Ball electrolot train designed by N.G. Yarmolchuk

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Throughout the history of rail transport, new bold projects regularly appear that can lead to a real revolution in this area. Nevertheless, not all such proposals reach practical use.

Most of the bold projects remain in history as promising, but unpromising technical curiosities. The latter include many developments, including the so-called. electric ball transport designed by N. G. Yarmolchuk.

The author of this project was a young engineer Nikolai Grigorievich Yarmolchuk. After serving in the army and participating in the Civil War, he got a job as a fitter on the Kursk railway, where he worked for several years. While working on the railway, Yarmolchuk learned the various features of this type of transport, and over time came to the conclusion that it was necessary to create a new class of such systems. In those days, one of the main issues that various specialists dealt with was increasing the speed of trains. Yarmolchuk, having studied the existing railways and rolling stock, came to the conclusion that it was impossible to apply existing solutions and the need to develop a completely new transport.

In his letters, Yarmolchuk pointed out that a significant increase in speed is hindered by a number of factors, including the very design of the railway tracks and wheels. During the movement, the engineer noted, the wheelset is kept on the rails only by the flanges. In this case, the pair may move along its axis, beating against the rail and other unpleasant phenomena. With a simple increase in the speed of movement, the beats should have increased, increasing the load on the train undercarriage and increasing the risk of its destruction. To eliminate these phenomena, tracks and a chassis of a completely new design were required.

Experienced SHEL train. Winter 1932-1933 Photo Wikimedia Commons

Already in 1924 N. G. Yarmolchuk proposed a new version of the track and running gear of the train, which, in his opinion, made it possible to significantly increase the speed of movement, as well as get rid of related problems. According to the author of the project, instead of a rail track, a round-shaped chute should have been used. A ball of appropriate dimensions should have moved along such a tray. When moving at high speed, the spherical wheel was not subject to beating, and could also self-orientate depending on the trajectory of movement.

In the first version of a promising project, the author proposed using cars of a completely new design. The car body was supposed to have a spherical shape and accommodate all the necessary units, including the power plant and the passenger cabin. The outer surface of the case was supposed to act as a supporting surface and in contact with the tray. With this design, the car could move along the chute at high speed, maintaining optimal roll due to timely tilt when entering turns. To save space and achieve the maximum possible performance, it was proposed to equip the new transport with electric motors.

The promising system was named "Sharoelectrolytic transport" or SHELT for short. Under this designation, Yarmolchuk's project remained in history. In addition, in some sources the name "ball train" is mentioned. Both designations were equivalent and were used in parallel.

Over the next few years, Yarmolchuk graduated from Moscow State Technical University and Moscow Power Engineering Institute, which allowed him to gain the knowledge and experience necessary to implement his project. At the same time, the young engineer tried to interest the responsible persons with his invention. In numerous letters to various authorities, he described the advantages of his SHELT system. In his opinion, it made it possible to significantly increase the speed of trains and thereby reduce travel time. In this case, the ball-electric transport could compete even with aviation, while having the advantage in the form of greater cargo and passenger capacity.

Nikolay Grigorievich Yarmolchuk during tests. Shot from newsreel

Another advantage of his project N. G. Yarmolchuk considered saving some materials and simplifying road construction. It was proposed to make a tray for a promising train of reinforced concrete, which made it possible to drastically reduce metal consumption. In addition, it could be assembled from factory-made sections, thereby reducing the time required to assemble a new track. It should be noted that in the late twenties and early thirties there was no special equipment for laying rails, which is why most of the operations when laying railways were carried out by workers by hand. Thus, the SHELT project received another advantage over existing systems.

Nevertheless, until a certain time, Yarmolchuk's proposals were of no interest to anyone. This reaction of officials was due to several factors. The new project needed to be tested, and the construction of new lines for promising SHEL trains turned out to be too expensive. For this reason, until the end of the twenties, Yarmolchuk's project remained only on paper.

Having received an engineering education, the inventor continued to develop the project and made significant changes to it. So, he decided to abandon spherical cars and use rolling stock of a less daring and unusual appearance. Now it was planned to use a car of a classic layout, equipped with an original chassis. The metal carriage was supposed to have two large wheels located in its front and rear parts. With this arrangement of the car, it was possible to preserve all the positive qualities inherent in the SHELT system, as well as increase the volume to accommodate the payload.

