In 1901, British Journalist John Foster Fraser travelled from Moscow to Vladivostok, and back again, mostly by rail. On his return, he recorded his experiences (and prejudices) in “The Real Siberia”.
In today’s excerpt, Fraser explains why Tomsk stop on the Trans-Siberian is actually 50 miles out of town:
Tomsk, the capital of Siberia, is eighty-two versts from the junction station of Taiga, which means “in the woods.”
And why doesn’t the Great Trans-Siberian Railway run through the capital? It is an old story I was always hearing with regard to this line. It was laid in corruption.
“How much will you give us if we bring the line past Tomsk? ” asked the surveyors and engineers who mapped the route.
“Nothing!” replied Tomsk. “We are the capital of Siberia, and you can’t avoid coming here.”
“Oh, can’t we?” replied the route-finders. “If you don’t produce so many thousand roubles there will be insurmountable engineering difficulties that will prevent us coming within a long way of Tomsk.”
These engineering difficulties were discovered, and so the Trans-Siberian Railway sweeps along fifty miles to the south of Tomsk.
This post is one of a series of excerpts from John Foster Fraser’s “The Real Siberia”. Further excerpts can be found in the Siberian Light archive.
The full text of The Real Siberia is available online at Friends & Partners.
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I’ve heard a different story about the reasons behind Tomsk being bypassed, but they may both be true!
If nothing else, you could look at the construction of railways in Russia as a breeding ground of conspiracy theory and legends.
Does anyone remember where it was that the Tsar was supposed to have supposedly put his thumb in the way of his pencil, while drawing a route – causing the terrified builders to build a thumb-shaped detour in the railway line?
I don’t recall the actual location, but I do recall that the legend became fodder for a beer ad – Sibirskaya Korona, if I remember correctly.
http://xs215.xs.to/xs215/07201/vereb.jpg
http://ellok.chat.ru/ver1.htm
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