The crash of the imperial train 117 years ago on the Russian railway occurred an event that had significant historical consequences. On October 17 (old style), 1888, a train crash occurred in which the family of Emperor Alexander III was traveling.
It was a typical autumn day. Outside the window there is rain, a piercing wind. But the dining car was cozy. The train, its wheels clattering, rolled towards the capital. The royal family (besides the emperor - his wife, twenty-year-old heir Nicholas, the grand dukes and grand duchesses), as well as part of the retinue, had a calm breakfast. When suddenly the carriage rocked sharply, was thrown somewhere to the side, turned around, the wall fell off, and the roof began to fall on the heads of the dignitaries frozen in horror. But the emperor was not at a loss and, standing up, caught the falling roof with his hands. He was a well-built, strong man, and he managed to hold the roof on his back until all the people who had not had breakfast got out of the dining room.
However, it cannot be ruled out that such an interpretation of the miraculous salvation of the imperial family is a legend. Anatoly Fedorovich Koni, who investigated the cause of this disaster, the famous Russian lawyer, prosecutor (and not a lawyer at all, as is sometimes claimed for some reason), believed (in the book “On the Path of Life”) that the royal family was saved due to the fact that the roof was held in place by the walls that had been displaced from the impact . This is more believable. The photographs taken after the disaster show that the roof remained hanging and did not collapse at all. 
The royal dining room was thrown off its wheels and turned around.
Photo by Alexey Ivanitsky.
This happened near Kharkov between the Taranovka and Borki stations at 14:05. How could this happen to the “main train” of the empire? Terrorist attack? There were grounds for such an assumption, because several assassination attempts were made on the father of Alexander III, the “Tsar-Liberator” Alexander II, and in the end the bombers managed to destroy him. And now, seven years after my father’s death, an assassination attempt? According to some accounts, after the train crash, voices were heard in the dining room: “What a horror! An assassination attempt! An explosion!”, to which the emperor reacted sharply and unexpectedly in his heart: “We need to steal less!” And what does this have to do with the traditional Russian occupation?
The investigation clearly showed that the crash was not due to a terrorist attack, but due to a technical reason. The heavy royal train was driven by two locomotives. The speed was “royal”. And the second locomotive, and behind it four more cars, went off the rails. All the wheels were knocked out from under the dining car... The situation was aggravated by the fact that the accident happened on a high embankment, above a deep beam. From under the wreckage of the royal dining room, everyone got out with only scratches and abrasions (only the adjutant Sheremetev suffered more severely, but not seriously), but in other cars, 19 people died and 18 were seriously injured. 
The roof of the dining room held...
Photo by Alexey Ivanitsky
The Emperor deigned to personally manage the organization of assistance to the victims. And, despite the piercing wind, rain and heavy mud, he went down the slope several times, to the dead and wounded stationed there. And his wife Maria Feodorovna, a Danish woman, tore the linen into bandages and bandaged the wounded herself. A sanitary train arrived from Kharkov, and all the victims were placed there. And only after this the emperor set off on the approaching train of his suite. This train went around the damaged section - to the Lozovaya station. The village clergy arrived there by order of the highest order, who served in the presence of the tsar a memorial service for the deceased victims and a prayer of thanks on the occasion of the “wonderful deliverance of the greatest danger of the august family.”
However, it cannot be said that the royal family did not lose anyone in this train accident. Lost it. And the sovereign was greatly distressed by this loss.
Five years before this tragedy, a Kamchatka Laika appeared in the royal family. It was presented to Alexander III by the sailors of the cruiser "Africa", which returned from the Pacific Ocean. That's what they called it - Kamchatka. And the emperor was very worried that his beloved dog died in a train crash. Judging by the diary, he often thought about her. “Today I refrained from inviting anyone,” the tsar writes on one of his difficult days, “in such cases, at least a dog is terribly missing; and with such despair I remember my faithful Kamchatka; after all, this is stupid, cowardice, but what can we do? - it’s still so! Do I have at least one unselfish friend among people; no, and there can’t be one, but maybe Kamchatka was such a dog.” There was even a monument erected to the four-legged friend in the imperial garden, under the royal windows. Did the sovereign regret the innocent people who died at Borki in the same way? The diary does not answer this question.
