The concept of “rolling stock” can include all units of equipment involved in freight traffic or passenger traffic on the railway network. The rolling stock of Russian Railways includes wagons of various categories, locomotives. It is divided into special-purpose trains, passenger and freight trains, by type of transport.
You can also give the following classification of PS:
- Traction: locomotives (electric locomotives, steam locomotives, diesel locomotives).
- Non-self-propelled: wagons (platforms, gondola cars, grain carriers, tanks, etc.).
- Motor-car: metro, electric trains, car rail.
- Composition of special. destination: self-propelled cars, railcar.
The creators of the transport in question at present are machine-building enterprises of the country and abroad, locomotive-building and car-building plants, and metallurgical plants.
The first cars in Russia began to be produced in the mid-18th century. As an independent industrial sector, car building stood out by the mid 40s of the 18th century. At that time, the construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg railway began, and it was for the construction of wagons for this railway that the state-owned foundry-mechanical Aleksandrovsky plant was allocated.
The main railway feature of the time was that the rolling stock was more likely to carry people. As a rule, railroad cars were built for passengers traveling in the suburban destination. They did not have toilets, cupboards or even sleeping places, only places for sitting.
The first cars were biaxial, the frame and body were made of wood. Their connection was chain. The rolling stock for transporting passengers of that time was significantly different from the modern one.
The next stimulus for the development of the railway industry was the transition of Russia from feudalism to capitalism through the reforms of 1861. Since 1863, the production of wagons using a biaxial design began.
In 1859, a similarity to a modern gondola car appeared on the Alexandrovsky plant - an open carriage, as well as a powder train and a carriage for explosives.
At the same time, due to the need to move perishable goods (mainly food), an isothermal rolling stock appeared.
In 1875, an order was issued by the Ministry of Railways (MPS), which said about bringing all covered wagons to the same type of "normal size" (6400 * 2743 millimeters). This was dictated by the size of military equipment and mass transportation of troops.
Since the second half of the 90s. there was a rise in industrial production, which led to the expansion of the construction of railways, rolling stock regained innovation. The need for wagons for the transport of bulk goods grew. The production of such increased at times.
In 1880, in the area of the village of Bolshoi Mytishchi, the Mytishchi carriage building plant began to be built.
In 1896, the construction of the Verkhnevolzhsky plant for the construction of wagons began.
In 1897, it was reborn into a car-building plant for the production of cartridge boxes, camping kitchens and phaetons.
And so, factories appeared on the expanses of the country with only one goal - to create the perfect rolling stock, able to satisfy the state's transportation needs.
Currently, the number of wagons and locomotives can be called sufficient for the country, but the technical condition of such should be well thought out. One thing is good: the construction of equipment of this kind has not been interrupted for a year since its inception.