In 1928 the Soviet Union began to implement its first 5 year plan for the development of the national economy & embarked on the road of socialist industrialisation, by the 1930's the Railway People's Committee planned to increase the traction rating of railway lines & the speed of trains, at that time the Su-type steam locomotive with a design speed of 115 km/h & a power rating of 1,500 hp could no longer meet the higher requirements, the IS-type steam locomotives manufactured at the Kolomna & Voroshilovgrad factory's from 1932 onward although they reached 3,200 hp they had a design speed of only just 115 km/h.
The design phase of engine 2-3-2V in accordance with the technical industrial finance plan of 1937 was designed by the Voroshilovgrad factory which began to develop the technical characteristics of a high-speed streamlined steam locomotive, this design phase was commenced in the early part of November 1936 by the Voroshilovgrad design department under engineer Dmitry Vasilyevich Lvov whom was appointed as the head designer of engine 2-3-2V.
The 2-3-2V engine 6998 was a Hudson 4-6-4 or 2-3-2 steam locomotive made at the Voroshilovgrad factory, its serial number was 6998, driving wheel diameter were 2,200 mm (87 inches) & a design speed of 180 km/h. All the main components of the 2-3-2V are from the Kolomna factory's engines 2-3-2K-1 & 2-3-2K-2 which were both designed by Head Engineer Lev Sergeyevich Lebedyansky & Engineer Mikhail Nikolaevich Schukin, the 2-3-2V used the FD-type("Felix Dzerzhinsky" factory designation) & IS-type components such as the L40 type super-heater, cylinders & bogie wheels, steam boiler (tubular part, firebox, fittings), cylinders, rear bogie frame, box bushings & wedges, in this way the maintenance of 6998 was made easier. In order to reduce the weight of the structure 6998 was made of high-strength steel as the material & welding instead of traditional riveting was used. Alloy steel was also used on the moving mechanisms such as the connecting rods, roller bearings were used on all wheels including the tender bogies. Super-heater temperature in this engine reached 460 ° C, this was due to its high efficiency, the streamlined cladding reduced the air resistance at high speeds which let the engine produce more than 400 hp above that of a non-streamlined version.
in June 1938 engine 6998 was assigned to the Slavyansk Locomotive Depot of the Donetsk Railway Bureau to haul express passenger trains. During the first month of operation engine 6998 travelled 6,000 km. Also engine 6998 in a series of high speed runs & on eight (8) separate occasions reached over 100mph, then on the 29th of June 1938 on a straight level flat stretch of track from Likhoslavl to Kalinin whilst pulling a 14 axle (4 car) passenger train she reached a speed of 112mph (180 km/h) this is the Soviet Steam Record, the driver was Nikolai Oschatz whom then was given two Orders of Lenin & a Hero of Socialist Labour honours.
in July 1938 engine 6998 was transferred to the Moscow-October Locomotive Section of the October Railway Bureau & it was changed to "2-3-2V-3" running in the Moscow-Bologye section. On one of the 8 percent climbs whilst hauling a 900 tonne train it produced 3,400 hp at the beginning of the climb running at 110 km/h.
However 6998 operated according to the timetable made for the passenger train hauled by the Su-type locomotives & could not fully utilise its maximum speed & power, as a result operating fuel consumption of 6998 was 15 percent higher than that of the Su-type locomotive.
1939 the outbreak of the WWII had engine 6998 transferred to the Tomsk Railway Bureau & the Perm Railway Bureau for storage at that point engine 6998 had travelled 170,000 km, after the war 6998 was returned to the Moscow-October Locomotive Depot of the October Railway Bureau.
in April 1957 engine 6998 ran a test train & reached a speed of 175 km/h.
in 1958 engine 6998 was transferred to the Bologye Locomotive Depot then finally retired in October of 1963 & then sadly scrapped sometime after at the Bologye Depot, there is no mention in any literature of the exact date of the scrapping of engine 6998.
Famous trains that engine 6998 hauled were the Red Arrow as can be seen in my 8mm.
There were plans for the manufacture of Ten 2-3-2V's which were to pull all of the express passenger trains from Moscow to Leningrad & reduce the travel time of the Red Arrow to just 8 hours which sadly wasn't fulfilled due to the advent of the WWII.
After scrapping 6998 remained as a mosaic at Moscow Metro Station at Novokuznetskaya.
the pictures were scanned from my books & have all been heavily modified & Colored by myself ©
film footage is from my collection of my original & untouched 8mm film footage along with some newer footage which I heavily modified with my software ©
Background Music "To Boldly Go" & also "Bound by Light"
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