The promising train was supposed to move with the help of two wheels in the shape of a "spherical" - a sphere with cut off side parts, in the place of which the axle and suspension elements were located. Sharoids were proposed to be made of metal and covered with rubber. An electric motor of the corresponding power was to be located inside the body of such a wheel. The axle of the wheel was connected to the structure of the car, and the torque was to be transmitted from the engine to the spherical body using a friction or gear transmission. A characteristic feature of the proposed wheels was the placement of their center of gravity below the axis of rotation: the engine was suspended under the axle. With this arrangement, it was possible to maintain an optimal position in space when maneuvering.

Demonstration of wheel stability. After tilting, it should return to its normal upright position. Newsreel kardr

A modified version of the ball train, according to the author's calculations, could reach speeds of about 300 km / h and carry up to 110 passengers. Thus, it was possible to get from Moscow to Leningrad in just a couple of hours, and the journey from the capital to Irkutsk would take a little more than a day, and not a week, as on existing trains. The updated version of the project had a significant advantage over the "classic" trains in speed and surpassed passenger aircraft in terms of carrying capacity.

Active work on the SHELT project, supported by government agencies, began in 1929. This happened after N. G. Yarmolchuk, with the assistance of specialists from the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers, built a model of a promising system. A clockwork carriage on "balls" was moving quite quickly along the tray, which stood right on the floor of the laboratory. The model of the train was shown to the representatives of the People's Commissariat of Railways, and this demonstration made a strong impression on them. The road was open for the project.

A few months after testing the layout, the People's Commissariat of Railways created the Bureau of Experimental Construction of Bullet Transport for the development and implementation of N. G. Yarmolchuk (BOSST). The task of this organization was to create a full-fledged project with the subsequent construction of a reduced prototype of the SHELT system. Then, with the successful completion of these works, one could count on the construction of full-fledged transport systems of a new type.

Design work continued until the early spring of 1931. Then the documentation for the SHELT project was demonstrated to the state leadership, and soon the People's Commissariat of Railways ordered the construction of a prototype of a promising train. For this, funding was allocated in the amount of 1 million rubles, as well as a section near the Severyanin station of the Yaroslavl railway (now the territory of Moscow).

89 specialists were involved in the construction of an experimental chute track and a large-scale model of the train. Due to the specific situation with food on the provided site, the specialists had to build not only a prototype of a new type of road, but also set up a vegetable garden. Various vegetables were planted on 15 hectares, which allowed specialists to solve assigned tasks without being distracted by various third-party problems. Thus, the allocated areas were used as efficiently as possible.

Internal wheel assemblies: frame and an electric motor suspended under it. Shot from newsreel

In the spring of the 31st, Yarmolchuk received the support of not only the People's Commissariat of Railways, but also the press. Domestic newspapers and magazines began to write about the new SHELT project and praise it, drawing attention to the expected advantages over the existing technology. It was noted that passenger electric ball trains will be able to travel five to six times faster than "classic" ones, and in the case of freight trains, even a twenty-fold increase in speed is possible. The capacity of the new roads could be at least twice as high as the existing ones.

Naturally, critical opinions were also expressed. Many experts spoke about the excessive complexity of the project, the high cost of its implementation and some other problems. Nevertheless, the responsible persons decided to continue the construction of an experimental SHEL train and test Yarmolchuk's proposal in practice, revealing all the existing advantages and disadvantages.

During 1931, the BOSST team was engaged in the construction of an experimental chute track. To save money and time, a smaller version of such a road was built of wood. At a low height above the ground, a concave flooring made of planks was placed on a wooden frame. Along the path were U-shaped supports that supported the electricity transmission system. Instead of wires traditional for modern electric transport, pipes were used. During the tests, two configurations of the electrical supply system were used. In the first one, one of the pipes hung almost under the very crossbar of the support, the other two - below. The second configuration implied the location of all three pipes at the same level.

The experimental wooden track was about 3 km long. A small electrical substation was located next to it, which was supposed to supply the pipes with the current of the required parameters. According to some reports, the construction of the route was completed by the end of 1931 or at the beginning of 1932. The assembly of the first prototype car was soon completed.

