July 25, 1814 English inventor George Stephenson tested the first locomotive. During his thirty-year career, he designed and produced almost four dozen locomotives. One of them determined the development of steam locomotive construction until the middle of the twentieth century.

ahead of time

Stephenson's first steam locomotive was called "Blucher" in honor of the general who became famous for his victory in the battle with Napoleon at Waterloo. It was intended for the transport of trolleys with coal at the Hatton mine and was capable of pulling a train with a total weight of 30 tons.

In 1823, Stephenson founded the world's first steam locomotive plant, which gave birth to "Locomotion" ("Movement"). Its name becomes a household name - all rail draft vehicles begin to be called locomotives.

But the world fame to the inventor brings "Rocket". The image of this steam locomotive is placed on the British five-pound note.

In 1829, the Liverpool-Manchester railway line was planned to open, designed and built by George Stephenson. It was the most important event in the life of the country. In this connection, it was necessary to choose the best locomotive for the line. It was decided to hold a "race of locomotives" of five manufacturers. An unconditional victory was won by "Rocket". Moreover, in all respects: speed, draft power, reliability, economy and even low noise. With a full load, the locomotive developed a speed of up to 46 km / h. When the wagons with passengers were uncoupled, Stephenson made a “lap of honor”, ​​demonstrating a speed of 56 km / h, which was fantastic for that era.

The uniqueness of this steam locomotive lies not only in its excellent driving performance, twice the performance of the locomotives of its time. In it, Stephenson embodied engineering ideas, the main of which were used by designers until the end of the “age of steam locomotives”. One of them is a tubular steam boiler.

"Wild Duck" had no equal

The increase in the speed of movement of steam locomotives occurred rapidly. Very soon after the appearance of the Rocket, they no longer traveled on rails, but, in fact, flew. The milestone of 100 km / h was already surpassed in 1839 by the English locomotive "Hurricane" ("Hurricane"), which had driving wheels with a diameter of 3048 mm.

The 200 km/h milestone fell on May 11, 1936. The German steam locomotive DRG 05 from Borsig accelerated to 200.4 km / h. However, it was not a workhorse, but a racehorse - a total of three such locomotives were produced. During the Berlin Olympics, they served the participants and guests of the sports festival, promoting the achievements of the Third Reich.

The absolute speed record, which will never be beaten again, was set on July 3, 1938. The record holder was the British locomotive "Mallard" ( Wild duck). Its designer was Sir Nigel Grasley. The steam locomotive worked until 1963, having traveled a total of 2.4 million kilometers.

The creation of the Mallard was taken as seriously as later the design of jet aircraft. The streamlining of the locomotive was tested in a wind tunnel over a wide range of speeds. The length of the locomotive was 21 m, weight - 168 tons. To increase traction and speed of steam release at limiting conditions, a double chimney and a double air duct were used.

As it became known after the record was set, the Wild Duck was sent to the distance on July 3, 1938 under the control of a machinist Joseph Daddington, a young and not too experienced person to adequately assess the degree of risk of the machine operating at its limit. Fortunately, everything worked out. However, after a frantic race, as the press wrote, the Wild Duck hobbled to the depot, where it was repaired for two weeks.

"Grand Prix" for "Joseph Stalin"

For some time, our “Joseph Stalin”, a steam locomotive of the IS series, also went to the European record holders. In the 1930s, it was the most powerful European passenger locomotive. This parameter, equal to 3200 hp, as well as performance characteristics and high speed (up to 155 km / h) contributed to the fact that in 1937 the locomotive received The Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris.

IP began to be produced at the Kolomna plant in 1932. In total, up to 1942, 649 IS steam locomotives of various modifications were built. They operated until 1972. The most "literal" ones worked on the Oktyabrskaya Railway, serving the Red Arrow trains that ran between Moscow and Leningrad. They used a streamlined casing that was tested in a wind tunnel.

In 1962, in connection with the fight against the consequences of the cult of personality, all IPs were renamed FD ("Felix Dzerzhinsky"). This renaming also had a technical reason. The fact is that the designers of the IS were required to use the components and assemblies of the FD freight locomotive as much as possible in the design. Not only the boiler and cylinders were taken from the FD, but also the axle boxes, axles and a number of other parts, and also, despite a different axial formula, to repeat its spring suspension scheme. At the same time, the cars turned out to be fundamentally different: one carried heavy trains at a low speed, the other raced statesmen to all corners of the boundless country.

