A Russian Steam Miscellany

Harvey Smith was based in and around Moscow off and on from 1997 to 2014 and has now moved to St. Petersburg. Apart from this report he has also posted information on other attractions in Moscow and the rest of Russia, there are links at the bottom of the page.

Latest addition is the armoured O Class at Murom (8th October 2014).

The idea for this page came from an collection of “scraps” that do not really fit in to anywhere else. Russia abounds in plinthed steam locomotives, dumped locomotives and the remains of strategic reserves and some depots even keep the odd steam locomotive as a 'pet'. So many steam locomotives now lay scattered over the former USSR, most are standard types but some are of special either as locomotives per se or due to their history. For instance, Ye^L-629 is plinthed in Ussuriisk 98 km north of Vladivostock in the Russian Far East, as a memorial to 3 Bolshevik revolutionaries (Lazo, Lutsky and Sibirtsev) who were roasted alive by White Guards in its firebox in 1920 (see http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Parovoz-Ea-629.jpg).

In addition, the most fascinating items can be discovered by accident. The 2 dumped Japanese D51s in Sakhalin, Lenin’s locomotive at Paveletskaya Station in Moscow, and Lenin’s Railway Carriage in the carriage depot outside Leningradskaya station in Moscow are just a few instances of discoveries I made by chance. Finally, I think the Soviet Union deserves more publicity for its railway achievements than it currently gets. They did after all have the largest system, the longest railway line (Trans-Siberian), the largest European standard class passenger steam locomotive (class P36), the largest European standard class freight steam locomotive (class LV), and the world’s most produced steam locomotive (class E).

In addition, Russia and many former Soviet Republics still offer those with the will and the money the opportunity to buy a steam locomotive. In the Soviet Union a steam locomotive rarely died, it just went to the strategic reserve, where it was stored until the day it might be needed in the event of a war. Former German Kriegsloks (Class TE) have even been stored with the view that museums and collectors might want to buy them. Both the Krieglsoks and the American built Russian Decapods (class Ye) are convertible to standard gauge. As for the other classes no one quite knows if they can be converted to standard gauge, but this should not worry a collector from Finland, Spain or Portugal. Besides the Japanese D51s in Sakhalin are to the Japanese gauge of 3' 6" or 1067mm.

So what I have gathered here is what I hope will become a scrap book of photographs and links and if it gets too long (which seems quite likely), then it can be divided up by area in due course.

E^SH-4290 stands in Vyazma approximately 200km due east of Moscow on the route to Smolensk Western Europe it was actually built in Sweden:.

In Kaluga stands the front two metres of a class S^U passenger locomotive. It is outside Kaluga 1 station in the city. Kaluga is located approximately 220km South West of Moscow on the route to Kiev in the Ukraine.

At Zlatoust in the south Urals there is still a fully equipped steam depot - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zlatoust

A series of photographs of dumped steam locomotives at Zlatoust appear on this webpage - http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2010/05/13/abandoned-locomotives/. 

Alexander Sokolov has sent these pictures of 2-10-0 Ye^A-3306 at Vladivostok station:

This is Ivan Malakhovsky's picture of armoured O^V-3346 at Murom some 300km east of Moscow:

• The Richskaya (Moscow) Railway Museum

• The Museum of Lenin’s Funeral Train, Moscow (as was)

• Museum of the Moscow Railway at Paveletsky Station (Museum of Lenin's funeral train after renovation, 12th February 2012)

• Victory Park

• A Moscow Miscellany Part 1 (updated 1st August 2012)

• A Moscow Miscellany Part 2 (updated 12th August 2012)

• Moscow Retro (Steam) Train 2010/11 (updated 24th September 2012)

• Podmoskovnaya Depot, Moscow 2010-2013 (updated 24th June 2013)

• The Kratovo Children’s Railway (13th June 2012)

• Kazanski Station and the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express (24th September 2012)

• Kievski Station Locomotive Depot (1st August 2012)

• Serp and Molot Factory Steam Locomotive P24-7 (updated 22nd January 2017)

• Shcherbinka Depot and Test Track (12th August 2012)

• 175 Years of Russian Railways at Shcherbinka Depot and Test Track (12th September 2012)

• The Moscow Polytechnical Museum, 2012 (18th September 2012)

• Leningradski and Yaroslavski Stations, Moscow (3rd January 2013)

• Moscow Retro Steam Trip to the Space Village / Star City (13th March 2013)

• The Technical Museum Vadima Zadorojnogo, Moscow (updated 18th March 2018)

• Podmoskovnaya Depot, Moscow, August 2013 (6th September 2013)

• Podmoskovnaya Depot, Moscow, 9th April and 13th June 2014 (16th June 2014)

• Podmoskovnaya Depot, Moscow, July/August 2014 (11th August 2014)

• Surviving Portable Engines in the former Soviet Union (14th August 2014)

• 180 years of Russian Steam (10th August 2014)

• P36 120 formerly at Belorusski Voxhall / Railway Station (29th August 2014)

• Farewell to Podmoskovnaya Depot, October 2014 (updated 31st May 2018)

• VE Day in Moscow, 2015 (and 2017) (11th May 2017)