CD Muzeum, Luzna u Rakovnika, CZ

This was taken after arrival in Luzna, where the Albatros was serviced (mostly watered), before being turned for the return to Prague. Here it's still sitting as it arrived.

There are actually not one, but three operational water spouts at Luzna, or at least three water spouts that appear to be wet. This is one of two in the yard (plus one in the railway museum), and this one is in better condition than the other.

This is the station at Luzna. Until recently, it had a staffed ticket office, but now it has a skeleton crew. This cutback wasn't welcomed by the locals, of course, and a satirical obituary was left on the window of the office.

Here the Albatros is seen switching its train into the sidings before uncoupling and running into the museum for servicing.

This was the scene as the Albatros's cylinder cocks were blown for the run into the museum. Even on a very short move, this is an important procedure on a steam locomotive, as even a little bit of water in the cylinders can blow them up, which is dangerous and extremely expensive, especially for a non-profit organisation.

I'm not aware of how active this interlocking tower still is, or if it's even an interlocking anymore, but it is still staffed.

Next to the interlocking is this battered (but apparently crudely repainted) CD Class 749 diesel. The CD number has been removed, and the old CSD number reinstalled on the side, although I don't have a picture of the number handy right now. This locomotive is also at the entrance to the Ceske Drahy Muzeum, off to the left in this picture, where I shot many, many pictures both with my cameraphone and with my Nikon (the next day), and my cameraphone shots are going to be posted here. My Ektachromes from the Nikon will eventually find their way into an NRHS show, I hope.

I know even less about these passenger cars, although I'm assuming the red and cream ones are designed for use with Class M262 DMU's. The blue and cream passenger car is an MOW unit, almost certainly a camp car (notice the curtains).

Like a lot of railway museums, the CD Muzeum has a book collection, and some of the books are on display. This is an operating rulebook from 1954, with the first chapter devoted to locomotive operation. One of the rules on the first page dictates that affixed to the front of CSD locomotives, there had to be a red star, the "international symbol of the workers." See the next photo for more details.

"Dear visitors, welcome! If you have accepted our invitation, then surely you understand our commitment to the faithful to the look of our exhibits. In the case of locomotives operated from the 1950's into the late 1970's, this includes equipment with red stars! This is to confirm to the historical reality of valid operational rules in these years prior to 1989. CD Muzeum Management, May 1st, 2004" That's a rough translation, anyway. In the Czech Republic, the memory of the Communist regime is so negative that antique stores put tape and labels over red stars on any item that has them, just as they do with swastikas. In the rest of the world, the red star doesn't provoke quite the same reaction, even in countries where the Communist regimes were far more brutal, like Russia for example. Therefore, I'm not sure how many other railway museums in ex-Communist countries would require disclaimers like this one.

This is a Class M262 DMU, common on many suburban and rural CSD branchlines in the 1950's-1980's. Introduced in 1949 and produced until 1960 by Tatra, a few of them are still used for excursions, but as far as I know none of them operate in regular service anymore, as the last were officially withdrawn in 2008.

This is a Class M240 DMU, used on suburban and rural branchlines up to the present day. Built by Skoda between 1959 and 1964, these DMU's are old, so they probably don't have too many years left in service. I looked the fleet up on Wikipedia, and only two were listed as still in service as of 2009, one of them in MOW service. Therefore, the remainder are heritage units like this one.

A diesel-electric mixed-traffic road switcher, the 735 Class were introduced in 1971 and built until 1979 by TS Martin. All were withdrawn by 2002, and this one looks a bit beat up, albeit preserved in the CD Muzeum as a stationary exhibit. The ditch lights are smashed, but surprisingly there's little graffiti on it. I don't know how many parts have been scrounged or stolen from inside it, though.

I'm not aware of what mine these mining carts were used in, but they're clearly narrow-gauge, possibly narrower than the other narrow-gauge exhibits at the museum. I wouldn't mind getting some information on the gauges of the display tracks at the museum, so I'm going to log onto the internet as soon as possible and find out.

A number of standard-gauge freight cars are also displayed at the museum, one of them this Kraluper Mineral Oil tanker. I'm fairly certain that this one is very old, as it has German markings, something that would have been very rare after 1946.

Here are some more narrow-gauge freight cars, again very-narrow-gauge, although again the exact gauge is now something that I know.

These narrow-gauge tracks (in the foreground) appear a bit broader, so again I'd like to look them up. The freight cars on them are noticably bigger too, although the gondola in the background is standard gauge.

The museum also has a circle of narrow-gauge (the wider of the two gauges, if they indeed have more than one) track for running a tourist train for visitors. This locomotive appears to be a diesel-mechanical, but they had a few (inoperable) steam locomotives too.