Soviet Railways

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Der Alte Fritz
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Re: Soviet Railways

#31

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 12 Jan 2017, 11:55

see here for some pictures of basic Soviet rolling stock
http://www.o5m6.de/RussianRail.html

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Article from Veitung des Vereins Mitteleuropnischer Eisenbahn-Verwaltungen 17th August 1944

#32

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 04 Mar 2017, 10:05

Rapid construction of new railway lines in the USSR.

From Reichsbahndirektor Erich Barz (WW) Poznan

In the past, the rapid construction of new railway sections was usually carried out only during the war, with the aim of opening up traffic in the shortest possible time. In doing so, the buildings were makeshift and the earthworks were carried out only so far that the rails could be laid. The final analysis, elaboration and fortification of the embankments and ditches, and the construction of permanent ruptures, sometimes also a partial reconstruction of the lines, were only carried out later in the post-war period.

As an example the construction of the Murmanbahn can be mentioned, the stretches of which were built in the short time from May 1915 to November 1916 in a length of 1,144 km. This construction, however, which was only makeshift at that time, necessitated large reconstruction work every year (until 1939), which hindered the operation and also caused considerable costs.

According to these experiences, a new rapid construction process was then applied in the USSR to buildings that were to be carried out in peace in a very short time. According to the five-year plan, which was planned for the period from 1938 to 1943, some 11,000 km of new lines had to be built. 300 m m 3 of earthworks, about 10, 000 bridge structures and 25 m 3 of superstructures were to be carried out, and the second track should be built at 8,000 km. For the superstructure, about 30 million m 3 of gravel and 1 million tonnes of steel were required.

The first task was to build those routes that supply the raw materials (coal, oil) from Siberia and Turkestan to the industry in the Urals, or to relieve the Siberian Railway of Kohlet transports and to shorten the transport route of the coal trains by 400 km.

These were mainly the routes Kartaly - Akmohnsk (806 km) and Orsk - Dombarow kohle (98 km) and in the correct knowledge of the importance of these routes for the future, especially as preparation for the war, Mostly of American origin, which will be described shortly.

In the case of hilly terrain, in particular, earthworks require the greatest amount of time. Diesel engines have mostly been trackless with modern construction machinery such as excavators, graders and bulldozers, tugs or scrapers and a great deal of conveyor belts, roller and tamping machines.

For shorter distances (7 to 12 km) trucks or tractors with trailers were used for the earth trip. All equipment and vehicles were powered by fuels taken from the new oil deposits at Sysranj, Batraki and Kuibychevo. In order to accelerate the excavation work, explosions were carried out to a large extent, not only in the case of the rock, but also in the case of the usual, stronger soil for incisions and also in the case of dams. In the case of heavily frozen ground in winter, an explosive process was applied to the embankments, and its expediency had already been tested during the campaign between 1904 and 1905 during the construction of a field railway in Manchukuo. In this case, the baffle holes are applied on both sides next to the dam to be laid, The depth of the holes and the strength of the charges having to be calculated according to the type of soil and the depth of freezing must be calculated in such a way that the earth is not thrown apart by the blasting, but is merely loosened. After blasting, the frozen and loosened earth rises in the form of a spherical portion above the earth's surface and can then be easily used as a bulk material for the dam. The use of excavators or conveyors increases the efficiency.

These bouncings have the advantage of saving time and labor, and the excavation work can also be carried out without the use of excavators, excavators or other construction and tramping equipment.

The application of this blasting method was particularly successful in the construction of the access to a gravel pit near Korkino (Chelyabinsk region), where, within a short time, a penetration of 1 km in length and 300, 000 m 3 of soil was removed Could be driven straight away.

If a stretch of track is to be passed through a flat tundra area, where in some places there are hillsides, sand, or gravel, the track can be laid directly on the frozen flat ground, without ground beds Earth and gravel deposits are carried out in both directions of the road embankments and the track is lifted thereon. This allows the earthworks to be carried out simultaneously in many places on the same route. According to this procedure, the Soviets built the route from Vorkuta to the Jugorkugel in Siberia and the British to the Churchill port in Canada.

