In 1921, on July 24, there was a train disaster with very large political consequences. Seven people died in it, six on the spot, one died later. Among the dead were prominent Bolsheviks, two German comrades - Oskar Gelbrück and Otto Strupat, as well as Fyodor Andreevich Sergeev. The latter is none other than the legendary comrade Artem - an ardent supporter of Donbass autonomy, one of the founders of the legendary Donetsk-Krivoy Rog republic and the chairman of its Council of People's Commissars. His death is still controversial. Someone says that it was a disaster without any political overtones, just a tragic accident. And someone, remembering the struggle of Artyom with the Ukrainian Bolsheviks for the autonomy of the DKR as part of the RSFSR, while they insisted on the inclusion of the republic in Ukraine, believes that, perhaps,it was a political assassination. Moreover, in addition to the Ukrainian comrades who destroyed the republic in the apparatus struggle, Artyom had enough enemies - he was too bright a personality.
It would seem, where does Trotsky
Sometimes, in their conspiracy studies, people reached the point where they began to suspect that Artyom was almost the leader of the world proletariat. Like, with his idea of the DKR, Artem interfered with the implementation of Lenin's national policy. Someone thought it logical that Stalin allegedly had a hand in the death of the Donetsk charismatic Bolshevik. And this despite the fact that after the death of his father, Artem's son became Stalin's pupil. As for the son himself, who also did not believe in the technical reasons for the catastrophe, he believed that the death of his father could be beneficial to Trotsky. The fact is that, according to the son of Artyom, the tracks along which the carriage was moving were in one place littered with stones. And, as if, Dzerzhinsky noted that stones by themselves do not appear on the paths, they do not fall from the sky. And just at this time, Artyom, on the instructions of Vladimir Lenin, was organizing the International Union of Miners. Including, to counteract, as it were, all the gaining strength of the influence of Trotsky.
Aerial car is a risky business
But it is quite possible that those are right who do not see any policy in the air car crash that led to the death of Artyom. The fact is that at that time it was not just a new case. The most risky pioneers of railway transport in different countries were engaged in this - romantics and, to some extent, adventurers. And by the way, all of them, in one form or another, to one degree or another, have failed.
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Airplane on rails
The main idea that guided the inventors of the air cars (although it is loudly said - the first air car, created back in 1917 in Germany, was a railcar with a propeller), was, of course, the speed of movement on the rails. Rather, its increase. And when it comes to speed, this component has succeeded. Some constructions developed fantastic speeds even by today's standards. But it was not possible to cope with other problems, as a result of which the idea was finally abandoned after several decades. In the United States, tests related to the air car took place in the mid-sixties. And in the Soviet Union, but already in the seventies, even prototype train cars with turbojet engines were tested. However, the propeller as a propulsion for the cars turned out to be too dangerous and noisy. And most importantly,during the operation of such cars, the railway itself was destroyed.
Airship on wheels
The Germans have always been famous for their thirst for revolutionary technical developments. No wonder the first aerial car, as noted above, was born in Germany. But these were flowers. The berries began to ripen by 1929, when aeronautical engineer Franz Krueckenberg decided, apparently, to combine aviation developments with railway transport. It was he who presented to such a respected department as the German Imperial Railway, the project of a high-speed railcar with a propeller. The leadership of the German railroad workers liked the idea. Funds were allocated for the implementation of the project. And a year later, an aerial car appeared, strikingly resembling an airship, but on wheels. By the way, this twenty-five-meter squat monster did not have carts usual for railway transport. There were exactly two wheel axles, and separated by nineteen meters. The aerial car received the corresponding name - "Rail Zeppelin".
Speed kills
Everyone is chasing speed. In the air, on the highway, on the rails. And in sports? When young Tyson, this, if anyone does not know, an outstanding boxer, tried to "pump up" weights in order to hit harder, the mentor almost took these iron toys from him and forced him to engage in anaerobic and speed exercises, giving unthinkable loads. And at the same time he repeated: "Speed kills!" What young Tyson did in the ring, all boxing fans know perfectly well. What can't you do for speed! And Franz Krueckenberg with his "Rail Zeppelin" did everything so that only he could develop super speeds. The weight of his air car was incredibly small for the then railway transport - "only" a little more than twenty tons. The car was equipped with a BMW engine of six hundred and fifty "horses", a streamlined, cigar shape, a powerful propeller. As a result, Krueckenberg's brainchild could reach a speed of two hundred and thirty kilometers per hour. Agree, this even now seems to be a very serious result. True, it all ended somehow faded. First, the air car was sold. And then, in 1939, they were completely cut into metal for defense needs.
