Of all the European countries, Russia has been a particular country as far as the train is concerned. In fact, with a limited road network and specific climatic conditions, the train took on capital importance from the start of its development. Moreover, the Russian nation, considering itself psychologically as subject to invasions, has always invested heavily politically and militarily in this field. This is why armored trains naturally became part of the Russian military effort during WWI. Beside these heavy, slow to implement and vulnerable machines, it was necessary to create lighter vehicles for reconnaissance (typically 5 to 10 km upstream of the train). Moreover, where the threats were less serious, as for example in Siberia, simpler vehicles seemed more adapted. Such an armored railcar could be hooked up to an armored train and used as part of it as an ordinary armored platform, and if necessary, act independently.
Benz armored bus:
The first project came in 1911 for the needs of the protection of the Amur Railway, the Administration ordered on October 11, 1911, the construction of a special armored railroad car from the Russian branch of the Benz and K company. The contractor successfully completed the task, and in August 1912, the « armored Benz bus » (as it appeared in the documents of that time) was handed over to the security service of the Amur railway. Designed to protect the railway tracks from the attacks of the Hunghuz (bandits), the armored car was built on the basis of the chassis of the Benz-Gaggenau rail mail bus. It weighed 1920 kg, was covered with 4.5 mm thick armor plates installed at high angles of inclination, and was equipped with a 35/40 hp two-cylinder engine. The armored bus was supposed to be used both as armored rubber and as a wheeled armored car. The crew of the car, armed with two Maxim machine guns, consisted of 6 people.
Armored railcars:
The second project came in October 1915, by order of Major General Kolobov, two companies of the 2nd Trans-Amur Railway Brigade were commissioned to design and manufacture three armored railcars armed with machine guns. Two projects were developed :
- one for a light railcar with two machine guns by the 4th company of the 1st Trans-Amur Railway battalion Lieutenant Kochengin and the mechanical engineer Osnovin in Odessa.
- the second for a single heavy railcar with four machine guns by the 4th company of the 2nd Trans-Amur Railway battalion in Kiev.
The work started in the workshops in Kiev but because of too much work, the construction was moved to Odessa for the light railcars. Construction began on November 30, 1915. The various elements came from everywhere: the 8 mm steel plates of the Nikolaev shipyard, the 4 cyl 25-30 hp engine of a civilian car, the transmission and the ball bearings of Moscow. The wheels were ordered from Kiev’s mechanical engineering plant, but the result was so devastating that another order was placed at the Greter and Krivanek factory as well as the box elevation system and the machine gun stands. In mid-March 1916, the heavy railcar made its first tests to the Boyarka station.
Two light armored railcars were built. Their dimensions: Length: 3,5 m, width: 2.2 m, height: 1.4 m (body). The engine was located transversely to the longitudinal axis and started with an external crank. A tank with a capacity of 30 liters was located on the top of one of the sides. The gearbox had two speeds for forward and two for reverse. The transmission was by chain. The two cylindrical turrets were located diagonally so that they could fire together in the same direction. The machine guns were Maxim ones. The front and rear were streamlined to provide greater bullet protection and less wind resistance when traveling. Couplings were used to alter the width of the track in the event of a switch to European track allowing the wheels to move both symmetrically and unilaterally. When changing tracks, the train was lifted by four jacks permanently fixed to its floor. The wheels were designed riveted between the rim and the disc. It was difficult to manufacture them and for the second model, tram wheels were used, graciously donated by the Odessa Tram Company. To observe the path, a universal periscope was set up, which allowed a circular view of the area while the observer was in a stationary position.
The heavy armored railcar had four conical towers, each with one 1895 colt machine gun located on a domed body that provided an elevation angle of up to 60 degrees for firing at airplanes. The engine was a Laurin 4 cylinder car engine. The tank had a capacity of 24 liters.The gearbox had four gears forward and four reverse. The railcar could move forward at a speed of 10-40 km / h and 8-30 km / h in reverse. Transmission was by chain. The armor was made of 8 mm shipbuilding steel and the roadwheels had a diameter of 775 mm.A system of elevation of the body made it possible to adapt the width of the wheels to the width of the track in case of passage of the Russian network to the European network. In addition, in the event of an engine or gearbox failure, it was possible to use a manual drive with a chain transmission which required the efforts of four people. The railcars coul be coupled with trains by a special device. Outside, on the lower front and rear , there were four throwers-devices for dropping foreign objects from the rails. The interior lighting of the trolley consists of two miner type lamps and the external lighting consists of three buffer lamps. The crew was seven people : chief, driver with assistant and four machine gunners.
The three armored railcars (one heavy and two light) were considered successful and the army planned the construction of 15 to 20 additional models by larger industrial enterprises. At the same time, the Putilov factory was also preparing an armored railcar project and the technical commission of the military railways was thus left with three different projects. The Putilov railcar was armed with two machine guns in two cylindrical towers, the vehicle was armored with 8-mm sheets of chrome-nickel steel that could withstand a point-blank rifle bullet from a distance of 50 feet. Thanks to the reverse mechanism, the combat vehicle was able to develop a speed of up to 37 km/h both in one direction and in the other direction. The weight of armored railcar fully equipped was equal to 3200 kg.
The commission decided on March 10, 1916 in favor of the Putilov project but unfortunately, the factory could not ensure the manufacture because all available means were already affected. Requests from other factories were also failures and eventually the project was abandoned.
The heavy armored railcar was considered underpowered (24 hp for 9 tons) and sent in December 1916 to the Savelovo workshop where a more powerful engine (100hp) was available. Unfortunately, nothing was done until the summer of 1917 when engine and chassis were dismantled but we do not know what happened next.The light armored railcars were used by the 2nd Trans-Amur Railway Brigade until the summer of 1917. In June, one of them was assigned to the detachment of Colonel Kondyrin operating on the southwestern front. During the civil war, one of them was captured by the red troops (the famous « arrow ») and fight in the region of Tsaritsyn (future Stalingrad) until the summer of 1919. We do not know their fate future. The well known photo « strela » is dated 1920, thus is the hands of the reds.
Armored Railroad cars :
Another project was the creation of an armored railway platoon of five Bratolyubov-Nekrasov Russo-Balt armored cars (type I) which was engaged on the Romanian front in 1916 to secure the tracks. It was planned to reorganize all railroad wheeled armored vehicles that were not suitable for action, but due to problems in the military industry of the Russian Empire from the end of 1916, a sharp decline in the level of control in it and the fall of industrial discipline due to the February and October revolutions, nothing was done.