For some time this Spaso-Svyatogorsk monastery stood at the site of the crash. Has anyone remembered with the same pain about a dead dog? Hardly. So the “miraculous salvation” of the entire royal family really happened. And this was the reason for a religious outburst: with donations from the population, dozens of churches and chapels were built to commemorate this event throughout Russia - from Crimea to Eastern Siberia.
But there were also more significant consequences for the country of this collapse - personnel, technical and political. “Derailments are, unfortunately, a fairly common occurrence on the roads: we have about 300 of them a year,” the Russkiye Vedomosti newspaper wrote two days after the crash. “The causes of derailments are extremely numerous and varied and can include imperfections track, as well as in the shortcomings of the rolling stock and in the incorrect operation of the train. A track washed out by rain, rotten sleepers, a suddenly burst rail, incorrect setting of the switch, untimely setting of a signal, a damaged wheel, uneven braking of the car - all this can lead to derailment. expose the train to greater or lesser harm." Is this why the tsar uttered his famous phrase in a broken carriage!
Externally, the imperial train
was not luxurious. After the crash of the Tsar's train, the Minister of Railways, Admiral Konstantin Posyet, and the Chief Inspector of Railways, Baron Cherval, were dismissed. But it was not only a matter of dishonesty, the uncleanliness of some specific railway workers or officials.
Sycophancy and sycophancy are always honored. And to please the emperor, his train was allowed to travel in violation of safety rules. In the summer of the same 1888, Alexander III traveled along the Southwestern Railways three times. It consisted of heavy carriages, and the train was driven by two freight locomotives. Moreover, the speed was too high for the then railways with light rails, wooden sleepers and sand ballast. The train could have knocked out the tracks. The manager of the South-Western Railways, Sergei Yulievich Witte, wrote about this in a report addressed to the Minister of Railways (see attached for an excerpt from his memoirs).
According to his position, he was obliged to accompany the royal train on his section of the route. Witte demanded that the train speed be reduced to a safe speed, otherwise he would refuse to accompany him. The demands were satisfied, since these roads were private and not government-owned, but the minister and the emperor then expressed their dissatisfaction to the adamant manager, since on other railways in the country no one limited the speed of the royal train. 
But the contents were royal,
including car.
However, after the resignations of high-ranking transport workers, the intractable Sergei Witte, on the contrary, was invited to work in the capital - director of the department of railway affairs in the Ministry of Finance. This began his brilliant career in the highest echelon of power. And he did a lot for the development of not only the country’s railways, but also the entire Russian economy. Thus, the tariff law he developed for freight transportation made it possible to make the operation of railways profitable, and this served as an impetus for the further rapid development of the country’s transport network, where, as we know, roads have always been (and still remain!) one of the two most important Russian problems . It was in those years that Russia set a world record for the scale of railway construction. It would probably be useful to remember now the principles of the tariff policy of the wise businessman and financier Witte.
The crash of the royal train played a big role in the fate of another now almost forgotten person. Since the accident happened not far from Kharkov, local photographer Alexey Mikhailovich Ivanitsky came from there.
Photographer
Alexey Ivanitsky. This material is illustrated with his photographs taken from the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents. He was a professional photographer, and after this shooting he became an all-Russian celebrity. For a series of photographs about the accident of the royal train, Alexander III granted him a plot of land near the village of Gaidary, Zmievsky district, Kharkov region. Ivanitsky, in fact, became a court photographer under the last two Russian tsars. The then Russian celebrities considered it an honor to film with him. Suffice it to recall the well-known photograph of Vera Komissarzhevskaya. Fyodor Chaliapin came to him for filming.
