Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: 4-8-2

While I was taking some parting shots of #498.022, I noticed that the taillights and the headlights (really ditchlights in modern terms because of their position) appeared to have been converted at some point to electric power, or maybe they had been either oil or electric all along (that could also be a gas fitting, but it looks like oil to me, and railway lights more often were oil than gas in the old days). Therefore, I felt the need to take this photo. I originally marked this down as a headlight (which means ditchlight), but now that I'm thinking back on it I think this was one of the taillights, before it was extinguished (the train arrived in Branik with #498.022 running in reverse).

This was at the end of the trip at Branik, where the train terminated.

This must have been roughly at departure time, although I can't remember just by looking at this whether we were already moving when I took this. You can see #498.022 smoking a lot, probably to build a head of steam.

This was one of a number of cameraphone shots I took as #498.022 was being turned at Beroun during the return trip. In this photo, you can see the profile of the Kylchap double-blastpipe chimney a bit better than usual, although it's a bit dark.

From the front end of the train, it was possible to get closeups of the Albatros's boiler front, as the locomotive was coupled on the train backwards.

This was my second shot, as the locomotive pulled forward, pushing a cut.

As #498.022 rolled out of the museum and began switching the train together for the return trip to Prague, I followed it and shot some pictures. This was my first shot. That water spout over on the left wasn't used since the locomotive had been watered at the spout in the museum.

This was just a head-on shot of the Albatros that I took on a whim. Here it's seen still on the service track in the museum.

The first time I spotted this locomotive was in Decin, where it's based. It's fully operational, but wasn't in steam when I visited the museum. It's a 475 Class 4-8-2, a generation later than the 498 Class (except for the actual record-breaking Albatros, which was a 498.1 Class from the 1950's), which means that this class was built from 1945 until 1951 by Skoda. Power is 1480kW (1985 horsepower), and the officially recognised maximum speed is 100Km/h, although these locomotives are almost certainly capable of going faster.

Here's the Albatros being watered for its return trip to Praha Branik. This water spout is the one located within the museum grounds, next to the coal bunker. In the lower left corner of this photo you can also see an ashpit, which might double as an inspection pit. It's cramped, though, so probably they would be better off using one in the shops.

I originally had no idea what this locomotive was because the photo was so blurred, but eventually I found the info that I needed. This is Ex-CSD 475.179, which is an operable 475 Class 4-8-2 based at Decin, as seen here. I don't have the exact build date, but it would have been sometime between 1947 and 1950. The power rating is 1480kW (1985 horsepower), and the maximum speed is officially 100Km/h, although obviously a locomotive this powerful with medium-size drivers could probably do more.

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.

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

This was a lucky blurred shot that I got in a rock cut.

Here's a shot taken after departure from Rakovnik, in single track territory (which actually began soon after leaving Beroun), with the locomotive running boiler forward again.

This was taken on the October 16th, 2010 ex-CSD #498.022 excursion during a layover at Beroun, during which the locomotive was turned. Here it's already coupled tender forward ready to head to Rakovnik, where it will be turned again. I took all still photos on the 16th with my cameraphone, as the batteries in my Nikon died at Beroun (actually, they had probably been dead for weeks). I did some proper photography the next day, which I hope to eventually include in an NRHS show. The video that I shot on the 16th, however, will be yet another NRHS show.

Here's another shot that I took of 498.022 in Beroun, on the way back to Prague. Trains from Krivoklat to Prague have to be turned here, as the track layout forms a wye, so here 498.022 was being turned.

Here's our train back to Prague, although in reality it's passing through Krivoklat on the way to pick up our train. In the end the train was closer to 42 cars, rather than 3!! That's a record for my train travels, actually. The locomotive, ex-CSD 498.022 is a Ceskoslovenske Drahy Class 498 4-8-2, the same class as 498.106, "Albatros," which set a Czech speed record for steam locomotives at 162Km/h in 1964.