Peter Greck
Peter Greck (1827-1888)
Colonel of Engineers in the Imperial Russian Service
1888 Obituary [1]
PETER GRECK, Colonel of Engineers in the Imperial Russian Service, was born at St. Petersburg on the 23rd of November, 1827. He was educated at the Imperial Engineering Academy in that city, where he became first pupil and passed most brilliant examinations. On leaving the Academy in 1848, he was appointed a Lieutenant in the Imperial Corps des Ponts et Chaussbes, and was attached to the Locomotive Service of the Petersburg-Moscow Railway. Three years later he became Resident Engineer on 25 miles of the Petersburg-Warsaw Railway, which he laid down and partially constructed. This post he held until 1866, when he was appointed Engineer in charge of 65 miles of the same line for the Great Russian Railway Company.
From 1860 to 1863 he served as Aide-de-camp to the Russian Minister of Public Works, and in the latter year became Resident Engineer at Moscow for the Petersburg-Moscow Railway, on which line his professional career had commenced. He was now actively engaged in designing and superintending the construction of the Central Station at Moscow. As a recognition of this, and of his services in connection with other public works, he received the Imperial Orders of St. Anne, 3rd degree, and of Stanislaus, 2nd degree.
In 1865 he designed and constructed the Metropolitan Junction Railway of Moscow, which line was completed in three years. During this time Colonel Greck studied and planned the whole of the Moscow-Jaroslav line, 150 miles in length, part of which-the line from Moscow to the Monastery Station-he constructed himself.
In 1868 and 1869 he held the appointment of Chief Engineer for the Kursk-Azoff Railway, which he had constructed, as well as the line from Moscow to Kursk, and in the following year undertook the construction of the Novgorod-Oustrotroland line, upon which he was occupied for eight years. His career as a Military Engineer ended on the 2nd of April, 1877, when he received a pension of 215 roubles, or £21 10s. sterling, after thirty years' service.
Colonel Greck was resident in London from 1869 to 1881, in the capacity of Chief Engineer to the Russian Government, charged with the execution of commissions for locomotives, rails, coal, and other matters in connection with the Imperial Railway Department. He also acted as Commissioner for the Russian Government at the International Exhibition of 1874, in commemoration of which he received a bronze medal from the Prince of Wales. On his return to Russia, Colonel Greck accepted an appointment as Assistant to the Chief Engineer of the Petersburg-Moscow Railway, which post he resigned in 1884 to become Chief Engineer to the Moscow-Taroslav Railway. This line was never in such good order as when under his control, and his last work, which was completed about a month before his decease, was the construction of a culvert so skilfully executed that the traffic of the line was not once interrupted. His death, which took place on the 9th of May, 1888, at Moscow, was caused by an attack of scarlet fever, accompanied by a paralytic stroke. Colonel Greck, by his upright and honourable conduct, won the respect and esteem of all who served with him. His domestic relations were exemplary, and he leaves a widow and three children to mourn their loss. He was elected a Member of the Institution on the 2nd of February, 1869.
1889 Obituary [2]
Colonel PETER GRECK, who died at Moscow, Russia, on the 9th of May 1888, was born at St. Petersburg on the 23rd of November 1827. He was educated at the Imperial Engineering Academy in that city, where he greatly distinguished himself in his examinations.
In 1848, on leaving the academy, he was appointed a lieutenant in the Imperial Corps des Ponts et Chaussdes, and joined the locomotive service of the Petersburg-Moscow Railway. Subsequently he became resident engineer on a section of the Petersburg-Warsaw Railway, which he had partially constructed.
From 1860 to 1863, Colonel Greek served as aide-de-camp to the Russian Minister of Public Works. In the latter year he was entrusted with the general engineering control of the Petersburg-Moscow Railway at Moscow, and designed, in that capacity, the Central Station at Moscow, where he was located.
For a number of years afterwards, Colonel Greek was engaged in railway work on a large scale, and between 1869 and 1881, he acted in London as chief engineer to the Russian Government. He was Commissioner for that State at the International Exhibition of 1874. On returning to Russia in 1881, Colonel Greek again took up railway engineering, and was engaged in that capacity at the time of his decease.
He became a member of the Institute in 1871.