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Soviet Locomotive Technology During Industrialization, 1928–1952 pp 23–77Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

From Recuperation to Reconstruction, 1922–1929

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Part of the book series: Studies in Soviet History and Society ((SSHS))

Abstract

In Soviet economic history, the mid-1920s are regarded as years of elemental discussion, with economists and Party leaders debating the best route to follow after the relatively easy return to the 1913 levels of production had been achieved. The acceptance of the First Five-Year Plan, which confirmed the USSR on its course of rapid industrialization, did not occur until 1929. Until then, in all parts of the economy, there was an odour of uncertainty, if not of unreality, in policy-forming departments.

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Notes and References

  1. The structure of the locomotive-building industry is described in: Institute for Research in Social Science, The Soviet Railroad Equipment Industry (Chapel Hill, 1954).

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  2. A. Naporko (comp.), Zheleznodorozhnyi transport v gody industrializtsii SSSR (M, 1970) p. 44.

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  3. Naporko (1957), op. cit., p. 211.

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  4. Ibid., pp. 236–7.

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  5. This paragraph is largely based on a very full account in S. S. Khromov, F. E. Dzerzhinskii vo glave metallopromyshlennosti (M, 1966) pp. 28–43, 188–93.

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  6. Naporko (1970) op. cit., p. 40–2. This NKPS plan was submitted in October 1927. An article by Prof. Bernstein Kogan (PK, no. 1, 1929, pp. 127–53) illuminates NKPS thinking in 1928 and the pros and cons of an American-style reconstruction. He writes that in April 1928 the NKPS submitted to Gosplan a plan which revolved around three basic locomotives, the existing E, a ‘5-axle 20-ton’ type T, and the ‘5-axle 30-ton’ type A. Evidently rebuffed, the NKPS submitted a new, scaled-down, plan in August.

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  7. In 1934 was celebrated the fifth anniversary of the ‘first’ electrification.

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  8. The Baku scheme is described in: G. A. Akhmedov, M. A. Kuz’min, Pervaya v SSSR (Baku, 1966);

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  9. Elektrifikatsiya zheleznykh dorog, no. 10, 1932, pp. 20–5;

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  10. Ucheniye zapiski Azerbaidzhanskogo universiteta, seriya obshchestvennykh nauk, no. 4 (Baku, 1960) pp. 95–109.

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  11. EZ, 5 Feb. 1931, p. 4.

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  12. Rakov, op. cit., p. 342.

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  13. Ibid., p. 344. The NKPS engineer closely associated with this scheme gave some detailed figures (especially for crew and fuel requirements) in A. N. Khudadov, Tekhnicheski-ekonomicheskiye predposylki elektrifikatsii zheleznykh dorog SSSR (M, 1932).

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  14. Gudok, 26 Dec. 1930, p. 3.

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  15. EZ, 24 Sep. 1930, p. 3.

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  16. EZ, 14 Dec. 1930, p. 3.

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  17. EZ, 24 Feb. 1929, p. 2. By the mid-1930s the NKPS opinion seems to have prevailed, with the creation of the steam-operated Moscow-Valuiki-Donbas main line.

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  18. The decision to use electric trains rather than electric locomotives was uncontroversial, given the technical level of that period.

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  19. An account of its work, including names of its personnel, is in Byulleteny teplovoznoi komissii, no. 1 (M, 1927) pp. 22–6.

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  20. Biographies of Gakkel appear in Ryshchik, op. cit., pp. 174–83, and N. A. Zenzinov, S. A. Ryzhak, Vydayushchiesya inzhenery i ucheniye zheleznodorozhnogo transporta (M, 1978) pp. 250–62.

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  21. Rakov, op. cit., pp. 272–3; Vestnik NIIZhT, no. 6 (M, 1957) pp. 59–63.

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  22. See, for example, Tekhnika i ekonomika zheleznykh dorog, no. 8 (M, 1948) p. 21.

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  23. Byulleteny …, op. cit., no.2 (M, 1929) pp. 11–17.

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  24. Railroad History, vol. 128, pp. 35–49.

