Railway car № 522178

Freight gondola № 522178, located in the museum, was built by the Dneprodzerzhinsk Plant named after the newspaper "Pravda". The plant was originally a wagon department at the Dneprovsky Metallurgical Plant, located in the village of Kamenskoye, which later grew into the city of Dneprodzerzhinsk. In 1926 this department was transformed into a wagon building plant. It mainly produced heavy-duty cars, but also produced gondola cars, hopper cars for coke transportation, and dump cars.

Serial production of gondola cars began in 1936. These were cars with a load capacity of 60 tons on a steel frame and with walls formed by a diagonal truss covered with wooden boards 40 mm thick. Later, they received external double-leaf doors hung on hinges. The end walls had doors opening inward, which made it possible to transport long loads with the doors open. For unloading, 14 bottom hatches were provided. Two-axle Diamond belt bogies were rolled under the car.

Starting from 1936 such gondola cars were built by the Kryukov Plant, the Dneprodzerzhinsk Plant named after the newspaper "Pravda" and the Uralvagonzavod. For some time, gondola cars were built in the post-war period, with carbon steels being replaced by low-alloy ones. Side doors were eliminated: their openings weakened the strength of the walls. Stronger bogies with cast sidewalls of the MT-50 Uralvagonzavod type were rolled under the cars.

These were two-, less often three-axle gondola cars with a wooden body and doors in the middle of the car. Loading and unloading of cargo by human power - with shovels - or on wheelbarrows took place through these doors.