I sincerely hope that after Ukraine wins the war, the parties that now support Ukraine will go on and support the people in Russia and Belarus instead of going back to doing business with the likes of Putin and Lucashenko. The people there risking their lives deserve it.
this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2025
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What are "the people in Russia"?
The Russia is a colonial project.
Yes, go for it, support the peoples currently colonized by the Russia, but absolutely do not support the Russia remaining a colonial power that enslaves several tens of nations under its rule.
I 100% agree!
How repairable is this? The cab of locomotives (looks like that is all they got) can be very simple. Put a cushion on the seat and put some electric tape around some wires and it will be working in a day. Maybe you lose in-cab signaling, but we did without that for decades.
If anyone can get access to these people, better to pour some "water glass" into the engine oil - it will run for a short time, while destroying the engine bearings and cylinders - it will be a major rebuild to get that engine running again (probably cheaper and faster to scrap it)
IIRC Russia only has around 6000 locomotives and most are in use so if this is hard to repair this is significant, but it feels like a feel good piece that makes no difference.
How repairable is this?
The control systems are essentially computers. Specialized computers, to be precise. They can be repaired, as long as you have the chips it takes, but of course those chips are then away from being used in drones or missiles.
The "power supply systems" probably means the transformers? Almost all of the Russia's diesel locomotives are diesel-electric, meaning that they are technically electric locomotives that come with their own power plants for producing the electricity the locomotive needs. A transformer is typically filled with transformer oil. Which is stuff that burns very merrily!
Did they get the transformers though? Some diesel engines there is just wires between the cab and the transformer and no computers. You select which winding to use with a simple switch. These days I'd expect in-cab computers, but you can run without if you don't care about safety (which we already know Russia doesn't)
Did they get the transformers though?
No idea.
They say they got control and power supply systems. I'd assume that must have meant the transformers. Of course newer locomotives do rely heavily on computers even in the Russia.
What is "water glass"? Is it simple water (H2O), or is it something more specific? And how much (which ratio) is dealing the most damage?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate
Not mentioned in the above, but water glass is what was most commonly used in the "cash for clunkers" program to ensure the car traded in under this program was taking off the road. Which is why I suggested it. You can get it easily enough if you look (I assume, I don't know the situation in Russia), and it will do damage after you get away.
I would expect a jug full per locomotive would be enough - the train would continue to run for a while (I'm not sure if this is hours or days), but by the time anyone noticed the damage is done and it won't be easy to fix.
Looks likitnshould be added to the crankcase, probably harder to reach that a fuel cap.
They should definitely do that! How easy is it to put it into a train do you think?
I don't know russian locomotives but I'd guess finding the oil fill on the first would take an hour but after that it is 10 minutes or less.
They are likely to have received instructions from Ukrainian railways. They will know precisely which part of each locomotive type must be hit in what manner.
This will NOT be easily repaired. It won't be working in a day with wires and tape. Locs have given control systems and potentially interfaces to the signalling on track, radio systems, hydraulics...
How long before Russia is rolling their old steam locomotives out of their museums and pressing them into service? Not that they have the infrastructure to support it, of course.
They are killing their labor force, and steam engines need more labor. (In the US diesel engines used more fuel than a steam engine when steam was retired - but it needed less people to run and so was overall a lot cheaper. I don't know how Russia compares but I assume similar)
That deserves a Slava Ukraine from all of us around the world.
lol. Thatβs awesome. First I read βtargeting their control systemsβ and I was thinking hackers breaking into OT systems. Then I scroll down to the video. Nope, theyβre just torching that shit. Nice.
There's few things you can't stop. Arson is one. Give me two sticks, some plants and some time and I'll make you a nolotov cocktail.
Yes! I posted about this a while ago when some environmental activists were sitting in the middle of train tracks to stop trains and got arrested. You don't have to do that, just toss a molly at the control boxes that line the tracks. Depending on the location and how many you can get to, you can have trains stopped for weeks.
I read somewhere that Russian rail traffic is down 10% this month. I wonder if this is why.
They have several thousand locomotives. To reduce their traffic 10 % by destroying locomotives, they would need to destroy several hundred locomotives.
But of course, each locomotive is needed for something, so every locomotive lost brings down the efficiency of the Russian economy.
It would be pretty funny if the music used was recorded by a Russian Orchestra