WAIT A MINUTE, THE ENGINE!..": RAILWAYS IN THE SOCIO-POLITICAL DISCOURSE OF RUSSIA OF THE 19<sup>th</sup> CENTURY
Based on the materials of published sources of the 19'<sup>h</sup> century and literary and artistic representations, the article reconstructs the cultural space of railways, it identifies the actors and the content of the socio-political discourse of railways in the Russian Empire. The author indicates the notions of the authorities and the society about the possibilities and prospects of railway construction in Russia, as well as the circumstances and reasons for their evolution. In the course of the study, a hypothesis was formulated and substantiated about the ambivalent attitude to the idea of building highways in the discourse of the country's main social forces - national conservatives and liberals. It is proved that only in the middle of the 19'<sup>h</sup> century traditionalist stereotypes in ideas about the role and importance of railways were largely overcome, questions about the functioning of railways in the context of the organization of the imperial space were raised.