitability in every possible way and did this, of course, by cutting operating and repair costs. In 1885, a government inspector was sent to the road - the aforementioned Kroneberg. At first, he tried to fight the abuses; at times, his relationship with the board of the road became so strained that he went to meetings with a revolver. But the Ministry of Railways gave him almost no support, and Kroneberg gave up.
The board of the road mercilessly exploited the staff, skimped on the repair of rolling stock, cheated with the purchase of coal (the same people who were on the board of the road formed a coal company - they sold waste coal to themselves at inflated prices, and covered the loss with government subsidies) and, of course , purchased defective materials.
The section of the Taranovka-Borki route, on which the royal train crashed, was recognized as an emergency in the summer of 1888, and drivers were advised to drive quietly. This section of the track was put into operation just two years before the crash, but it was initially laid with an excess of the permissible angle of inclination, less ballast was poured, and the embankment constantly settled and was washed away by rains. They built it hastily, the sleepers they laid were defective, weak, they could not hold the rails properly, and in two years in some places they completely rotted and crumbled. True, before the passage of the emergency train, ballast was added and the sleepers were replaced, but not with new ones, but with those removed from another site due to their unsuitability. The road could at least withstand ordinary trains, although minor accidents occurred frequently. But the heavy royal train, at a speed of 60 versts per hour and the first locomotive swaying violently, created an abnormally strong lateral pressure on the rails. If the sleepers were of high quality, perhaps everything would have worked out well—after all, this train had been traveling for ten years.
The locomotive went off the rails, the massive royal carriages crushed the lighter carriages in front of them, and the collapsed ministerial carriage of Posyet completed the picture. The sleepers were cut right down to the carriage of the heir to the crown prince, who was tenth in the train.
The cars following it were supposed to run into the destroyed dining car, but the two cars closest to it turned across on steel rails, forming a barricade. However, the subsequent blow was so strong that it broke through the car wall and threw the young Grand Duchess Olga onto the slope of the earthen embankment. The girl remained unharmed. She screamed: “Dad, dad, I’m alive!” The young Grand Duke Mikhail was taken out from under the wreckage of the carriage by a soldier with the help of the emperor. Of the members of the royal family, the eldest daughter Ksenia suffered the most, who remained hunchbacked for the rest of her life. Only five cars in the entire train survived. The carriage in which the court servants and pantry servants were traveling was terribly damaged. It contained most of the victims. In total, 21 people died and 37 were injured in the train crash. Only in the evening of that day, when all the corpses were collected and not a single wounded remained at the tragic site, the royal family boarded the arriving retinue train and was transported to the Lozovaya station. And only in the morning next day, that is, on October 18, the train departed for Kharkov.
After conducting a thorough investigation of the case, Anatoly Fedorovich Koni came to the conclusion of a “criminal failure by everyone to fulfill their duty.” He decided that it would be unfair to bring to trial the direct culprits of the crash - the drivers, Kroneberg and Kovanko (who did not intervene and did not limit the speed in the emergency section). Koni took aim at senior figures - Taube, Schernval, Cherevin and, of course, Posyet. In addition, he considered it necessary to bring to trial the members of the board of the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov Railway - for theft and for bringing the road to a dangerous state.
Bringing people of such rank to trial in Russia at that time was unprecedented. The idea was firmly rooted in the railway department that any responsibility for accidents was borne by railway employees, but not by the owners of the roads, no matter what abuses they committed. As for the responsibility of ministers and other high dignitaries, this was never discussed before. But the case was also out of the ordinary, because the sovereign and the heir were under threat.
Alexander III took a keen interest in the progress of the investigation, listened to Koni's detailed report and agreed that the main culprits - the ministers and the board - should be tried. The Tsar did not often receive objective information about the real state of affairs, and the story about railway abuses impressed him (Kony, by the way, reported that before the opening of the railway there were 60 thousand acres of forest in the Kharkov province, and at that time there were less than 6 thousand tithes, the rest was destroyed for sleepers and fuel, using forced low prices and lack of government control). Russian legislation did not provide for a procedure for bringing ministers to trial, and Alexander III ordered the Minister of Justice to develop and pass through the State Council a corresponding bill.
Meanwhile, the most bizarre rumors about the crash began to circulate in society. And about terrorists, and about a certain boy who brought a bomb into the royal carriage under the guise of ice cream. They also said that the order for the dangerous acceleration of the train was given by the tsar himself, when Koni told him about this, Alexander III laughed, said that he had not said anything like that, and asked him not to put him on trial. Everyone was horrified by the disaster and rejoiced at the miraculous salvation of the august family. But, as soon as the conversation turned to the responsibility of high-ranking officials, they had a lot of defenders. A month after the crash, Posyet was removed from his ministerial post, but appointed to the State Council with a decent pension. His wife told in high-society St. Petersburg salons how much he was depressed by what had happened. Posiet was pitied. Everyone agreed that it would be inhumane to publicly declare him guilty. In the Kharkov living rooms there was great sympathy for the members of the railway board - some of them were very prominent figures in the world, they had such charming wives... They began to say about Koni that he was a socialist, a “red”, raising the labor issue. They even wrote political denunciations about him. Somehow everyone very quickly forgot that it was actually about royal family.
