Aerowagon


The Aerowagon or Aeromotowagon was an experimental high-speed railcar fitted with an aircraft engine and propeller traction invented by Valerian Abakovsky, a Soviet engineer from Latvia. It produced speeds of up to. The Aerowagon was originally intended to carry Soviet officials.

Crash incident

On 24 July 1921, a group of delegates to the First Congress of the Profintern, led by Fyodor Sergeyev, took the Aerowagon from Moscow to the Tula collieries to test it. Abakovsky was also on board. Although they successfully arrived in Tula, on the return route to Moscow the Aerowagon derailed at high speed near Serpukhov, killing six of the 22 people on board. A seventh man later died of his injuries.

Deaths

The following people died as a result of the accident:
The seven men killed at the time of the crash were buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, after lying in state at the House of the Unions.

Legacy

The Aerowagon was a precursor to the German Schienenzeppelin railcar, the American M-497 Black Beetle railcar and the Soviet turbojet train, all three of them being experimental vehicles featuring the combination of railcar and aircraft engine.