Everyone is chasing speed. In the air, on the highway, on the rails. And in sports? When young Tyson, this, if anyone does not know, an outstanding boxer, tried to "pump up" weights in order to hit harder, the mentor almost took these iron toys from him and forced him to engage in anaerobic and speed exercises, giving unthinkable loads. And at the same time he repeated: "Speed kills!" What young Tyson did in the ring, all boxing fans know perfectly well. What can't you do for speed! And Franz Krueckenberg with his "Rail Zeppelin" did everything so that only he could develop super speeds. The weight of his air car was incredibly small for the then railway transport - "only" a little more than twenty tons. The car was equipped with a BMW engine of six hundred and fifty "horses", a streamlined, cigar shape, a powerful propeller. As a result, Krueckenberg's brainchild could reach a speed of two hundred and thirty kilometers per hour. Agree, this even now seems to be a very serious result. True, it all ended somehow faded. First, the air car was sold. And then, in 1939, they were completely cut into metal for defense needs.
Resourceful scotsman
Scottish engineer George Benny took a different path. But the goal was also the speed of movement. He decided to use a monorail, and a suspended one. The idea was to use a system of iron trusses at a height of ten meters. The suspended air car was supposed to move along this route. And not with one, but with two propellers. The front one pulls, the back one pushes. The problem was, Benny had no money. But he was stubborn. For nine years, he somehow miraculously managed to find funds and build his own track. And built in 1930. Not far from Glasgow. True, the track was only a quarter of a mile long. Therefore, the speed that the inventor was counting on, two hundred kilometers per hour, could not be developed on such a short distance.
An inglorious end
Benny ended even more sadly than his German counterpart. He never found the money to build a full-fledged road, although he devoted seven long years to this. Everyone was very happy with his invention. But that's all. As a result, the inventor fell into poverty and ended his days in a nursing home. And the cable car for high-speed air cars remained a dream.
Civil war is not a hindrance
But this is all, so to speak, foreign finds. And meanwhile, despite the revolution, civil war and devastation, in Soviet Russia there was a similarly risky inventor. However, in Russia at that time many were extremely risky people. In short, the name of the inventor was Valerian Abakovsky, he was a Latvian and worked in the Cheka. In Tambov. A chauffeur. That is, again, a techie. And also a self-taught inventor. He, too, was haunted by the idea of high-speed travel by rail. And so, at the very beginning of the twenties, Abakovsky took a trolley and blinded an air car out of it. And, by the way, he successfully blinded.
Tragedy near Moscow
They write different things. It seems that Abakovsky several times drove his air car along the railroad. Successfully chased away. On July 24, a delegation of the Third Congress of the Comintern decided to use this method of travel to travel from Moscow to Tula to meet with the workers there. There were about twenty people in the delegation. Including foreigners. Artyom headed everything. The movement was led by Abakovsky. So we practically "flew" to Tula. It seems that they even developed a speed of about one hundred and forty kilometers per hour. And on the way back the car went off the rails. It is believed that the speed at this time was eighty-five kilometers per hour. Seven people were killed. Including Abakovsky himself. And Artem.
What is the reason?
As noted at the very beginning of the material, many saw and still see a political motive in this tragedy. But the official version: the reason was the terrible state of the railways.
Abakovsky created a fast and light apparatus. But I did not take into account the poor condition of the roads. Once upon a time it should have played a cruel joke. And so it happened. And this version seems quite plausible. An example is the Ukrainian experience, when before the European Football Championship in 2012, the Ukrainian authorities bought the high-speed Korean electric trains "Hyundai". So for their normal operation, it was necessary to reconstruct the railway track and contact network in some places. And all the same, after the championship, in winter, the passengers of these trains more than once found themselves in an awkward situation due to breakdowns. It took time to adapt the Korean electric trains to the Ukrainian railway realities.
Mark Raven