Aerotrain, a propellor-driven locomotive powered by an aeroplane engine, at Moscow Railway Station

Abstract

The locomotive crashed on 23 July 1921 on the Kursk line while taking delegates attending the 3rd Congress of the Communist International on an excursion. Several passengers were killed in the accident, including Tom Sergaev, Russian Minister for Mines, and Paul Freeman, an Australian socialist Party delegate to the congress. Sergaev is photographed leaning on his elbow in the cabin. Freeman and Paddy Lamb, another Australian who rode on the aerotrain, may be among the crowd on the platform, but they have not been identified (See also NBAC N57-239 and NBAC N57-297). According to John Playford’s notes NBAC (P128-158) the aerotrain was invented by an Australian engineer called Brennan.