Service designation of track car -Tatra 15/52 means: 15 signifies type of vehicle in the Tatra Kopřivnice factory, 52 specifies details of construction specifications and adherence to construction specs for Tatra T 52 vehicles. Service designation of track car Dm6-52001 means: D — track car (drezína), m — motorized, 6 — number of seats, 52 — year of manufacture, 001 — serial number in year when put into service for ČSD
The six-seat inspector's motor track car Tatra T 15/52 Dm6-52001 was manufactured in 1951 in the Tatra Kopřivnice factory, and on March 17th, 1952 handed over to Czechoslovakian State Railroads (ČSD). A series of five, and the last set of Tatra motorized track cars for ČSD was ordered as 6-seat limousines, with which the total number of 6-seat Tatra track cars for ČSD reached 14, including one narrow-gauge track car in 1927 (with a two-cylinder motor Tatra T 12).
The Dm6-52001 motorized track car was received in the Tatra Kopřivnice factory near the end of 1951, and put into service with ČSD in the spring of 1952. Initially it was garaged in Prague at the Woodrow Wilson main train station, and used for special occasions. After the garage was torn down, it was housed in a new garage at the upper Praha-Libeň station. The track car then served for inspection trips around Prague and vicinity, primarily on the Prague—Česká Třebová line, up through 1970. After being retired from active service in the 1970s, the decision was made to scrap the car. But thanks to the foresight of engineer Spousta and machinist Kavena, and the dedicated efforts of the second recorded driver of the car Josef Myška, this unfortunate fate was avoided. In 1987 the track car found a permanent home in the collections of the National Technical Museum in Prague. In the spring of 1992, Pavel Lášek, a member of the PVTKŽ Benešov club commenced an intensive overhaul of the car. The work was completed in the spring of 1993, and the car was taken for a test ride around the testing track in Velim, driven by engineer Jindřich Halý, where it had no difficulty reaching its design speed of 80 km/h. This successfully concluded the restoration efforts, and the motorized track car today showcases a chapter in the post-war history of Czechoslovakian state railways.
It is essentially a 6-place automobile, from a series of five manufactured in the year 1952 (serial numbers 91325-91329), whose construction was based on the personal cars Tatra T 52 and Tatra T 30, including the motor and interior (2+2+2). These track cars were manufactured in the years 1936, 1938, 1944, 1947 and 1952, for a total run of 14. Only five of them remain today. The body is mounted on a riveted rail undercarriage with several high-strength bolts. The motor is a classic Tatra concept: an air-cooled, 4-stroke, 4-cylinder with opposed pistons, displacing 1910 cc, producing 27.5 horsepower at 2500 RPM (very similar to old-style Volkswagen engines, which were in fact copied from the Tatra design). Ignition is a Scintilla magneto, starting is either manual crank or a Scintilla electric starter. Torque is transmitted by a two-speed transmission with internal reverse to a shaft with universal joints, then to the rear axle. The interior of all these cars was the same: the main difference from 4-place track cars (except for narrow gauge car) was a sliding glass partition, which divided the driver and passenger compartments. Two seats in the passenger compartment were folding, and oriented forward. The partition wall had a small folding table in the middle, for writing while in motion. The right wall of the passenger compartment had a mounted tetrachloride five extinguisher. All seats were covered in black leatherette, as well as the lower portions of the doors (under the windows) and the lower portion of the partition. The remaining surfaces were covered in delicate olive-green corduroy or shag. The rear door pillars had four nickel-plated clothes hangers. The instrument panel had an ashtray, as well as each rear sidewall, in the shape of a standard oval or rectangular Tatra design. The rear compartment had one round dome light of cut crystal glass. A carpet of type "Bouclé" adorned the passenger compartment. The body was painted black lacquer, with a thin silver pinstripe under the door windows. The front doors also had a plate with the maximum allowable speed (installed by ČSD, not the factory), and the rear doors a color print of the state symbol with a silver ČSD emblem below. In 1944 the emblem was BMB-ČMD. Metal trim under the windows, handles and other metalwork was chromed, other interior metalwork was nickel-plated. The hood over the motor also had a fog lamp with a yellow light. Technical specifications: motor—air-cooled flat 4-stroke 4-cyclinder Tatra T 52 with opposed pistons (like old Volkswagen motors) transmission—two-speed with internal reverse power transferred to solid axle via shaft with universal joints bore-80 mm stroke-95 mm displacement-1910 cm' horsepower-27.5 @ 2500 RPM wheel diameter— 600 mm wheelbase-2720 mm total length-4170 mm useful load-480 kg empty weight-1430 kg top speed-80 km/h.
National Technical Museum - Národní Technické Muzeum, Prague