Fastening the wheel in the body. Shot from newsreel

The assembly of the first SHEL car was completed in April 1932. It was a structure about 6 m long with a diameter of 80 cm. A conical fairing was provided in the front of the car. The car, as implied by the project, was equipped with two spherical wheels, in the head and tail parts. The diameter of the wheels exceeded 1 m. They protruded significantly from the body and could create a noticeable gyroscopic effect that held the car in the desired position. The power plant in the form of two three-phase electric motors was located inside the wheels. The cars had a fairly large free volume that could be used to transport test cargo or even passengers. Also, the car had windows and small doors for access to the inside of the hull. For the transmission of electricity, the car received a bogie fixed on the contact line and connected to the roof with a cable and cable.

By the fall, four more cars were built, as a result of which a whole train was already driving along the experimental track. The construction of additional cars made it possible not only to test the very viability of the invention, but also to work out some issues related to the interaction of several rolling stock units on the track.

The available engines allowed the experimental train to reach speeds of up to 70 km / h. The design of the spherical wheels and other features of the new transport ensured stable behavior regardless of the speed of movement and the characteristics of the track. The ball train confidently passed turns, leaning slightly in the right direction, but not showing any desire to capsize. The gyroscopic effect that N. G. Yarmolchuk, led to the expected results.

Until the summer of 1933, a team of BOSST specialists was engaged in various tests of a promising transport system in a reduced version. At the same time, the development of the train design was going on, as well as the study of optimal track options. In particular, the engineers had to puzzle over the design of the arrow for the chute path. The actual operation of SHELTs without switches and other special track equipment was not possible, and their creation was associated with certain difficulties.

The first test trips were carried out by an experienced train without any load. Later, when the reliability of the system was determined and confirmed, trips with cargo began, including with passengers. The dimensions of the cars made it possible to transport two people, but they had to be in a recumbent position, for which mattresses were placed in makeshift cabins. During the tests, D. Lipnitskiy, a journalist of the Znanie is Sila publication, visited the test site and was taken on an experimental SHEL train. He later wrote that while preparing for the trip he feared a possible accident. The train could roll over, fly off the tray, etc. Nevertheless, the prototype car gently and quietly moved off and drove along the track without any problems and even without the "traditional" railroad rattling of wheels. On curved sections of the track, the train tilted and kept balance.

The body of an experienced ball train without a rear wall. The wheel and its suspension are visible. Shot from newsreel

Tests of the prototype train began in the fall of 1932, which is why the specialists encountered some problems during the test runs. The work of the SHEL train was hampered by snow and ice on the wooden track. Before the start of the test runs, they had to be cleaned off, since the original undercarriage of the train could not cope with such irregularities, especially during high-speed traffic. At the testing stage, such a problem was considered an inevitable evil and put up with it, but later it became one of the factors that affected the fate of the entire project.

Upon completion of the checks, the project documentation and the test report were handed over to a special expert council, which was supposed to decide the further fate of the SHELT system. A group of specialists headed by S. A. Chaplygin reviewed the documentation and came to positive conclusions. According to experts, the project did not have serious problems that would interfere with its full-fledged use, and they also recommended starting the construction of full-fledged routes for ball-electric transport.

By the summer of 1933 N. G. Yarmolchuk and his colleagues have developed two versions of full-fledged SHEL trains in two dimensions, the so-called. normal and average. The "average" train was intended for final tests, and could also be operated on real tracks. In this configuration, the cars were equipped with spherical wheels with a diameter of 2 m and could carry up to 82 passenger seats. The design speed of such transport reached 180 km / h. It was assumed that the cars of medium size would be combined into trains of three and in this form will carry passengers on suburban lines.

All early plans were supposed to be fully implemented in a "normal" carriage. In this case, the promising transport should have received wheels with a diameter of 3, 7 m and a body of appropriate dimensions. The design speed of movement reached 300 km / h, and inside the hull it was possible to arrange at least 100-110 seats. In view of the high speeds of movement, such a train had to be equipped with not only mechanical, but also aerodynamic brakes. The latter were a set of planes on the surface of the body, extended across the incoming air flow. According to some estimates by BOSST, a track with wagons or trains of normal size could have a colossal capacity: promising trains could transport the population of an entire city in just a few days. In this case, a significant superiority over the existing railway transport was ensured.

After the completion of the work of the council headed by Chaplygin, on August 13, 1933, the Council of People's Commissars decided on the further fate of the SHELT project. The People's Commissariat of Railways was instructed to build the first full-fledged tray track for trial operation. The new route could appear on the direction Moscow-Noginsk or Moscow-Zvenigorod. After analyzing the existing situation and existing plans, it was decided to build a highway to Noginsk. At that time, construction began on a new industrial zone east of Moscow. It was assumed that in this direction the passenger traffic could reach 5 million people a year, so there was a need for new transport with appropriate indicators. At the request of the Council of People's Commissars, the construction of the new route should have been completed by the fall of 1934.

