Steam locomotive series is. Passenger locomotive series FDp (IS)

For that time it was a very advanced car, both technically and aesthetically. Its elongated cylindrical body with a wide short pipe. it really gave the impression of swiftness, power, and evoked in people a feeling of admiration that, say, a modern passenger airliner evokes today.

Artists loved to draw the locomotive; it appeared on many postcards and stamps of the 30s and 40s. The powerful courier locomotive faithfully served people during the harsh years of the Great Patriotic War: it rushed passenger ambulances, military trains, and ambulance trains weighing a good thousand tons strictly on schedule.

The design of this mainline passenger steam locomotive and a freight locomotive of type 1-5-1 of the FD series began simultaneously. The designers were faced with a difficult task: they needed to create a locomotive that would dramatically increase passenger transportation. What was needed was a steam locomotive capable of developing traction at least 1.5 times greater than the C U, equally suitable for driving postal and passenger, fast and courier trains.

The maximum load (20 tons) from the wheelset on the rails and other parameters suggested that it would be advisable to make the weight of the new passenger locomotive equal to the weight of the freight FD, and this, in turn, led to the equality of the axles - 7.

However, passenger trains are lighter than freight trains and run at higher speeds. Therefore, the number of driving axles of the new locomotive could be taken to be smaller than that of the FD freight locomotive, but the driving wheels should have a larger diameter. It was adopted, like the steam locomotive of the C U series, 1850 mm. Of the two options for axle formulas 2-4-1 and 1-4-2, the designers preferred the second. In this case, it was more convenient for them to position the boiler. It was placed above the crew section.

In February 1932, K. Sushkin, L. Lebedyansky, A. Slominsky and other designers of the Central Locomotive Design Bureau began developing working drawings, and on November 5 - just six months later - the Kolomna Machine-Building Plant produced the first steam locomotive of type 1-4-2. On November 5, 1932, the new locomotive was tested, and on November 7 it arrived in Moscow. From June 8 to September 19, 1933, the locomotive underwent testing, during which it developed power of up to 3,200 hp. With. Under normal operating conditions, it operated at 2,500 hp. s., which is twice as much as that of the C U series locomotive.

The locomotive's power was increased because the designers used the same boiler as a freight locomotive and introduced some technical improvements. For example, mechanized heating not only greatly facilitated the work of the locomotive crew, but also made it possible to almost double the boiler boost (the amount of steam removed from 1 m 2 of the boiler heating surface per hour) and bring it to 80 kg/m 2 hour versus 40-50 kg /m 2 hour for steam locomotives with manual heating.

To observe the combustion process, it was necessary to quickly open and close the firebox doors. This was done using a special machine using compressed air. As soon as the driver’s assistant lightly pressed the pedal, the firebox doors instantly opened. The spool chamber is of considerable size - in the C U series steam locomotive this principle has already been applied - and the straightened steam inlet pipes served as a kind of steam accumulators, which reduced losses when steam was admitted into the cylinders of the machine. To facilitate the release of exhaust steam, the spool rod was made in the form of a hollow pipe. As a result, the exhaust steam exited each half of the cylinder through both the front and rear exhaust ports.

To better navigate the curves of the railway track, the runner and the first moving axles were rigidly connected to each other and formed, as it were, a biaxial cart. The designers also took into account the thermal elongation of the boiler. The booth was not mounted on the frame of the locomotive, but attached to the boiler. Thus, when the boiler lengthened during heating, it moved along with the firebox, which later began to be used on other locomotives.

During 1934-1935, the Kolomna Machine-Building Plant manufactured 5 steam locomotives of the FD series. In 1936-1941, they drove the “Red Arrow” between Moscow and Leningrad, serving such busy passenger routes as Moscow - Mineralnye Vody, Moscow - Minsk and others, replacing locomotives of the S U, S, L series. By the end of the second Five-Year Plan, steam locomotives of this series became the main ones in the country's passenger locomotive fleet.

Passenger locomotive FD p (IS) series

Based on materials from the magazine Tekhnika Molodezhi

HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN STEAM LOGO

A steam locomotive is one of the most amazing machines created by man. It combines metal, fire, air and water.

In 1762, the predecessor of the steam locomotive was the world's first twin steam engine of the Russian inventor I. I. Polzunov.

The first steam locomotive in Russia was built by father and son E.A. and M.E. Cherepanovs in 1833, two years ahead of the construction of the first steam locomotive in Germany. It differed favorably from foreign locomotives with its original, successful design solutions. This locomotive transported up to 3.2 tons of cargo at a speed of about 16 km/h; the second locomotive, built in 1835, could carry a load of a thousand pounds (16.4 tons) at a speed of 16.4 km/h.

Cherepanov steam locomotive

However, steam locomotives for the first Russian railway between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo, opened for public use in 1838, were ordered abroad. Only the construction of the St. Petersburg-Moscow Railway, begun in 1843, was the basis for the beginning of Russian steam locomotive construction. The first steam locomotives for this road were built by the Aleksandrovsky plant in 1845 - freight locomotives of type 0-3-0 (later some were converted into type 1-3-0 - a first in the world) and passenger locomotives of type 2-2-0.

Freight locomotive type 0-3-0

Passenger locomotive type 2-2-0

Already in the mid-60s XIX century, rapid construction of railways begins in Russia, which, accordingly, leads to an increase in the need for steam locomotives. In 1868, the government entered into contracts with a number of Russian factories. In 1869, the construction of steam locomotives began at the Kolomna and Kama-Votkinsk factories; in 1870 - at the Nevsky and Maltsevsky factories; in 1892-1900 - in Bryansk, Putilov, Sormovsk, Kharkov and Lugansk.

The domestic locomotive industry had its own path of development. The Russian school of locomotive building was formed. Outstanding Russian engineers and designers A.P. Borodin, E.E. Noltein, V.I. Lopushinsky and others created a number of new types of steam locomotives and introduced many improvements on them.

In 1878, the world's first passenger steam locomotives with a front bogie were built at the Kolomensky Plant, which helped improve train safety. Such locomotives appeared abroad only in 1892. Steam locomotives with four moving axles, which appeared in Russia back in the 60s XIX centuries, were continuously improved and by 1893 were widely used on railways.

Steam locomotive type 0-4-0 series O B

In 1891, for the first time in the history of locomotive building, a steam locomotive with steam condensation was built.

Tank locomotive type 44

At the end of the XIX centuries, Russian engineers were the first in the world to use steam superheaters. During the same period, they were the first to use double expansion of steam on steam locomotives. The principle of unification and interchangeability of parts and assemblies in steam locomotives was justified and used. The construction of articulated steam locomotives was organized - long before their appearance in America.

Steam locomotive of the Fita series

At the end of the 19th century, the foundations of the doctrine of train traction were laid, which was transformed by Russian and Soviet scientists into a science that makes it possible to accurately calculate the mass of a train, the speed and time of its movement, determine braking distances depending on the track profile and the availability of braking means for the train, and solve many problems. tasks related to the use of power and traction characteristics of locomotives.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Russia was completely freed from foreign dependence in the field of steam locomotive building. By this time, many remarkable design forms of Russian steam locomotives had been created, the further development of which led to the most advanced models of steam locomotive construction.