A different type of work organization, which was determined by the length and position of the route to be built, was applied to the fast building, depending on local conditions.

In the case of short distances (up to about 200 km), preference was given to the column system, where an exit base with construction equipment, materials, etc., was prepared at both ends of the line, and construction was begun from there. In the case of longer journeys, or when a road was available beside the route, the road rails were shifted without the need for a speeches, and work was begun at several points on the route immediately. Where this was not possible, the road was used as a means of transport for equipment and materials carried by cars or tractors, or even a makeshift road, such as the construction of the line from Turkestan to Siberia.

If there was a river or a lake shore at a not too distant distance from the line to be built, tugs were used with barges, and the work was begun at several points along the route, such as the construction of the Black Sea Railway in the Caucasus. The telecommunication systems were always built as the first work - before the earthworks started. In order to speed up this work, the holes for the poles were made with ground drills (motor drive) in the ground, and the rods with cranes mounted on tractors were placed in the ground holes and staked with stamping devices. Each column could build about 12.5 km per day. The middle and smaller art constructions (bridges and passages) were designed as concrete blocks made of concrete blocks. At a suitable place, makeshift concrete structures (each with 4 narrow-track iron and two broad-track iron) were constructed, which processed 2,000 to 3,000 m 3 of concrete every month. The blocks were formed either as parts of pipe passages of 1 to 2 m diameter, or double pipes, or reinforced concrete superstructures of 2 to 5 m of supporting span. The weight of the individual blocks was 3 to 4, 2 t, since they had to be loaded and transported on cranes with cranes. At the construction site, the trucks were unloaded with cranes and the blocks were moved at the same time at four passages: 1. excavation in 1 layer, 2. unloading in 2 layers, 3. assembly in 3 layers and 4. completion of the construction in 1 shift . Offsetting lasted only l 1 / 2 or 3 days, The number of blocks was between 200 and 330 for medium buildings. The blocks were installed in a conglomerate and the vertical joints were potted with cement mortar.

On the rapid construction of wooden bridges in the First World War, the mighty ice vein in the East and protection of the

Bridges against ice danger was published by the author an essay in the "Bautechnik" 1943 volume 13/14.

The superstructures for bridges consisted first of all of wood beam bundles from 1938 to 1939, which were laid with a 15 t crane. After the traffic on the first section had already been opened, the beam bundles were replaced by reinforced concrete superstructures, and the wood bundles were used for the next construction phase. Throughputs up to 2 m in diameter were made according to the American pattern also from stainless corrugated corrugated tubes, which were installed up to 3 pieces next to each other.

Such pipes were successfully used by the author in 1907 when the Bologoje-Polozk line was extended. Dieseling is easy to transport and requires little time and workmen to assemble and the dams can be passed on immediately.

Already in June 1931, ten years before the beginning of the war, the transport commissariat had issued a strict decision on steel savings in bridge construction. Steel beams were to be used wherever possible, wherever wooden or solid bridges were to be built.

On Russian loads for the calculation of bridges the author published an article in issue 11/12 - 1943 of the "Organ for the Progress of the Railway Industry / Glasers Annalen".

The steel savings were also strictly carried out during the procurement of the superstructure, most of the rails weighing only 33, 48 kg / m. The steel requirement for rails for 11,000 km of new lines of the 3rd Five-Year Plan was only 1 million tonnes.

The fastening of the rails to the wood thresholds was carried out with nails, which were driven with Japanese airmakers.

Threshold screws have never been used in Russia before, as fastening with screws requires only a great deal of time and labor.

For the laying of the track yokes (daily 5 km) the lifting device type Platow was used, the marshalling took place by A trains (about 3 km daily) per working section.

The Soviet railways had equipped 54 construction tracts with modern machinery and equipment alone for superstructure work.

All buildings up to the commissioning of the new routes were carried out with an average speed of 1, 5 to 2 km daily, with Schmalspurstrecken 3, 5 to 5 km daily and with field lanes 75 cm track to 10 km daily.

Since 1938 also fast building procedures in the Donets area, Dnepropetrovsk and other places were used for buildings. In Moscow, a massive dwelling-house for experts of the scientific research institute of rail transport was built in only 3 months and 23 days. It is 5-storey, has 40 apartments and a total of 14,700 m 3 .

