Why the USSR preserved hundreds of steam engines - USSR Backup Engines 

Давай, товарищ, мы должны сохранить паровой двигатель, чтобы обеспечить победу над капиталистическими свиньями Запада.

Sometime in the 1970''s, after two tours in the American Embassy in Moscow, my retired parents took the Trans Siberian railroad across Russia. During a brief stop somewhere in Siberia, my father, former Air Force intelligence, got off the train and decided to look around the train station. A building with steam locomotives caught his eye. The steam engines were all running just enough to keep the engines from freezing. Upon closer examination he saw that they were American Union Pacific steam engines given to Russia during the second world war.

Other countries like Finland and Sweden also did this and it was very useful for presentation. Here in the Netherlands a new heritage Railway opened in the south east in the 90s and they ended up taking 4 locomotives from the Swedish reserve to run the line. There is also a myth that a British reserve exists but so far there is no proof of that being the case.

This was also one of the reasons why the trolleybus system was abandoned in Prague. In case of war, a trolleybus is useless, but a diesel bus can be very well utilized by any army during evacuation of citizens or as troop transport.

Actually if NATO and the USSR went to war in Europe, the U.S. Army had a plan to use those steam engines! In September 1969 when I signed up for the U.S. Army, I almost became an engineer for these steam locomotives. I was 18 and decided to joint the Army for a three-year enlistment which entitled me to pick my primary Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). Sitting with the recruiter I asked him what was the most unusual job he knew of in the Army. He flipped through the Army MOS listings book and finally said "Steam Locomotive Engineer". As a train lover I thought this was great but I asked why the Army even needed this specialty. He noted that if we went to war with the USSR in Europe, as NATO hopefully advanced into Eastern Europe they would need engineers to run the abandoned steam locomotives to move supplies. I said "Sign me up" but it was not to be. In 1969 the U.S. Army had a limit of training only three new steam locomotive engineers and those slots were already filled. Disappointed, I then chose the second strangest job in the Army. I became a MOS 61D20 Amphibious Operation and for two tours in Vietnam I commanded a cargo boat out of Danang as part of the Army's "navy", which at that time actually had more boats than the U.S. Navy, but only moved cargo. A post script to this story occurred in 1984 when my wife and I took the train from West German to West Berlin. As the modern electrified train passed through East Germany, to my surprise I saw working steam engines switching cars in East German rail yards!

Some steam engines in reserve can be valuable for other situations. Not only power outages, but even in diesel territory such as during flooding. In April 1965 long after the CB&Q railroad had dieselized, they had some flooding deep enough in an area that diesel electrics couldn't go through due to their low truck mounted traction motors. They had a couple of steam engines they used for fan trips and pressed No. 4960, a 2-8-2, into service to haul trains through the flooded area.

One of the other thing compared to early electric and diesel Locomotives, steam locos were actually easier to maintain as they could run even when quite a lot of stuff is broken or damaged. It was why industrial Locomotives in the UK were often Steam even after steam Locomotives had been got rid of on the main line (plus cheaper to rent and run).

The two last steamtrains from the strategic reserve here in sweden was decommissioned in 2016. Stored in remote stations with overgrown tracks in old sheds but sealed in perfect condition in plastic bags and all. These where made in 1908 and havent seen daylight since the 1970's. At one point 150 tranis was kept.

Went through Russia in 1975; plenty of locos in vast sidings with the cabs boarded up and funnels capped.

Few years ago various companies started to repair some of those units and put them to use as tourist trains. Especially in Karelia region, there is a Ruskeala Express Between local town of Soravala and Ruskeala marble mine. They operate at least 5 steam engines and maintain daily service.

During Russia's attempted terrorwinter when they tried to destroy the electrical grid we actually used this plan. Apparently our former president ordered to restore a lot of these steam engines. And during the winter steam engines with the help of diesel engines where used to carry both military hardware and regular trains. There where some issues with water refilling but it did work out. Some of them had their star repainted in yellow-blue.

Thank you for showing photos from Istvántelek! Greetings from Hungary! 🇭🇺

Steam engines are actually really smart, I've been wanting to build one myself, cause all you need it some water and preferably dry wood to start harnessing mechanical energy. Tbf I don't mean steam engines as in trains, I just mean the engine itself.

keep the high quality videos coming, but avoid a burnout

People often underestimate how much of a hoarders soviets were. My dad used to make a load of money by reselling soviet fuel separators for ships. Theese were produced in such a vast quantity that you could literally sell them for ages

A number of these engines were restored to be fully operational and serving as tourist trains or even backup service locomotives. I live next to train tracks and it's always a pleasure to hear a real steam whistle.

Gotta give credit where it's due, they probably took better care of their steam engines than us Americans - and the fact so many iconic & unique ones got scrapped across the board is all the more damning; if the bosses at GE, WABTech, the Class 1 railroads & Amtrak would get themselves in better headspace to give new development of steam a chance again, I still think that's worth exploring given how it's been allowed to elsewhere

You have a knack for matching background music to your videos at times, and this epsiode is of no exception. What a throwback! Thanks

Wow, & I thought Barry's scrapyard was a good place to be saved. However, before these engines were gonna be preserved, they were gonna be enlisted!