From 1898 to 1917, Russian factories built 16,064 steam locomotives. The locomotive fleet of pre-revolutionary Russia was characterized by an inappropriately large variety of types. Therefore, in 1912, by a circular of the Railway Administration of the Ministry of Railways, a letter designation system for series of steam locomotives was first introduced for both state-owned and private railways. So, according to it, all old freight locomotives with 3 moving axles (types 1-3-0, 0-3-0, 0-3-1) received the designation T series (three-axle), type 0-4-0 produced to “normal type” locomotives – Ch (four-axle), “normal type” locomotives – O (main), etc.

The Soviet period of steam locomotive construction dates back to December 1920, when a five-year plan for the restoration of the locomotive economy was adopted.

In 1925, a new passenger locomotive SU was designed and built, which was one of the best passenger locomotives.

Steam locomotive S U

Beginning in 1926, over a long period, improved and reinforced freight locomotives EC, EM and ER were built at locomotive factories.

Steam locomotive E U

Steam locomotive E M

Steam locomotive E R

In 1931, the most powerful freight locomotive in Europe, type 1-5-1, FD series, was created, and in 1932, serial construction of these locomotives began at the Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Plant.

Steam locomotive FD

At the beginning of 1932, a project was developed and a powerful passenger locomotive of the 1-4-2 series FDP was built.

In 1934, a steam locomotive of type 1-5-0 series CO was built. Steam locomotives of this series were built at various factories until 1950. They were widely used on the road network.

Steam locomotive CO

In the post-war period of locomotive building in the USSR, two serial types of freight locomotives with five coupling axles in a rigid frame with an axle load of 18 tons were produced: locomotives 1-5-0 series L and 1-5-1 series LV with a design traction force of 221, respectively. 5 and 231.5 kN.

Steam locomotive L

Steam locomotive L V

In 1950, the first experimental powerful passenger steam locomotive of the 2-4-2 type (P36), which had high performance qualities, was produced. Several of these locomotives were built in 1953, and their mass production began in 1955.

Steam locomotive P36

Due to low efficiency, the construction of steam locomotives in our country has been discontinued since 1956.

Until 1957, up to 400 types of steam locomotives were developed, built and operated on the country's railways.

In terms of efficiency and power, a steam locomotive is inferior to a diesel locomotive and an electric locomotive, but significantly exceeds both in terms of endurance and unpretentiousness. A steam locomotive is capable of withstanding 400 percent of overloads relative to its design power, and can sometimes be heated with completely unimaginable types of fuel, for example, damp aspen firewood, and during the Civil War, it happened, even dry roach. Repairing a steam locomotive costs significantly less than a diesel or electric locomotive; Coal and fuel oil are much cheaper than electricity and diesel fuel. It was these qualities of the locomotive that largely determined the uninterrupted operation of the railways during the Great Patriotic War.

The steam locomotive remains one of the unique technical creations of mankind, which reigned supreme in railway transport for more than 130 years. In connection with energy problems, interest in solid fuel locomotives does not wane and at the beginning XXI century. In many countries, steam locomotive monuments are preserved; retro trains with steam traction are popular. Part of the locomotive fleet is in reserve; if necessary, the operability of the locomotives can be restored.

Interesting facts about steam locomotives

The most trouble-free

It was this locomotive that was assigned the O V series in 1912. The new locomotive turned out to be a trouble-free machine, easy to repair and maintain. The omnivorous “sheep” could be heated with coal, fuel oil, wood and peat. Until 1925, the “lamb” was used both for train and shunting work.

In the next decade, in connection with the general renewal of the locomotive fleet of the USSR, it was transferred to secondary lines, and from the mid-30s, O V steam locomotives were used mainly for shunting work and industrial transport. These locomotives operated in their new role until the mid-50s.

The most straightforward and clueless

The beginning of the twentieth century became a peak in the history of the development of steam locomotive engineering. Not surprisingly, each country tried to surpass its opponents in speed, power and size. The then young USSR did not lag behind its neighbors and in 1934 produced a 21-meter locomotive of the AA series (Andrei Andreev) - the only “mainline” in the world with seven moving axles on a rigid frame versus the usual five (there were 11 axles in total). The locomotive was huge in all respects and, in fact, this was what killed it. He walked well in a straight line, but with curves he did not work out from the very beginning - he upset the tracks at turns and went off the rails at switches. In addition, even “settling” the colossal machine somewhere was problematic: “AA” simply did not fit on the turntables and in the stalls of locomotive depots. Therefore, almost immediately it was laid up, and in the 1960s it was ingloriously cut into metal.

The most widespread

The Russian and subsequently Soviet “E” class steam locomotive became the most popular locomotive in the entire history of steam locomotive construction. The first cars of this type hit the rails back in 1912, the last, already significantly modified, in 1957. Moreover, not only six domestic, but also more than two dozen foreign factories worked on the production of “Eshaks”. The locomotive turned out to be very unpretentious and worked on both freight and passenger transportation. In just 45 years, more than 11 thousand of these locomotives were produced - none of the competitors can boast of such a mass production. And although it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to see “Eshki” on the line now – perhaps, perhaps, on a pedestal – you can see them on the move in many films, from “The Elusive Avengers” to “The Admiral”.

The most unique

The steam locomotive "IS" - "ISka" became the pride of the Soviet steam locomotive industry - at the time of its creation it was the most powerful passenger steam locomotive in Europe, and it was the one that won the Grand Prix at the Paris World Exhibition in 1937. It was the IS that drove the Red Arrow. And it was the “Stalins” that were the fastest, accelerating up to 115 km/h, and in a streamlined casing – up to 155 km/h. At the same time, the IS had its own peculiarity: it was highly unified with the FD freight locomotive, Felix Dzerzhinsky, which greatly simplified its repair and operation. It was to the “FD” series that the “IS” steam locomotive was eventually classified: in 1962, at the height of the fight against the cult of personality, all “IS” were renamed “FDP” with the prefix “passenger”.

The heaviest

Steam locomotive P38 is the heaviest steam locomotive in the history of Soviet locomotive building (and taking into account the weight of the tender, in the history of all Soviet locomotives), the service weight of which with the tender was 383.2 tons with a length of 38.2 m. The series turned out to be limited due to the cessation of production of steam locomotives in our country there are only 4 freight locomotives produced in the USSR in 1954-1955. The length of the locomotive is 22.5 m and the tender is 15.7 m, the operating weight of the steam locomotive is 213.7-214.9 tons + tender 168 tons with water and coal, design speed is 85 km/h and power is 3,800 hp.

I present to your attention my 3rd steam locomotive IS-20

Scale - 1:25
Model length 70 cm
Width approximately 11.5 cm
Height approximately 20 cm
Locomotive weight 3 kg

Materials:
Wheels - 3D printed (plastic)
Connecting rods and elements of complex geometric shapes - wooden rulers
Everything else is PVC sheet 1-6 mm thick
The whole work took about 5 months

Technology:
Everything is described in as much detail as possible in the fairy tale: http://karopka.ru/forum/forum191/topic20819/
First, a 3D model was built, then elements were cut out from the resulting drawings.

Tools - Dremel drill, Proxon jigsaw

I was not attached to a specific car, here is a collective image of this locomotive after version 20-1

Country of origin USSR;
Years of construction 1932 - 1942
Factories: Kolomensky, Voroshilovgradsky
Operating period 1933 - 1972
A total of 649 units were built.

