This article continues the author's previously published investigations in the history of Russian urban transportation and examines a subject unfamiliar even to specialists: efforts to improve passenger cars for Russian streetcars amid the uneasy circumstances of the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s. Apparently, prewar attempts to improve Russian standards for streetcars resulted only in the creation of unique experimental models, of which practically none have survived to the present day. The advancements, innovative ideas, and accumulated practical experience from that time, however, are far from uninteresting from the standpoint of the history of technology.
After the destructive wars and revolutions of 1914-1920, the revival of transport in Russian cities began with the meeting of concerned specialists at the 1922 All-Russia Tram Conference. Extant sources reveal a dramatic contrast between the approaches to the organization of ur ban transit before and after the revolution of 1917 and illustrate both stronger and weaker sides of the socialist economy. One of the main results of the conference - the development and introduction of standard tramcars - anticipated subsequent inter national trends. The experience of the 1922 and five later Tram Congresses may pro vide a useful lesson also for the contemporary chaotic situation with city transit, after several years of neglect amidst rising demands.
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Высшая аттестационная комиссия
При Министерстве образования и науки Российской Федерации
Научная электронная библиотека