It's time to give all those steam engines a service, to make sure they are ready.

There is something majestic about seeing an old engine rest as it is slowly overgrown. Something akin to the ships sunk as reefs.

So the trains in Metro Exodus is not a far fetch at all! Cool!

I remember hearing accounts of people seeing long lines of british steam locomotives being stockpiled in tunnels.

Good to still see them on display outside most Russian railway stations today.

Wow It actually extreamly handy I'm from Ukraine and during russian bombardment of electrical infrastracture modern trains (like hyndai) were unable to function without electricity so we reactivated those steam powered trains . I live in Lviv near main train station so I frequently heard them. Especially it is somehow romantic to sit in a darkness in silence and listen to sounds of working steam engines and iconic whispering of whistles. Thankfully we restored electricity.

The choice of background music. A man of culture. I see. Glory to Arstotzka.

It's kind of weird to see the MÁV class 424 in a video about the USSR ( 1:11 , 3:04 , 3:20 )

Now I wonder if Britain did the same thing with some of their steam engines. With how many lines were closed down by Beeching, there was bound to be a tunnel, shed, or siding the locomotives could be stored

Mmm, Papers Please theme 🤤

Turns out those final few Railroad Tycoon 2 Second Century levels *weren't* just an ass pull way of getting to use more steam trains in the missions!

I love the fact of Papers Please theme being played in the background

Purely mechanical, only requiring fire and water to function. The steam engine would be my apocalypse vehicle of choice too haha

Love the "Papers Please" theme in the background 👀

Saving steam locomotives for a post nuclear world was actually a pretty smart idea. But I wonder how many of those old rustbuckets would have been rail ready?

you should maybe do a video about one of the most built (and maybe even one of the most underrated) 2-10-0 decapods to ever exist the DRG Class 52 (would be nice if you do a video about it)

The thumbnail pic has been on my cellphone wall paper for years…I love old trains!

Smart move! With an EMP I'd be looking for a classic car

Gotta admit. Its so simple its genius.

The threat of EMP attack from the Sun is still a real thing to this day though.

Top marks for the video. Extra points for the "Papers Please" music :)

Sweden did the same thing. To this day we have steam engines conserved in oil wrapped in plastic out in sheds hidden in Sweden.

Anyone who's played Metro Exodus knows this is a big vibe.

And this is the lore behind how Metro Exodus has steam trains.

Good use of the Papers Please theme music.

The UK and US did as well with railroad museums although the UK has a cache of abandoned steam locomotives and train cars

3:20 It is located in Budapest. It is supposed to be a protected place, but you can get in.

USSR: If we get nuked, electric traction will be useless. Hiroshima: We got nuked and had the trams running a week later.

Steam locomotives are actually MORE fuel efficient than diesel locomotives. They are however maintenance hogs and take a minimum of three hours to start from cold unlike the five minutes for a diesel locomotive.

There is a biggest train museum in the world in Novosibirsk. Amazing place.

Weren't there rumoured to be missing Black Five locomotives in the UK that were kept in case of a nuclear war or EMP?

I want to know more about strategic steam locomotive reserves.

3:21: These vehicles are standing around in Budapest...

Soviet Trains are the best in the world!!!!

For anyone that was wondering, that guy on the left at 2:20 is Jizlane's dad

love the 'papers, please' music

Hopefully those that were left behind get rescued soon

There is two types of locomotives that useful when there is an EMP bombing, which is steam locomotives and diesel-hydraulic. Yeah, steam doesn't use electric things other than the headlights. Diesel basically needs electricity for starting it only and there is air-starter using compressed-air rather than electricity. The hydraulic transmission didn't need electricity because things are driven hydraulically although the newer ones did use electronics. So, in the occasion of war, the enemy blows EMP, the steam is put into service and when the air pressure in the air tank are full, simply attached the pipes to the air starter of diesel engine, and then you can run the diesel. Note that the diesel is using mechanical injection pump or mechanical unit injector or something like that and not the Commonrail ones because, yeah, commonrail use electronics.

Love the papers please theme song

i dont care im in school, new train of thought video time!

In 2007 I came across 100s of them in Siberia all abandoned

At the time of "modernization" (electrification), they should have just slightly modified the boilers of the active steam engines so as to use electrically generated steam. That would have made more sense. It would be simpler than coming up with purely electrical locomotives, and allowed flexibility of retaining a standard boiler as backup in case of doomsday. AFAIK the only electrically fired boiler steam locomotives were teh Swiss E 3/3 8521 and 8522. I think it's a neat solution given a certain set of constraints.

Metro Exodus did not lie to us. Well, except for having a huge, fictional unarticulated duplex engine and expecting us to think that would be possible to run.