Heavy trucks

If passenger locomotives are measured against each other by speeds, then for freight locomotives, power and draft power are most important. And these parameters are directly proportional to the mass of the machine. One of the leaders in terms of power and the record holder for the weight of a steam locomotive here is the American "Big Boy" class 4000, which was born in 1941.

With a power of 6300 hp, he was able to carry trains weighing up to 3500 tons. At the same time, it was by no means a slow-moving vehicle, accelerating up to 130 km / h without load. The Big Boy was 40.5 meters long including the tender and weighed 550 tons.

In three years, 25 such machines were produced. They carried heavy trains until the early 60s on the Union Pacific line, overcoming the Wasatch Mountain Range.

"Big Boy" was an articulated locomotive, that is, it was built according to the scheme with two crews (the crew is a bogie with a power plant installed on it). Which, of course, increased power. According to the same scheme, the world's most powerful Allegheny and Blue Ridge steam locomotives, built by the American company Lima Locomotive Works in the 40s, were made. The different names are explained by the fact that they were commissioned by two railroads - Chipsek & Ohio and Virginia. A total of six dozen were produced. Engaged in the transportation of coal.

These locomotives had a truly monstrous power of 7500 hp. At the same time, despite the fact that, according to calculations, they could carry cargo up to 5 thousand tons, they often harnessed trains that weighed twice as much. They were finalized only until 1956, after which they were replaced by more economical diesel-electric locomotives.

Photo at the opening of the article: ITAR-TASS / PA Photos.

The Nizhny Novgorod Museum of Steam Locomotives is an open-air museum located in the village of Sorting, now part of Nizhny Novgorod. To get to this museum, you need to turn right from the Moscow highway immediately after the Karusel store to the right (if you are coming from the Moscow side) and drive all the time along the main road to the Gorky-Sortirovochny railway station. The museum is located right next to the station. In total, the museum has 15 steam locomotives made in the USSR, Russia, Germany, and Sweden.
Steam locomotive L VN -9773. Industrial locomotives of this series were built at the Nevsky Shipyard in St. Petersburg in the early 1900s. The design speed of the steam locomotive is 40 km/h, power is 300 hp, efficiency is 4%. According to the type of construction, the locomotive belongs to tank locomotives, i.e. steam locomotives without a tender - the fuel (oil) reserve is stored on the locomotive itself. The steam locomotive had a saddle-shaped tank with a water supply of 7 m 3, the oil tank was located above the water tank. Locomotives of this series were produced for the Transcaucasian, Nikolaev and Privislinskaya railways, and several copies were also produced for the internal needs of the Nevsky Plant.

On and a little more in detail and more facts about each steam locomotive under the cut

Steam locomotive E-1112. Developed by the Lugansk Locomotive Plant in 1910. In the future, steam locomotives were built at the Kharkov, Kolomna, Bryansk and Sormovo plants until 1957.
This series of steam locomotives is the most massive in the world - in total, including various modifications, about 11 thousand locomotives were built.
The design speed of this steam locomotive is 55 km/h. Maximum power - 1500 hp Efficiency - 8% E-series steam locomotives were one of the most powerful and most massive steam locomotives created at the beginning of the 20th century. The project of a freight locomotive, having passed the commission, in February 1911 was submitted for consideration by the Engineering Council of the Ministry of Railways. Subsequently, on October 29, 1911, the working draft of the steam locomotive was approved and, starting from 1912, their mass production was established.


Steam locomotive E M 720-07. Modernized series E, built in 1931-1935 by Lugansk, Kharkov, Bryansk and Sormovo plants. A total of 2,694 locomotives were produced.
To increase the traction force, the steam pressure in the boiler was increased, while at the same time increasing the strength of the boiler and strengthening some parts of the driving mechanism.
The design speed of the locomotive is 65 km/h. Maximum power - 1800 hp Efficiency - 7%.
The locomotive was distinguished by an increased traction force due to an increase in steam pressure in the boiler, which required strengthening of the boiler seams and some parts of the driving mechanism. As a result, the improvements led to an increase in the total mass, which made it necessary to make a number of design changes. Locomotives began to be built without a water purifier and a feeding hood, as well as with a smaller number of fire tubes (151 versus 157 for E y series steam locomotives). But the active use of welding in the locomotive building made it possible to reduce the weight of the locomotive from 85 to 75 tons and return the withdrawn units to their place.


