The Grand Crimean Central Railway was a military railway built in 1855 during the Crimean War by Great Britain. Its purpose was to supply ammunition and provisions to Allied soldiers engaged in the Siege of Sevastopol who were stationed on a plateau between Balaklava and Sevastopol. It also carried the world's first hospital train.
The railway was built at cost and without any contract by Peto, Brassey and Betts, a partnership of English railway contractors led by Samuel Morton Peto. Within three weeks of the arrival of the fleet carrying materials and men the railway had started to run and in seven weeks of track had been completed. The railway was a major factor leading to the success of the siege. After the end of the war the track was sold and removed.
Origins
Background
Britain and France declared war on Russia on 28 March 1854 in support of the Ottoman Empire. By the late summer of 1854 the British, led by Lord Raglan, with their French and Turkish allies decided that a siege of the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, held by the Russians, would be the best method of forcing an end to the war.
After landing their forces to the north of Sevastopol, the British set up a base in the narrow harbour of Balaclava, about south of Sevastopol, in September 1854. Most of the land between Balaclava and Sevastopol was a plateau about above sea level. The towns were connected by a road which was little more than a track. This travelled northwards, rising slightly to the village of Kadikoi about from Balaclava. It then turned west, climbing steeply to the plateau via the Col of Balaclava. The French were supplied from the harbour at Kamiesch.
During the early part of October, the British troops with their supplies and artillery made their way with difficulty up the road to prepare for the siege. When they were all in place the First Bombardment took place, starting on October 17. It had been expected that the bombardment would be effective and that the siege would be short-lived; certainly over before the winter. However, the Russians blew up one of the French magazines and the damage done by British gunfire was soon repaired. The British were running out of ammunition and supplies, winter was approaching and with the onset of bad weather the road became virtually impassable. Supplies were arriving at the crowded port of Balaclava but it was impossible to convey them to the besieging troops who were increasingly suffering from disease, frostbite and malnutrition. Conditions in Balaclava itself were also deteriorating.
Planning and contractors
News of these conditions was relayed to Britain, mainly by William Howard Russell, special correspondent of The Times. Hearing the news, Samuel Morton Peto, one of the leading railway contractors of the day, offered with his partners Edward Betts and Thomas Brassey, to build at cost, without any contract or personal advantage, a railway to transport supplies from the port of Balaclava to the troops outside Sevastopol. They promised to have a railroad at work in three weeks after landing at Balaclava. The offer was accepted and the contractors began to obtain supplies, to purchase or hire ships, and to recruit the men, who included specialists and navvies. The vessels engaged to carry the railway material and men consisted of seven steam and two sailing ships, of the aggregate tonnage of 5491 tons, and 900-horse power, as follows - "Lady Alice Lambton," screw-steamer, 511 tons, 90-horse power; "Great Northern," ditto, 578 tons, 90-horse ; "Earl of Durham," ditto, 554 tons, 90-horse; Baron von Humboldt," ditto, 420 tons, 60-horse; " Hesperus," ditto. 800 tons, 150-horse; " Prince of Wales," ditto, 627 tons, 120-horse ; "Levant," paddle-steamer, 694 tons, 500-horse power; "Wildfire," clipper sailing ship, 457 tons; Mohawk," ditto, 850 tons. The material consisted of 1800 tons of rails and fastenings, 6000 sleepers, 600 loads timber, and about 3000 tons of other material and machinery, consisting of fixed engines, cranes, pile engines, trucks, wagons, barrows, blocks, chain- falls, wire-rope, picks, bars, capstans, crabs, and a variety of other plant and tools; besides sawing machines, forges, carpenters' and smiths' tools, &c. This material was distributed over the different vessels in such a manner that should any one or two vessels be lost disabled, it will not endanger the efficiency of the whole. The ships convey, in parties of 50 or 80, 500 workmen; each party under a charge of a foreman and assistant; as well as a surgeon to each vessel.
The fleet set sail on December 21 and arrived at the beginning of February.