Design speed 115 km/h
Locomotive length 16,365 mm
Service weight of the locomotive 133 - 136 t
Power 2,500 - 3,200 hp
Traction force up to 15,400 kgf

Story:

By the 1930s On Soviet railways it was necessary to significantly increase the speed of passenger trains. The Su steam locomotive with its maximum speed of 125 km/h and power of 1,500 hp. could no longer meet these requirements. The mainline passenger steam locomotive type 1-4-2 was developed by the Central Locomotive Design Bureau (CLPB) in 1932. And at the time of its creation, it was the most powerful passenger locomotive in Europe. Winner of the Grand Prix at the Paris World Exhibition (1937). The strongest and most powerful passenger locomotive in the history of Soviet locomotive building. A special feature of the locomotive was its great unification in many parts with the FD freight locomotive.
When designing this model, the most advanced technologies then used in steam locomotive construction were used. During development, designers K. Sushkin, L. Lebedyansky, A. Slominsky managed to use for the new steam locomotive not only the boiler and cylinders from its predecessor, the FD steam locomotive, but many other components.
In April, working drawings of the new steam locomotive were sent from the Central Laboratory of Production Bureau to the Kolomna Plant, which, with the participation of the Izhora Plant, produced the first passenger steam locomotive of type 1-4-2 on October 4, 1932. By decision of the plant workers, the new locomotive was assigned the IS series - Joseph Stalin.
From April to December 1933, tests were carried out. In them, the locomotive showed a power of 2500 hp, which was more than twice the power of the Su steam locomotive, and in some cases the power value of the IS even reached 3200 hp.
In 1934, at the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a decision was made that the IS steam locomotive should become the main unit of the passenger locomotive fleet in the second five-year plan.
In the pre-war years, IS series steam locomotives operated on many roads in the European part of the USSR and Siberia. It was the IS that drove the Red Arrow. And it was the “Stalins” that were the fastest, accelerating up to 115 km/h, and in a streamlined casing – up to 155 km/h.
During the war they were concentrated in the eastern regions of the country.
After the war, the locomotive was operated at speeds no higher than 70 km/h, so the streamlined hood was removed. Nevertheless, in April 1957, this steam locomotive with a special train reached a speed of 175 km/h, which was the last speed record for steam traction in the USSR.
IS steam locomotives served such important routes as: Kharkov - Mineralnye Vody, Moscow - Smolensk - Minsk, Moscow - Ozherelye - Valuyki, Michurinsk - Rostov-on-Don and others, on which they replaced passenger steam locomotives of the Su, S, L series etc.
These locomotives worked with trains until 1966-1972.
In the midst of the fight against the cult of personality, all “IS” were renamed “FDP” with the prefix “passenger”
Time has been cruel to the once famous series. Only one car has survived, installed on a pedestal in Kyiv.

· Railway equipment

Lyubchenko D.I., Trubacheva V.F.

Such a monument at the Bryansk-2 station could become the second in the CIS
exhibit of the steam locomotive IS

Table 1. Passenger locomotives of pre-revolutionary Russia

Poster by Pavel Sokolov

It would seem that elegantly folded metal, national pride, but what a fate! Destroyed as a hostile class, at the root, because of one name.
And yet something remains. Kievsky Station, which has its own museum of railway equipment, stands out from all other stations of the former USSR not so much for its beauty in the architectural style of the times of the same Stalin, but for the free-standing, and even on a pedestal, steam locomotive IS (we placed a photo of this instance under the title of the article) . True, there is a version that another “last of the Mohicans” may be entirely surviving (though conditionally) after the debunking of the cult of personality, and a huge concrete block the size of a steam locomotive at the Bryansk-2 railway station gives every reason to hope for this - protruding from it front part of the IS, or FDP No. 2549.

But at the time of its creation, the IS steam locomotive was the most powerful passenger locomotive in Europe, and was and remains the most powerful Soviet steam locomotive. He received the Grand Prix Award at the Paris World Exhibition in 1937 and the secret dream of any machinist to work on the idol of “all times and peoples.” And if Soviet posters depicted I.V. himself. Stalin as a driver of an IS steam locomotive (and you are unlikely to find Stalin in an IS tank), then this means something, which means that it is useful to take Polish courses in Kharkov.

NEW PRINCIPLE - LESS IS BETTER!

If you come across information anywhere that the IS locomotive was a passenger version of the FD, do not believe it. The efficiency of the FD locomotive did not even reach 7%, the efficiency of the IS locomotive was 7.45%. These locomotives were created almost simultaneously, with different goals and obviously not in development of each other. If FD looked like a giant, heavyweight, push-pull, then IS gave the impression of a certain lightness and sophistication of forms. The constructive use of many identical components could hardly bring the FD closer to the IS - the first appeared as a result of the development of the American steam locomotives Ta and Tb, the latter - the domestic SU with its own separate family of passenger ancestors and relatives of the Russian school of locomotive building...

Even in the Russian Empire, they realized the problem of operating numerous series of steam locomotives. Despite timid orders for the unification of machines, there were about a hundred series and modifications of steam locomotives in the country. Moreover, steam locomotives of different power were assigned to strictly defined areas, depending on certain operating conditions for which they were created, and fuel. Even suburban passenger trains had their own special series of locomotives for specific areas. During the First World War, this system suffered horrific failures, the supply of spare parts and the variety of repairs were confused and haphazard to such an extent that the tsarist authorities had to resort to purchasing new imported locomotives in 1915. But that didn’t help either. By the time Russia exited the war, the number of steam locomotives requiring repairs reached 60%.

The route speed of both passenger and freight trains of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century rarely exceeded 25 km/h, and the train schedule implied very long stops, while in the period from 1893 to 1913, passenger traffic increased almost fourfold.

Steam locomotive K U

Steam locomotive S U

Steam locomotive type M with number 160-02 developed by A.S. Raevsky with a 2-4-0 wheel formula. It is curious that the runner pair behind the cylinders had a larger diameter than the runner pair in front. There are foreign notes in the locomotive - the sloping windows of the driver's booth, a high coal bunker, a spacious area in front of the smoke box

IS20-01 with a four-axle tender during testing by specialists from the Kolomna plant

Moreover, it was in Russia that the world's first sleeping cars, adapted for long-term passenger travel, appeared. This is understandable, because such vast expanses cannot be covered in a day.
By the beginning of the First World War, Russia had its own worthy, strong and promising school of passenger locomotives (see Table 1).
If in the Russian Empire the railway, at the very least, was forced to carry out work to unify its locomotive fleet, then with the advent of Soviet power, the Bolsheviks took up this matter with all determination - the introduction of minimal differences between the series of steam locomotives made it possible to quickly restore the country's economy, destroyed by two wars. peaceful rails.

The first to thoroughly tackle this problem was the People's Commissar of Railways L.D. Trotsky. He voiced his revolutionary ideas in the report “On Transport” at the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets in December 1920: “The number of necessary types of locomotive can be reduced to a minimum number, three or four. Of course, with such a repair procedure, all work should speed up several times... To develop the front of mass repairs at factories that would specialize in individual parts so that the repairs would eventually turn into a new steam locomotive building, into the production of new similar Soviet steam locomotives.” As can be seen from the table above, L.D. Trotsky had very convincing arguments to justify the need to unify new Soviet steam locomotives.
As a result, locomotive factories were redistributed to repair strictly defined series of locomotives - specialization emerged. And following this, the production of spare parts was adjusted - instead of depots, they were now handled by specialized factories, where production planning and delivery times were introduced.
In other words, Trotsky’s goals led through the unification of components and spare parts to the production of a minimum variety of steam locomotives. These goals were successfully implemented in the creation of all Soviet steam locomotives - from the first-born FD to the latest LV and OR.