Under Soviet rule, the Bolsheviks, naturally, spanked him - on December 9, 1920, in Crimea. Just like that - for noble origin. He really came from the nobility. And his wife was the granddaughter of the ataman of the Transdanubian Sich, Major General Osip Gladky. However, this was probably not the main thing; they simply remembered that he was close to the imperial court. Although he could also shoot the leaders of the new government. It didn't happen. And, unfortunately, to this day, the photographer’s grandson, historians cannot find the priceless archive of Ivanitsky, who was arrested by the security officers. And these are several boxes of glass negatives. Surprisingly, the Ivanitskys, now in a completely different state, were given back their rights to real estate in the early nineties. But the biological station of the Kharkov National University was located there. And there were painful property disputes, and unsuccessful attempts by the poor heir, a former Soviet officer, to restore the dilapidated family nest. And the grandson was forced to sell the received inheritance to the university...
After the accident at the Borki station, they made the most serious technical conclusions that everyone must follow the traffic rules and that a new, more powerful and high-speed locomotive is needed. In 1890, the Ministry of Railways instructed the Nikolaevskaya (now Oktyabrskaya) Railway, the most technically developed at that time, to create and manufacture at the Aleksandrovsky Plant, which belonged to it, a passenger steam locomotive that could drive trains weighing up to 400 tons at a speed of up to 80 kilometers per hour. hour. To meet such requirements, it was necessary to build a locomotive with three twin axles. In fact, by that time Russia already had steam locomotives of this type. Back in 1878, for the first time in the world, 14 years ahead of other countries, they began to be built at the Kolomensky plant. But they were operated only on the Ural Mining Railway, which did not then have a connection with the entire network of the country. With the participation of Professor N.L. Shchukin Aleksandrovsky plant in 1892 began producing new, powerful, high-speed and reliable locomotives. After several improvements, these locomotives were allowed to drive trains at speeds of up to 108 kilometers per hour in 1914!
Family of Alexander III.
On the left is the future Emperor Nicholas II. There were also political consequences of the crash. Although the imperial family was “miraculously” saved, Alexander III himself suffered from kidney disease as a result of an injury and died almost on the anniversary of the train crash - on October 20, 1894, relatively young (49 years old), without having time to prepare his heir for the heavy burden of autocratic rule of the country. , the future last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
In principle, Alexander III was not the best king for Russia. And not the smartest, and very tough. After the almost liberal sovereign-father, he, probably frightened by “excessive freedom” and terrorist acts, stopped many of the begun transformations in society, even reversed some, tightened the screws, strengthened the “vertical” of his autocratic power by strengthening bureaucratic control over society apparatus, in particular, limited the powers of the zemstvo, abolished elected dumas in small towns, subordinated universities to appointed trustees, doubled tuition fees in higher and secondary educational institutions, stopped admission to higher women's courses, established taxes on inheritance and interest papers, increased the taxation of trades, was engaged in the Russification of the Baltic region, forbade Jews to settle outside the cities and at the same time evicted Jewish artisans from Moscow and the Moscow province... Therefore, it was he who prepared the ground for discontent in the country, which spilled out into riots and revolutions under Nicholas II. However, he did something useful for the economy, including railway construction. We must also give him credit for the fact that during the fourteen years of his reign, Russia did not fight. And if the domineering, strong-willed father had lived for at least another ten years, you see, the weak-willed, inconsistent, insecure son would have gained some sense and would not have allowed such a terrible fate for himself, for his family, for our country. Follow railway safety rules! Regardless of ranks and titles...
From the memoirs of former Tsarist Prime Minister Sergei Yulievich Witte
(in 1888 he was manager of the South Western Railways, a private company):
The schedule of imperial trains was usually compiled by the Ministry of Railways without any demand or participation of road managers. I received a timetable in a timely manner, according to which the train from Rovno to Fastov was supposed to take such and such a number of hours, and in such a number of hours only a light passenger train could cover this distance; meanwhile, a huge imperial train suddenly appeared in Rovno, made up of a mass of very heavy carriages... Since such a train, and at the speed that was assigned, not only could not carry one passenger, but even two passenger locomotives, it was necessary... transport it with two freight locomotives... Meanwhile, the speed was set to the same speed as passenger trains. Therefore, it was absolutely clear to me that at any moment a misfortune could happen, because if freight locomotives move at such speed, then they completely shake the track, and if in some place the track is not completely, not absolutely strong... then these locomotives can turn out rails, as a result of which the train may crash....