Steam locomotive E R 761-96. Series E M, reconstructed. Due to the lengthening of the furnace, the power of the locomotive was increased by 10%. Steam locomotives of this series were built by domestic factories in the 1930s and during the Great Patriotic War, and after the war, production was established in Romania (the Resita plant), Poland (the Tsegelsky plant), Czechoslovakia (the ČKD plant) and Hungary (the MAVAG plant). The museum exhibit comes from Romania, as evidenced by its nameplate. The last steam locomotive of the series was manufactured in 1956 at the Hungarian MAVAG plant. Also, a small number of steam locomotives of this series were produced during the Great Patriotic War by the Kolomna Engineering Plant.
The design speed of the locomotive is 65 km/h. Maximum power - 2000 hp Efficiency - 7.2%.


Steam locomotive TE-622. The name of the TE series stands for trophy, similar in characteristics to the domestic series E.
Steam locomotives under the original name BR52 were produced in Nazi Germany and the countries of Europe occupied by it. In total, over 6,000 locomotives were built, 2,200 of which were delivered to the USSR railways as trophies or as reparations.
On the railways of the western part of the USSR, TE steam locomotives were actively used until the mid-1970s, after which most of them were transferred to industrial enterprises. During operation in the USSR, steam locomotives of the TE series evoked very positive reviews from Soviet railway workers. As the main drawback, a drop in power was noted when using low-grade domestic coal. In everyday life, steam locomotives of the TE series were called "Teshkami" or "Frau".
The design speed of the locomotive is 80 km/h. Maximum power - 1500 hp Efficiency - 7.5%


Steam locomotive TE-622. Detail


Steam locomotive TE-622. Detail

Locomotives of the P36 series are probably the most beautiful among domestic steam locomotives. This series was comparable to the steam locomotives of the IS series, but had a lower axle load on the rails (18tf), which made it possible to use these locomotives on most of the country's railways. Successful testing and pilot operation of the first 2-4-2 steam locomotive led to the order of an experimental batch in 1953 at the Kolomna Machine-Building Plant.

Operational tests of steam locomotives took place on the Moscow-Kursk and Krasnoyarsk railways. In the second half of 1954, the Kolomna Plant produced an initial batch of steam locomotives that included minor design improvements compared to the prototypes. At the end of 1954, the steam locomotive of the P36 series was accepted for mass production. Steam locomotives of this series were sent to work with long-distance passenger trains on the main lines of the Krasnoyarsk, Kalinin, Belorussian, Stalin, Oktyabrskaya, Kuibyshev and Northern railways. From the beginning of the 70s, these steam locomotives gradually began to be replaced by electric locomotives and diesel locomotives. 1974 is considered the last year of operation of the P36 series steam locomotives.
Steam locomotive P36-0071. Passenger steam locomotive designed and manufactured by the Kolomna Plant (251 locomotives, 1950-1956).
The last steam locomotive of this series was at the same time the last steam locomotive built in the USSR. Now it is in the museum of St. Petersburg.
The longest steam locomotives of this series worked on the Trans-Baikal Railway. Here they were decommissioned in 1974.
Design speed - 125 km / h. Maximum power - 3000 hp Efficiency - 8.2%.

Some steam locomotives are heavily written down, which is not surprising, since the museum is open around the clock and is not guarded by anyone.


Steam locomotive E U 684-52. Reinforced ("U") version of the E series, produced from 1926 to 1931 by the Kolomna, Lugansk, Kharkov, Bryansk and Sormovo plants. A total of 2475 steam locomotives were built.
The design speed of the locomotive is 65 km/h. Maximum power - 1500 hp Efficiency - 7%


Steam locomotives in a row


Steam locomotive 9P-18430. Another massive shunting and industrial tank locomotive. It was built already in the USSR from 1935 to 1957. In total, more than 3 thousand cars were produced.
The design speed of this steam locomotive is 25 km/h. Maximum power - 320 hp
As of 2007, 34 steam locomotives of this series have been preserved in museums or as monument locomotives.


