Miller's line

Miller's line was a passenger railway line in Russia from 1873 to 1886, run by the Finnish State Railways. The line ran from Beloostrov to Sestroretsk, and was used for electrical tests in the 1870s.

Miller's railway
The railway and station on the sea coast at Miller's pier
Overview
Native name	Железная дорога Миллера
Status	Defunct
Owner	Moritz von-Dezen and Michael Ivanovich Miller
Locale	Saint Petersburg
Termini	Sestroretsk Beloostrov or Miller's pier
Stations	3
Service
Type	Regional rail
Operator(s)	Societies of the Sestroretsk railway
Rolling stock	Leased from Finnish State Railways
History
Opened	1873
Succeed by	Zavodskaya Line
Closed	1886
Technical
Line length	9.5 km (5.9 mi)
Track gauge	1,524 mm (5 ft)
Route map Legend 0,0 Vyborg line Vyborg Zelenogorsk Solnechnoye 5.8 5.9 Sestra crossover 6.3 6.6 Beloostrov 0,0 Vyborg line Finlyandsky Rail Term. Lanskaya Pesochny Sestra river 2.3 1.8 Trackside 1871-1886 0,0 SPb-Sestr.-Beloostrov Kurort Planned ferry line 2.9 Miller's pier Gulf of Finland 0,0 Trackside (1875-1886) 0,0 SPb-Sestr.-Beloostrov Kurort 2.2 Sestroretsky kurort 1.7 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.5 Factory bridge Zav. s. 0.2 0.0 Sestroretsk (1871-1924) Sestroretsk armory lake Rasliw 0,0 planned trackside Vodoslivnoy channel 1.7 Sestroretsk 1.7 Dubki horse-iron road Sestroretsk armory Dubkovsky pier 2.1 Liteyny bridge 3.5 Razliv 3.6 SPb-Sestr.-Beloostrov Finlyandsky Rail Term. Novaya derevnya Tarkhovka 5.7 Tarkhovka pier | Ships to Saint Petersburg Distances in kilometers Miller's line railroad line includes Sestroretsk spur line

Societies of the Sestroretsk railway

Russian: частное "Общество Сестрорецкой железной дороги"
Miller's pier railway station
Overview
Headquarters	Sestroretsk
Locale	Saint Petersburg
Dates of operation	1873–1886
Predecessor	Finnish State Railways
Successor	Primorskaya Railway
Technical
Track gauge	1,524 mm (5 ft)
Length	9.5 km (5.9 mi)

Organisation

The private organisation Societies of the Sestroretsk Railway was established to control the railway, headed by Collegiate Assessor Moritz von-Dezen and Titular counsellor Michael Ivanovich Miller. It had been built for the military as the Sestroretsk spur line.

There were plans to build a station 3 versts (approximately 3 km (1.9 mi)) from Sestroretsk, on the bank of Sestroretsk Bay, and also an additional branch line to the Tarhovsky pier, where an operational station already existed.^[1]

Experiments with electrification

In 1875–6, on an area between Miller's pier and Sestroretsk rail station, the engineer Fyodor Pirotsky experimented on the ability of the track to transmit electrogalvanic current. These experiments later led to a patent "On the Electric Method of Transmitting Power along Rail and Other Conductors". The experimental area consisted of a section 3.5 versts (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) long, which passed along the beach for a large part of its length.^[1][2]

The system used the rails as conductors for electricity transmission; one rail carried the direct current, and the second rail functioned as a return wire. The transmission of current was successful, with an electric motor being powered by a steam-powered generator located 1 verst (1.1 km; 0.66 mi) away. Pirotsky stated that current leakage to the earth was negligible, and the transfer efficiency was calculated to be acceptable. Expenses for the adaptation of existing railways to electricity transmission were determined to be insignificant – from 50 to 100 roubles per verst.^[1][2]

• 
  Location on Miller's line where Fyodor Pirotsky's experiments took place

In September 1880, Pirotsky's system was tested in Saint Petersburg using a converted horse-drawn tramcar. The tests were successful, however lobbying by owners of the horse trams meant no tramways in the city were converted to electric traction.^[1][2]

Closure

In 1877, the line operated four pairs of trains. They primarily served residents during the summer period, while in the winter they were only used by officials.

The recorded volume of patronage was very insignificant because of a disputed tariff policy of Finnish railways, and ultimately the Miller's pier station was left idle.^[1] As a result, the operators appeared to be in a disastrous financial position, and the majority of the proposed plans were left incomplete.

By the mid-1880s, the Society of the Sestroretsk railway was definitively ruined, and on January 1, 1886, the railway was closed.^[1]

See also

• Sestroretsk spur line