The document summarizes the history of the Lutsk Railway Station in Lutsk, Ukraine. It describes how the station came to be built in 1890 at the request of Russian Emperor Alexander III, who wanted to visit Lutsk. Within a month, a 12 km railway was constructed connecting Kivertsi to Yarovytsia. The original wooden building of the Lutsk station is no longer standing today. The document outlines the class divisions in railway travel in the Russian Empire and details about the interior and facilities of the late 19th century Lutsk Railway Station.

1. Lutsk Railway Station
Prepared by Sliepchuk Natalia

2. Lutsk thanks for appearance of railway to the
Russian emperor Oleksandr ІІІ. In 1890 he
was in these edges with military purpose.
He wanted to visit the county town of Lutsk,
and asked one of his nobles: is there a railway
to Lutsk?» The subordinate glanced on a map,
saw the inscription "Lutsk station" (which was
located in Kivertsi) and blurted out "Yes,
Majesty!". Even then, the grief-stricken
realized that the Lutsk station was located on
the Kyiv-Brest branch, 11 miles from the
county center. But in order to save the kind
name of official and not to cause
inconvenience to the king, they decided to
immediately build a railway to Lutsk. Works
began on August, 1, and on August, 19 Lutsk
was connected to the railway line, which was
the first echelon on August 20. On place of
temporal metallic cover afterwards built the
railway station. Now it is a building on
Streletskaya Street, which houses the
Svitlofor restaurant.

3. The first trains to Lutsk began to arrive late, at the end of the XIX century, when the network of railways
in the world reached a million kilometers. In 1891, a small "appendix" 12 kilometers long was completed
from Kiverets, where the Kyiv-Brest railway passed, to Yarovytsia.
In the Russian Empire, which included Volhyn, the railway could offer the traveler an exceptional service,
but for big money. Stations and carriages were divided into classes. First- and second-class passengers
enjoyed gourmet meals and drinks, which were sometimes lacking even in city cafeterias or restaurants,
and traveled in carriages with upholstered furniture and velvet-lined walls. The third or fourth class for
poorer passengers 120 years ago was a little differed in interior and amenities from the modern Kivertsi-
Sapizhanka diesel train, but the overcrowding and cigarette stench made traveling in such carriage a hell
of an experience. The literature of that time was full of stories from the third grade - here life and
relationships appeared without embellishments.

4. THE PLAN OF THE PASSENGER BUI LDING OF THE LUTSK RAI LWAY STATION I N 1894 SHOW THE LI FE
OF TRAVELERS AND UNKNOWN ARCHI TECTURAL DETAILS. THE WOODEN BUI LD ING I S TYPICAL AND
SMALL, BUT SLENDER AND ELEGANT. WI NDOWS AND DOORS WERE DECORATED WI TH CARVED
CORNI CES, AND UNDER THE ROOF WERE CARVED BRACKETS. THE ARCHITECT URE OF SMALL
STATIONS OF CERTAIN SECTIONS OF THE RAI LWAY WAS PERFORMED I N A S I NGLE STYLE. PASSENGER
BUI LDINGS AT I NTERMEDIATE STATIONS I N THE RUSSI AN EMPI RE WERE US UALLY BUI LT OF WOOD
AND I N THE "RUSSI AN" STYLE. THE WOODEN STATIONS WERE PAI NTED YEL LOW, BROWN AND GREEN.
THE STATION I N LUTSK WAS DESI GNED BY THE FAMOUS ARCHI TECT VALERI AN KULI KOVSKY , THE
AUTHOR OF THE PROJECT OF THE BUI LDING OF THE SOUTH -WESTERN RAILWAY ADMI NISTRATION I N
KYI V.

