TU1-001 after the fire, photographed on 21 August 1999 on the Kiev pioneer railway.
Photo: Quirinus Reichen.
The class TU1 is the direct predecessor of the class TU2 locomotives subject to this publication. Like the class TU2, it was designed and build by the Kaluga machine factory.
Until the 1930s the Soviet railway industry had no experience with the construction of petrol- or diesel-driven locomotives. The first Russian factory to produce motor-driven narrow gauge rolling stock was the Kaluga Machine Factory (Kaluzhskii Mashinostroitelnyi Zavod; KMZ). It was located in the town of Kaluga, 150 km southwest of Moscow.
In the early 1930s KMZ experimented with small petrol-driven draisines. Their first real locomotive rolled out of the factory in 1933. Soon afterwards KMZ started the serie production of the class Mug/2. This was a two-axle locomotive with a large central cab and two low hoods. Between 1933 and 1941 dozens of these engines were built, not only by KMZ, but later also by other factories. Their 40 - 50 HP restricted them to light industrial railways. In 1941 the complete factory was evacuated to Krasnojarsk in Siberia and KMZ ended the production of the Mug/2.
It seems that meanwhile in 1938 Kaluga got involved in the production of the MUZ-4. The MUZ(G)-4 was a 4-axle boogie locomotive for railways with light tracks, such as peat- and forestry railways. The appearance of the engine reminds of an old-fashioned road-lorry: a large central cab with a small hood in front and a small cargo-room at the back. But the loco was also capable of pulling some wagons. It should be noted that the mass production of the class MUZ-4 and it's various subtypes started only after the Second World War in other factories. KMZ was probably no longer involved.
After the war the factory moved back to Kaluga. It is unclear if railway rolling stock was produced then.
In 1953 or 1954 KMZ received the order to develop the new powerful class TU1 diesel locomotive. (In Cyrillic this is written as class TY1). The class designation TU1 means Teplovoz (diesel locomotive), Uzkokoleyny (narrow gauge) type 1. By Russian standards, the TU1 was the first real diesel locomotive (teplovoz) with more than 150HP for narrow gauge. All locomotives with less than 150HP (such as the Mug/2 or the MUZ-4) are considered motor locomotives or motorvoz in Russian.
The most important trigger for starting the TU1-project was Khrushchev's Virgin Lands Project from 1953. It was aimed at the development and cultivation of the Virgin Lands in northern Kazakhstan. The MPS constructed many 750-mm gauge lines in northern Kazakhstan to connect the new wheat and rye fields to grain silos (see the chapter on Kazakhstan). So the demand for narrow gauge locomotives was overwhelming. To mark the importance and progressive nature of the project, a modern and powerful diesel locomotive had to be designed instead of simply ordering more old-fashioned steam locomotives.
The development of such a locomotive was a real challenge to the Kaluga Machine Factory. The existing narrow-gauge petrol-driven locomotives like the class Mug/2 or the MUZ-4 were simply to weak to pull the long passenger and freight trains. So KMZ had to make a great step forward.
The basic design of the TU1 consists of a large body with two two-axle boogies. In the early 1950s almost all diesel locomotives and diesel motor cars had an electrical transmission. In praxis diesel-electric traction had proved to be reliable and easy to maintain. So it is not more than logical that KMZ's engineers decided that the TU1 should be a diesel-electric locomotive as well.
The diesel engine and the electric power generator were located in the centre of the locomotive, between the cabins. The electric traction motors, one per axle, were mounted in the boogies. The wheel formula was Bo'Bo'. The whole locomotive had a weight of 32 tons resulting in an axle-load of 8 tons. The diesel engine, main power generator and the traction motors used in the TU1 were all taken from serie productions.
The TU1 was fitted with the Bernaul 1D12 V-shaped 12-cylinder diesel engine. Its basic design dates back to 1939 and it has since been used in armoured vehicles and tanks, amongst which the highly succesfull T-34 tank. After the Second Word War this type of engine - in different power classes - has also been used more and more for civilian purposes. The 1D12 used in the TU1 has a rated power of 300HP at 1500 rounds per minute. In continuous operation it could work on 90-95% of its maximum power, which makes it very suitable for railway operations.
The diesel engine drove the main electric power generator. No further details are available about this generator. It was electrically coupled to the four DK-806A traction motors in the boogies.
The speed of the locomotive could be controlled by increasing the power of the diesel engine. This increased the power output of the main power generator and thereby the voltage on the traction motors. The speed and thrust could also be controlled by switching the traction motors from serie to parallel.
First, KMZ erected two experimental locomotives with numbers TU1-001 and TU1-002. They were tested by the Central Scientific Research Institute of the MPS in Šatura. This institute possessed a circular testing railway for different gauges, amongst which 750-mm gauge. This testing facility is known as the Šatura testing ring and has been in use until 1972.
The tests showed that the computed thrust characteristics could not be realised. The locomotives were able to pull light trains at low speeds. But a heavy train could only be set in motion in the highest position of the speed controller, so with the diesel motor working on maximum power. The problem turned out to be the power generator. With the diesel engine running on full power, the power output of the generator was not as high as expected.
As a result of the tests it was decided not to go forward with the serie production of the class TU1.
Despite their shortcomings both experimental class TU1's were not scrapped nor reconstructed.
In 1956 TU1-001 was transferred to the Južno-Ural (South-Ural) railway region. It might have been allocated to the Kustanaj or the Utjak system, being the only two narrow gauge railways in this region at the time. Maybe it was here for instruction purposes only, preparing the personnel for the class TU2s coming to these railways soon? In 1956 and 1957 the Južno-Ural railway region received large TU2-allocations. These probably made the unique and strange TU1-001 redundant.
Already in 1957 TU1-001 was transferred away to the Kiev pioneer railway in the Ukraine. Its thrust characteristics made it very suitable for operations on pioneer railways. Above all, such a modern looking diesel locomotive on a pioneer railway would underline the technical capabilities of the communist system. It has turned many rounds on the Kiev pioneer railway until it was set on fire by vandalists in the mid 1990s. The completely burned locomotive was dumped and finally cut in the fall of 1999.
TU1-001 after the fire, photographed on 21 August 1999 on the Kiev pioneer railway.
Photo: Quirinus Reichen.
The life of TU1-002 has remained somewhat mysterious. The very first information available on this loco is that it turned up on the Tashkent pioneer railway in Uzbekistan in 1957. It has run there until 1973, when it was probably cut. Pictures of TU1-002 can be found on Dmitry Sutyagin's page.
