I came upon this website. I wonder if there are railfans over there trying to come up with ways to save some of this equipment.

http://englishrussia.com/?p=1240

What makes the Soviet situation a little different for ours is that when steam was officially finished in the former Soviet Union, many of them along with diesel locomotives were stored away in "Strategic Reserves", or locomotive depots for use in the event that the nationwide electrical grid was knocked out by war or natural disaster. According to Soviet Locomotive Types by Heywood & Button, Stenvall; and published in 1995 (five years after steam officially ended); there were 2,500 steam locomotives scattered across the former Soviet Union.

While some may have been maintained in working order; others were simply dumped, or used as stationary boilers. In later years; some were removed, restored, and used on heritage trains; others were stuffed and mounted; still others were quietly scrapped. Some remain in strategic reserves today; the reserves in some of the former Soviet states (where the trains no longer run) could probably be rightfully treated as abandoned. But the citizens of those and other states are still coming to grips with the massive infrastructure from the Soviet era that can no longer viably be supported, and is crumbling around them. Sukhumi, Abkhazia; the example shown in the pictures; is described as one such example.

P.S. note also the derelict RSD-1s; Soviet copies of MRS-1s sent under Lend-Lease.

Interesting that despite their completely abandoned nature, there isn't a stich of graffitti on them, and seemingly everything is intact right down to the builder's plates.

"Abandoned" is a relative term. These items of scrap are still state property and I've no doubt that souvenier hunters would quickly discover how possessive the local authorities are. If you provide "blat" (bribes) to whoever is in charge, you might get a plate or collectible part, getting it through customs is another thing. I don't see any steam era materials laying about in the pictures.

Very interesting site in other terms as well, with Russian mail order women advertised.

When visiting Russia in 1992 & 93, railway workers were quite happy to come up with a builder's plate for $10-$20. Getting it though customs was a matter of luck. If your bag was checked, it would be confiscated- but only a small percentage of bags were checked.