From the History of Car Building in Russia

(1) In Russia, the construction of passenger cars was started in 1846 at the Alexander Works which was also the first to build steam locomotives and wagons.

(2) The first carriages were vehicles without compart­ments. They were mounted on two trucks and had a body made of wood. Each carriage seated 90 passengers. An empty vehicle weighed 22 tons.

(3) Ten years later, a number of passenger cars were supplied to the Russian railways from abroad. These cars had neither heating nor toilet rooms. They proved unsuit­able for the Russian winter and had to be reconstructed later.

(4) In the middle of the sixties, all the carriages operat­ed on the Moscow—Petersburg railway were produced in Russia. Unlike the cars operated in the European countries these cars were heated by stoves and had toilet rooms.

(5) Of significant importance for the history of the car building industry in our country were the Kovrovsky Work­shops. The Kovrovsky Workshops were the first to introduce steam and water heating, lighting and roof ventilation in cars. The cars turned out by the Workshops were durable and had good performance characteristics.

3. Прослушайте вопросы и ответьте на них согласно тексту а.

1. What three classes may the freight cars be divided into? 2. What types of cars do the covered cars comprise and what goods do they carry? 3. What is the character­istic feature of a refrigerator wagon? 4. In what way are tank cars filled and emptied? 5. What are the two principal kinds of open-top cars and why are they built very strong and durable? 6. What are the advantages of the container traffic? 7. What is the purpose of developing special-type cars? 8. Did the early passenger cars look like today's cars? 9. Where was the baggage carried on the early carriages and who looked after the baggage? 10. Had the early trains lighting and heating? 11. Why could passengers travel long­er routes in the cars which appeared in the middle of the last century? 12. What was the inside arrangement of these cars? 13. What are the two types of inside arrangement in modern carriages? 14. What are the advantages provided by the application of new materials in car construction? 15. Why is the introduction of fluorescent lighting and air-conditioning justified in spite of their high cost?

4. Подготовьте сообщения на следующие темы:

1. The very first freight and passenger cars.

2. The modern freight rolling stock.

3. The innovations introduced on modern carriages.

5. Прочтите текст В без словаря (5 мин.) и скажите: (а) как обеспечивалось раньше и обеспечивается сейчас охлаждение грузов в рефрижераторных вагонах; (б) всегда ли вагоны-рефрижераторы служат для перевозки охлаж­денных или замороженных грузов.

Text в. Refrigerator cars

(1) All of us are familiar with a refrigerator car which is known to be a special type of covered car. Before the refrigerator car was invented, some 100 years ago, it was impossible to convey fresh meat, fruit, vegetables and other food products for long distances.

(2) In old days, the refrigerator car used ice or a mix­ture of ice and salt (соль) to keep the goods cold. Then dry (искусственный) ice was made use of. Modern cars are furnished with refrigerator units which are very much like the electric refrigerators used in our homes.

(3) The refrigerator unit is driven by a diesel engine and is provided with automatic controls which maintain the proper temperature in the freight compartments.

(4) Thanks to the heat insulation (изоляция) the refrig­erator cars may be used to carry fruit and vegetables in the winter time. The insulated body of the car reliably protects the goods from the outside cold. But in countries where winters happen to be very cold the refrigerator car may be provided with electric heating.

(5) In Russia, there are special five-car refrigerator sets (секция) equipped with refrigerating and heating units. The train is composed of one diesel car and four refrigera­tor wagons, the former is arranged in the middle of the train and is used for the centralized supply of power to all the wagons of the train.

6. Прочтите текст с без словаря и перескажите его по-английски (6 мин.).