5. PASSENGERS ENTERED THE STATION BUI LDING I N LUTSK THROUGH SMALL H AYLOFTS AND A LONG
THROUGH CORRI DOR THAT HAD ACCESS ON THE RAI LWAY PLATFORM. THI S S PACE ON THE PLAN OF
THE BUI LDING I S MARKED WI TH THE WORD "BAGGAGE". FI RST AND SECOND CLASS PASSENGERS
USUALLY HANDED OVER THEI R SUI TCASES AND PACKAGES TO THE LUGGAGE CARRI AGE, SO THEY
WERE COLLECTED I N ADVANCE AT THE STATION. AFTER PURCHASING A TI C KET AND PAYI NG FOR
LUGGAGE (USUALLY THREE KOPECKS PER I TEM), PASSENGERS WENT TO THE WAI TING ROOM. AT
LUTSK RAI LWAY STATION, NO MATTER HOW SMALL AND DEMOCRATIC I T SEE MED, THERE WAS A
SMALL ROOM FOR FI RST -CLASS TRAVELERS. USUALLY, I N SUCH A ROOM YO U COULD SEE
UPHOLSTERED FURNI TURE, AND I N THE COMMON ROOM THERE WERE ONLY WO ODEN BENCHES WI TH
BACKS.

6. A first-class ticket was three times more
expensive than a third-class ticket. The
station served as a meeting place for
social classes that almost did not
intersect in everyday life, as well as
modern changes: you could not be an
aristocrat, but earning money and
dressing cleanly, you gained the right to
comfort. The railway was a barometer of
changes in society, the nobility of that
time often complained about the
common people, who rushed to the
first-class restaurant, but on the
railway everyone waved their hands.
At the station in Lutsk, a separate space was set
aside for a ladies' room. There was a toilet next to
it. For men, the toilet was located on the street,
although from the first class to the toilet could also
be reached. By the way, those women who traveled
in third-class cars had much more trouble than
their richer companions. The students repeatedly
complained about harassment in the third-class
carriages, which is why at the beginning of the
school year they had to be allocated separate
seats, compartments, and carriages. Seats in the
third class were not marked, the conductor seated
all people.

7. One part of the Lutsk station was reserved for passengers, and the
other was used for business purposes. There was a stationmaster's
office, a tube office and a telegraph. In the Russian Empire,
telegraph communication developed along with the construction of
the railway and was originally used for military and government
purposes. However, during the construction of the station in
Lutsk, the telegraph mostly processed private messages of
thousands per day. To send a ten words cost 25 kopecks. The
tradition on the railway - has not changed for more than half a
century - to announce the approach or departure of the train by an
external bell. Two strikes by the station attendant was to signal
that the train was approaching the station. Before the train left,
the bell rang three times, after which the chief conductor blew the
whistle and the last driver did it with the whistle of the locomotive.
The alarm was sounded with frequent blows for a long time.

8. The obligatory attribute at the station was the
issuance of boiling water to all who needed it.
First-class passengers first rode in
armchairs or sofas, and later there were
seats that slid into bed. At the time when
the railway came to Lutsk, they were
already traveling in a compartment. In
some cars in the compartment in addition
to the two shelves (the upper served as a
bolt for the lower in a folded form) could
also be a chair and a table with a table
lamp, you could use a sink and toilet that
opened to two compartments. However,
for most, the usual picture was
uncomfortable benches in the third grade.

9. It is not known for sure what happened to the first wooden building of the Lutsk station. During the First World
War, Lutsk and the railway station became a place of fighting, and the surrounding buildings turned into fires. It
is possible that the house burned down, because in the photos of 1918-1922 we can see another wooden
building made of large beams. It is possible that the modern look of the building is a modification and completion
in the 1920s and 1930s of a building erected during the First World War. It remains unknown where the
buildings have such beautiful carved openwork columns in the former waiting room. Judging by the photos of
the structure of the First World War - this element could well saved to those times.

10. The station was photographed in
1922 during a visit to Lutsk by
Polish leader Józef Pilsudski, the
same building of the war years.
In the interwar years, Lutsk was
connected Kivertsi with the
main highway Warsaw-Lublin-
Kovel-Zdolbuniv. From Warsaw
to Lutsk, as part of high-speed
night trains, was non-transfer
carriages. In the late 1920s, it
became possible to reach Lviv by
rail from Lutsk.

11. After the construction of a new railway station in the Soviet era near the modern station market,
the building began to be used as a restaurant known to the people as "Traffic Light".