The Mykolaiv tram network is part of the public transportation system that serves Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine.
History Horse-drawn carriages: 1897-1915
In 1880s, the question of building a horse-drawn city railway in Mykolaiv became the subject of heated discussions at meetings of the city council. The rapid growth of Mykolaiv — “the third port in the country for the export of grain” — necessitated the development of new connections. In January 1892, the city architect of Mykolaiv E. A. Shtukenberg compiled a “Projected estimate of costs for the construction and operation of a horse-drawn railway in Mykolaiv” with a length of 10.7 versts (11.4 km).
In November 1895, a document was sent from the office of the Mykolaiv military governor to the technical and construction committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (St. Petersburg) with the following content: “…the device and operation of horse-drawn railways in Mykolaiv are presented to M. N. Romanovich and retired captain V. V. Likharev under the Contract concluded by the city on February 1 of this year with the permission of the Ministry of Internal Affairs dated December 9, 1894 under No. 10435…”. All 34 paragraphs of this Contract soon became the main document in the activities of the Belgian Joint-Stock Company of Horse-drawn Railways in Mykolaiv, formed on March 9, 1896 in Liege (Belgium). Since then, the Belgian shareholders have been the organizers and owners of the horse-drawn railway in the city. The first authorized representative of the company in Mykolaiv was Mr. Goossens Adalter (Adolf) Henrikhovich, and his agency was temporarily located in the Barbe Hotel at 3 Soborna Street.
In the spring of 1897, construction of the first line of the horse-drawn railway "Bazarnaya Ploshcha - Viyskovy Rynok" began. In this regard, Odessa Street (part of Potemkinskaya Street from Sadovaya to the modern park "Narodny Sad") was improved, the pavement was expanded and paved at the expense of 1/2 kopeck toll. The track was narrow, 3.3 feet (1.05 m) wide. The horse-drawn railway was single-track with special crossings for passing oncoming horses. The carriages were of a lightweight type with a roof supported on cast-iron columns. The seats in the carriages were transverse, designed for 26 passengers: 20 in the carriage and 6 people on the rear platform. Before the opening of the first line, 10 such carriages were purchased . They were manufactured by the Odesa companies "Demert" and "Galvich". The work of the horses was strictly regulated by several resolutions of the city council. For example, the decree of July 7, 1898 stipulated the following rules: the speed of movement should be 7-12 versts (7.47-12.8 km) per hour and only at a trot; sidings should be located at a distance of 235 sazhens (about 501 m) from each other (some of these stops have been preserved as tram stops to this day) .
There were summer and winter carriages (winter carriages did not have an upper deck - imperial). Summer carriages of early design were open, had five rows of three seats each and were harnessed by a pair of horses. Summer carriages of later design were also open and had twenty seats on benches and six standing places on the rear platform. For protection from rain and wind there were leather curtains that could be lowered from the roof.
On July 26 (August 7 N.S.), 1897, the horse-drawn carriages began to run. The first route was short: from the Alexander II Chapel, which was located at the intersection of Soborna and Khersonska Streets, to the Military Market on Slobidka. The chapel was the starting point for all horse-drawn carriage lines. In December 1897, a second line was laid, connecting the city center with the Mykolaiv-Vantazhny railway station. In early February 1898, this line merged with the first line into one "Military Market - Railway Station". Its length was 5 versts 50 sazhens (about 6.5 km). The line had 10 stops. In 1899, it was extended 640 m to the city hospital.
On June 23, 1898, the 3rd line of the horse-drawn railway to the Spasskoe Urochyshche (now the yacht club), which ran along many streets of the city, officially opened. The "Bazar - Spassk" line had 8 stops, as well as its own peculiarities due to the fact that there was a steep descent and ascent leading to the yacht club. The line connected the city with the country residence of Prince Grigory Potemkin at Spassk. This route operated only in the summer, and from October 15 to March 15, the service was suspended. In the summer, at the final stop "Spassk", an additional third horse was harnessed to the horse-drawn tram to overcome the steep climb.
On August 17, 1898, the 4th line "Bazaar - Commercial Port" was commissioned, which ran from the chapel past the bazaar to 3rd Pishchanaya Street (Obraztsova Street), into lane "A" to the Naval plant, along the coastal pier into the port to the elevator. The lines "Bazaar - Spassky Descent" and "Bazaar - Commercial Port" were combined into one with a total length of 6 versts 480 sazhens (about 8 km). By 1900, all 4 horse-drawn lines in Mykolaiv formed a single operational system with a length of 14.5 km, but the common starting point was the chapel at the bazaar .
