Two axle open platforms were the basis of the cargo fleet of Russian railways from the middle of the XIX century up to 40 years of the XX century, when four axle wagons came into wide service as well. There were many manufacturers in Russia, to name a couple, Ural Car Plant, Krukov carriage factory or Ust-Katav Wagon building Works named after L.M. Kaganovich, who produced in 1934 the wagon pictured. Until 1935 only the well known common screw couplings and buffers were in use in Russia, but they were not well suited to the cold climate and other requirements. In 1928, an UIC appointed Working Group ( founded in 1922) began working on the development of automatic coupler. Since the work never got off the drawing board to define the basic requirements, The Soviet Union decided to use the concept of the robust U.S.Willison Coupling. A coupler was constructed in 1932 by team of Moscow engineers responsible for the repair of wagons. After the 1933 introduction of the concept, automatic couplers was adopted, and implementation began in 1935. World War II however interrupted work, so the transition to the automatic coupler was not completed until 1953.