The IS steam locomotive was unified with the FD in terms of boiler, steam engine, axle boxes, axles, spring suspension, etc. This is quite a lot.

GENETIC EGO - SPEED!

Man still strives to achieve great speeds - in everything. In terms of locomotive traction, this looked like two ways - increasing the boiler boost (increasing the speed/amount of water evaporation per unit time) and increasing the diameter of the driving axles (with a constant piston stroke). The second method was simpler and more reliable, but the first could lead to an explosion of the boiler, and this sometimes happened. In this regard, we will briefly dwell only on some of the most significant moments of the world passenger locomotive construction.

The world's first recorded speed record was set on October 8, 1829 in England. On the Manchester-Liverpool railway, locomotive races, the so-called Rainhill competitions, took place. Their winner was Stephenson's steam locomotive "Rocket", which reached a speed of either 38.6 km/h or 48 km/h. However, now this is no longer important. Another thing is more significant - then engineering thought about the 100 km/h bar.

Reliable data on the taking of this record, which is understandable, are vague. If you believe the British, then in September 1839, their steam locomotive “Hurricane” with a 1-1-1 wheel arrangement and a driving wheel diameter of over 3 meters reached this speed. If you believe the Americans, then it was their steam locomotive type 2-2-0 No. 999 with the Imperial State Express train, which on May 10, 1893 reached a speed of 181 km/h.

The Russian Empire did not follow the train either. Since 1907, a type B courier locomotive has been running at a maximum speed for Russian roads of 125 km/h. Of course, one type of locomotive was not enough. Without further ado, in 1911 the Russian Kulibins simply increased the diameters of the moving axles of the K-type steam locomotive, which entailed an awkward raising of the boiler above the axles. Under the designation KU (K reinforced), such a locomotive was produced until 1914. The speed of this “Cuckoo” reached 115 km/h.

QUICK START

One of the features of railway transportation during the years of the end of the civil war and intervention, when the system of train movement according to schedules was collapsed, was the so-called “leader” trains (leading, out of turn), equipped to carry out targeted government tasks.

The first IC has just rolled out of the factory gates. The inscription “Stalin” will be painted on it (pictured). With such an inscription, IS20-01 will go to Moscow for the first time, after which the inscription will be made in three-dimensional letters. It is still a “non-original” tender, there are conical nozzles on the spool cylinders. For the display in Moscow, an inscription will be placed on board the tender: “There are no fortresses that the Bolsheviks could not take. Stalin"

By May 1, 1935, Komsomolskaya Square of the capital of the USSR was prepared in a special way, the stylized IS still had to finish decorating the boiler... Below you can see the silhouettes of two people

Table 2. Comparison of design characteristics of the first IS and FD20-1

More and more often, such trains were also intended for individual passenger routes. The development of a new serial passenger steam locomotive, capable of reducing the frequency of high-speed trains by increasing the length of trains, was already considered as one of the ways to restore the transportation system. Many revolutionary specialists at that time considered projects of structurally complex multi-cylinder steam locomotives with cranked axles. The arguments for such ideas were promises to introduce a new, proletarian steam locomotive construction, and rejection of them was considered almost an inhibition of progress. In the years of devastation and shortage of everything, the entire third cylinder, installed under the frame and additionally rotating the wheelsets through the crankshaft, would significantly increase the power of the locomotive and reduce fuel consumption. As a starting point, the already existing locomotives of the latest pre-revolutionary developments were considered - passenger steam locomotives of type C, SV and LP, but soon all of them ceased to satisfy the Bolshevik requirements for the accelerated construction of a new powerful state. From this perspective, the need arose to create more advanced locomotives.

So, in 1923, under the leadership of engineer A.S. Raevsky at the Petrograd plant "Krasny Putilovets" began the development of a project for a new three-cylinder passenger steam locomotive of type 2-4-0 with a wheel diameter of 1700 mm and a single-cranked axle. The locomotive design included the introduction of a number of complex innovations, namely:

With a three-cylinder engine and the drive cranks positioned at an angle of 120°, the pins of the twins were placed in the wheel cranks at an angle of 90° (as in two-cylinder locomotives);
- a firebox with an afterburning chamber, which had not been used before on Russian locomotives;
- part of the weight of the locomotive was transferred to the tender through the coupling;
- the design of the connecting rod mechanism, which made it possible to position the inner cylinder horizontally and not obliquely;
- crank axle of the second drive wheel pair, etc.

This locomotive received the designation M. However, despite Raevsky’s desire to simplify the design as much as possible, the locomotive turned out to be quite complex. Therefore, in 1924, immediately after the death of A.S. Raevsky, the entire project was seriously reworked and significantly simplified, even the tilt of the third cylinder was returned, and in 1927 the first steam locomotive M160-01 was built at Krasny Putilovets. Later they were built at the Lugansk plant.

M locomotives had a number of significant shortcomings, the main ones of which were the significant tilt of the internal cylinder, slipping, rough running, sideways rolling, shaking with hard impacts of the boiler on the frame (!!!), insufficient size of the firebox and ash pan. In addition to all this, the third cylinder was of little use - there was not enough steam for it after the two outer cylinders. However, this experience turned out to be of little intelligibility.

All these problems were significantly reduced in the MR locomotive, in which the ill-fated third cylinder was eliminated, the cranked axle was replaced with a straight one, and the steam pressure in the boiler was increased from 13 to 14.5 atm. With such innovations, fuel consumption has even decreased. The weight of the locomotive was 99 tons (rail load from the axle was 16.5 tons), the coupling weight was 69 tons. There are documentary video footage about this locomotive; it even appeared in the feature film “Government Official” in the 1920s.

And yet, in general, the unsatisfactory performance of the M steam locomotives - which is why only 100 of them were produced - served as the basis for the design of the next passenger steam locomotive. The technical design of such a steam locomotive was completed in 1929 at the Kolomna Locomotive Plant, with a grate area of ​​6 m2 and a diameter of driving wheels of 1700 mm. The new locomotive received the foreign name “Mikado” due to its 1-4-1 wheel arrangement (many wheel arrangements had personal foreign nicknames; the SU with its own axle arrangement, for example, was often called “Prairie” or “Soviet Prairie”). However, due to the already insufficient power for the early 1930s, this locomotive did not go into production.

The only viable steam locomotive developed in the early 1920s was the SU, created at the Petrograd “Krasny Putilovets” as a development of the pre-revolutionary SV. And since it was not created “from scratch”, like the FD or IS, this locomotive can only be considered with a stretch as the first Soviet passenger locomotive. In reality, the first and “from scratch” were the FD freight locomotive and the IS passenger locomotive.
The SU was developed in parallel with the M-type steam locomotive, but had one advantage - minimal improvements in comparison with its predecessor, the SV:

The length of the firebox and smoke box has been increased;
- the number of flame and smoke pipes has been changed;
- improved steam superheater;
- the boiler is raised relative to the rails;
- increased steam pressure in the boiler, etc.

