Railworks America

Once upon a time... Soviet Russia wanted a plane bigger than anything in the world. So they made the world's biggest transport planes. Two sister designs, 1 with 4 engines, and 1 with 6 engines. The USA had developed a similar plane for carrying tanks and helicopters across oceans, but as always, the USSR had to try to one-up us. This time around, it actually worked as crazy as it was.

Now because these giants were built in Ukraine, when the USSR broke up, Ukraine got possession of them.

These transport planes are used to haul just about anything that can fit inside them, including locomotives...


The pilots sit so high off the ground and with not very good visibility around the whole aircraft, escort vehicles are needed when the plane maneuvers around on the ground.


To make it easier to load cargo, the front wheels partially fold into the aircraft when the ramp is lowered, which also lowers the front of the aircraft.

Isn't the top plane one of the Buran transporters? To judge by the two tail rudders and the mounting bulges on the top of the hull?

Your photograph Edwin is the same plane as in the first post. There is only the one aircraft, an Antonov An-225 Mriya, ID # UR 82060, it was first used to transport the Russian cosmonauts plane, but, then it went to Ukraine and was repainted into the Ukrainian colours of yellow and blue of Antonov Airlines. I have had the absolute pleasure of walking around her when I used to work for British Midland Airways, many years ago, she is an absolute monster and always generates massive interest wherever she flies around the world.

Cheerz. Steve.

ex-railwayman wrote:Your photograph Edwin is the same plane as in the first post. There is only the one aircraft, an Antonov An-225 Mriya, ID # UR 82060, it was first used to transport the Russian cosmonauts plane, but, then it went to Ukraine and was repainted into the Ukrainian colours of yellow and blue of Antonov Airlines. I have had the absolute pleasure of walking around her when I used to work for British Midland Airways, many years ago, she is an absolute monster and always generates massive interest wherever she flies around the world.

Cheerz. Steve.

There are 2 similar aircraft, but Steve is completely right about the repainting. The 4 engine plane with 1 vertical tail fin is called the Antonov An-124.

EngineerJohn wrote:There are 2 similar aircraft, but Steve is completely right about the repainting. The 4 engine plane with 1 vertical tail fin is called the Antonov An-124.

It seems UR/CCCP 82060 still wears her original registration number after like 4 decades?

It also seems those raised bulges don't support the Buran orbiter at all as its wings should provide sufficient lift, needing those struts instead to hold her to the Mriya.
Could it be those bulges hold the kneeling mechanism?

Incidentally, like all USSR/Russian space craft, the Buran/Energia complex rode to the launch pad on rails, using a giant 'grasshopper' transporter/erector that ran on a widely space double track between the assembly hall and the pad.

The 'grasshoppers' were initially constructed for the ill-fated N1 moon rocket program, the USSR's equivalent to the Apollo Project. The Soviet scientists were wary of cryogenic fuel and had no experience with liquid hydrogen. So they could only power the N1 by using a large number of smaller engines, which proved too difficult to control, resulting in three spectacular crashes of unmanned N1 test rockets. One on-pad explosion completely demolished that pad, and after the successful Apollo 11 lunar mission, the Soviets lost interest in the moon program.

The Buran project was much better managed and designed (copied by espionage?), and could have proven to be successful, even commercially viable, were it not for the collapse of the Soviet Union shortly after Buran's maiden flight. That fully automated/remote controlled flight still stands today as an unparalelled marvel of human engineering and testimony to the prowess of the scientists and engineers involved.

_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha wrote:

EngineerJohn wrote:There are 2 similar aircraft, but Steve is completely right about the repainting. The 4 engine plane with 1 vertical tail fin is called the Antonov An-124.

It seems UR/CCCP 82060 still wears her original registration number after like 4 decades?

It also seems those raised bulges don't support the Buran orbiter at all as its wings should provide sufficient lift, needing those struts instead to hold her to the Mriya.
Could it be those bulges hold the kneeling mechanism?

Incidentally, like all USSR/Russian space craft, the Buran/Energia complex rode to the launch pad on rails, using a giant 'grasshopper' transporter/erector that ran on a widely space double track between the assembly hall and the pad.

A lot of large aircraft are able to kneel. Basically they just keep the hydraulics pressurized and have an extra mechanical lock when the wheels retract just enough lower the nose. It's all incorporated into the landing gear (at least on US aircraft with the same feature). Some say those bulges are giant pads are for resting the old shuttle on, but looking at pictures I have a lot of doubt that the shuttle rested on those bulges.

The AN124s are pretty regular at my towns airport.
There was 3 at once one time.
The 225 has visited a couple of times and it's a monster.
I'm used to seeing 124s and Galaxys pretty often but 225 just dwarfs them.

Excuse the poor photo quality, it was a old phone when i took it in 2012.
The tiny looking box under the middle engine is actually the crews Ford Transit minibus.