ABSTRACT
The Russian railroad mission to the United States headed by military engineers Pavel Mel'nikov and Nikolai Kraft. Emperor Nicholas a decision was made in February 1842 to build a railroad to connect St. Petersburg and Moscow. Winans secured a contract with the Russian government to supply the new railroad with locomotives and cars for three million dollars. In 1854, the Winans brothers younger sister Julia DeKay married George William Whistler, George Washington Whistler's oldest son had joined the father in the Russian project and stayed to work at Alexanrdrovskoe after his death William L. Winans acted also as a U.S. vice-consul at St. Petersburg. William L. Winans tried to use the assistance of the U.S. minister at St. Petersburg, Thomas H. Seymour, to assert their charges against the Russian government but without success. Privatization of the Nikolaevskaya Railroad provided the means for the foundation of Reutern's Railway Fund. Harrison and Winans was the largest American business venture in Russia.
