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Parovozy Elements of Locomotive Development in Russia and the USSR Keith Chester
Parovozy Elements of Locomotive Development in Russia and the USSR by Keith Chester English language
76 pages
Volume II of PAROVOZY examines some aspects of steam locomotive development in Russia and the Soviet Union. In the early years, locomotives for Russian railways were acquired from abroad, principally from Central European manufacturers, though for a brief period in the 1870s and 1880s, British loco builders held a virtual monopoly on the supply of narrow gauge engines. Purchasing locomotives abroad was, however, an expensive business and in the late 1860s steps were taken to promote a domestic locomotive industry, which was also intended to act as a motor for the industrialisation of the country. Four heavy engineering companies manufacturing locomotives were established in 1869-70; these had been joined by a further six firms by 1913 and imports had become increasingly rare.
All of these plants were in fact general engineering works and locomotive construction was only part of their output. It was undoubtedly a profitable one: there was a great demand for locomotives from the last quarter of the nineteenth century onwards and the industry was well protected by high import tariffs and guaranteed prices. The railway companies, both state and privately owned, were in effect forced to purchase Russian built rather than imported locomotives; likewise they were not permitted to construct their own new engines. In spite of this mollycoddling, the Russian locomotive industry was surprisingly innovative and produced a number of outstanding designers. Preeminent among these was Aleksandr Borodin (184898), widely regarded as the greatest locomotive engineer in the Tsarist era. An early proponent of compounding, Borodin's great contribution to the development of loco testing was the concept of constant
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