Type RU05 5-Bay Kitchen & Dining Car
Designed by Jochann Dugehrie
Built in 1938 by TFR Nevedov, Parvašč, Ruhnia

The avant-garde series of coaches designed by Jochann Dugehrie in 1935 did not find favour with all the travelling public. Complaints about weird shapes and quaint styling abounded. So it was that with heavy heart Dugehrie set about producing a series of new stock of much more staid appearance. The interiors were still modern by the standards of the day but less trendy, as one would say today. Certainly they offered the ultimate in travelling comfort, with reclining seats, air-conditioning and lightweight alloy fittings. The monocoque coachwork was abandoned, increasing the weight per coach to some 35 tonnes. The Commonwealth bogies, concertina corridor gangways and dynamo-driven lighting of the 1935 stock were retained. The 1938 stock, being quite sturdily built, survived the hostilities reasonably well and served the RSR for many more years, the last examples being taken out of service in the late 1980s.

Text and graphics © Norman Clubb 2009