The Steam Locomotives of Czechoslovakia by Catchpole, Paul - 1995

Birmingham, West Midlands, UK: Paul Catchpole Ltd, 1995. Book. As New. Laminated Pictorial Boards. 1st Edition. 198 pages b/w photos line drawings- Researched over five years, including translating Jindrich Bek's 'Atlas Lokomotiv', we are given a review of each steam type that ran on the CSD. The first chapter provides a general history of the railways, and each subsequent chapter starts with an overview of the railway or period concerned. The first three sections detail locomotives absorbed from constituent state railways, followed by sections covering major private railways. Separate chapters describe the period 1918-38 with its classic designs, the legacies of the wartime years 1938-45, and the ultimate development of main-line steam. Narrow gauge locos and steam railcars are included, and an easy reference by class number forms the index. The czech steam locomotives constructed after WW II were famous for their beautiful design and their efficiency. The artist Vilém Kreibich made the drawings of the external design before the locomotives were constructed. After WW.II and until the communists took over government in 1948, Czech locomotive factories cooperated with André Chapelon of France for the design of their new engines. Most of the new designs were therefore outfitted with Kylchap blast pipes and double chimneys. All the boilers were welded, had combustion chambers, arch tubes and/or thermosiphons, multivalve throttles and most of the larger locomotives were equipped with mechanical stoker..