Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: JHMD

This is a special sneak preview of my next NRHS show, and as such it's very much excerpted and low-resolution. The final show will be a roughly 70-minute video. In any case the cameraphone shots that I took on this day aren't too impressive, and I wanted something to mark the spot in my iPernity collection. This was a steam special on the JHMD, covering the usual summer steam route to Nova Bystrice (although only fragments are on this video). In the wintertime, the steam locomotives normally don't run. This locomotive is an ex-PKP (Polish Railways) Px48 (Some sources say Lxd2, I don't know which is right) Class 0-8-0, currently numbered #T48.001 (original works number 3073, original PKP #1916), built by Fabryka Lokomotyw im.F.Dzierzynskiego Chrzanow in 1953.

This was my train, pulled by #T47.018.

After my walking tour of Jindrichuv Hradec, I took the JHMD to its opposite end at Nova Bystrice, over Linka 229, which is actually older than Linka 228, having been built in 1898 instead of 1906. This is the station at Nova Bystrice, which still retains its steam-era black and white CSD signage. Unlike Obratan, however, Nova Bystrice lacks a CD standard-gauge connection, so it is purely a JHMD station nowadays, and JHMD offers the only rail connection to Nova Bystrice.

This was after we arrived in Jindrichuv Hradec. This T47 Class diesel represents the most common class of motive power on the JHMD, for both passengers and freight. Also classified as CD or CSD Class 705.9 (because of the period of CSD and later CD ownership of JHMD trackage and equipment, and the later CSD renumbering scheme which JHMD abandoned, as T47 was the original designation), these 8 diesel-electric locomotives (according to a 2005 spotter's guide) have 346 horsepower (258Kw) going to four axles, and a maximum speed of either 40Km/h or 50Km/h, and weigh between 30.5 and 32 metric tonnes. Two of them, #T47.015 and T47.018, were rebuilt in 2002-2003, and ended up with even less power, at 325 horsepower (242Kw), so the unit pictured above, T47.015, would be one of those depowered units. The units that weigh 30.5 tonnes and can only go 40Km/h are #T47.005 and T47.006, both of which were from the original production run of 6 units in 1954-1955. The subsequent 15 units, which the other 6 active units are part of, were the heavier and faster units, and were all built in 1958. Their electrical system is traditional DC/DC due to their vintage, although the rebuilt units are AC/DC. I haven't been able to find the voltage anywhere. All 21 of the original T47's were built by CKD. In spite of their low power and low maximum speeds, it's important to remember that they're narrow-gauge units that pull trains of only one or two cars (typically), with six cars being a long train. In addition, 50Km/h would represent the fastest sections of the JHMD lines, so most of the time these units don't even run at their maximum speeds.

As Linka 228 approaches Jindrichuv Hradec, the roadbed is briefly shared with the CD standard gauge line, thus requiring dual gauge. These lines were fairly common in the 19th Century, but today they've become quite rare throughout the world as narrow gauge lines have either been upgraded to standard or abandoned.

This is the yard at Kamenice, which is one of the most elaborate on the JHMD.

Here's one of the very sharp curves on the line, which aren't as severe, relatively speaking, if a line is narrow-gauge.

This is one of the smaller stations in the Czech Republic, although many of these smaller stations are standardised on the JHMD. Notice the obviously narrow-gauge track. This is Linka 228 between Jindrichuv Hradec and Obratan, originally built in 1906.

This is the freighthouse at Cernovice u Tabora, with the construction date of the line on it.

This is the station at Sudkuv Dul, one of several that the JHMD has surrounded by trees that dwarf it. Like many stations on the line, it's just a shanty with a sign.

This is the JHMD station at Obratan, with the brick station in the background being the Ceske Drahy station. I've made two trips on the JHMD narrow-gauge so far this year, but only one of them included the line to Obratan, or Linka 228, the newer of the two former CD narrow-gauge lines taken over by JHMD, having been built in 1906.