In comparison with the M locomotive, the alterations were truly insignificant and in the shortest possible time, which determined the success of the new locomotive.
The SU developed a speed of 115 km/h, had elegant shapes, and an efficiency of about 7.5%. It was produced from 1924 to 1951 and throughout the existence of the IS steam locomotive it was a serious competitor. According to its characteristics, the SU is considered one of the best passenger locomotives in the world. It is clear that, released in 1925, it became the standard and starting point for both the NKPS and designers...

"OVERCOME!"

But there was still a need to surpass; by the end of the 1920s, the SU began to seem rather weak, especially in the conditions of the accelerated industrialization of the country. A train with a maximum length of 12 cars and a total weight of up to 600 tons, driven by this locomotive, according to the calculations of the NKPS theorists, could no longer support the growing passenger turnover of the Country of Soviets. Here it was necessary to increase either the number and intensity of traffic of SU trains, or the number of cars (in one train) with a constant number of trains on the route. And this entailed the development of a more powerful passenger locomotive. Naturally, its power, speed, and therefore weight, must exceed the control unit by at least one and a half times. So, it turned out that the new heavy steam locomotive had to drive 20 four-axle passenger cars at a speed of at least 100 km/h, and if the same 12 cars were driven, then at a much higher speed.

But it was impossible to completely abandon the SU - this locomotive was ideal for suburban transportation and seemed indispensable for easy track coverage, which was so abundant in the entire railway network of the country. We have already dwelled on the problems of railway covering (NiT No. 8, 2012), analyzing the FD steam locomotive, but there is no point in repeating this here, because the IS steam locomotive was in equal weight categories with the FD and received the same problems that the heavy one had already encountered FD.
In order to study foreign experience, the Soviet Union at the beginning of 1930 bought from the United States under contract the drawings of freight steam locomotives Ta and Tb and ten such locomotives in addition. However, the study and implementation of advanced and complex technologies for Russian factories took time, and the United Main Political Directorate (OGPU) considered such “sabotage” unacceptable. As a result, in April 1930, many specialists led by P.I. Krasovsky, who previously held the position of head of the Traction Department of the Central Railway Administration of the NKPS, found themselves gathered in one special design bureau, but behind bars, and were forced to study overseas experience under the supervision of the Transport Department of the OGPU under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. One of several parallel tasks before them was the development of a powerful high-speed passenger steam locomotive.

The developers were given the task of creating a new steam locomotive with an axial load on the rails from the driving wheel pairs of no more than 20 tons, with a traction force of at least one and a half times greater than the control unit, and there should be a maximum number of interchangeable parts with the freight locomotive being developed in parallel (hello to Trotsky! ). The design speed was assumed to be 100 km/h.

Preliminary sketches showed that it would be advisable to make the weight of the new passenger locomotive equal to the weight of the freight locomotive (future FD), which led to equality of the axles. We agreed on seven. However, passenger trains are shorter and therefore lighter than freight trains, and they run at high speeds. Therefore, the diameter of the driving axes must be made as large as possible, and the number of driving axes, of course, must be reduced. After some deliberation (“the father’s” supervision of the OGPU in action), their diameter was taken to be 1850 mm, like that of the SU steam locomotive. The large dimensions of the axles entailed the problem of the location of the firebox, so of the two options for axial formulas 2-4-1 and 1-4-2, the latter - with two small runner pairs under a huge firebox - seemed logical. Taking into account the wishes of the party and government, the firebox, boiler and cylinders were unified with the cargo FD.

In February 1932, the preliminary design of the future IS was completed (the preliminary design of the cargo FD was completed in April 1931), and it was immediately transferred to the Kolomna Locomotive Plant to the designers of the Central Locomotive Design Bureau of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry of the USSR K.N. Sushkin, M.N. Shchukin (son of the developer of the pre-revolutionary steam locomotive Shch N.L. Shchukin), A.V. Slomyansky, V.V. Filippov, A.A. Chirkov and
L.S. Lebedyansky (future author of the first post-war steam locomotive L) and others for the development of working drawings. And already in April, the working design of a new powerful steam locomotive of type 1-4-2, which was given the designation 2P (1P was assigned to the FD steam locomotive), was completed (for the FD steam locomotive the working design was completed in August 1931). The drawings were immediately transferred to production.

Such short development times (even shorter than those of FD) were achieved through judicious borrowing. The design of the rear bogie, which supports the firebox, was borrowed from the Ta locomotive purchased in the USA (the single-axle rear bogie Tb “came to the yard” of the FD). Since the sum of all axles of a locomotive must satisfy seven, as discussed above, only one axle remained for the front bogie, although the laws of a high-speed locomotive required two. And they tried, although not always, to comply with this requirement all over the world; even in our country, the subsequent P36 passenger locomotive had two front runner pairs. Without hesitation, the front axle was taken from FD. Many units were also unified - the FD and IS had them in common, and the coal feeder (stoker) was the same. But in comparison with the FD tender, they decided to make the six-axle tender more elegant in appearance - they gave it beveled edges of the sides, increased water reserves and, to counter the increase in the height of the tender, reduced the diameters of the wheels.

We decided to repeat the successful solution with the steam regulator from the FD - a device with which the driver injects steam into the cylinders (similar to the gas pedal on a car). The regulator is located in the steam hood above the boiler and collects steam. Previously it consisted of one or two valves. Single-valve regulators had a very large opening force, and in two-valve regulators, a small valve helped open the large one and reduced the driver’s efforts to act on the lever. In addition, the use of a small valve made it possible to save steam on the uniform, stable movement of the locomotive, which even gave rise to the expression “walking on a small valve.” On the FD and IS locomotives, the steam regulator had five valves.

The inclined placement of the stairs to the driver's box was also repeated. This turned out to be extremely convenient in comparison with the vertical ladders on steam locomotives of tsarist times.
The question also arose about the color of the locomotive. When choosing a coloring for the new passenger locomotive, they decided to introduce the successful green color of the SU locomotive, by analogy with the color of passenger cars, into the factory standard from now on, but at the request of the locomotive crews, sometimes they deviated from this and painted it both black and blue. But nevertheless, green for a long time became the main color for all subsequent passenger and then freight locomotives of the Soviet Union.
It is interesting to compare the design characteristics of the first IS and FD20-1.

Despite the presence of its own, and even an all-Union, design bureau, the technological preparation of the production of the Kolomna Plant for the production of IS did not lead to independence, just as it happened at the Lugansk Locomotive Plant, where the first FDs were already being assembled at full speed. The Kolomna plant was able to master the production of steam engine cylinders, the frame of the rear bogie and the tender, the Krasnoye Sormovo plant had to be given the stamping of sheets for the steam boiler, steam superheaters, etc., and the Izhora plant was loaded with the side panels of the main frame. Subsequently, such a significant share of cooperation had a negative impact on the timely construction of six-axle tenders for both the FD and the IS themselves. And yet, using the same Lugansk methods - shock nights, three-shift work, working weekends, but six months later - on November 4, 1932 - the Kolomna plant produced the first steam locomotive of the 2P type (the Luhansk residents built the first FD on August 10, 1931 for 100 workers days). The next day, the locomotive made its first successful runs and, like the FD locomotive, they began to hastily prepare it for Moscow to demonstrate the next proletarian achievement on the day of the 14th anniversary of the October Revolution.

