| This is actually not a Czech locomotive or a Soviet locomotive, but a German Kriegslok from World War II (built by Wiener Lokomotivfabrik, Floridsdorf in 1943) that's been disguised as a Soviet locomotive, as it would have later served on RZD in the Soviet Union after being claimed as reparations. These locomotives became the RZD TE Class, and #555.0301 was one of 100 purchased from RZD in 1962-1963 for heavy freight service. With 1178kW ( 1580 horsepower) they had more power than the typical Czech locomotive, and they were also very fast for a Czech freight locomotive, being capable of 80Km/h in service. Of course, they weren't Czech. During their RZD service, they were converted to run on Russian 1524mm broad-gauge track, but obviously CSD converted them back to 1435mm standard-gauge. After serving into the 1970's, the Kriegsloks on CSD were put back into military use, although this time as reserve locomotives. Many European governments stashed steam locomotives away in the 1950's-1990's, expecting an oil shortage should a total war break out, but the Czech government gave up this policy in 1993, at least for the Kriegsloks, thus freeing up this locomotive for historic preservation. Unfortunately, it doesn't still run, in spite of having been kept for service so late. |