Varshavsky Rail Terminal

Varshavsky Rail Terminal ( _ru. Варша́вский вокза́л, "Varshavsky vokzal"), or Warsaw Rail Terminal, is a former passenger train station in Saint Petersburg, Russia, now serving as the Museum of Railway Machinery.

The station was originally built in 1851 for a rail line, completed in 1858, from the city to the Tsar's residence in Gatchina. The line was extended in 1859 to Pskov and in 1862 to Warsaw, which at that time was a part of Russian Empire. A branch from the main line that ran to the Prussian border at Virbalis (now Lithuania) connected Saint Petersburg to other capitals of Europe.

The current building was designed by Piotr Salmanovich in a mixture of historical styles. It was constructed between 1857 and 1860. A church was built in front of the station in 1908; it was later demolished and a Lenin statue appeared in 1949.

In 2001, the station was closed with long distance rail service diverted to Vitebsk Rail Terminal and commuter service to Baltiysky Rail Terminal. The trade center "Warsaw Express" occupies the building since 2005. On the tracks, a railway museum now holds over 80 exhibits of steam engines, electric and diesel locomotives.

External links

* [http://nevsky-prospekt.com/warsaw.html Station site with many images]
* [http://www.steam.dial.pipex.com/trains/russia03.htm Report on a visit to the Varshavsky Rail Terminal]

Sources

* [http://www.russkialbum.ru/r/sp5/h.shtml Reconstruction of the Warsaw Railway Station]

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