Exhibits

The Natural Testing Ground

The Leningrad-Moscow line has always held a unique position within the domestic railway network. On the one hand, as a connection between two of the most important cities in the country, it has always been a flagship route for the Oktyabrskaya Railway, handling large volumes of passenger traffic. It is no coincidence that in 1931, the first named train in the USSR, the “Red Arrow”, began operating between Leningrad and Moscow.

The straight and gentle gradient
Leningrad-Moscow line was ideal for the introduction of high-speed trains.

On the other hand, with its relatively gentle gradient (no steep climbs or descents) and almost perfectly straight alignment, this line seems as if it were purposefully designed to accommodate high train speeds, making it a natural testing ground
for high-speed operations.

In the post-war period, with the introduction of diesel and later electric traction, the maximum allowable speeds for passenger trains on the Leningrad-Moscow line gradually increased, reaching 120 km/h, by the late 1950s, then 140 km/h, and eventually 160 km/h in the early 1960s. At that time, passenger services on the route were operated by six-axle ChS2 and ChS2^T electric locomotives of Czechoslovakian manufacture. To further increase travel speeds to 200 km/h and beyond, the development of new, more powerful locomotives became essential.

New Class

Made by Škoda

Such locomotives were created in the mid-1970s. In 1975, the Czechoslovakian Škoda Plant, then a traditional supplier of passenger electric locomotives for domestic railways, built two ChS200 locomotives (Nos. 001 and 002, factory type 66E₀). These powerful two-section high-speed locomotives had no equivalents in either Soviet electric locomotive engineering or in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

The new electric locomotive was designated as the ChS200, with the number in its name representing its maximum speed.

The ChS200s were eight-axle electric locomotives consisting of two four-axle sections. The number 200 in the class designation indicated the maximum permissible speed of the locomotive in operation.

The two sections of this electric locomotive were equipped with separate power circuits, and the design did not include an operating mode where all eight traction electric motors were connected in series into one circuit. This was completely atypical for domestically produced DC electric locomotives with rheostat starting.

Other notable design features of the ChS200 electric locomotive included the use of four current collectors (two per section), a push-button controller on the control panel instead of the traditional drum controller with a steering wheel, and the ALSN-200 multi-digit high-speed locomotive signalling system.

Ten Machines

After testing prototypes and making several design adjustments, the Škoda Plant manufactured a batch of ten ChS200 electric locomotives (Nos. 003–012, factory type 66E_m) between 1979 and 1980. In terms of design, these locomotives differed somewhat from the first two machines in the class: the body was redesigned (with changes to the shape of the front section and a reduction in the overall length of the two-section locomotive by more than a meter), new current collectors (TSP-6M, similar to those used on the ER200) were installed, and modifications were made to the electrical circuits, among other changes. All of these locomotives were delivered to the Leningrad-Passazhirsky-Moskovsky Depot of the Oktyabrskaya Railway.

Ten of the 12 electric locomotives produced are still in operation with passenger trains.

The ChS200 electric locomotives Nos. 001 and 002, which were essentially experimental models, were decommissioned in 1987. However, the ChS200 electric locomotives Nos. 003–012 remain in service today, still part of the inventory of the Oktyabrskaya Railway. These locomotives are assigned to the TChE-8 Saint Petersburg-Passazhirsky-Moskovsky Depot and primarily serve passenger trains on the Saint Petersburg-Moscow line.

Museum Exhibit

The ChS200 002 electric locomotive displayed in the museum arrived in 1991 from the Leningrad-Passazhirsky-Moskovsky Depot of the Oktyabrskaya Railway.