I presented calculations from which it was clear that with our Russian tracks - with relatively light rails, with our wooden sleepers (abroad - metal sleepers), with our ballast (we have sand ballast, while abroad almost everywhere ballast is made of crushed stone ) - the path, naturally, is unstable... I wrote in the report that I no longer intend to take responsibility for the movement of the imperial train under such conditions... To this I received the following answer by telegram: in view of my such a categorical statement, the Minister of Railways ordered the schedule to be redone and increase the train running time by three hours...
When I entered the station, I noticed that everyone was looking sideways at me... Adjutant General Cherevin came up to me and said: The Emperor ordered me to tell you that he is very dissatisfied with the ride on the South-Western Railways. ...The emperor himself came out, who heard Cherevin conveying this to me. Then I tried to explain to Cherevin what I had already explained to the Minister of Railways. At this time, the sovereign turns to me and says:
What are you saying? I drive on other roads, and no one slows me down, but I can’t drive on your road simply because your road is Jewish.
(This is a hint that the chairman of the board was the Jew Bliokh.)
Of course, I didn’t answer the emperor’s words and kept silent. Then the Minister of Railways immediately entered into a conversation with me on this subject, and he pursued the same idea as Emperor Alexander III. Of course, he did not say that the road was Jewish, but simply stated that this road was not in order, as a result of which it was impossible to travel soon. And to prove the correctness of his opinion he said:
But on other roads we drive at such speed, and no one has ever dared to demand that the sovereign be driven at a slower speed.
Then I could not stand it and said to the Minister of Railways:
You know, Your Excellency, let others do as they please, but I don’t want to break the sovereign’s head, because it will end with you breaking the sovereign’s head in this way.
Emperor Alexander III heard this remark of mine, of course, he was very dissatisfied with my insolence, but did not say anything... On the way back, when the sovereign again passed along our road, the train was already given the speed and the number of hours that I demanded was added. I again fit into the carriage of the Minister of Railways, and noticed that since the last time I saw this carriage, it had leaned significantly to the left side... It turned out that this happened because the Minister of Transport, Admiral Posiet, had a passion for various , one might say, railway toys: for example, to various heating stoves and to various instruments for measuring speeds; all this was placed and attached to the left side of the car...
Diagram of the crash.
Two months have passed. Then I lived in Lipki opposite the house of the Governor General... Suddenly one night a valet knocks on my door... They say: there is an urgent telegram...
I arrived at the site of a train crash... It turned out that the imperial train was traveling from Yalta to Moscow, and they gave such a high speed, which was also required on the South-Western Railways. None of the road managers had the confidence to say that this was impossible. We also traveled with two steam locomotives, and in the carriage of the Minister of Railways, although somewhat lightened by the removal of some devices on the left side, no serious repairs were made during the stay in Sevastopol; in addition, he was placed at the head of the train, the first from the locomotive. Thus, the train was traveling at an inappropriate speed, with two freight locomotives and even with a carriage of the Minister of Railways that was not in perfect working order. What happened was what I predicted: the train, due to the rocking of the freight locomotive, knocked out the rail. Freight locomotives are not designed for high speed, and therefore, when a freight locomotive runs at an inappropriate speed, it wobbles.
...I concluded that the central administration - the Ministry of Railways - is solely to blame, and the inspector of imperial trains is also to blame. The result of this disaster was the following: after some time, the Minister of Railways of Posyet had to resign. Baron Cherval [the inspector] was also to retire and settle in Finland. Baron Cherval was a Finn by origin... The sovereign parted with these persons without any malice... But Emperor Alexander III, not without reason, considered the main culprit of the disaster to be the engineer Salov, who at that time was the head of the railway department... For this reason, Salov throughout the reign of Emperor Alexander III could not receive any assignment...
Photographs from the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents were used, as well as materials from the following websites:
"Pedigree of the Ivanitsky family" (geneo.narod.ru/geneo/geneoRod_ivan.php) and "Zheldorpress-Inform" (zdp.ru).
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 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 Sheremetev's aide-de-camp, 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. The Empress and the medical staff 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.