Steam locomotives of the 9P series of an improved design were produced by the Kolomna Plant from 1939 to 1941. and Murom Locomotive Plant named after. F.E. Dzerzhinsky from 1945 to 1955. Steam locomotives worked on the tracks of many industrial enterprises of the country and proved themselves well.

The shunting tank-engine of this series was immediately accepted for mass production, despite a number of shortcomings.
Later, in 1939, when the construction of these steam locomotives was again included in the program of the Kolomna Machine-Building Plant, the plant's designers revised the drawings to eliminate the shortcomings.


To reduce the pressure on the rails, in 1948 it was decided to develop on the basis of the L series. After lengthy tests, in 1952, the first steam locomotive developed at the Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Plant named after the October Revolution, having received the designation OP18-01, entered the railway. Despite the similar parameters of the units to the L series, the OR series was a new, more modern type of locomotive with significant design differences in a number of units and its own traction and thermal characteristics. Another water heater was installed on the locomotive, and the wheelsets were reinforced. During the test, the steam locomotive showed an increase in power by 24% compared to the L series steam locomotives. During 1953, the OR18-01 steam locomotive passed operational tests on the Lyublino-Serpukhov section of the Moscow-Kursk-Donbass Railway. In 1954, the Voroshilovgrad plant built an initial batch of 5 machines (numbers 0005-0010), in the process of creating which the series received a new designation LV - a steam locomotive built on the basis of the L series according to the drawings of the Voroshilovgrad plant.
Steam locomotive LV-0225. Freight steam locomotive manufactured by the Voroshilovgrad plant based on the L series. Built from 1952 to 1956. A total of 522 locomotives.
Produced in China until the mid-1990s, the QJ series steam locomotive had much in common with the Soviet LVs.
Design speed - 90 km / h. Maximum power - 2420 hp Efficiency - 8%.


After the Russo-Japanese War, in order to improve the work of the railways, it was decided to increase the speed and weight of passenger trains. As a result of rising oil prices, many roads were forced to convert passenger steam locomotives to coal heating, often using poor quality coal. In 1908, the designers of the Sormovo plant put forward a proposal to create a steam locomotive with coal heating, which would meet the requirements of that time. Since the Sormovo plant had no experience in designing and building its own locomotives, it took quite a lot of time to research. In the end, the first sample of the C series was selected and in 1911 made.

The steam locomotive of the C series in type 1-3-1 was taken as the basis, as it most fully meets the production capabilities of the factories. When designing a new locomotive, a number of changes were made to the design compared to the C-series steam locomotive. The furnace and the length of the smokebox were increased, the number of flame tubes increased (from 24 to 32) while the smoke tubes were reduced (from 170 to 135), a new superheater of the Chusov system was installed, the pressure in the boiler was also increased and the spring suspension system was changed. The new steam locomotive of type 1-3-1, developed at the Kolomna Machine-Building Plant, was assigned the C y series - “reinforced”. The first steam locomotives of this series were built in 1924, but 1925 is considered the beginning of their production.

Plant "Red Sormovo" them. A.A. Zhdanova received the task to start building passenger steam locomotives. It was decided to resume the construction of steam locomotives 1-3-1 of the C y series, which showed good qualities in operation. In 1947, the plant produced the first steam locomotive of the C y series. The main difference of the new release compared to the pre-war series was the reduction of smoke tubes from 135 to 98 while increasing the flame tubes from 32 to 40. The wheelbase and the dimensions of individual parts remained unchanged. During the production process of the C series, the plant made minor changes to the design of the locomotive.

Steam locomotive S U 253-33. Passenger steam locomotives of the S U series were produced in the USSR from 1924 to 1940. The steam locomotive project was developed by the Leningrad plant "Krasny Putilovets".
The museum locomotive was built directly in the city of Gorky (formerly Nizhny Novgorod was called so) by the Krasnoye Sormovo plant, which produced such locomotives from 1947 to 1951 (a total of 411 locomotives).
Design speed - 115 km / h. Maximum power - 1500 hp Efficiency - 7.8%. The steam locomotive is passenger, so the emphasis is on speed, and not on traction and grip weight


