Shopping on Ebay for HO Scale trains and a Russia Iron 4-4-0 caught my eye. Naturally I am watching it; its has some really great lines to it and sort of resembles a PRR 4-4-0 sans Belpaire firebox and other appliances.
Was wondering what the story was behind Russia Iron? Was it some place here in The U.S. or were these engines to be destined for Russia prior to the Bolshevick complication that left all those decapods orphaned and pressed into service here in America?

I think you are combining in your mind two seperate stories.

"Russian Iron" was a type of treated sheet iron originally produced in Russia. It was commonly used in the 1800s (when 4-4-0s were popular) for boiler jacketing on steam locomotives; since it had a greenish or bluish hue to it, and it could withstand temperatures the paint at the time could not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_iron

We did indeed built some "Russian Decapod" 2-10-0s for shipment to the Soviet Union, and kept them stateside when the Bolshevick revolution took place. Baldwin also built a 2-6-6-0 for Russia, and sent it to the Phillipines instead; it survived as a stationary boiler until a few years ago. But the use of "Russian Iron", and the construction of 4-4-0s was over by World War I.

I believe Dan Markoff of Eureka fame used firearms blueing for the boiler jacket to simulate Russia Iron.

Jeff, this is how John E. Rimmasch recreated Russian iron with paint:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31738&p

Steve RG, my guess is that model you're looking at is a Bachmann "Russian iron" Alco-Richmond 4-4-0 that's based on Maryland & Pennsylvania's No. 4, 5, and 6 as delivered, but with a "stock" appearance, as might have been delivered to other roads. No. 6 was notable for being in service into the early 1950s (at that time in-service 4-4-0s were rare, especially in the East), and was nominated for preservation, but the management of the perpetually cash-strapped road couldn't afford to donate it to anyone, and railfans couldn't raise the money, and so the little girl died. . .

Most of the locomotives built for the Imperial Russian government as military aid during World War I were shipped. Only about 100 were stranded here by the Russian Revolution and assigned to the USRA, modified for use in the US, and put to work. To be able to run on standard gauge instead of five foot gauge all the wheel sets for the tender and pilot truck were replaced and extra wide tires were applied to the drivers to move the flanges to the right location. These wide tires can be easily seen on the surviving examples, such as the one at the Museum of Transportation near St. Louis.

Yes.

I'm not sure if Dan come up with the idea or if it was Chris DeWitt of Nevada State RR Museum.

J3a-614:

Ma & Pa 4-4-0 #6 was the motive power for the Lucius Beebe/Charles Clegg special that ran over the Maryland & Pennsylvania on September 14, 1947. This was a special that was chartered by Beebe and Clegg to celebrate the publication of their soon-to-be famous book "Mixed Train Daily". I hauled out George Hilton's book on the Ma & Pa and found pictures of the event. In addition to the little American on the head end, the consist included an arch roofed baggage/mail car (possibly number 35 now at the B&O Museum), a coach, a flat car outfitted with bench seats and a cupola caboose. A lunch of squab and champagne were served and a jazz band serenaded the party on the return trip. The number 6 was certainly one of the prettier 4-4-0's built. I wonder if anyone contacted Mr. Beebe to see if he might consider donating to their efforts to save the engine. He has praise in his forementioned book for the American type and certainly there was a "connection" even though the number 6 was not actually mentioned in the book. Well, whether the effort was made or not, it is a shame that the locomotive was not saved, nor the other Ma & Pa steamers that actually lasted a bit longer on the railroad after the 4-4-0 met her end in 1952.

Les

Probably no one knows the answers to those questions..

Scot

My somewhat limited understanding is that the product became obselete, as newer technologies replaced it in the various applications, such as paints that could be subjected to high heat.

In the end, the best analogy that was explained to me is that it's like how we've lost the technology to cast an entire steam locomotive frame. The need for that kind of casting has long since passed, and the technology fades.

Plus, many of the faux-paint finished probably do a better job, and are cheaper to repair or replace.

The original process of making Russian Blue Steel was actually a chemical process, much like nickle plating or brass plating a sheet of metal or tin, as it was known. The chemicals used to do Russian Blue are very harsh. Some reports claim that shop workers lived only years when subjected to the process.

We have some original Russian Blue from Russia that was made for chimney cover piping. It is very nice. A close inspection shows that indeed it was a chemical process. Too much handling of the material leaves oil marks on it that then tarnish and discolor the metal. When heated for the first time, it will actually change colors. It is very interesting. The Russian iron that we created in the links above are strictly paint. I don't believe that some of the chemicals used in true Russian Iron can be purchased easily on the open market. This is a process that has been killed and is not likely to return.

Kindly yours,

The better term is "planished iron"

The original product, Russia iron was the product of a craft process, with sheets of a specific grade of iron, bound together in "books" with charcoal (aka carbon) between the sheets. These were variously heated, and placed in a acid bath, (reportedly uric acid) and while in the bath were planished, beaten with wooden mallets. The books were broken apart, shuffled, more charcoal added, and the process repeated.

The resulting finish is carbon based, looks a lot like old style enameled cookware, with fine dimples from the planishing process.

While there was some color variation (to blues and greens) most was medium gray. By the 1870's, possibly earlier, there was some level of regulation and only "export grade" was shipped to the US. Export grade was gray.

It was commonly used for roofing in Russia, and a variety of Russia iron roofs can be found in Sitka Alaska.

Here in the US the process was refined, becoming an industrial process, using rollers instead of wooden mallets, and became "American Iron" Baldwin was mostly using American Iron by 1880. Some Southern Pacific locomotives were delivered with American Iron jackets as late as 1930.

Russian Iron mostly went away with the Russian Revolution. The labor force was mostly child labor, which was banned with the revolution.

Randy

... The purpose of all this to provide a decorative finish that was somewhat resistant to rust, similar to bluing on a firearm. The problem is, for all the extra labor expense to produce, it wasn't all that rust resistant, requiring more labor for constant wiping and oiling, again like a firearm. As the railroads cut labor costs, that level of maintenance went away, replaced by paint. Once paint was the standard, there was not much reason to use planished iron.

IIRC, the imitation Russian Iron jackets on the Eureka, V&T "Inyo" and Overfair Railway 1915 (the 19" gauge Pacific plinthed in the CSRM lobby) were all produced via actual chemical bluing—a process which, despite producing stunning results, I've been told is "nasty" to the point it "will eat through boots." The earlier restorations in Sacramento and Carson City, I believe, used a paint hue developed by the B&O Museum in the "Jupiter" restoration for the Smithsonian.