The 70-80s of the twentieth century passed, life on the expanses of the Soviet railways literally boiled, the number of cars in passenger trains gradually and steadily increased. New and more powerful locomotives were required to meet the demand for growing passenger traffic on the main lines with especially heavy traffic, served by heating with a complex track profile.
TEP70 with a 16-cylinder diesel engine of 4000 hp, which replaced the diesel locomotives TEP60 with a capacity of 3000 hp. already seemed incapable of solving in the future the problems associated with the increase in passenger traffic during the heyday of "velvet" socialism in the USSR.
Passenger diesel locomotive TEP70 in Bologoye depot TChE-4. Photo: Alexey Alekseev.
So, in the 1970s, the deputy director of VNIIZhT (All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Railway Transport) N. A. Fufryansky in his work "Development of locomotive traction" the need to create passenger diesel locomotives with a sectional capacity of 6000 hp. justified as follows:
In this regard, in Kolomna, they began to create a new passenger diesel locomotive with a diesel engine with a capacity of 6000 hp. (4552 kW) at 1100 rpm. diesel engine crankshaft. The new diesel locomotive received the factory designation TEP75.
Diesel locomotive TEP75-0001. Kolomensky plant. 1976
However, its design turned out to be not entirely successful, the mass increased to 147 tons (instead of the allowable 138 tons according to those assignments), based on two three-axle bogies, exceeded the permissible axle load on the rails. Diesel locomotives TEP75, due to the above reasons, did not go into the series, and remained as prototypes.
Therefore, Kolomna began to develop a new model of a passenger diesel locomotive, now with an eight-axle crew.
Promotional video:
Diesel locomotive TEP80-0002 at the Spirovo station, Tver region, OKT railway Photo: Lastovka M. O.
Under the leadership of the chief designer Yu. V. Khlebnikov, such a diesel locomotive with two four-axle bogies was developed at the Kolomna plant - TEP80. The axle load on the rails became permissible and amounted to 22.5 tf.
Yu. V. Khlebnikov, chief designer of the Kolomna plant for locomotive building.
Later, two such TEP80 diesel locomotives were built at the Kolomna plant (No. 0001 in 1988 and No. 0002 in 1989) with a design speed of 160 km / h according to those specifications.
The first tests of the locomotives were successful, during which a speed of 196 km / h was achieved. Taking into account the good dynamic characteristics and satisfactory impact on the track demonstrated by the prototypes, in order to identify the peculiarities of the behavior of the undercarriage at higher speeds, it was decided to conduct tests at speeds up to 250 km / h.
Four-axle bogie from the side of the 2nd cabin on the TEP80-0002 diesel locomotive before replacing the axial gearboxes with a gear ratio of 3.12. Photo: Alexey Alekseev.
For this purpose, on the TEP80-0002 diesel locomotive, the manufacturer replaced the axial gearboxes with a gear ratio of 3.12 with new ones with a ratio of 2.03.
Top view of the TEP80-0002 diesel locomotive at the Museum of Russian Railways in St. Petersburg. Photo: Alexey Alekseev.
The locomotive was equipped with a SA-3 automatic coupler with spring suspension. Later, the same was used on new diesel locomotives TEP70BS. In the same museum, I saw exactly the same automatic couplings with spring suspension on the cars of the BZHRK (combat railway missile system).
Autocoupling device with spring suspension on the TEP80-0002 diesel locomotive. Photo: Alexey Alekseev.
The TEP80-0002 car, presented at the Museum of Russian Railways in St. Petersburg, is the very locomotive that set the world speed record.
Diesel locomotive TEP80-0002 and steam locomotive series E in the Museum of Russian Railways in St. Petersburg at the Baltic Station. Photo: Alexey Alekseev.
After testing, the locomotive was not transferred to operation for regular use with passenger trains. The locomotive entered the museum from the Experimental Ring of VNIIZhT st Shcherbinka and today it is one of the most interesting and attractive exhibits for visitors presented in this museum.
The front door of the Museum of Russian Railways in St. Petersburg at the Baltic Station. Photo: Alexey Alekseev.
Extreme machinist who threw a log from the movie "Back to the Future" into the TEP80 furnace
And here is our main character, meet Alexander Mankevich - the driver who overclocked the diesel locomotive TEP80-0002 to a record 271 km / h during testing! Alexander Vasilyevich undoubtedly became the same legend as the TEP80 diesel locomotive itself.
He recalls with pleasure the old events:
The tests of the TEP80-0002 diesel locomotive were carried out in 1992-1993 on the main line of the Leningrad-Moscow Oktyabrskaya railway. During one of such experimental trips on October 5, 1993 at 16:58, the TEP80-0002 diesel locomotive on the 472 km of the Kulitskaya-Bryantsevo section (the Gateway-Doroshikha section) developed a speed of 271 km / h, which to this day remains a world record for diesel locomotives …
By the decree of the President of the Russian Federation B. N. Yeltsin in 1995, the locomotive designers were awarded a state prize.
Inscriptions on board TEP80-0002 testifying to the establishment of a record.
The author of the canal once had to drive the TEP70 diesel locomotive in reserve (without cars) along the main route from Likhoslavl to Bologoye. The dispatcher called us to check our possible speed. We timidly answered him 100 km / h. He opened a green street for us between high-speed trains and asked us to go more fun. Having escaped onto the track, trying not to let the dispatcher down, we accelerated in reserve to 120 km / h. But even at this speed in the cockpit swinging at the stations at the switches, even along the straight path, we were a little scared. The moment of speed was especially contrasting after we left the deaf reserved branch Torzhok-Soblago, where the speed from Kuvshinovo station to Soblago is limited to only 40-50 km / h.
TEP80, side view, at a speed of 253 km / h:
How impressive? What a huge kinetic energy is contained in this "brick" weighing 180 tons, racing along the rails at a speed of over 200 km / h! Try siege. How long can he still coast on a freewheel? Not one kilometer, or even a dozen others.
The control panel on the TEP80-0002 diesel locomotive. Photo: Andrey Razbash.
TEP80 with tail number 0002 was assigned to the Velikiye Luki TCh-31 depot and for some time, even before testing, ran along the Riga course with the Moscow-Riga train. We can see this in the footage captured in the 1995 film Diesel on the Rails, which is easy to find on YouTube. They talk about the TEP80 diesel locomotive at the very end of the film, so if you want to watch it, you can easily find it.
Diesel locomotive TEP80-0002. Photo: Alexey Alekseev.