Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: CKD

It was my understanding until recently that most of the Class 730 fleet had been retired, but lately I've seen a lot of them still running. This units was sitting in one of the sidings at Podebrady with some autoracks.

#434.2298 was one of 345 434.2 Class 2-8-0's built between 1924 and 1947 by CKD, and by CSD's own shops. #434.2298 is special, though, because it was built out of an older locomotive from Weiner Neustadt that dated to 1914. I don't know the exact date that #434.2298 was rebuilt, however. The museum's own website is confusing in this regard. The 434.2 Class was based on an earlier Austrian design dating back to 1897 (hence the reason, perhaps, for the rebuild), and was quite modern for its day. It's superheater was often noted, although most new mainline locomotives around the world were superheated by 1924. Later builds after 1939 had larger superheaters than earlier ones, but were counted as part of the same class. The most powerful 434.2 Class locomotives of all put out 1400 horsepower (in spite of weighing only 69.5 metric tonnes, with an adhesive weight of 58), and could pull a 600 tonne train up a 10% grade at 30Km/h, a truly extraordinary achievement by the standards of any era. On level track, however, only 60Km/h was possible. Such heavy haulers as these were clearly intended as freight locomotives, but many were used also on passenger trains (as old photos will confirm), and #434.2186 remains in service with CD as an excursion locomotive (although #434.2298 is inoperable, and not even owned by the CD Muzeum, being from the Narodni Technicky Muzeum collection in Prague). Wikipedia claims that the 434.2 Class remained in regular service on CSD until 1983, but this contradicts most of the other sources that I've read, which put the last year of mainline steam on CSD as 1982. Of course, some units may have been kept as backup locomotives until 1983, just as some American railroads kept steam backup locomotives into 1963, in spite of the last regularly scheduled mainline steam trips being ended in 1960.

#477.043 is a CSD Class 477 4-8-4T, making it one of the only 4-8-4's built for use in Europe. That it's a tank makes it even more unusual, in addition to its three cylinders and Kylchap double-blastpipe chimney. However, the 477 "Papousek" (Parrot) Class numbered 60 units in its heyday. The 477's were built by CKD from 1951 (I don't have a final production year, but this one was built in 1954), and remained in CSD service until 1981, being some of the last mainline steam locomotives to operate on CSD. #477.043 had an even longer career, however, becoming an industrial locomotive at a power plant in Malesice, not making it into the museum's collection until 2000. They were primarily suburban or express passenger locomotives, in spite of their odd configuration, and could run at up to 100Km/h, although no faster, maybe because they were tank engines, and maybe because CSD simply didn't have very good track for high speed running. Power was 1595kW (2139 horsepower, although the museum rounds this to 2100). Service weight was 130 tonnes, which was above average both for a Czech tank engine and for a Czech locomotive generally. Today, #477.043 still runs, and can occasionally be seen on excursion trains, although on the day I visited the CD Muzeum it wasn't in steam. It's officially allocated to Louny, but again not everything is what it seems.

#T478.3101 is a CSD T478.3 Class "Brejlevec" or "bespectacled" diesel. I'm not aware of the built date, but locomotives of this class were built by CKD between 1968 and 1977. They were later classified CSD, and then CD, Class 753. They put out 1325kW (1777 horsepower) of power, and can run at up to 100Km/h (62 m.p.h.). In spite of this low maximum speed, some are still used on passenger services, although it stands to reason that the vast majority are used for freight. #T478.3101 is painted in one of the original Communist-era liveries with the red star on the nose.

#720058-7 is one of the many Class 720 diesel locomotives that were built in 1958-1961 by CKD for CSD, the DR (in East Germany), Albanian Railways, and the Iraq Railroad. Today, they're of secondary importance on CD, many of them working for construction contractors, although they were always primarily switchers rather than road switchers, having only 551Kw (739 horsepower). This is in spite of their hood-unit construction, which makes them look beefier.

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 just randomly shot this at Hostivar, but I really like how it came out. I'm not sure why.

I got this lucky shot walking on Chotkova. I've finally solved the mystery of the Moravian flags in Prague (which is in Bohemia), I should add. Wikipedia didn't make a mistake, rather, the flag of Moravia is also the flag of Prague. See here.... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Moravia.svg and here... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prague_flag_with_CoA.svg Of course, the official flag of Prague, as seen on Wikipedia, has the city's coat of arms on it, but most of the flags actually flown in the city, even from government buildings, don't have it.

While I was waiting at the crossing for the train to come, I noticed #751004-3 deadheading 451004 on one of the main tracks, although it was stopped. There was also so MOW equipment on the consist further back. I couldn't tell if the 451 was headed for scrapping, repair, or simply another assignment, but I expect that many 451's will be scrapped soon with the arrival of new "City Elefant" EMU's. The 751 diesels are just as old, though, also dating back to the 1960's. #751004-3 still carries its CSD number on side, this being #T4781004. I don't know if this is for historic purposes (maybe it's is slated for preservation), or if it's simple laziness, but it's interesting anyway.

During the summer, #2210 is a regular on historic tram service #91, and since I took this in October it was still running, as the service doesn't stop for the winter until November 17th, anniversary of the Velvet Revolution.

Here's another "bespectacled" diesel locomotive, only this time a Class 750. The 750 class is simply an early-1990's rebuild of a 753. Actually, the only original bespectacled diesels were the 753 and 754 classes, so today there are some rebuilt 753 Class units, designated 753.7, and then there are the rebuilt Classes 750, 752 (not to be confused with ZSSK Class 752, which is the same class as CD Class 751), and 752.6.

This was the builder plate for 754048-7, built by CKD in 1980.

When we got to Hradec Kralove, we were treated to the sight of an old, and unrebuilt, Class 754 "bespectacled," or "Brejlovec" diesel. My friend hadn't photographed one of these yet, and I decided to take a few shots too, since I don't know how much longer they'll still be in service. I've been a bit surprised in the past year in that I've been finding these diesels more often, rather than less often, and I can't figure out why that is. Maybe it's that the allocations have changed.

Here's a rear shot of the historic tram, showing the trailer car, a feature that modern Prague trams don't have.

This was another lucky spotting of historic tram #349, which looked to be running a charter on this particular day, rather than service #91.

I keep forgetting which station this was, but I'm guessing Uhrineves for the moment. It could have also been Ricany, but I'm not sure. Does anybody remember which station has that Relay in it? That might be a clue.

Just after boarding my train, I spotted this Class 753 "Bespectacled" diesel, one of the few times I've actually been able to get a good photo of one. In this case, I especially like it, as the high-contrast black and white film makes it look even more retro.

#740561-6 is no longer painted for Ceske Drahy, so I assume that it is no longer an official CD unit. If I had to guess, it's most likely been bought or leased by a construction contractor.