The article considers and analyzes the main features of the formation of architectural ensembles of railways, which determine the principles of their preservation and development. The method of system analysis was applied on the materials of archival and bibliographic sources, field studies, legal acts and project documentation in the field of state protection of cultural heritage objects. 
 The main historical stages of the construction of railways and their types - mainline, suburban, urban were studied. The connection of historical stages and types of railways with the principles of station placement is revealed. The main types of station placement are identified - in existing settlements or in previously uninhabited areas, which determine their object composition and protection features - as mono-complexes or polycentric complexes at various urban planning levels - a separate object, a station complex, a set of railway stations. It has been established that the main basic characteristic of railway stations, which determine their historical and cultural value, especially in small towns, is the complexity of their development. At the same time, the most common type of development is based on standard projects, in connection with which each building separately does not have an independent historical and cultural value, and it does not seem appropriate to protect individual buildings.
 On the example of the historical station Nyandoma of the Northern Railway, such a tool for the integrated protection and development of historical territories as a place of interest is considered. The principles of the formation of historical railway stations and scientific and methodological issues in the field of their integrated protection and development on the basis of the type of cultural heritage object - a place of interest are established.