Russian Railway Transport

Abstract

AT the International Exhibition of Art and Technique in Modern Life which is to be opened in Paris this month, Soviet railway transport will be well represented, the principal exhibit being a working model of the new locomotive SO 17-635 which recently completed a successful test journey of 13,000 miles hauling a goods train of 1,200 tons. This engine is an outstanding development of the steam locomotive and, in its way, a pioneer, having been designed for the conditions of Middle Asia and the Far East where, owing to the scarcity of water, the provision of adequate supplies may represent as much as 40 per cent of the total cost of construction. The engine has a special tender equipped with radiators for condensing the exhaust steam, and tanks for collecting the condensate. After being passed first through an oil separator, the exhaust steam enters a turbine which drives the fans for cooling the steam when it reaches the radiators. In this way, with an initial supply of 10 tons of water, it is claimed that the engine can make a run of 627 miles without replenishment. The trial trip was organized for the purpose of testing the behaviour of this locomotive in severe winter conditions, with different kinds of coal, and on the steep gradients which are numerous in the mountainous districts. Travelling from Moscow to Vladivostok and back, it passed over eleven main lines of the U.S.S.R., and the long run, it is stated, was completed without a hitch. Further Soviet exhibits at the Paris Exhibition will include working models of other steam and electric locomotives and of new types of railway coaches specially adapted to Russian and trans-Siberian conditions of travel. The growth of railway transport in those regions is indicated by recent official figures, which show that in 1935 the total length of the railways in the TJ.S.S.R. was 52,500 miles and that last year they carried 990-8 million passengers and 484-2 million tons of freight.