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  25. ‘High Powered Diesel Locomotives in Russia’, in Diesel Railway Traction (London, 2 Dec. 1932) pp. 672–4.

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  26. PK, no. 5, 1925, p. 163.

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  27. P. V. Yakobson, Istoriya teplovoza v SSSR (M, 1960) p. 39,

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  28. quoting Yu. Lomonosov, Teplovoz Yue-001 i ego ispytaniya v Germanii (Berlin, 1925).

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  29. Zenzinov and Ryzhak, op. cit., pp. 257–8.

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  30. For full description and diagrams of this locomotive and of E-el-2 see Yakobson, op. cit., pp. 43–58 and 35–43.

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  31. Rakov, op. cit., p. 280.

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  32. Ibid., p. 281.

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  33. Letter by J. L. Koffman in Diesel Railway Traction (London, July 1960) pp. 282–3. As the writer’s comments on other matters in this letter seem well-informed, it is hard to lightly dismiss his observations about Shelest and Lomonosov.

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  34. F. E. Dzerzhinskii, Izbrannye proizvedenii, vol. 1 (M, 1957) pp. 373–4.

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  35. Yakobson, op. cit., p. 59.

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  36. Rakov, op. cit., p. 272.

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  37. Naporko (1957) op. cit., p. 193.

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  38. Ibid., p. 200. In February 1926 the prize money was ‘increased’ to 500,000 roubles.

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  39. Byulleteny …, op. cit., no. 2, p. 83. The results were also published in Izvestiya TsIK SSSR, 163 (3897) 15 July 1928.

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  40. Shelest, op. cit., p. 191.

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  41. Elektrichestvo, no. 19 (M, 1930) pp. 732–7.

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  42. Izvestiya Leningradskogo tekhnicheskogo instituta, no. 17 (L, 1931) pp. 59–76.

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  43. These include: G. Lomonosoff, Die Thermolokomotive (Berlin, 1925)

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  44. and G. Lomonosoff, Die Diesel-Elektrische Lokomotive (Berlin, 1924).

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  45. PK, no. 5, 1925. The articles were: Ya. Shatunovskii, ‘Teplovoznoye preuvelicheniye’ (pp. 157–61); Yu. Lomonosov, ‘Kto preuvelichivaet?’ (pp. 162–3); A. Shelest, ‘K diskusii o teplovozakh,’ (pp. 164–70); Prof. Bernatskii, ‘Isklyuchitel’ nost’ v vybore roda tyagi’ (pp. 171 –6).

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  46. Zeitschrift des Vereins Deutsches Ingenieure, no. 37 (Berlin, 1924) pp. 937–42.

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  47. PK, no. 6, 1925, p. 144.

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  48. Byulleteny …, no. 1, 1927, p. 27.

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  49. Ya. M. Gakkel’ ‘Teplovoz s elektricheskoi peredachei v sravneniye s parovozom i elektrovozom’, in Izvestiya elektrotekhnicheskogo instituta, vol. XVI (M, 1929) pp. 7–18.

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  50. Vestnik inzhenerov, no. 7 (M, 1927) p. 285.

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  51. Ibid., no. 9, 1926, pp. 366–7.

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  52. Byulleteny …, no. 3, 1929, p. 8.

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  53. S. I. Kuks, ‘K problemu teplovoza’, in Vestnik Sibirskikh inzhenerov, no. 1/2 (Tomsk, 1926) pp. 10–20.

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  54. Izvestiya elektricheskogo instituta, vol. XVI, 1929, pp. 7–18. Electrification and strategy is also discussed in ST, no. 9, 1937, pp. 20–28, and ZT, no. 4, 1944, pp. 58–62.

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  55. Byulleteny …, no. 2, 1929, pp. 58–60.

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  56. The American technical press carried several articles by Lipets about diesel traction. For example: Railway Age, no. 8, 1927, p. 1869, and no. 6, 1926, pp. 241–5; Mechanical Engineering, no.8, 1926, pp. 797–806, and no. 9, 1926, pp. 929–40.

