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We would like to tell you about the steam locomotive on which V. I. Lenin set off on his last journey 100 years ago. The funeral train was pulled by the U-127 steam locomotive. Why did this particular locomotive drive the train (And there were reasons for this)? I'll have to dive into the biography of the locomotive: It was built in 1910 at the Putilov plant by order of the Tashkent Railway. It was on it that he received the serial number 127 in the depot (so he was 127 steam locomotive in the depot). And later, according to the unified series designation system, he received the U series. In 1917. It was severely damaged and sent for repair to Moscow, where it was surprised (yes, the locomotive) by the epidemic "Spanish flu". And during transportation to the capital, the driver caught this disease, subsequently several people died from this incident, which forced the locomotive to be put "under the fence". In 1923, as a result, the locomotive fell under the list of railway equipment for restoration at matinees. The locomotive was sent to the Kozlovsky locomotive workshops, where it was restored to running condition, disinfected and painted red. There was also an inscription on the tender: "NON-PARTISANS KEEP UP WITH THE COMMUNISTS, BOLDLY FORWARD TO A BRIGHT FUTURE! It was released from the average repair by NON-PARTISAN depot WORKERS. To the 6th anniversary of the cell of the RCP of the Moscow Railway station on May 12, 1923." On May 20 of the same year, it was put into operation and the locomotive crew was formed from members of the CPSU. On January 21, 1924, that is, exactly 8 months after that event, Lenin died in Gorki after a long illness. On January 23, Vladimir Ilyich's body was delivered to Moscow in baggage car No. 1691. All the way from the Gerasimovskaya (now Leninskaya) platform to Paveletsky railway station, this funeral train was driven by the steam locomotive U127, which was operated by a locomotive crew from the Moscow depot. The brigade consisted of: machinist Luchin, assistant machinist Gavryushin and stoker Podvoysky. Subsequently, the engineer Matvey Kuzmich Luchin, who had been working on the road since 1905, actually became the senior engineer of this locomotive. In the late 1920s, the locomotive was repainted in the usual green color for passenger locomotives. And its only difference was a commemorative plaque on the mourning train carried out by this locomotive. In 1937, the locomotive was suspended from work and work began on the restoration of the "Red Locomotive". The restoration was led by Luchin. During the restoration, the remaining "Royal signs" were removed (for example: a double-headed eagle from a dry bush). After that, he and the carriage were decoyed to the farthest way of the station, surrounded by a chain and put under round-the-clock protection. Since being in the open air spoiled the locomotive over time, soon, by decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the construction of a pavilion for the former Lenin funeral train began at Paveletsky Railway Station, and on January 21, 1948, by the 24th anniversary of the memorable event, the museum pavilion "V. I. Lenin Funeral Train" was inaugurated. According to contemporaries, the pavilion built during the post-war reconstruction of the country was quite cramped, so in the end, construction of a new pavilion began later. Covered with plastic wrap, the locomotive and the baggage car were taken out of the pavilion through a previously dismantled wall. Their exact location during the construction period has not been determined, as a number of witnesses point to the Necklace station, then to the Kashira station. So why was this particular locomotive chosen to drive this train? Most likely, his choice was a "protest" against bourgeois opinions (because in the depot because of the deaths "hanging" on it). However, at one point it turned from an unnecessary pile of scrap metal into a museum exhibit.