The fare system was distance-based and ranged from 3 to 8 kopecks. The gross income, according to the reports of the anonymous society of horse-drawn railways in Mykolaiv, for 1900 amounted to 123,144 rubles 25 kopecks. In 1902, 2,324,845 passengers were transported. The horse-drawn carriage service personnel were required to wear impeccably clean and durable uniforms and caps .
Transition to electric traction At the beginning of the 20th century, an important event took place in Mykolaiv - the commissioning of the city's electric power station. It became possible to replace horse-drawn traction with electric traction . In 1902-1903, the city council began communicating with the Belgian society about converting the horse-drawn tram to electric traction . In 1909, the design of the first city electric tram began . The tram with a trailer car was designed and then manufactured in the St. Petersburg office of the Belgian company Siemens & Halske. The route equipment cost the city authorities two million rubles. An electric-powered tram line with a track width of 1000 mm in Mykolaiv was built in 1913-1914 using an economic method, when all work on laying rails, installing poles and hanging wires was carried out by the city 's own workers without involving third-party organizations. Before the construction of the first line was implemented, the city council considered several projects to start operating electric trams. The earliest one dates back to 1901.
Electric trams: 1915 - Now Initially, electric trams was supposed to start running on December 6, 1914 (O.S.), but the work had not been completed by that time. And only on Sunday, December 21, 1914 (January 3, 1915 N.S.) the first electric tram was launched in Mykolaiv, and after some time the construction of the tram depot was completed, which later became depot No. 1 . At the beginning of the 20th century , Soborna Street was a thoroughfare and trams ran along it.
In 1914, a transformer substation for trams was built on Bazarnaya Square. If we take into account the technical purpose of the building, its appearance is impressive: a round porch, a colonnade, decoration of windows and doors, balconies, a corner tower, facade decoration, a red-tiled roof and other details. Somewhat later, energy consumption increased, so another room was built behind the castle-substation, larger in area (now the building has been preserved, although it has changed its purpose several times). By the end of 1915, 4 tram routes were already operating in the city, and the total length of tram tracks was 17 versts 125 fathoms (18.4 km). From 31 to 38 trams operated in the system.
In 1917, the city's main roads were once again in disarray, as Mykolaiv was left without electricity during the revolutionary events in the Russian Empire. The Russian Civil War, which began after the revolution, forced people to abandone trams for a long time. Only in 1925 was tram traffic in the city restored. The routes "Kuznetskaya - Privoz" and "Privoz - Spask" were combined into one and the numbering of the routes was changed. In 1927, only two routes operated in Mykolaiv: "Kuznetskaya - Spask" and "Kabotazhka - Hospital".
In 1933, the Mykolaiv tram fleet began to be replenished with cars of the X and M types. By the end of the 1930s, the city was being organized, its engineering infrastructure was becoming more complicated. By the end of the 1930s, the length of tram tracks was 41 km. The city was served by 71 units of rolling stock . In 1939, the tram began to run to Vodopiya.
The Mykolaiv tram continued to operate even during the occupation by the Nazi troops during the German-Soviet War. On October 9, 1942, tram traffic was restored. The cars ran on the line from 04:30 to 08:00 and from 17:00 to 20:00 on five routes. In the first days of operation, the city was served by 12 cars. On September 3, 1944, the tram began to run from Petrovsky Park (now "Narodny Sad") to Khersonskaya Street (now Central Avenue). At the end of 1944, the line from the Yacht Club to the Black Sea Shipyard was restored.
After the war, the development of the electric tram network in Mykolaiv continued. On April 25, 1951, a new depot began operating, which received the number 2. Only KTM/KTP-1 trams were housed in it, which had a wider gauge - 1524 mm. The very first tramcar, dark red below and cream above, had the side number 201. The following cars were painted dark blue. A distinctive feature of the trams of this model was a small star located in front, which housed the headlight. Trams, which had the number 206 inclusive, had rectangular windows, and doors with oval-shaped windows (as on KTM-2 cars). Thus, there were two tram depots in the city with two different types of tramcars (for track gauge 1000 mm and 1524 mm respectively), which were not interconnected. The length of tram tracks in the city at that time was 33.2 km. The trams belonging to depot No. 1 were assigned numbers 401-459, and depot No. 2 had numbers starting with No. 460.
On June 23, 1952, a broad-gauge tram service was launched. The new tram route No. 6 ran from 06:00 to 01:00, and connected the 6th Slobidskaya district with the village of Novy Vodopiy. The new route was separated from the main tram network, but was interconnected to other narrow-gauge routes. Passengers traveled from Novy Vodopiy and transferred at the intersection of 6th Slobidskaya and Chkalova streets to the old narrow-gauge tram routes No. 4 and 5.