Yaroslav-Vologda-Archangel Articulated Locomotives in Russia

Class A65 (Locobase 14400)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 57, pp. 308+. See also "Baldwin Locomotives Recently Built for Foreign Countries," Railway Age Gazette, Volume 58, No. 25 (18 June 1916), pp. 1407-1408. Works numbers were 41813-41824, 41836-41843, 41847-41856 in December 1914.

A usually overlooked side effect of the Guns of August (historian Barbara Tuchman's label for the events of 1914 that set off World War One) was the sudden and quite sharp recession into which the United States economy plunged. At first it seemed that all European economies would be closed to US trade of all kinds from manufacturing to agricultural goods.

But as this order shows, US capital goods manufacturers quickly attracted high demand from several countries. Note how quickly this order was filled--the date on the specification was 10 November 1914. Railway Age Gazette's report on Baldwin export orders noted that the first of the thirty locomotives was completed on 21 December, the last on 6 January 1915.

High-pressure cylinders received steam through 8" (203 mm) piston valves, LP cylinders used Richardson balanced slide valves. A wood burner with 3 1/2 cords in the tender, the Mallet used a squat Radley & Hunter stack to prevent sparks from touching off the vast forests through which these engines traveled. Likewise, the ash pan was to be "watertight for extinguishing sparks."

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Class Mb 22 (Locobase 8006)

Data from "Some Past and Present Russian Locos", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXII [22], 15 May 1916, pp. 96-97. [], accessed 14 December 2006. See also "Russian Railways", Railway Engineer, Volume XVII [17], No 4 (April 1896), p. 106. Produced by three different manufacturers: Borsig (Germany, 1895-1897-works numbers 4510-4519 and 4526-4540), Putilov Works (Russia, 1900-1904) and Baldwin (USA, 1914--see Locobase 14400).

In early 1915, the Russian Army occupied Tabriz, Persia. To support these forces with food and ammunition, the army built a narrow-gauge railway. Many of these Mallets moved south to operate on the railway's heavy grades. According to LM, the three builders delivered engines "of similar design and characteristics and could draw 170 t trains on a 3% gradient."