Pieksämäen rautatieläisympäristöt

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

Between 1889-1940, Pieksämäki developed into one of the country's major junction stations. The ensemble comprises, in addition to the oldest building stock of the railway station, a residential area for railway staff, whose buildings date from the 1910s to the 1950s.

The wooden station building at Pieksämäki, dating from the late 1880s, is located on the southeastern edge of the extensive station area that has grown up around it. Along with the oldest part of the locomotive shed, the station is the only building in the area surviving from the construction of the Savo line, and it suffered severe damage in bombing raids during the wars. The Savon radan museo is housed in the building.

The buildings along Tahintie date from the early 20th century and represent standard houses designed for different occupational groups of railway workers. They include the station master's house, two-storey residential barracks and apartment blocks from the 1950s. The pleasant area lies beautifully on a pine slope sloping down to the lake.

East of Tahintie is a residential area whose uniform building stock, three residential barracks and their outbuildings, dates from the 1920s.

History

Pieksämäki is the country's only five-line junction station. The first of the lines was the Savo line in 1889; the next, a cross line connecting the main lines, was completed in its entirety in 1918. The fifth line is counted as the section branching from Huutokoski, running via Varkaus to Joensuu, which was completed in 1940. The railway was decisive for Pieksämäki's development. As a traffic point it is the centre of the Savo and Karelia traffic areas. Pieksämäki became a market town in 1930.

The station building was built in 1887-1889 and realised according to the Oulun rata Class IV standard drawing number two. The station was extended northwards by one window bay in 1902. Pieksämäki station was raised to class III in 1914 and to class II in 1918.

Due to the cession of the eastern connecting lines in 1940, the Pieksämäki marshalling yard became the country's most important. The yard was extended throughout the 1940s. After the loss of Sortavala and Elisenvaara, all freight arriving from Karelia and Savo was routed via Pieksämäki.

The Tahintie residential area was built from the 1910s to the 1950s. Some of the buildings were moved from the Karelian Isthmus in the 1920s.