(To be continued)

By the 1930s On Soviet railways it was necessary to significantly increase the speed of passenger trains. The Su steam locomotive with its maximum speed of 125 km/h and power of 1,500 hp. could no longer meet these requirements. The mainline passenger steam locomotive type 1-4-2 was developed by the Central Locomotive Design Bureau (CLPB) in 1932. And at the time of its creation, it was the most powerful passenger locomotive in Europe. Winner of the Grand Prix at the Paris World Exhibition (1937). The strongest and most powerful passenger locomotive in the history of Soviet locomotive building. A special feature of the locomotive was its great unification in many parts with the FD freight locomotive.

When designing this model, the most advanced technologies then used in steam locomotive construction were used. During development, the designers of the Central Locomotive Design Bureau - K. Sushkin, L. Lebedyansky, A. Slominsky and others - managed to use for the new locomotive not only the boiler and cylinders from its predecessor - the FD locomotive (Felix Dzerzhinsky), but also axle boxes, axles and a number of other parts , and also, despite a different axial formula, repeat its spring suspension scheme.

In April, working drawings of the new steam locomotive were sent from the Central Laboratory of Production Bureau to the Kolomna Plant, which, with the participation of the Izhora Plant, produced the first passenger steam locomotive of type 1-4-2 on October 4, 1932. By decision of the plant workers, the new locomotive was assigned the IS series - Joseph Stalin.

Year of construction 1932
Axial formula 1-4-2
Locomotive length 16,365 mm
Locomotive operating weight 133-136 t
Empty locomotive weight 118 t
Adhesion weight 80.7 - 82 t
Load from driving axles on rails 20.2 - 20.5 t
Design speed 115 km/h
Power 2,500 - 3,200 hp
Traction force up to 15,400 kgf
Diameter of driving wheels 1,850 mm
Diameter of runner wheels 1,050 mm
Diameter of supporting wheels 1,050 mm
Steam pressure in the boiler 15 kgf/cm²
Evaporative heating surface of the boiler 295.16 m² (IS20), 247.7 m² (IS21)
Superheater type Elekso-E (IS20), L40 (IS21)
Superheater heating surface 148.4 m² (IS20), 123.5 m² (IS21)
Grate area 7.04 m²
Cylinder diameter 670 mm
Piston stroke 770 mm

The main requirements for the new locomotive were the following: the axle load from the driving wheel pairs is no more than 20 tons, the traction force is 50% greater than that of the Su, the maximum number of interchangeable parts with the FD series locomotive. The diameter of the driving wheels was taken to be 1850 mm, like the Su series locomotives, the axle formula was adopted 1-4-2, since only with such a formula was it possible to use the boiler and cylinders of the FD steam locomotive. In February 1932, the Technical Bureau of the Transport Department of the OGPU completed the development of a preliminary design, after which it was transferred to the Lokomotivoproekt of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry of the USSR.

In April, working drawings from the Central Design Bureau were sent to the Kolomna Plant, which, with the participation of the Izhora Plant, produced the first passenger steam locomotive of the 1-4-2 type on October 4, 1932. By decision of the plant workers, the new locomotive was assigned the IS series (Joseph Stalin), and the full designation was IS20-1 (20 is the axle load from the driving wheelset on the rails, in vehicles, No. 1). On November 5, the first run-in of the locomotive was carried out, and on November 7, on the day of the 15th anniversary of the October Revolution, it arrived in Moscow for display. On December 20, the second steam locomotive of the series, IS20-2, was assembled at the Kolomensky Plant, and in 1933, IS20-3. From April to December 1933, tests of the IS20-2 steam locomotive were carried out alternately on three roads (Yuzhnaya, Ekaterininskaya and Oktyabrskaya). In these tests, the steam locomotive showed a power of 2500 hp, which was more than twice the power of the Su steam locomotive, and in some cases the power value of the IS even reached 3200 hp. In addition, the locomotive had an unusually high boiler boost - up to 80 kgf/m² h - higher than all previous Soviet steam locomotives, including the FD (65 kgf/m² h).

In 1934, at the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a decision was made that the IS steam locomotive should become the main unit of the passenger locomotive fleet in the second five-year plan. In the same year, the Kolomna Plant produced 2 more IS steam locomotives and the same number in 1935. However, due to the lack of proper equipment (for example, for the manufacture and assembly of a timber frame), it was not possible to establish mass production of steam locomotives of this series at this plant in the near future impossible, therefore, at the end of 1935, the documentation for the production of IS series steam locomotives was transferred to the Voroshilovgrad Steam Locomotive Plant, whose new workshops (built in 1927-1931) made it possible to build steam locomotives of “American design” (with block frames and block cylinders). In 1936, the Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Plant produced its first 3 IS steam locomotives (No. 20-8 - 20-10; IS20-7 was never completed). Unlike the IS of the Kolomna plant, these IS were produced with a six-axle tender 6P (steam locomotives IS No. 1-6 were produced with a four-axle), which was developed at the Voroshilovgrad plant specifically for these locomotives.

In 1937, the plant switched to large-scale production of IS steam locomotives, producing 105 locomotives.

Although the IS series steam locomotive, which appeared in 1932, had a power of up to 3,200 hp, it could not increase its speed. Back in the early 1930s, NIIZhT, together with the Moscow Aviation Institute, conducted comprehensive tests of a locomotive model in a wind tunnel, during which it turned out that at speeds above 100 km/h, the use of a streamlined casing, due to the reduction in air resistance, can provide a power gain of 200 -250 hp Tests of this locomotive also confirmed a significant reduction in the harmful drag of the locomotive at high speeds, thanks to which the IS20-16 was able to accelerate to a speed of 155 km/h. Based on the results of these studies, in 1937 the Voroshilovgrad plant produced the IS20-16 steam locomotive with a fairing casing.

Subsequently, these results were used to create high-speed steam locomotives of the 2-3-2 type (P12 and No. 6998). Also in 1937, one of the steam locomotives of the IS series (namely IS20-241) was presented at the World Exhibition in Paris, where it received the Grand Prix Award (beating out the Polish Pm36)

The first IS arrived on the Moscow-Leningrad line of the Oktyabrskaya Railway, where they served long-distance passenger trains (including the Red Arrow) on the Moscow-Bologoe section along with the Su series locomotives. In 1935, they were transferred from the Oktyabrskaya Railway to the Moscow-Kurskaya to the Moscow-Passenger depot, and in 1936, several more steam locomotives of the series were sent to the Kharkov depot of the Southern Railway, which made it possible to create the first direction where long-distance passenger trains were served by IS steam locomotives (replacing Su ): Moscow - Kursk - Kharkov - Sinelnikovo.

The production of steam locomotive No. 6998 was completed in April 1938. The wheel diameter was 2200 mm, and the design speed was 180 km/h. If on steam locomotives of type 2-3-2 of the Kolomna plant all the main parts were designed specifically for these locomotives, then on the steam locomotive of the Voroshilovgrad plant a number of parts of steam locomotives of the FD and IS series were used. Thus, from them the new locomotive received most of the elements of the steam boiler (tubular part, firebox, fittings), cylinders, rear bogie frame, axle liners and wedges, as well as much more. As a result, the repair of the new locomotive was greatly facilitated (especially if there were FD and IS locomotives in the locomotive depot).

To lighten the structure, high-strength steel was used, and welding was also widely used. Also, alloy steel was used to manufacture the driving mechanism, and all the wheels of the locomotive were disc. The supporting and running axles, as well as all axles of the tender, were equipped with roller bearings, and the locomotive was equipped with a wide-pipe superheater L40.

