Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: bespectacled

#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.

Neratovice yard also hosts freight services, and some of the locomotives are private or leased. ex-CD #753718-6 and 753721-0 are owned (or perhaps leased) by Unipetrol.

These locomotives were across the yard at one of the locomotive sheds (Kralupy has more than one), and if the scan had been better (I didn't do this roll of film myself, but had a crappy photo lab handle it), I would be able to read the numbers, but that will have to wait until I get around to rescanning the photo myself. In any case, these are "bespectacled" diesels, and because I can't read the number I don't know if they're original or rebuilt.

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.

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.

Original unrebuilt CKD Class 753 "bespectacled" diesels are rare nowadays, but if I'm not mistaken 753306-0 is one such unit. It no longer works for CD or ZSSK, however, but has apparently been acquired by the maintenance contractor commonly calling themselves "Doprava." I took this shot at Cercany.