New law was accepted. According to it, the issue of bringing ministers to trial should first have gone to the Tsar for consideration, and then, “having received the highest respect,” go to the State Council. It was decided in two stages, first in the special presence of the State Council (this is like an emergency meeting), then it was submitted to the department of civil and spiritual affairs. There they have already finally voted on bringing the case to trial, dismissing the case, or imposing penalties without trial. And in February 1889, the case of the crash was heard in the State Council. Its members, understandably, found themselves in a difficult position: the highest will, quite clearly and unambiguously expressed, demanded the condemnation of Posyet and others, and corporate interests were aimed at preventing this and not creating a dangerous precedent for the bureaucratic elite.
A special presence consisted of department chairmen and interested ministers. It listened to the investigation report and began the debate. The Grand Dukes Mikhail Nikolaevich and Vladimir Alexandrovich, who were present, were of the opinion that there was “nothing to discuss for a long time,” and demanded that Posyet be brought to justice with excessive, even, in Koni’s opinion, ruthlessness. Some of those present agreed with this. But then new plot twists arose. The smart and cunning former Minister of Finance Abaza spoke in the spirit that Posyet was undoubtedly guilty and “bringing him to trial is a matter of elementary justice,” but his guilt was obvious immediately after the crash, nevertheless, he remained minister for another month, and , having received his resignation, was appointed to the State Council. Consequently, Abaza concluded, the supreme power forgave Posyet, and it would be inappropriate for the special presence to punish him. The Minister of Internal Affairs, Count Tolstoy, argued that putting the minister on trial would mean a decline in the prestige of the authorities in the eyes of society. The Chairman of the Department of Laws of the State Council, Baron Nikolai, described the mental suffering of the unfortunate Posyet (“imagine what the venerable Konstantin Nikolaevich must now suffer!”), called for thinking about how they would be aggravated by the consideration of the case in court, and concluded that this would be “unnecessary cruelty” , and finally burst into tears. But the vote nevertheless decided the matter in favor of putting Posyet and Shernval on trial.
A series of meetings of the department of civil and spiritual affairs followed. They were sluggish, walked in disarray, at the same time, members of the departments listened to all sorts of persuasion and requests and hesitated more and more. As a result, they failed the question of the trial and voted to reprimand Posiet and Schernval without even putting it on the record.
Alexander III could not afford to put more obvious pressure on officials, especially being an interested party in this story. Russian autocratic tyranny was in fact strictly regulated by the norms of unwritten customs, bureaucratic or class. The emperor was not a king from fairy tales; he could not act according to the principle “I do what I want” and quite often was forced to follow the lead of his entourage, even in small things. The ladies-in-waiting who lived in the palace, for example, noted that royal family The court cooks fed them rather poorly (they also played palace games, whether they cared about cooking pots or not). And the imperial family meekly endured this.
So in the matter of the collapse, the king could only swallow the decision of the State Council. The only thing he allowed himself to do was to stop the whole matter of the crash entirely by his own will. Anatoly Fedorovich Koni also fought for this outcome of the case: it would be very unfair to judge low-ranking culprits. The emperor issued a merciful manifesto, and the matter of the collapse was almost over. Memorial signs were also established, which, as usual in such cases, found their recipients.
“Almost”, because there was a small continuation. Alexander III ordered the publication of the findings of the investigation and instructed Koni to write an article. But, as the reader probably guesses, it certainly didn’t make it into print.
There is a well-known story that at the moment of the crash, the Emperor decisively showed his remarkable physical strength and supported the collapsed roof, as a result of which his family was saved. Koni called it all a fiction, since the roof itself is multi-ton and no person could hold it above himself, explaining that the roof was jammed on both sides by collapsed carriages, folding it into a house over the royal family.
Surprisingly, this photo tells a different story. One point of the roof rests on the ground, the back plane rests on the destroyed carriage, from falling to the ground, the roof is held in place by a small tree trunk in diameter, possibly cut down nearby. In addition, it is not placed vertically, but at an angle, which may indicate a relatively small load that a person could easily handle. What am I talking about? Moreover, the investigation carried out even by such an exceptionally honest lawyer as Koni, who tried to rationally explain all the most irrational issues, itself gave rise to a lot of rumors and myths. Without wanting to touch on them, I want to talk about how the memory of the crash of the Tsar’s train was perpetuated by the foundation of the “Spassov Skete” and about all the events associated with it to this day. All this will be discussed in the next story.
