Synelnykove. A junction station and a town of railwaymen

The town of Synelnykove came into being thanks to the appearance of the railway station, which bears the same name, taken from the name of the landowner General Synelnykov. The junction station of Synelnykove, ceremonially opened on 15 November 1873 during the construction of the Lozova-Sevastopol line, played an important role in the circulatory system of the southern region of tsarist Russia.

 

Synelnykove-I railway station

From Synelnykove a branch stretched to Katerynoslav, linking it with Oleksandrivsk (Zaporizhzhia), and also with the most important industrial centres — the Donetsk and the Kryvyi Rih ones. Beside the station, service enterprises and works, carriage-repair workshops and locomotive depots were put up. The coat of arms and the flag of Synelnykove bear a steam locomotive as a symbol of everything connected with the station — history, professions, toponymy.

 

At the beginning of the 20th century one of the most beautiful stations of the Prydniprovska Railway, Synelnykove-I, was built. The brick decor lends the two-storey building beauty and solemnity.

Not on every station facade is the name of the architect who built the harbour for trains immortalised. The design of the passenger building in the Art Nouveau style belongs to the talented engineer V. O. Hlazyrin.

 

Passenger and suburban trains stop at the station, connecting Novooleksiivka, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Lviv, Mariupol, Chaplyne, Kyiv, Lozova, Kryvyi Rih, Bakhmut.

 

With the building of the settlement by the station there appeared trading establishments, a post and telegraph station, an oil mill, a flour mill and a church. Almost no pre-revolutionary buildings have survived in the town, since the important railway junction lay in the zone of fighting during the years of the Civil War and the Hitlerite occupation. To get an idea of the town, you can take a walk from the Synelnykove-I station to the Synelnykove-II station and see some of the sights.

Sadova Street — one of the main and greenest streets of the town

The main Orthodox church was built and consecrated in 1994. The murals in the Church of St Nicholas were done by masters fromRivne.

 

Synelnykove. The Church of St Nicholas

There are several war memorials in the town, dedicated to the defenders of an important strategic object. In 1941, at the cost of many lives, the station was held by the men of the 95th border guard detachment, who had only a single gun in their arsenal. In the park, about 100 soldiers of the Red Army who died during the liberation of the town in 1943 are buried in a common grave. The names of many of them are unknown.

 

The common grave

On Sadova Street an IS-3 tank has been installed in honour of the liberators of the town and the station.

 

Not all the enterprises managed to survive the years of crisis and find their shelter under a market economy. Ruined workshops and production buildings are no rarity in Synelnykove.

 

Synelnykove. The ruins of the spring factory

If travellers have to spend the night in Synelnykove, rooms are offered in the hotel, a former synagogue.

 

Synelnykove. Dovzhenka St., 34. The hotel

The Synelnykove-II station was formerly called Synelnykove-Male. The station building here is of smaller size and was reconstructed in 2012 with the use of modern materials, which completely changed the look of the building.

 

The Synelnykove-II station

The station is served by trains bound forKyiv, Moscow, Kostiantynivka, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chaplyne, Pokrovsk, Mezhova, Zaporizhzhia.