Russian Railways stressed

[Hepcat66]

Actually of the 20 ordered 12 went to Milwaukee Road, the so called "Little Joe" for Joseph Stalin. Th rest IIRC went possibly to Brazil or some such. The Soviets then collaborated with the French (Alstom in particular) to get electric locomotive technology.

Here is a nice article on early post-war electric traction development in the USSR

https://rollingstockworld.com/locom...he-national-electric-locomotives-development/

Here is the Wikipedia article on Little Joe:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Joe_(electric_locomotive)

An informative article about the development of electric traction in Russia from 1929 to early post WWII years

https://janfordsworld.blogspot.com/2019/11/loco-profile-dc-electric-locomotives-in.html

Yet more info on these electrified locomotives. This photo is of, one of many sign boards along the Hiawatha Trail which starts in Idaho and ends in Montana. It's a fabulous trail which I've ridden 3 times so far. The electrical power for these trains was provided by a hydroelectric dam in Thompson Falls, MT which was built for this purpose. As I recall, the line ran from Tacoma, to Lewistown, MT. As of several years ago (the last time I drove that part of I-90), you could still see some of the small brick substations a short distance from the highway.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Yet more info on these electrified locomotives. This photo is of, one of many sign boards along the Hiawatha Trail which starts in Idaho and ends in Montana. It's a fabulous trail which I've ridden 3 times so far. The electrical power for these trains was provided by a hydroelectric dam in Thompson Falls, MT which was built for this purpose. As I recall, the line ran from Tacoma, to Lewistown, MT. As of several years ago (the last time I drove that part of I-90), you could still see some of the small brick substations a short distance from the highway.

Didn't somebody recently post a few pictures of the substations? And we are really getting off topic....

 

[Willbridge]

Didn't somebody recently post a few pictures of the substations? And we are really getting off topic....

You're right, but I will put in a correction. The Milwaukee Road electrification was in two parts:
Tacoma to Othello, WA and Avery, ID to Harlowton, MT. The Little Joes were mainly used on the eastern segment.

In the 1920's the Soviet government was afflicted with Americanomania and one aspect of that was an interest in the Milwaukee Road's electrification. They began electrifying mountain segments with a copy of the Milwaukee Road DC system. In the 1950's they realized their mistake and began replacing it and connecting links with an AC system.

 

[BlackDiamond]

View attachment 37588

Thanks. I did find it eventually by calling up Google maps which has the names in Latin alphabet as well as Cyrillic. I hadn't realized the location was closer to the border and not near Kursk itself.