Similar buildings , but of wood with a content of 4065 m 3 and 12 apartments were built on the route Konoscha-Archangelsk in 1 month and there massive houses with 6 apartments and 1600 m 3 content in each

26 days. On the route Lgow-Osnowa were built small brick buildings each with 3 apartments over the course of 4 days each.

In this rapid-construction process, individual working groups must simultaneously carry out all construction work, internal work and installation of the facilities (irrigation and drainage, heating and power lines) according to a previously defined schedule Workplaces. Before the start of the construction, all the preparations, procurement and manufacturing of the individual parts are carried out at a starting point, and as a result they are almost at the construction site

Only to carry out assembly work. In addition to saving time, this also saved costs.

All of the abovementioned rapid construction procedures were the result of study trips to other countries, especially the German Reich and the USA, and were finally accepted after trials with their own equipment and workers under the supervision of the Research Center in Moscow.

A large number of sample designs, especially for art and buildings were also developed and published by the research center. An overview of these sample designs can be found in 10 catalogs, which in the year 1939 already contained 317 approved sample designs.


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New journal article published

#33

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 18 May 2017, 10:34

The Journal of Slavic Military Studies
Volume 30, 2017 - Issue 2 May 2017
The Influence of Railways on Military Operations in the Russo-German War 1941–1945
H. G. W. Davie

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13518046.2017.1308120

ABSTRACT
In common with much of the historiography o[/url]f the Russo-German War of 1941–1945, there has been extensive study of the role of railways in the war, with either side concentrating on different aspects of the subject. But to date there has been little attempt to make a comparative study of the railways on both sides and to gauge the effect of differences in capacity on military operations and their outcomes. This lack has allowed one or both sides to obscure key failures and to deflect the influence on military operations away from railways. Yet the ubiquitous nature of railways for travel and transport in Russia, due to the large size of the country and the inability of motor vehicles to support operations beyond 300–400 km, meant that every military operation of the war was dependant on railways, and the way in which they were used was a key element in their success or failure. The current study aims to compare operating practices between Soviet and German military railways, to give estimates of the railway capacity available to both sides, and then to use this information to gauge the effect of this capacity on military operations.

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Re: Soviet Railways

#34

Post by per70 » 11 Jul 2017, 18:27

In "The Price of Victory- The Red Army's casualties in the Great Patriotic War" by Lopukhovsky and Kavalerchik, they write the following (p.21)

"In 2010 and 2011, on the basis of data from collection no. 16 of the Red Army's Central Military Transportation Directorate, Ivlev created an electronic database on the formation and movement of almost 50,000 trains that were used for operational transport of troops in 1941. Using this database, one can follow the movement of trains from loading station to unloading, and junction stations through which the trains passed. In many cases he succeeded in revealing the departure and arrival times, size and assignments of the replacements being transported."

Does anyone know if this database has been made publicly available?

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Re: Soviet Railways

#35

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 12 Jul 2017, 08:38

Since one of the authors in a retired military officer, it is likely that this information is only available from official archives and unavailable to the public or even academic historians. I have never seen any trace of this database although I have seen conclusions drawn from it.
Let me know if you do manage to find it though.....

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Re: Soviet Railways

#36

Post by GregSingh » 12 Jul 2017, 09:48

Well, just ask Ivlev (Игорь Иванович Ивлев) on http://www.soldat.ru or even better here: https://vk.com/soldat_rus

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Re: Soviet Railways

#37

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 14 Jul 2017, 21:48

Some great statistical yearbooks for the early 1930s here: http://istmat.info/node/22083

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Re: Soviet Railways

#38

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 22 Nov 2017, 19:48

Variety of railway books from Tsarist and Soviet eras
http://www.aroundspb.ru/railroad/railroad_books.html

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Re: Soviet Railways

#39

Post by randwick » 05 Dec 2017, 11:27

.
Any information on railways on the South East connecting with Astrakan area
I had a very basic map showing one rail line to the East of Stalingrad , should this be the case , it would have been the last link between Russia and the Caucasus
the not one step backward would then take an ominous meaning

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Re: Soviet Railways

#40

Post by Art » 05 Dec 2017, 20:37

What do you want to know exactly? The rail line from Saratov to Astrakhan existed before the war and it happened to be the main supply artery for the Stalingrad during the battle. The line from Astrakhan to Kizlyar was built and put on operation in 1941-42 but had a limited capacity. Caucasus was connected with Central Asia railroads via a ferry from Baku to Krasnovodsk. There was also a traffic over the Caspian Sea from Caucasus to Astrakhan.

