Museum installation The first railway tracks of Russia

In 1763–1764 at the Kolyvanovo-Voskresensky plants in Altai, mining engineer Kozma Frolov designed the first sleeper road in Russia. It consisted of wooden scaffolding, sleepers and "dogs" — carts that were driven by a water wheel.

In 1788 a cast-iron railway was built at the Aleksandrovsky Cannon Factory in Petrozavodsk. Hence the name "chugunka", which in Russia for a very long time meant a railway. Kozma Frolov's son Pyotr improved his father's design and in 1806-1809 built the first domestic horse-drawn railway at the Zmeinogorsk mine, 1,867 m long. On this road, one horse could move a load that had previously been pulled by twenty-five.

Russia and a number of neighboring countries use a track width of 1,520 mm, which was chosen by engineer Pavel Melnikov during the construction of the first St. Petersburg - Moscow highway. The choice of the distance between the rails sometimes decided the fate of entire states. For example, the lack of a single track with Europe and China has repeatedly helped Russia in numerous military conflicts.