On December 24, 1954, representatives of the Czechoslovak State Railways (ČSD) took over the steam locomotive 498.104 from its manufacturing facility, the fourth engine from a series of fifteen. The Albatros locomotives, often referred to as the  “Type 1” locomotives, are one of the heaviest, biggest and fastest steam locomotives manufactured for the Czechoslovak State Railways. They represent the top products of the Czechoslovak steam locomotive construction school. Thanks to the paintwork based on a draft of the academic painter Vilém Kreibich, the Albatros locomotives, with plum-blue locomotive coating, tender without colour lines, red wheels, reddish brown running gear and a...