Real wheel size


Steam locomotive E N -1. Modification of the E series, produced by the Nevsky Shipyard of Petrograd from 1916 to 1920. A total of 63 steam locomotives were built.
During the war of 1914-1918. and in the post-war period, the state of the metallurgical industry deteriorated sharply, and after 1917 it became extremely deplorable in general. Due to the lack of metal for the repair of existing steam locomotives and the impossibility of increasing the locomotive fleet, by 1920 the country's leadership decided to order a large batch of freight locomotives abroad. It was originally planned to order 1000 steam locomotives in Sweden, some of which were to be made on the basis of the Swedish R-series steam locomotives, and others of a type more in line with the operating conditions of domestic railways. But in the end, they decided to order E-series steam locomotives according to the drawings of the Lugansk plant.


In Sweden, 500 locomotives were ordered, and at the same time, 700 more locomotives were ordered in Germany. The first steam locomotives were built in strict accordance with the drawings of the Lugansk plant, but later small changes began to be made, taking into account the accumulated experience and operating features.


On the wheels of one of the locomotives - the emblem of the Voroshilovgrad plant


Nameplate of the locomotive. Made in 1949 at the Romanian factory "Resita"


Some strange electric train in one car rushed along the existing tracks - did they let a taxi?


Used materials:

• The book by V.A. Rakov “Locomotives of domestic railways, 1845-1955″
• The book by A.V. Khmelevsky, P.I. Smushkov “Steam locomotive. Arrangement, work, repair.”

The very first steam locomotive in the world was invented by British engineer Richard Trevithick. In 1803, he created a self-propelled trolley, which was pushed forward by a steam engine, and on February 21, 1804, he attached several trolleys to it - this is how the world's first train appeared.

The fastest locomotive in the history of steam locomotive construction was the British Class A4 locomotive - Mallard. It was designed for long journeys at speeds in excess of 160 km/h, and in 1938 it reached 202.7 km/h, a record that no steam locomotive has ever broken. Of course, the victory was hard for the Briton, and after this race he barely made it to the depot.

The heaviest steam locomotive in the world was created by American designers in the 40s of the last century. The 4000 class, better known as the Big Boy ("Big Boy"), got its nickname from one of the company's employees who wrote this phrase on board. Be that as it may, the dimensions of the car speak for themselves: the length of the "Big Man" exceeded 40 meters, and it weighed more than 550 tons.

But the smallest steam locomotive was created relatively recently, in 2010. Japanese engineers have designed a miniature but perfectly functioning steam-powered locomotive. It is even capable of transporting people and accommodates up to 20 children and adults. For its size, it develops a decent speed - up to 10 km / h.

The sweetest steam locomotive is not designed to transport people, but it can be eaten with gusto. It took Belgian confectioners more than 1000 kg of chocolate and about a month of painstaking work to create a steam locomotive 33 meters long. Outwardly, this is a copy of an old steam locomotive, reproduced to the smallest detail. Of course, they didn’t eat it: you can admire the handsome man at the South Station of Brussels.

Steam locomotives were pioneers among all railway transport. In fact, it is to them that we owe the emergence of a convenient railway network, which is still one of the main ways to travel around the country (especially such a large one as Russia). Here are five record holders who once proved how effective steam technologies can be.

We continue to talk about unusual things and next in line are devices whose value is hard to overestimate - trains!

The history of trains as a whole is a hymn to speed and reliability, passing through intrigue and a lot of money, but we are interested in the 10 fastest trains of our time.

The world of trains today looks unusual, this is due to the fact that since 1979 their high-tech brothers, machines from the future, Maglevs (from the English magnetic levitation - “magnetic levitation”), have joined the classic rail train. Proudly hovering above the magnetic canvas and driven by the latest achievements in the field of superconductors, they can become the transport of the future. In view of this, for each we will indicate the type of train and under what conditions the record was obtained, because somewhere on board the express there were no passengers, somewhere even drivers.

1. Shinkansen

The world speed record belongs to the Japanese maglev train, on April 21, 2015, on a special section during tests in Yamanashi Prefecture, the train was able to reach a speed of 603 kilometers per hour, there was only a driver on board. This is just an incredible number!

Test video:

In addition to the insane speed, you can add the amazing noiselessness of this super train, the absence of wheels makes the ride comfortable and surprisingly smooth.

