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Russia and its Empire in Eurasia: Cartographic Resources in the Library of Congress

Railroads

Russia. Ministerstvo puteĭ soobshchenīi︠a︡. Otdi︠e︡l statistiki i kartografīi. Karta puteĭ soobshchenīi︠a︡ Azīatskoĭ Rossīi. 1901. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.

The division holds railroad maps and atlases of Russia at the national, regional, oblast, and city levels. All of the atlases and many of the maps are cataloged, and can be searched via the Library of Congress online catalog by standard search terms, such as "Railroads Russia maps" or "Railroads former Soviet republics maps" or "Railroads Russia Federation Moscow Oblast maps" or "Railroads Russia Federation Saint Petersburg maps." Uncataloged maps and a few atlases are noted below.

Single Maps

There are approximately 115 uncataloged maps in five drawers depicting railroads and railway lines in Russia and the former Soviet Union. They cover the years 1866 to 1968, and are arranged chronologically. They vary in coverage, content, and quality. Four are described below as examples.

 

Karta Zhelznykh' Dorog' Pocht', Telegrafov', i Parakhodnykh' Soobeshchenii Rossiskoi Imperii. (Saint Petersburg: Izdanie Kartograficheskago Zavedenia A. Il'ina, 1874). Chromolithograph, colored. Scaled 1:1,200,000. Filed under USSR -- Railroads -- 1874 -- 1:1,200,000 -- A. Il'in

Informative pair of maps on one sheet depicting railroad, postal, telegraph, and steamship routes throughout the Russian Empire in the mid 1870s. Main map depicts communication and travel routes in European Russia, while the other depicts those in Asiatic Russia (Siberia and Turkestan Krai). Shows post offices; administrative boundaries at the oblast level and administrative seats; stations with complete and partial capacity for mail; existing railroad lines and stations; railroad lines planned and under construction; steamship lines and piers; telegraph lines and stations; and place names. Insets show travel and communication routes in the environs of Saint Petersburg and Moscow, and in the province of Poland, Includes legend.


Skhema Zheleznykh' Dorog' Rossiiskoi Imperii. I. F. Zauer. (Saint Petersburg: Kartograficheskoe zavedenie A. Il'in, 1902). Chromolithograph, colored. Scales vary. Filed under Russia -- Railroads -- 1902 -- no scale -- I. F. Zauer, A. Il'in (map in 4 parts)

Multi-sectioned schematic map on single sheet depicting the entire Russian railway network in the early part of the twentieth century. Main section covers European Russia and western Siberia, with ancillary sections covering the Trans-Caucasus railway line from Poti to Baku, the Krasnovodsk-Margelan' railway line through Central Asia, the Trans-Siberian railway line, and the Orenburg-Tashkent railway line. Depicts cities and towns; station and place names; multiple gauges of railway lines; state borders; rivers and canals; distances in kilometers between stations; and various kinds of stations. Includes insets with railroad lines in the environs of Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Riga. Includes an additional fifty-one small scale insets of railway lines in various Russian towns, with an accompanying list of stops and branches. Includes an alphabetical index of Russian railway lines. Includes extensive legend.


Stanford's Railway Map of European Russia. (London: Edward Stanford Ltd., 1915). Offset lithograph, color. Scale 1:3,220,177. Filed under USSR -- Railroads -- 1915 -- Stanford's (no. 580 "Philips Maps of WWI")

Map depicting European Russia's railroad network during the First World War. Includes Poland, the Baltics, and Finland. Shows double track, single track, and proposed railway lines. Also depicts cities and towns; place names; rivers and lakes; and some relief by hachures.


Zentral-Russland (Ohne Moskau) Schema der Eisenbahnen und Schiffahrtslinien mit Angabe der Banhöfe und Haltestellen. ([Berlin]: Abt. fur Kriegskarten und Vermessungswesen, 1941). Map, colored. Scale 1:1,500,000. Filed under USSR -- Railroads -- [194-?] -- 1:1,500,000 -- Generalstab des Heeres

Germany Army schematic map of central Russia's railroad and steamship lines in 1941. Shows multiple, single, and narrow gauge railway lines, with mileage in kilometers; switching stations, nodes or terminals, and railway administrative terminals; and water courses with steamship lines. Also shows numerous station names along lines. Includes legend. Verso has an extensive alphabetical index of train stations and train stops.