A total of 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 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 (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
Office of the Sovereign Emperor
2nd Grand Duke's Department
Cabin interior
The emperor's blue carriage was 25 m 25 cm long. Gilded double-headed eagles decorated the windows located on both sides. The ceiling was covered with white satin, the walls were upholstered with crimson quilted damask. The same material was used to cover furniture, for which French decorators from Lyon were invited. There were bronze clocks on the tables, and the interior was also decorated with vases of Sevres porcelain and bronze candelabra. The mosaic doors opened and closed completely silently, and fresh air was delivered through bronze ventilation pipes, decorated at the top with weather vanes in the form of eagles. The heating pipes were disguised with bronze gratings, which also served as spectacular decorative details. The Empress's carriage consisted of "three elegantly decorated rooms, with a fireplace, a kitchen, a cellar and an icehouse."
Interior of the imperial composition
The train was thrown onto the left side of the embankment and presented a terrible appearance: without wheels, with flattened and destroyed walls, the cars were reclining on the embankment; the roof of one of them lay partly on the lower frame. According to eyewitnesses, 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 the embankment, crushed by the roof.
Train accident on October 17, 1888 near Borki. Photo 1888
Some of the carriages were literally smashed to pieces, killing 20 people, mostly servants. At the time of the train crash, Alexander III was in the dining car with his wife and children. The carriage, large, heavy and long, was supported on wheeled bogies, which during the crash came off, rolled backwards and piled on top of each other. The same blow knocked out the transverse walls of the car, the side walls cracked, and the roof began to fall. The footmen standing at the door of the cells died; the rest of those in the carriage were saved only by the fact that when the roof fell, one end rested against a pyramid of carts. A triangular space was formed, allowing the almost doomed august travelers to get out of the carriage - wounded, dirty, but alive.
It was said that the tall and strong emperor supported the roof while his loved ones crawled out from under it. As soon as he got out from under the rubble, he began helping the victims.
Alexander III with his family and dog Kamchatka
Train accident on October 17, 1888 near Borki. Photo 1888
As the investigation established, the cause of the disaster was a significant excess of the speed of the heavy royal train and defects in the construction of the railway. Trains of this volume were then not 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.
In Kharkov, where the imperial family was taken, a solemn prayer service was served for its salvation. Indeed, there was some kind of higher providence in what happened. At the site of the disaster, an Orthodox seven-domed temple was erected: Tsar, Queen, five children. Subsequently, for many years, the emperor came here during the Easter festivities.
Olga Shcherbakova
ra
On October 17, 1888, alarming news spread across Russia: at the Borki railway station (a few kilometers south of Kharkov), the imperial train, in which Tsar Alexander III was returning with his wife and children after a vacation in the Crimea, crashed.
14:14
The disaster occurred in the afternoon, at 14:14, it was raining and there was slush everywhere. The train was descending the slope at a speed of 68 kilometers per hour, which was significant for that time, and suddenly an unexpectedly strong shock threw people from their seats, followed by a terrible crash, and the train went off the rails.
This was a special imperial train of 10 carriages, on which Alexander III and his family and retinue traveled annually to the Crimean estate of Empress Maria Alexandrovna - Livadia. Composition: a foreign-built locomotive, a saloon car, a kitchen car, a bedchamber car, a dining car, a service car and suite cars (by the way, which gave the prestigious abbreviation SV).
Tsar's carriage
The emperor's blue carriage was 25 m 25 cm long. Gilded double-headed eagles decorated the windows located on both sides. The ceiling was covered with white satin, the walls were upholstered with crimson quilted damask. The same material was used to cover furniture, for which French decorators from Lyon were invited. There were bronze clocks on the tables, and the interior was also decorated with vases of Sevres porcelain and bronze candelabra. The mosaic doors opened and closed completely silently, and fresh air was delivered through bronze ventilation pipes, decorated at the top with weather vanes in the form of eagles. The heating pipes were disguised with bronze gratings, which also served as spectacular decorative details. The Empress's carriage consisted of "three elegantly decorated rooms, with a fireplace, a kitchen, a cellar and an icehouse."
Terrible disaster
The train was thrown onto the left side of the embankment and presented a terrible appearance: without wheels, with flattened and destroyed walls, the cars were reclining on the embankment; the roof of one of them lay partly on the lower frame. According to eyewitnesses, 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 the embankment, crushed by the roof.