In June 1938, the locomotive arrived at the Slavyansk depot of the South Donetsk Railway and drove fast and courier trains on the Slavyansk - Rostov-on-Don and Slavyansk - Kharkov sections. During the month of operation, the locomotive covered about 6,000 km, and in July of the same year the locomotive was delivered to the Oktyabrskaya Railway for work on the Moscow-Bologoye section. On one of the trips, the locomotive developed a power of 3400 hp on a rise of 8 ‰; at the beginning of the climb the speed was 110 km/h, and at the end - 76 km/h. Working according to the schedule drawn up for the Su series locomotives, the new locomotive per unit of work had an excess fuel consumption of 15% compared to the Su locomotives. Unlike the steam locomotives of the Kolomna Plant, steam locomotive No. 6998 was not tested as thoroughly and its thermal performance characteristics were never fully studied.

After the war, the locomotive was operated at speeds no higher than 70 km/h, so the streamlined hood was removed. Nevertheless, in April 1957, this steam locomotive with a special train reached a speed of 175 km/h, which was the last speed record for steam traction in the USSR.

IS steam locomotives served such important routes as: Kharkov - Mineralnye Vody, Moscow - Smolensk - Minsk, Moscow - Ozherelye - Valuyki, Michurinsk - Rostov-on-Don and others, on which they replaced passenger steam locomotives of the Su, S, L series etc.

After the “decline” of steam locomotive traction, domestic two-section diesel locomotives TE-7 drove passenger trains on the same line at speeds of up to 140 km/h. Then they were replaced by TEP-60 diesel locomotives, capable of reaching speeds even higher - up to 160 km/h.
Then, in the mid-1960s, daytime Aurora express trains went to Leningrad and Moscow with a maximum and route speed of 160/130.4 km/h! European express trains had the same speed parameters at that time. In France - "Mistral" (160/131 km/h), in Italy - "Arrow of Vesuvius" (160/120 km/h).

The Biggest Steam Locomotive is the American ALCO/Union Pacific ‘Big Boy’.

This locomotive, installed near the capital's Southern Railway Station, is the only example in the world of the pre-war high-speed Soviet steam locomotive FDp-578 (IS), which has survived to this day.

The first IS locomotives were entrusted with servicing long-distance passenger trains "Red Arrow" running on the Moscow-Leningrad route. Later, this model was used on important state transport routes (Moscow-Kursk-Kharkov-Sinelnikovo, as well as Moscow-Smolensk-Minsk and Kharkov-Mineralnye Vody).

During the Great Patriotic War, which broke out in 1941, most of the IS locomotives were transferred to the eastern regions of the Soviet Union. In the early sixties of the last century, the designation of the model series was replaced by FDp. This was due to the debunking of the personality cult of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. However, at the same time, steam locomotives were modernized - they were converted to electric and diesel traction, which marked the beginning of the decline of the era of steam locomotives. In the 1970s, most of them were disposed of.

The copy, which today is installed on a pedestal at the entrance to the capital's locomotive depot, located near the South Station in Kyiv, was preserved thanks to the initiative of P. Krivonos, who headed the South-Western Railway.

Address of the monument to the steam locomotive IS (FDp): Kyiv, P. Krivonos Square.

This is what he writes Burakov V.V., (acting director of the Road Museum of the History of the North Caucasus Railway in 2009)

In 1995, I was invited by the famous English company GW Travel Ltd. made an exciting trip to England, where for a whole month he became acquainted with activities in the field of operation and repair of steam locomotives. Everything about the British was amazing: the number of steam locomotives that had been “revived” and brought to working order, the number of locomotives and carriages still awaiting repair and undergoing restoration repairs. I was especially struck by the volume and quality of the repair work carried out - this included repairing the boiler with riveting the drums and removing the fire box, installing new copper fireboxes, replacing cylinder blocks and re-stretching two-meter-diameter bandages, re-manufacturing new water tanks for tenders and much, much more. But a particular surprise when visiting the York National Railway Museum (National Railway Museum, York) was the new “ROCKET” by George Stephenson, or rather its two “replicas”. One was on display in the form by which one can judge the internal structure of this steam locomotive, cut almost in half - a boiler, a steam engine, a tender. But the second “ROCKET” was not in the museum that day. As the guide told us, the second locomotive was on lease at that time, and in distant Japan. To my surprise, he explained that in this way this new and efficient machine is working out the amounts that were spent on recreating it according to old drawings in compliance with old technologies. And what’s most interesting is that these costs in the amount of two million British pounds have already been recouped and now this replica is simply earning money for the museum through his participation in filming, some advertising, and simply constant rental of one way or another.

The famous "MALLARD" - a 2-3-1 type locomotive, English pride, world record holder - was also located in the museum. We will not talk about how he set his famous speed record, but already then, in 1995, the British began to raise money to recreate his future clone, since strict English safety rules prohibit operating a steam locomotive with passenger trains after a certain time. Seeing the recreated “ROCKET” before my eyes, I thought even then that the English fans would probably be up to the task, but they would have to scrape together more pounds. And so it happened. It took seventeen years for them to gather together, build it, and now they’re riding around England! And then bitterness appeared - well, why are we worse?

Is it really impossible for anyone in the vast and by no means poor Russia to do this? Is it really impossible to recreate anything from what has already been lost? “ES-ka”, “Borka”, “Ka-shka”, “Pike” or “ISAK” are not interesting or needed by anyone at all? Or were these locomotives not the pride of the country, the pride of design ideas, the pride of the domestic steam locomotive industry, and simply of an entire era? Are there no drawings? Desires? Courage? Confidence in the feasibility of this? Or maybe pride in your country, power, transport, finally? What other words and arguments are needed?

Why don’t we recreate the lost steam locomotive of the IS series (“Kiev” 578 no longer counts). Our locomotive will be larger in size, more powerful than the English one, and no less beautiful. There is no need to set records on it, but it will still be able to run around the endless expanses of Mother Russia for forty to fifty years! This is something that ordinary people and future generations will marvel at. Of course, some will turn their fingers to their temples, but the smart ones will only respect the entire Russian amateur railway movement. After all, the whole world has been building all kinds of replicas for a long time: cars, ships, airplanes are being recreated. Now it seems the time has come for steam locomotives.

Now let’s think about the difficulties in this matter.

The first is technical. Albums of drawings of the IS series steam locomotive have been preserved, this is not a problem. Although we also need factory drawings, which indicate the manufacturing technology of a particular part, tolerances and fits of mating parts, allowances for casting, machining, etc. But how to recreate such complex details as: a boiler, steam cylinders, a crew frame, driving wheelsets, driving drawbars? The British obviously followed the path when building the boiler, in which all riveted parts were replaced with welded ones. I readily believe that with modern boiler building technologies, we will not need a riveted seam when moving from the front sheet to the firebox casing sheets or from the grip sheet to the cylindrical part, but it is unlikely that it is necessary to replace the riveted seam on the firebox frame by welding. But riveting technology has not yet been completely lost, and the combustion frame from below was always secured with an additional weld. And even in locomotive times, riveted front grilles were replaced by welded ones. Boiler dimensions? Yes, it is not small, weighing almost 30 tons, but at the Taganrog Krasny Kotelshchik plant I saw with my own eyes boilers five times larger than the IS ones. Boiler steel? Yes, it is still used in boiler making! Therefore, when it was necessary to manufacture a new front grille for our Su-250-64 at the same plant, boiler sheet of the required assortment was simply ordered from the factory metal warehouse. Bonding iron? It is still produced to order by metallurgists. Flame, smoke, element, boiling pipes? Anyone who has dealt with the repair of steam locomotives in our time knows that this product is still in the range of our pipe factories! Yes, the manufacture of dies for the steam chamber, grip and front sheets, the manufacture of new superheater boxes and steam columns will require appropriate technological equipment, but no one says that this is impossible! Therefore, our outstanding scientist, design engineer and creator of Soviet space technology, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, said: “There are no insoluble technical problems. There is only a lack of desire to solve them or a lack of funding.”