The division holds fifty uncataloged maps depicting railroads and railway lines in European Russia. They range in date from 1843 to 1965, and are arranged chronologically. A few are described below as examples.

There are three uncataloged maps illustrating railroads in Estonia for the period 1922 to 1938, and eight uncataloged maps illustrating railroads in Lithuania for the period 1920 to 1960s.

There is a single uncataloged map depicting railroads in the RSFSR from 1854.

There are two uncataloged maps depicting railroad lines in the Caucasus for 1941 and 1942. Both are described below.

 

Kaukasien Schema der Eisenbahnen und Shiffartslinien mit Angabe der Bahnhõfen und Haltestellen. ([Berlin]: Abteilung fur Kriegskarten und Vermessungwesen, 1941). Map. Scale 1:1,500,000. Filed under USSR -- Caucasus -- Railroads -- 1941 -- 1:1,500,000 -- Generalstab des Heeres

German Army General Staff map from 1941 of railroad and shipping lines with indications of stations and stops in the Caucasus and southern Russia. Depicts multi-track, single track, and narrow gauge railway lines; shipping lines in the Black and Caspian seas; railroad administrative boundaries; intermediate stations, nodes or end stations, and railway administration termini; and national borders. Indicates place names of railroad stations and ports. Verso includes a list of stations and stops, keyed to location on map. 1942 edition described below.


Kaukasien Schema der Eisenbahnen und Shiffartslinien mit Angabe der Bahnhõfen und Haltestellen. ([Berlin]: Abteilung fur Kriegskarten und Vermessungwesen, 1942). Map. Scale 1:1,500,000. Filed under USSR -- Caucasus -- Transportation -- 1942 -- 1:1,500,000 -- German Army General Staff

1942 edition of the German Army General Staff map from 1941 of railroad and shipping lines with indications of stations and stops in the Caucasus and southern Russia. Depicts multi-track, single track, and narrow gauge railway lines; shipping lines in the Black and Caspian seas; railroad administrative boundaries; intermediate stations, nodes or end stations, and railway administration termini; and national borders. Indicates place names of railroad stations and ports. Verso includes a list of stations and stops, keyed to location on map. 1941 edition described above.

There is a single uncataloged map depicting railroads in Russian Central Asia from 1889.

The division holds thirty-nine uncataloged maps depicting railroad lines in Siberia that range in date from the late nineteenth century to 1960. A few of them, as well as one cataloged item illustrated above, are described below.

 

Proekt' Sibirskoi Zheleznoi Dorogi. (S.l.: s.n., [18--?]). Chromolithograph. Scale not given. Filed under USSR -- USSR in Asia -- Railroads ("Proposed Trans-Siberian R.R. . . ") -- [18--?] -- no scale -- no author

Nineteenth century map showing proposed lines for a western Siberian Railroad from Saint Petersburg to the Tobol River. Shows alternate proposed lines from either Rybinsk, Aleksandrovsk, or Ustiug to Staroaleksandrovka on the Tobol River, and from Nizhni Novgorod to either Tiumen or Petropavlovsk in northern Kazakhstan. Also shows cities and towns; rivers; and place names. Also shows roads, including the one from Staroaleksandrovka to Irkutsk.


Skhematicheskaia Zhel'znodorozhnaia Karta Aziatskoi Rossii s' doblaveniem' zhel.-dor. Korei i chasti Kitai. (Harbin: L. Abramovich, [19--]). Typo-lithograph, colored. Scale ca. 100 versts to an inch. Filed under USSR -- Siberia -- Railroads -- [19--] -- no scale -- no author

Travelers' map of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, the Chinese Eastern and the South Manchuria railways, and connecting lines in Central Asia, China, and Korea from the early twentieth century. Map depicts railroad lines; roads; cities and towns; stops along the railway lines; place names; rivers; and state, gubernia, and oblast boundaries. Includes an inset of the major railway networks of China, Korea, and Japan. Includes a cover with illustrations of an approaching train, a steamship, and sailing ships at harbor, as well as advertisements on the verso.