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  57. Shelest’s address is summarized in Vestnik inzhenerov, no. 7, 1927, pp. 285–8.

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  58. V. A. Dmitriev, Narodnokhozyaistvennaya effektivnost’ elektrifikatsii zheleznykh dorog i primeneniya teplovoznoi tyagi (M, 1976) is an exemplary modern cost study.

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  59. A. N. Shelest, ‘Teplovozy s mekhanicheskimi generatorami gazov sistemy A. N. Shelest’, in Vestnik inzhenerov, no. 7, 1927, pp. 288–92.

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  60. Byulleteny…, no. 1, 1927, p. 50.

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  61. Ibid., no. 3, 1929, pp. 41–3, 19–21.

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  62. Naporko (1957) op. cit., p. 194. This commission replaced a similar commission (of the STO) which had been established 5 Dec. 1924.

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  63. Diesel Railway Traction, May 1960, p. 184. Although evidence is lacking, it seems possible that Dobrovol’ skii and his colleagues were incarcerated, as were steam designers at this time, in a special establishment where they could sort out their problems in an atmosphere designed to concentrate their minds.

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  64. Byulleteny…, see Bibliography.

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  65. In addition to the mainline units, two 300 hp diesel-mechanical yard locomotives would arrive from Krupp in 1931, two four-axle diesel railcars from Esslingen in 1929, and two two-axle diesel railcars from Linke-Hoffman-Busch in 1929. Also present were several pre-914 attempts by the Mytishchi Works at kerosene railcars.

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  66. Byulleteny…, no. 1, 1927, pp. 17–21.

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  67. Ibid., pp. 55–9.

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  68. Ibid., Three pages of tables are on pp. 57–9.

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  69. S. M. Postnikov, ‘Litsom k sovietskomu teplovozu’, in ST, no. 6, 1931, pp. 142–6.

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  70. Sborniki teplovoznoi komissii, no. 3 (M, 1930) pp. 10–18.

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  71. STO decree, 19 June 1929 (SZ, 1929, art. 417 of no. 47).

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  72. Byulleteny…, no. 2, 1929, pp. 6–10.

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  73. The approved designs were the 4—10— 2 E—el; the 2— 8 — 2 o—el; the 2—8 — 0 o—el; Prof. Trinkler’s 2— 12 — 0 and 2— 10—2; a steam-transmission 2— 10—o (E—p); a steam-diesel conversion of a 4—6—0 (U—np); and a mechanical transmission 4—8 — 4 (M—mkh) for heavy passenger work.

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  74. Sbornik teplovoznoi komissii, no. 3, pp. 9–10. The proposals were later thinned out by an ‘enlarged Technical Conference’ which included the designers of the various projects as well as men with practical experience from the Diesel Locomotive Base. It was probably the latter who were behind the recommendation that new experimental units should not be merely new versions of locomotives already ordered.

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  75. FD and IS coalburning locomotives seem to have received taller chimneys after 1955, perhaps to aid the combustion of inferior coals.

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  76. Sbornik teplovoznoi komissii, no. 3, 1929, pp. 9, 18.

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  77. Gakkel in Elektrichestvo, no. 19, 1930, p. 734.

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  78. Lokomotivostroeniye, no. 1 (M, 1931) p. 20.

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  79. A. Avatkov in Elektrifikatsiya zheleznykh dorog, no. 2/3 (M, 1932) p. 22.

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  80. EZ, 16 Apr. 1929, p. 2.

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  81. Gudok, 28 Dec. 1930, p. 4.

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  82. Gudok, 16 Mar. 1930, p. 3.

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  83. Gudok, 31 Aug. 1930, p. 3.

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  84. EZ, 23 Mar. 1930, p. 4.

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  85. EZ, 14 Dec. 1930, p. 3.

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  1. J. N. Westwood
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© 1982 J. N. Westwood

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Westwood, J.N. (1982). From Recuperation to Reconstruction, 1922–1929. In: Soviet Locomotive Technology During Industrialization, 1928–1952. Studies in Soviet History and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05011-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05011-6_2

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