Today, the Shinkansen is one of the fastest trains on commercial routes, with a speed of 443 km/h.

2.TGV POS

The first in speed among rail trains, but the second in the absolute standings, on the planet (for 2015) is the French TGV POS. What is surprising is that at the moment of fixing the speed record, the train was accelerated to an impressive figure of 574.8 km / h, while journalists and attendants were on board!

But even taking into account the world record, the speed of the train when moving on commercial routes does not exceed 320 km / h.

3. Shanghai Maglev Train

Next, we have the third place given to China with their Shanghai Maglev Train, as the name implies, this train plays in the category of wizards hanging in a powerful magnetic field. This incredible maglev holds a speed of 431 km / h for 90 seconds (during this time it manages to swallow 10.5 kilometers!), Which is up to the maximum speed of this train, then during the tests it was able to accelerate to 501 km / h.

4.CRH380A

Another record comes from China, a train with an incredibly euphonious name “CRH380A”, which took an honorable fourth place. The maximum speed on the route, as the name implies, is 380 km / h, and the maximum recorded result is 486.1 km / h. It is noteworthy that this high-speed train is assembled and produced entirely based on Chinese production facilities. The train carries almost 500 passengers, and boarding is implemented like in an airplane.

5.TR-09

Location: Germany - maximum speed 450 km / h. Name TR-09.

The fifth number from the country of the fastest roads is autobahns, and if Germany can really be classified as the fastest country in terms of speed on the roads, then trains are far from number 1.

In sixth place is a train from South Korea. The KTX2, which is what the Korean bullet train is called, was able to reach 352 km/h, but at the moment the maximum speed on commercial routes is limited to 300 km/h.

7.THSR700T

The next hero, although not the fastest train on the planet, still deserves a separate applause, the reason for this is an impressive capacity of 989 passengers! considered one of the most capacious and fastest modes of transport.

8.AVETalgo-350

We arrive at the eighth place and we stop in Spain on board the AVETalgo-350 (Alta Velocidad Española), nicknamed the Platypus. The nickname comes from the aerodynamic look of the lead car (well, you can see for yourself), but no matter how funny our hero looks, the speed of 330 km / h makes him eligible to participate in our rating!

9 Eurostar Train

9th place Eurostar Train - France, the train is not so fast 300 km / h (not far from our Sapsan), but the capacity of the train is impressive 900 passengers. By the way, it was on this train that the participants of the famous TV show Top Gear (now deceased, if you like it like me, thumbs up!) competed with the amazing Aston Martin DB9 in season 4, episode 1.

10. Peregrine Falcon

On the 10th place, of course, you need to put the Italian "ETR 500" with its good 300 km / h, but I want to put our quite fast Sapsan. Although the current operating speed of this train is limited to 250 km/h, its modernization (and rather modernization of the tracks) will allow the train to go at a speed of 350 km/h. At the moment - this is not possible for a variety of reasons, one of them is the vortex effect, which is capable of knocking an adult person off their feet at a distance of 5 meters from the tracks. Sapsan also sets one funny record - this is the widest high-speed train in the world. Although the train was built on the platform of Siemens, due to the wider gauge used in Russia 1520 mm, against the European one of 1435 mm, it became possible to increase the width of the car by 300 mm, this makes the Sapsan the most “pot-bellied” bullet train.

Today we will look at locomotives. All sorts of different, charming, powerful, beautiful and unusual.
The selection does not claim to be complete, but still.

Steam locomotives on the London Underground:

and behind him, in the smoke, were passengers in open wagons:

But this steam locomotive, according to the inventor, was supposed to travel through snowy Russia. He is semi skiing.

In general, trackless steam locomotives were and are. And they are called tractors.

Steam locomotives were also developed, carrying their rails with them. Moreover, it did not look like modern rail layers at all.

And there was also the theme of letting the locomotive run on a string. Locomotive-rope walker, type. The wheels had to be in one line. It should not fall because of the gyroscope. Actually, it didn't fall. It was invented by a dude named Louis Brennan. The dude thought that such a transport would take up less space. He even built several working models. In one of the bottoms, he even rolled his own daughter on a tightrope in front of potential investors.

The people stared, saw that everything was working, but could not believe their eyes. In general, the two-wheeled cart seemed dangerous and unreliable to everyone. So it remained at the level of prototypes.