I can’t imagine the soviets using steam engines as a test for nuclear strikes

"Artyom, report back to the Aurora immediately! Miller out!"

South Africa kept a strategic steam locomotive reserve well into the late 80s.

Huh. It never occurred to me that steam could keep some railways in operation after the next Carrington Event. Good to know.

Everyone didn't notice the background music is from Papers Please. I think?

Some of the pictures actually show Hungarian locomotives. At 1:15 it's a MÁV 601. At 3:12 is a MÁV 424, the most famous Hungarian steam engine ever.

fun fact: both electric locomotives you showed were manafactured by škoda

Great video!

2:00 wait why is the piston above the wheels??? hows that work???

2:01 that is such a bizarre looking Locomotive what is it and why are the cylinders like that. Also maybe a future video idea?

the USSR. of course. strategic steam reserves. 3:00 oookay I don't think Hungary ever had a strategic steam reserve, considering the last steam loco working regular service was retired in 1984? 1:09 3:11 to be fair all the locos in Istvántelek could probably be restored one by one if there was *intent* to do so seeing as the works has recently restored *another* Bivaly, this time 009 and there's still a dozen or so 424s plinthed all over the country in relatively good condition.. (googled, there are at least 8 in varying condition, and we've not counted the ones in foreign countries i.e. former Yugoslavia, former Czechoslovakia, Romania etc.)

China still used steam passenger and haulage trains 10 years ago so there is probably still afew old soviet trains in functional condition some place in china. I think inner mongolia was the last place they were used.. Maybe 8 years ago

Hi Train of Thought, Where was the H bomb test, it looks close to the island?

Interesting, the picture at 1:12 is alsoa hungarian locomotive. I wonder that how it ended up here, lacking the red star, while the one with the note of not actual russian picture does have a a red stra due to it history.

Very interesting

As long as the engines get the job done that's all that matters.

And the Russians didn’t have railroad executives hellbent on scrapping every steam locomotive in their fleet to appear “modern” back when diesel locomotives arrived.

What music is in this video?

the only way to start industry up from scratch will be preserved steam engines in most cases. Coal, Oil, and Gas all require machinery to extract, and Solar, Wind, and Batteries require special material extraction and heavy industry to manufacture. we're unlikely to be starting completely from scratch, but if we need machinery running before the power grid or fuel transport can be brought back online, Steam will be the way. if you can start a fire, you can start a steam engine. however, it'd be smart to have a range of engine sizes, big boilers need a lot of fuel, and to gather that fuel, a small engine could significantly accelerate it.

Smart thinking

Is that the Papers Please theme?

Can you do a video talking about the Val Gardena Railway

In Canada our leaders made bunkers for themselves. Seem to me the ones pushing the button should be the first to receive the outcome of their action

Steam locomotives in mountains: the higher they come, the stronger they become. Still ideal for poor countries; wood is everywhere....

I wish we kept up with steam powered tech, there are a few very interesting applications where steam is still used but i wish we kept more trains around and improved them... Imagine one day in the future we have nuclear powered trains, except we also have nuclear powered steam engines! That is the future i want to see lol

The strategic reserve..

"Even musems as far as China". You do realise that they're bordering Russia, do you?

Something old isn't a bad thing.

Old school diesel locomotives would not be damaged by an EMP. That’s why the USA had no interest whatsoever in maintaining a steam fleet for nuclear war. They did train some military personnel to operate steam locomotives but it was for other reasons.

These old girls may be a sad sight, but they're just resting. Abandonment has ensured their survival, and when this pointless war for profit and defending corruption is done, maybe Russia can restore them.

What about diesel locomotives taking up the slack..?? Steam locos are very high maintenance, if left dormant for any long period of time the condensation in the boiler, pipes and the cylinder forms rust and blocks or jams the piston. So you have to have a dedicated crew going around firing the boiler, lubing and running the engine periodicaly. Then there is the question of getting certified engine drivers to run them, together with their assistants, as most of the older steam drivers would have retired or passed. They most probably kept them around for the sheer propaganda on the proletariat.......the red star is there, its big and its red, so tow the party line.

nah bro they knew that in the future we would be able to convert thermal power plants into nuclear power plants and they were going to apply the same logic to locomotives

Their emergency Armageddon engines will work just as well as their jack-in-the-box emergency tanks.

Even Western nations kept a number of working steam engines to be used in case of a nuclear war.

There is absolutely no reason to retire steam engine trains for hauling goods in US because US has largest coal reserve in the world by a huge margin, steam engines have higher traction capabilities than Diesel ones and they can be driven with a reasonable speed.

There is one tiny little problem - steam locomotives and their repair, restoration and all around it around the globe including small tourist lines barely have a few people still alive to do the job as it is. To be able to use them (steam locos) in large quantities - forget it. Knowledge and engineers are almost completely gone. And Russia is a special area. They have no specialists left in current areas due to the latest economic and political "success"

the train from goldeneye 😮

UK have hundreds of engines preserved in museums