Karta putei soobshcheniia Aziatskoĭ Rossii. Kartograficheskoe zavedenīe A. Ilʹina. ([St. Petersburg?] : Izd. Ministerstva puteĭ soobshcheniia, 1901). 1 map on 3 sheets, chromolithograph. Scale 1:4,200,000. 1 in. to 100 versts. Filed under LC call number G7116.P1 1901 .R8 MLC

Handsome wall map illustrating the railway lines across Siberia and Manchuria at the beginning of the twentieth century. Also shows highways and navigable rivers, telegraph lines, as well as shipping routes in the Caspian and along the Pacific coast. Further depicts cities, towns, and villages; place names; state, oblast, and uezd boundaries; rivers and lakes; and relief by shading and land form drawings. Includes index of references. LC copy annotated in red ink to show Russian railroad survey routes in Mongolia and Manchuria.

Available as a digital image through the Library of Congress website.


Croquis Schematique du Chemin de Fer Transsiberien. (S.l.: S. G. du Grand Quartier General, 1918). Colored map. Scale ca. 1:10,000,000. Filed under USSR -- Siberia -- Railroads -- 1918 -- 1:10,000,000 -- S.G. du G.Q.G.

French army map of the Trans-Siberian Railroad from the end of World War I. Map shows the Trans-Siberian Railroad; other railway lines; rives, navigable canals, and lakes; roads; the Siberian frontier; stops along the railroad lines; and place names.

There are no uncataloged maps depicting railroad lines filed under the Russian Far East. Nevertheless, there are two unique cataloged maps showing the Amur Railway line and the Chinese Eastern Railway across Manchuria. Both are listed below.

 

Sooruzhenie zapadnoi chasti Amurskoi Zh. D. Plan napravleniia linii. (Vladivostok: Ministerstvo Putei Soobescheniia, [1910]). Manuscript, pen-and-ink tracing on linen. Scale 1:420,000 or 10 versts to an inch. Filed under unverified LC call number G7201 .P3 1910 .R8 Vault

Map showing the route of the western section of the Amur Railway line from Verkhniaia Kuenga to Dzhalinda. Also shows the Amur and its tributaries, distances along the line, and roads. Includes list of branch lines and supply roads for nine sections with distances in versts between each. Note states that map is "tracing from Blue-print forwarded by Lester Maynard, Consul, Vladivostok, in Despatch of Nov. 17, 1910." Includes title in Russian and English, and list of branch lines and supply roads in English.


Karta Manʹchzhurii. Kitakskaia-Vostochnaia zh. d. (S.l.: Lit. i Fototsink Sl. Puti, [1903 or earlier]). Lithograph, color. Scale 1:1,250,000. 1 inch to 120 versts. Filed under LC call number G7822.M2P3 1903 .C4

Travelers' railroad map of Manchuria emphasizing the Chinese-Eastern Railway. Shows the line from Manzhouli to Vladivostok, and a spur from Harbin to Changchun, and stations in between. Depicts towns and villages; place names; rivers; and relief by shading. Includes photographic and graphic illustrations of locales associated with the C.E.R. Verso includes texts, train time tables, and notes.

Available as a digital image through the Library of Congress website.

Most maps depicting municipal railway and subway lines have been cataloged, and thus are searchable on the Library of Congress online catalog. Examples of standard search terms include "local transit Russia Federation Moscow maps"; "subways Russia Federation Saint Petersburg maps"; "local transit Russia Federation Novosibirsk maps"; and "Subways Russia Federation Kazan' maps."

There is a single map depicting railroads in Belarus from 1941.

There are two uncataloged maps depicting railroad lines in Ukraine dated 1935 and 1942.

Set Maps

Karte des Gebeits des Murmanbahn. (Berlin: Germany. Heer. Generalstab, 1918). Colored maps. Scale 1:300,000. Filed under LC call number G7061 .P3 s300 .G4

Set of seven maps issued by the German Army in 1918 depicting the Russian railroad connecting the ice-free port of Alexandrovsk (Murmansk) with Petrograd (Saint Petersburg). Maps cover the route of the railway line and the adjacent region, and show the Murmansk Railroad and connecting lines; towns, villages, and settlements, including railroad stations; roads and trails; rivers, inlets, and lakes; place names; marshes; and relief by shading.

Atlases