On my own behalf, I will add that in Foros, Crimea, a most beautiful church was erected in gratitude for the miraculous salvation of the family of Alexander III.
On October 17, 1888, the imperial family was returning by train from the Crimean estate in Livadia. Emperor Alexander III with his wife and children was having breakfast in the dining car when suddenly a powerful shock threw everyone on the train from their seats and the train derailed.
10 carriages of the imperial train derailed at 14:14 on the 295th kilometer of the Kursk - Kharkov - Azov line at Borki station near Kharkov. The first strong shock threw people from their places. People heard a terrible crash, then a second shock occurred, more powerful than the first. The third shock was weak, after which the train stopped.
The picture that appeared to eyewitnesses was terrifying: 10 of the 15 train cars were thrown onto the left side of a high embankment. Everyone rushed to search for the imperial family and found them alive. Alexander III with Empress Maria Feodorovna, children and retinue were in the dining car during the disaster, which was now completely destroyed. After the first shock, the floor in the carriage collapsed, only the frame remained, and all passengers ended up on the embankment. The carriage was reclining, its roof had collapsed and lay partly on the lower frame. The emperor, who possessed remarkable strength, showed courage and held the roof on his shoulders while his relatives and servants escaped from the rubble.
The emperor and his wife, Tsarevich Nicholas, Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna, and the retinue invited to breakfast safely got out of the mangled dining car, without wheels and with flattened walls. Many escaped with scratches and bruises, only the aide-de-camp Vladimir Sheremetev had his finger crushed. Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna was with her nanny in the carriage of the royal children at the time of the disaster. They were thrown onto an embankment, and the little Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich was removed from the rubble by a soldier with the help of the sovereign.
Only five carriages and both locomotives survived due to the automatic brakes being activated. The carriage containing the courtiers and pantry servants was completely destroyed, and all its passengers were killed. 13 mutilated bodies were recovered from the rubble onto an embankment.
The news of the crash quickly spread and help rushed from all sides. The imperial family actively participated in eliminating the consequences. The Emperor personally supervised the extraction of victims and injured from the wreckage of the train, and the Empress and medical staff walked around the wounded and provided assistance to them. In total, 68 people were injured in the disaster, 21 of them died, including the personal guard of Empress Maria Feodorovna Tikhon Sidorov. Only after all the victims were identified and assistance was provided to the wounded, already at dusk, the imperial family boarded the suite train that arrived next and went to Lozovaya station. There, on the occasion of the miraculous salvation of the crowned family, a thanksgiving prayer service was served.
Prosecutor Anatoly Koni took over the case of the crash in Borki. The main version of the disaster was that the train was overspeeding and the poor condition of the railway. At the time of the accident, the carriages were in excellent condition and had been in good service for 10 years without incident. The train consisted of 15 cars, which were pulled by two locomotives. In violation of all the rules, according to which only 42 axles were allowed on a passenger train, the imperial train had 64 of them. In addition, with such a weight, the train was supposed to travel at a speed of no more than 40 km/h, but in reality the speed was 68 km/ h. The manager of the South-Western Railways company, Sergei Witte, was brought into the investigation.
Contrary to government officials who argued that the accident was caused by poor track conditions, Witte insisted that it was due to excessive speed and train layout flaws that he had warned the government about. Each side tried to abdicate responsibility. As a result, the emperor decided to quietly close the case of the crash. The investigation resulted in the resignation of the Minister of Railways and several other major officials and the appointment of Witte as head of the imperial railways.
It is noteworthy that despite the official position, a completely different version of the crash was outlined in the memoirs of Russian general Vladimir Sukhomlinov. He claimed that the crash was caused by a bomb planted on the train by a revolutionary who had taken a job on the train as an assistant to the imperial train.
“The train crash was attributed to a faulty railway track, and the Minister of Railways had to leave his post; subsequently, much later, it became clear that this was the work of revolutionary organizations.<…>...when analyzing correspondence and documents, we found photographs with notes on back side the information that the deceased collected about these persons. Among them, they also recognized one who entered the court kitchen as a cook and disappeared at the station that preceded the disaster at Borok. Having placed the infernal machine over the axle of the carriage next to the dining room, he left the train, which became clear after the crash, when they began to check whether everything was in place and whether there was anyone under the carriages.”
A monastery called Spaso-Svyatogorsk was soon established at the site of the disaster. A temple in the name of Christ the Savior of the Most Glorious Transfiguration and a chapel were also built there. During the Great Patriotic War, the temple was blown up and the chapel was damaged. For more than 50 years, the structure stood without a dome, until it was restored in the 2000s.