Photo from the domestic press. The prototype train carries a passenger. Photo Termotex.rf

The first full-fledged trough track was supposed to begin in Izmailovo, so that workers could get to the station by tram or metro, and then change to the SHEL train and go to work. High-speed roomy transport could significantly change the logistics of Moscow and the Moscow region, improving its main parameters. In anticipation of a new transport with unique indicators, the domestic press again began to praise the original project of N. G. Yarmolchuk.

However, the expectations of the press and citizens did not come true. At the end of 1934, the new station did not open its doors to passengers, and new electric ball trains did not take them to work. Moreover, they did not even begin to build the highway and the station. Before starting the construction of the highway and related infrastructure, specialists again checked the promising project, and came to conclusions that led to its rejection.

The design speed and capacity of the wagons, as well as other advantages of the new transport looked attractive, but in the proposed form it had a lot of disadvantages. First of all, it was the complexity of the design of both the SHEL train itself and the route for it. For example, the use of a reinforced concrete tray-track made it possible to reduce the cost of metal, however, it complicated the construction and required the deployment of additional production facilities. The serial construction of new trains also required corresponding efforts and costs.

The analysis of the proposed projects of the electric ball train also led to a pessimistic conclusion. The level of technology that existed at that time did not allow building the required vehicle with acceptable characteristics. For example, the resource of the rubber coating of spherical wheels when driving on concrete caused big questions. In conditions of a lack of rubber, such a nuance of the project could have serious negative consequences. In addition, the large and heavy SHEL train had to be equipped with engines of the appropriate power and other special equipment, which was either absent or too expensive.

Even with the successful construction of a trough track and ball trains for it, its operation would be associated with a number of serious problems. For example, during testing of a prototype train in winter, BOTTS specialists had to regularly clean the wooden track from snow and ice. Such contaminants interfered with the normal course of the train, and at high speeds could even lead to a wreck. Probably, in this context, experts recalled the crash of Abakovsky's air car in 1921. Then, due to the poor quality of the railway track, the high-speed car flew off the rails, which led to the death of several passengers. The air car moved at a speed of about 80 km / h, and Yarmolchuk's project assumed many times higher speeds and, as a result, the train was exposed to an even higher risk.

Article from Modern Mechanix magazine, February 1934. Photo by Wikimedia Commons

Apart from technical problems, there were also economic ones. The project for the construction of one highway with a length of about 50 km turned out to be too expensive, and its prospects became the subject of controversy. Having advantages over the existing transport, the SHEL train did not seem feasible. Some savings in travel time or the ability to carry slightly more passengers could not justify the extremely high costs.

The combination of technical, technological, operational and economic features and problems led to the closure of the project, which several months earlier was considered not only promising, but also capable of radically changing the appearance of transportation. The construction of the first Moscow-Noginsk highway was curtailed shortly after the start, no later than the first weeks of 1934. Because of this, the employees of the enterprises of the new industrial zone in the future used only the existing modes of transport, which, however, did not prevent the implementation of plans for the industrialization of the Moscow region.

After the decision was made to abandon the construction of the electric ball track, the press stopped publishing enthusiastic articles. Over time, the once promising project was forgotten. The experimental track near the Severyanin station was soon dismantled as unnecessary. The only experimental train of five cars was probably scrapped soon after the project was closed. It cannot be ruled out that for some time it was stored in one of the organizations associated with the SHELT project, but there is no exact information on this. It is only known that after 1934 the experimental cars were not mentioned anywhere.

The author of the project of the ball-electric transport, N. G. Yarmolchuk, despite the failure, continued to work on promising modes of transport and their individual components. Some of his developments were later even used on production vehicles of various classes.

As far as we know, Yarmolchuk did not stop working on SHEL transport, however, all further developments in this area were carried out by him on his own initiative. The last mentions of this project date back to the early seventies. During this period, the designer again tried to offer his development to the country's leadership and even tried to get an appointment with A. N. Kosygin. An audience was denied. N. G. Yarmolchuk died in 1978 and after that all work on the electric ball transport stopped. For more than four decades after the decision to stop construction, the project was developed by the efforts of just one designer. After his death, no one wanted to pursue a project that was once considered a revolution in transportation.