At the beginning of the thirties, the SŽD commissioned a locomotive for heavy passenger trains that had an axle load of 20 tonnes and a driver diameter of 1,850 mm. As wheel arrangement, 2-8-4 was chosen, which was used in the USA for fast freight trains, and the locomotive was named “ИС 20” (IS 20) after Josef Stalin, where the 20 stood for the axle load in tonnes. It was based on the 2-10-2 freight locomotive ФД (FD) and used the same boiler as well as other components from it.

It was the largest passenger steam locomotive in Europe at the time, but didn't show good running characteristics in curves at high speeds. From 1941 onwards, eleven locomotives were built with a larger superheater, which had an axle load of 21 tonnes and were therefore referred to as ИС 21. As part of the de-Stalinization, the ИС was renamed ФД^П in 1962, which distinguished it as a passenger variant of the ФД. The last ones were in use until 1972.

After the Second World War, the Soviet Union needed a large number of narrow-gauge steam locomotives for use on forest and industrial railways with a gauge of 750 mm. As reparations, a total of 420 locomotives of the ГР (GR) series were built in the GDR, which stood for “Germanskaja reparazja”. The prototype stayed in the GDR and two more went to the Mansfeld mine railway, all others were delivered to the Soviet Union. The locomotives had wood firing in order to get cheaper fuel when operating in the forest. The second and third axles were laterally movable for better running characteristics in curves. They were retired between the mid 1970's and early 1980's.

Just as the Imperial Russian State Railways had received the “Russian Decapods” from North American manufacturers in the First World War, larger numbers were again ordered from Baldwin and ALCO in the Second World War. These not only received the class designation E again, but were also based directly on the older locomotives. They were simplified for faster and cheaper wartime production.

Compared to their predecessors, they had a larger superheater, a stoker and welding technology was used. For safe transport across sea, the frames were reinforced, increasing weight and improving traction. Overall, they were around 20 to 25 percent more powerful.

A total of 2,123 were built between 1944 and 1947, of which 20 went to Finland and ten to China. With the introduction of diesel and electric locomotives in the Soviet Union, they were relocated to more remote areas such as Siberia in the 1950s. They were decommissioned in the seventies and eighties.