Miraculous Rescue
Some of the carriages were literally smashed to pieces, killing 20 people, mostly servants. At the time of the train crash, Alexander III was in the dining car with his wife and children. The carriage, large, heavy and long, was supported on wheeled bogies, which during the crash came off, rolled backwards and piled on top of each other. The same blow knocked out the transverse walls of the car, the side walls cracked, and the roof began to fall. The footmen standing at the door of the cells died; the rest of those in the carriage were saved only by the fact that when the roof fell, one end rested against a pyramid of carts. A triangular space was formed, allowing the almost doomed august travelers to get out of the carriage - wounded, dirty, but alive.
The king did not disappoint
Alexander III was not a timid or weakling. It was said that the tall and strong emperor supported the roof while his loved ones crawled out from under it. As soon as he got out from under the rubble, he began helping the victims.
Reasons
As the investigation established, the cause of the disaster was a significant excess of the speed of the heavy royal train and defects in the construction of the railway. Trains of this volume were then not 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.
Prayer for salvation
In Kharkov, where the imperial family was taken, a solemn prayer service was served for its salvation. Indeed, there was some kind of higher providence in what happened. At the site of the disaster, an Orthodox seven-domed temple was erected: Tsar, Queen, five children. Subsequently, for many years, the emperor came here during the Easter festivities.
Emperor Alexander III with his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna. State Archives of the Russian Federation/Photo TASS
On October 17, 1888, Emperor Alexander III and his family were returning from Livadia to St. Petersburg. When the train was passing the Borki station in the Kharkov province, the train derailed
After the accident with the royal train, Sergei Yulievich Witte claimed that long before the accident in Borki he warned Alexander III that the imperial trains were developing too high a speed on the Southwestern Railways.
This is how the Government Gazette described this incident: “During the crash of Their Majesties, the Sovereign Emperor and Empress with the entire August Family and members of the Retinue were having breakfast in the dining car. When the first carriage derailed, the following carriages flew off on both sides; the carriage - the dining room, although it remained on the canvas, was in an unrecognizable form.<…>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 Most August Children emerged unharmed from the wreckage of the carriage.”
At the time of the train crash, Alexander III was in the dining car with his wife and children. This carriage, large, heavy and long, was supported on wheeled bogies, which fell off upon impact. The same blow broke the transverse walls of the car, the side walls cracked, and the roof began to fall on the passengers. The lackeys standing at the door of the cells died; the Royal Family was saved only by the fact that when the roof fell, one end rested against a pyramid of carts and a triangular space was formed, in which they found themselves.
The Tsarevich left the following entry in his diary about this terrible moment in his life: “A fatal day for everyone, we could all have been killed, but by the Will of God this did not happen. During breakfast, our train derailed, the dining room and six carriages were destroyed, and we came out of it unscathed." After the crash, Empress Maria Feodorovna said: “In all this, the hand of Providence, which saved us, was palpably visible.”
Sergei Witte, who was not a witness to the incident, wrote that “the entire roof of the dining car fell on the Emperor, and he, only thanks to his gigantic strength, kept this roof on his back, and it did not crush anyone.” The head of the investigation into the causes of the railway accident, Anatoly Fedorovich Koni, considered this statement implausible, since the roof itself weighed several tons and no person could hold it up. Nevertheless, Professor of Surgery at Kharkov University Wilhelm Fedorovich Grube was convinced of the direct connection between the Tsar’s fatal illness and the injuries he received in the crash.
Alexander III, despite the extremely bad weather (it was raining with frost), himself ordered the extraction of the wounded from under the rubble of broken carriages. Professor Grube recalled: “Their Majesties deigned to go around all the wounded and with words of consolation they encouraged those who were weak and discouraged.” Empress Maria Feodorovna visited the victims with medical personnel, provided assistance to them, trying in every possible way to alleviate the suffering of the patients. Alexander III wrote to his brother, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich: “This day will never be erased from our memory. It was too terrible and too wonderful, because Christ wanted to prove to all of Russia that He still works miracles and saves believers from obvious death in Him and His great mercy."