And the dreams were beautiful

Another way to save space:

One rail at the bottom and one at the top. The only question is what to do with such narrow wagons? Ride at attention? This is, of course, a more realistic project:

Here, pull. Even two:

Speaking of skiing. Skis are flowers. Here, look what one dude came up with:

The guy's name was Holman. This nightmare engine of his had, oddly enough, an absolutely practical purpose - to knock money out of fools. The scheme was simple: Holman invited rich techno-addicts, showed them this miracle in feathers and tried to say that, they say, this is a prototype, but already, they say, you see how cool, and if you give me money, I can finally do magical things. They gave money. A lot of. Useful, in general, was a locomotive.

And sometimes a geared driving wheel and geared rails were also used:

And now the record holders.

AA20-1 is the longest steam locomotive in the world with a 4-14-4 wheel scheme on a single rigid frame:

Our, native, Soviet. It was released in a single copy, made a single trip and, as they say, straightened all the turns. In short, it turned out that real railways are too crooked for this fool, she simply cannot turn on them. Basically.

There were, of course, longer steam locomotives in the world, but they were composite.

Union Pacific Big Boy series. USA. The largest steam locomotive in the world:

Cherepanov steam locomotive. According to the patriotic version - the very first:

Series "E". The most massive steam locomotive in the world. Produced for 40 years (from 1909 to 1949) in Russia/USSR, Sweden and Germany. A total of 10853 pieces were produced, not counting the modifications of Eu and Em.

The most powerful. Call DM&IR Engine 221:

The fastest. 18 201.

And here is another high-speed locomotive. Sir Nigel Gresley. He was the fastest up to 18201. He set his speed record in 1937. And he's also strikingly handsome. In motion, Sir Nigel looks like a fantastic giant beetle. By the way, Sir Nigel is still working. This photo was taken in 2006:

The world's smallest working steam locomotive was built by jazz guitarist George Van Eps. This toy rides on his estate. I did not find a photo of him, so keep photos of the Lilliputian train by Thomas E. McGarigle instead:

So, with steam locomotives, it seems to me that's all. Now let's take a look at their relatives.

Locomotive, for example, it was not possible to start immediately. In the first models, the diesel engine was adjacent to the steam engine. The steam engine moved the fool from its place, and then the diesel one picked it up. Series 8000. Heat steam locomotive:

The world's first operational diesel locomotive Shchel1 (Ge-1):

Emh-3 is the most powerful diesel locomotive in the world. THE USSR.

The fastest locomotive. TEP80-002. 273 km/h Also ours.

And here is an interesting experiment - a diesel locomotive on automobile wheels. Even, as you can see, the car number is attached. This is the former DM62-1727, mounted on a chassis from a rocket launcher with an increased track width. Actually, this thing was supposed to carry rockets. But she, unfortunately, was not taught to turn.

So... well, what else? For example, in ancient pre-revolutionary times, the Russian inventor Baranovsky invented a pneumatic rail air vent. They say he even built and tested it. And the spirit walker went. At a speed of about 40 km. at one o'clock. I don't know the details. Here is the picture:

They experimented with pneumatics not only in Russia.

And here is the rail bike:

Today this bike seems strange, but before the railroads were smoother than any other, and if the trains were infrequent, why not use the rails to visit the neighboring town? In addition, this device was in demand by postmen and rural doctors.

And this is the armored train "Ilya Muromets", one of the first two armored trains, on which during the Second World War guards mortars of the "Katyusha" type were installed. “Ilya Muromets” is also famous for smashing the German armored train “Adolf Hitler” to pieces.

Modern Russian rail buses RA-1 and RA-2:

But this, in general, is not a miracle at all. Just a self-propelled trailer on a gasoline course. And here is another self-propelled car. Double decker. It is called Highliner, runs on electric traction, designed and manufactured by Sumitomo (Japan) together with Super Steel (USA).

Finally, Sikorsky's freaky turbo train. 1968, USA, Canada. Wildly handsome.

It can be seen what aircraft designers did ... Eh! After Sikorsky, it’s impossible not to post this underground arthropod:

This is a Czech monorail locomotive for mine work. An impossibly beautiful beast.

Kyiv funicular, about which I wrote in detail