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Re: Soviet Railways

#41

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 06 Dec 2017, 11:52

Trunk Lines of the USSR small.jpg
Art
is perfectly correct. There is one line east of Stalingrad (whose main lines ran south west to the Don Basin and north to Moscow). The eastern line connected with a brand new line which ran down the western shore of the Caspian Sea.

However none of these were major railways "trunk lines" and two of these connected with the Caspian Sea, one to the north and one to the east. Shipping crossing the sea was the main connection and would have provided the bulk of oil supplies to Russia had Stalingrad fallen and the eastern bank be captured.

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Re: Soviet Railways

#42

Post by randwick » 07 Dec 2017, 08:43

.
That's exactly my point , rail , the very life line of the war was in this theater very tenuous , to have it endanger was a threat of major importance ,
oil , grain , western supplies was desperately needed
to have this jugular severed or threatened by the Luftwaffe was intolerable
Stalingrad had to be held whatever the cost ,whatever the losses .
It was that close

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Re: Soviet Railways

#43

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 07 Dec 2017, 15:13

I would have to fundamentally disagree with you there I am afraid.
The line from Stalingrad to Astrakhan carried a heavy traffic for the forces engaged in the battle for the city but other than that it was not a major route for oil shipments. Rostov to Baku was a major route and is shown in red on the map, that was lost early on in the campaign and the traffic switched to crossing the Caspian Sea to the other red routes to the east of the Caspian. Remember as early as 1912 the Standard Oil Company was oeprating 13 large tankers on the Caspian for this purpose - this was a long standing shipment route.
In 1941 the amount of oil processed in Baku was record-breaking: 23.5 million tons, which was 22.8% more than planned. In 1942 oil processing in Maykop and Grozny stopped, as the North Caucasus was occupied by the Germans. And the railroad connection between Baku and the central regions was also lost. Despite that, the oil shipments from Baku didn’t stop: oil was sent via the Caspian Sea and through Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
ImageImage
You can read about the Caspian Sea oil shipments here:
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/economy/26368.html
http://www.visions.az/en/news/174/e8fccf6b/

Azerbaijani Oil Industry in 1941
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/economy/16504.html
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/economy/16775.html
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/economy/17168.html

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Re: Soviet Railways

#44

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 07 Dec 2017, 15:35

As for Lend Lease through the Persian Corridor, the two main routes were
Tehran - Ashgabat (in Turkmenistan) to the east of the Caspian
Tehran - Baku to west of Caspian
Tehran - southern Caspian ports

Image

History of the Persian Corridor
https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/persian/

The idea that the capturing of Stalingrad by the German is in someway going to cut off the USSR from both its domestic oil supplies and one of three Lend Lease routes is not credible. Existing high capacity routes existed east of the Caspian for both. As for grain this was grown in the Volga region which was well behind the Soviet lines.
The destruction of the Maikop Oil Field infront of the German advance was influential as it could not really be brought back into full produciton by the end of the war and this did cause a shortfall in Soviet oil supplies.

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Re: Soviet Railways

#45

Post by Art » 12 Mar 2018, 22:22

Curiously, large amount of rolling stock was captured from Germans already in the winter campaign of 1942/43.

Here is a report by Kaganovich to Stalin which says that as of 10.3.43 there were 36.000 captured railroad cars, mostly in operational conditions. Of them 25.000 had European gauge (1435 mm). Kaganovich proposed to convert them to the soviet gauge, which was approved by the GKO on 12.3

Image

I wonder, what part of German-operated cars stock on Soviet railways those 36.000 made.

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