Siberian 2-4-4-0 Locomotives in Russia

Class unknown (Locobase 20505)

Data from "Mallet Articulated Compounds for the Siberian Railroad", Railroad Gazette, Volume XXXVI [36], No 16 (15 April 1904), p. 285. See also a brief note in James Grant, "Mechanical Equipment on the Tomsk Railway", Railway Mechanical Engineer, Volume 95, No 1 (January 1921), pp. 7-14.

According to RG, these wood-burning locomotives were designed along Anatole Mallet's principles for the mountainous sections of western Siberia. Their train loads included 480 tons behind the tender climbing a 1% grade at 30 kph (18.5 mph) and 300 tons up 1.67% at the same speed. A 1904 photograph shows that all four cylinders received steam through piston valves.

In the three years since they'd first been introduced, RG added, the class had been "found economical and efficient." Fifteen years later, James Grant, "Late Captain of the Russian [i.e. American Forces in Siberia] Railway Services", noted that the class had grown to 112 locomotives in 1909 and could "get down the road with remarkable speed."

The Tomsk Railway lay between the Omsk Railway at the western end and the Za-Baikal RR at Irkutsk on Lake Baikal's southwestern shore in the east. Total distance came to 1,156 miles (1,861 km) of "perhaps the most fertile and productive region in all Siberia. The scenery along the road is very pretty, consisting of fine agricultural districts, coal mining concessions and dense forests. [It] crosses great rivers and runs directly through the wealthy Yenisee [sic[ province."

One other note of interest to Grant: "The section work at the time the American forces were in Siberia [ca. 1919-1920] was done mostly by women, nearly all men of fighting age being engaged either with the old Russian army or the Bolsheviki."

Grant added that the revolution had not damaged this line terribly. It was "in excellent condition; it is all ballasted and has 72 lb[/yd or 36 kg/metre] rails."