Steam cylinders are a complex part in shape, but for a competent foundry worker this is not a problem. A steel casting weighing three tons, with many internal passages, does not present any difficulty even now. Boring for cylinder liners and for the smoke box - at any more or less well-equipped machine-building plant there are horizontal boring machines for which this task is also feasible.

The bar frame, or rather its main blades (without rear shanks), is almost 11.5 meters long and 140 mm thick - similar dimensions that all rolling mills can handle. Mechanical processing of all its cuts is not a technically insoluble problem. I don’t think it’s worth talking about the manufacture of a cast buffer beam, tie box, parallel frame, axle return devices, axle box housings, axle box strings, spring suspension elements due to the simplicity of their manufacture, compared to the complexity of the frame itself.

The wheel centers of the coupling axles, of course, need to be made anew, since there are no spare IS ramps preserved anywhere. Moreover, it must be taken into account that if the 1st, 2nd and 4th axes have the same left and right centers, then the 3rd ones have different shapes. But here, whether there is more than one model for casting or two, is not such a big difference. It would be better if the centers were made in one piece - the shape would be simpler and the appearance would be more aesthetically pleasing. The main thing is bandages. Being at one time a mechanic in the wheel shop of the Rostov Electric Locomotive Repair Plant, the author of these lines encountered this problem. So, for our factories even now this is not a question, since their equipment allows them to roll out bandages of almost any diameter. The only question is the timing of such an order and the number of bandages ordered - the more you order, the lower the cost of manufacturing each. And old induction frame heaters allow you to heat the bandage before attaching it to the wheel center of any diameter. If this equipment also disappears from the factories, restoring a gas heater with a diameter of 1850 mm is a matter of technology. The current instructions for forming wheel pairs allow this technology to be used. Pressing the crank pins is not difficult, and pressing the IS wheel center onto the axle will require a minor modification of the press, as well as the seaming press for crimping the retaining ring of the bandage.

As you know, the world's oldest operating steam locomotive is preserved in Austria. It was built back in 1825, but now only the frame remains from that original mechanism. Everything else has long since been replaced several times: the boiler, the wheelsets, the cylinders, and the tender, not to mention the driver’s booth. But this, nevertheless, allows the Austrians to be proud of their great-great-great-grandfather, since they have at least one of his original locomotive parts in stock. In the recreated IS, you can also use original or unified spare parts with other series of locomotives.

For example - leading drawbars. The IS series locomotive has a length of 4 meters. It is interesting that this very important part, in the amount of two pieces, has been preserved to this day at one of the reserve bases of the Sverdlovsk Railway! Of course, they will need to carry out thorough magnetic and ultrasonic flaw detection, but these operations are easier to do than making new ones from chromium-nickel steel. The use of existing butterfly combustion doors, RS-11 injectors, elements of locomotive fittings, cylinder-blow valves, a reverse servomotor, a steam-air compound pump of the Rudenko system, turbogenerators TG-1 and elements of locomotive electrical equipment, 8 and 14, will not be a big violation of reliability. - three outlet grease fittings. But the most important thing is a six-axle tender. Fortunately, on the same Sverdlovsk railway. on the basis of the reserve of the former locomotive depot Kungur at the station. In Shumkovo, a clutch of two IS20-170 + IS20-471 has been preserved, in the water tanks of which axle oil for the axle boxes of base locomotives has been stored for the last 40 years. This is conservation! The tanks of the tenders are in excellent condition, one of them also preserves the stoker steam engine with a propeller in the receiving trough, and the brake lever assembly. Yes, to resume operation, tender wheelsets must undergo factory repair, since the time that has elapsed since the tires were attached to the wheel centers has long passed all conceivable deadlines, but this is not a problem with a tire diameter of 900 mm. Refilling axle bearings with new Babbitt is also not difficult. Washing and steaming the insides of a water tank is possible using modern chemical means, for which you can make the necessary holes in the inclined walls of the coal bunker and then weld them. So it turns out that half of the locomotive (in its geometric dimensions) will be exactly what will be called “that same native and real IS”! All that remains is to come up with a new inventory number for it, since no other former one can be given, but the tender should leave it as its original one for historical justice. Based on the history of the construction of these locomotives, it can be seen as IS20-650 plus a tender, for example IS20-471!

What made the British abandon the possibility of using the same type of spare tender for the FLYING SCOTCHMAN in their recreated TORNADO is unknown to us. Apparently they really wanted to have everything completely new, including the tender, although this increased the cost of the entire project accordingly. But here we come to what is probably the most important second issue of restoring our native IS.

It is clear that it is possible to build and assemble a new locomotive only at one of our locomotive-building plants using a boiler built at a specialized boiler equipment plant. It is also clear that a lot of money is needed to carry out all the design and engineering work, run-in and testing of the newly built locomotive. During this difficult period for the country, our dear department of JSC Russian Railways is not busy building steam, albeit legendary, replicas. Money for this project is needed from outside, although it still cannot be done without Russian Railways’ help, since this new locomotive will have to be tested and operated along Russian Railways tracks. In any case, the English way of obtaining them is applicable, it seems to me, to us. Initially - the creation of a certain public association of the NP type (non-profit partnership) with the quite understandable name “STEAM LOGO IS20-650” with its own open charter and current account, the creation of a website with the same name (I think Mr. D. Zinoviev will not be too offended by the consonance) where All activities, financial additions and expenses of the partnership will be regularly covered. The partnership agrees on the forms and methods of possible receipt of money for this project: be it bonds, loans, lotteries, donations, sponsorship, etc., types of advertising activities at its meetings and keeps this information open.

I wouldn’t want anyone who reads this article to get the impression that everything is so simple or that its author looks at all problems through rose-colored glasses, far from it. The volume of work required and the range of parts required for the product simply amazes the imagination when you look in detail at the drawings of this locomotive. To get started, you only need one thing - the desire to take on this business, not sniffle or drool, but believe in success. And at the same time, mentally tune in to the fact that this is not a quick thing, that it is not in 2010 that a boiler will be laid at some boiler plant, and it is not in 2012 that the first run-in of a steam locomotive will take place.

The Road Museum of the History of the North Caucasus Railway is also interested in the successful implementation of this project. Not only because our road was at one time “IS-ovskaya”, since locomotives of this series served passenger traffic on its main direction from Mineralnye Vody to Glubokaya and further to Voronezh - Moscow. At one time, museum employees and Rostov amateurs were saved from cutting and stored on the museum site at the station. Gnilovskaya two tenders IS20-286+IS20-320. Due to their current technical condition, they cannot be used in further operation, although they also have a number of parts that can be used in the construction of a new IS steam locomotive.