Czech Republic July 2014

This is an extract from a multi-country report to read the full report use the following link:

Multi Trip (France – Switzerland – Luxembourg – Holland – Czech Republic – Slovakia – Hungary) July 2014

A trip that started out a lot more simplistic than it actually ended up but did have two purposes, the main one being to have a day doing the BLS “brownies” on the car trains at Kandersteg, with a bike, and the second one being to cover the weekend Summer diesel turns at Prague, which had been dropping 749’s vice 754’s every weekend since the timetable change. While I was bumming around Europe I decided that doing Luxembourg, Holland and Strasbourg in France all seemed like a good idea at the planning stages; in essence only one of those three went anywhere near as planned and to be honest Strasbourg was a complete disaster and I nearly got fined by the police in Holland for ducking under a level crossing barrier; that was going up!

The trip was in two parts, the first bit being solid cranking and the second bit being a relaxing week, with a bit of cranking, drifting from Zurich to Budapest via Prague & Bratislava with my girlfriend and a cracking week it was too; with weather that couldn’t have been better but was verging on too hot.

Flights

Booked direct through Norwegian Airlines

DY2497 1535 Budapest 2B – Gatwick – £78.80 each

Hotels

Czech Republic

Prague – Hotel Esplanade, Washingtonova 19, Prague 1, Prague, 11000 – 9185Kc for a double room for 3 nights – a 2 minute walk from Praha HN station; in fact it’s probably closer to the front doors of the station than the platforms are! It’s a four star hotel which was very nice indeed, the staff were all friendly and gave us city maps and relevant directions to places of interest on asking. The room was a fair size with AC, separate bathroom and toilet, widescreen TV, free WiFi and excellent blackout curtains. Breakfast was included in the room rate and there was plenty to choose from; including hot food.

Train Tickets

Eurostar 9022 1131 St Pancras – Paris £73 booked online at Eurostar

Thello Train 221 1959 Paris – Milan (4 berth couchette) €77 booked online at Thello

Inter Rail Global Pass 15 Days – £369 booked through EU Rail

Reservations booked through Deutsche Bahn UK (all reservation only with Inter Rail Pass)

CNL40478 Basel – Koln €42.50 (4 berth couchette)

CNL40478 Basel – Arnhem €65 (3 berth sleeper)

CNL40419 Amsterdam – Basel €65 (3 berth sleeper)

CNL459 Zurich – Prague €180 (for two) (2 berth sleeper)

Switzerland BLS Car Train

0919 Iselle di Trasquera – Kandersteg CHF91 – booked through BLS online

Friday 25^th July 2014 (Praha – the home of un-sensible dress!)

As it happened I was awake as we arrived into Erfurt so I decided to investigate the loco change there and do away with my 0615 alarm call. It was a good job I check did as well as no sooner had I got out onto the platform was I advised by one of the sleeper attendants that the stock was going to be split, which I already knew, but when DB shunter 362551 dropped onto the rear the attendants arm waving and point gestures then made a little more sense.

While the shunting that then took place did seem a little bit of a faff it did seem to be the most efficient way of doing what was required to get our stock into a different platform and with a forward engine on the east end. As DB 101033 was sat in a west facing bay all 362551 did was drag us clear of the station to then allow 101033 to drop onto the east end and drag the train back into the adjacent platform to await its departure time; leaving 362551 outside the station as it did.

We were up and about at Dresden, where we’d obviously originally been expecting the train to terminate, and breakfast was served by the coach attendant, it wasn’t anything other than the usual croissant, bread, spreads and coffee/juice but it was better than nothing at all.

It turned out that 371201 had replaced 101033 at Leipzig for the run through to Praha. After I got back from this trip someone posted a photo of a 218 dragging 371201 on CNL459 between Leipzig & Dresden; unfortunately said photo was exactly 1 week before our journey!

CNL459 is due into Praha Hlavni Nadrazi at 1031 and I was a bit sceptical that out hotel would let us check in so early so when I was offered a move at Usti nad Labem we got off at Praha Holesovice to await 151014 arriving behind us with 36139 0554 Cheb – Praha HN; which should have been in front of us but was just being prepared to depart Usti nad Labem as we departed from the adjacent platform. As it was literally right up our arse at Praha Holesovice it only put an extra 5 minutes into our arrival at Praha HN so a quick out and back to Holesovice with 162012 for 162038, on R688 & R681 Decin services respectively, took a bit of time out of our morning; yet we still walked through the doors of the Hotel Esplanade just after 11am but were allowed to check into our room early by the friendly staff at the front desk.

The Hotel Esplanade is a 2 minute walk from Praha HN station; in fact it’s probably closer to the front doors of the station than the platforms are! It’s a four star hotel which was very nice indeed, the staff were all friendly and gave us city maps and relevant directions to places of interest on asking. The room was a fair size with AC, separate bathroom and toilet, widescreen TV, free WiFi and excellent blackout curtains. Breakfast was included in the room rate and it was a very good deal for a hotel of this class and so close to the station as well.

After about 5 hours of sightseeing I just couldn’t resist a quick evening spin out and was amazed with the fact moves work so simply between the Praha stations and in less than 50 minutes I’d done four moves, which involved an out and back to Praha Liben with a short plus back at Hlavni Nadrazi to allow an out and back to Praha Smichov; R853, R884, R772 & R765 offering up 150213, 150222, 362086 & 362085 respectively and quite pleased with my little evening move I was too.

Food beckoned after the quick spin out and the Pizza & Pasta Factory produced a couple of good pizzas to top off a cracking day as we watched the masses either returning from a long day or going out to start a long night; either way some of the outfits passing by us were ridiculous and you’d think that the sight of a girl’s ass cheeks popping out of her shorts as she walked by would be quite appealing to a guy wouldn’t you? Well all I have to say to girls that have a bit more to hang out than they would like to admit is pick another outfit and do us all a favour; including sparing yourself the embarrassment!

After dinner we wondered down to the Most Legii Bridge as the sun went down. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos that night due to a random hair appearing on my camera’s sensor while we’d been at the castle earlier, which I couldn’t seem to shift. No worry though there were camera shops in town and I would mostly be taking a trip to one the following morning to get my issues sorted.

The Moves

The Photos

Saturday 26^th July 2014 (Four days to get a hair out of my camera; I don’t think so!)

Being close to the station is good for nipping out and having a spin about while your other half does what she needs to and this morning was one of those mornings. The intention of the morning moves had originally been to see what CD had chucked out on the weekend 754 turns; of course I was hoping for some loud 749 action vice 754. For the first weekend that month I was amazed to find that CD had actually allocated the locos for the weekend at 0730 on a Saturday morning. I only checked on the off-chance as I walked down the hotel stairs!

The good news from the allocations was that loud 749121 was shown to work diagram TS708 Day 1, which would mean it would work the following 1055 Praha – Cercany, 1406 Cercany – Praha & 1625 Praha – Cercany on Saturday then 0912 Cercany – Svetla nad Sazavou, 1346 Svetla nad Sazavou – Cercany and then 1800 Cercany – Praha HN via the main line on Sunday; the last part of the diagram would be taking over from 749006 on the 1600 Zruc nad Sazavou – Praha HN at Cercany; a booked loco change. It seemed like I’d dropped lucky…….

With the purpose of the bash changing somewhat thanks to the aforementioned gen, I went out now not needing to cover any of the morning Cercany trains, allocated 754008 & 754031 anyway, so I didn’t need to be at Praha HN at certain times making the moves a lot easier, and desperate!

I was quite lucky on the first move I did not to be left stranded without a loco-hauled train at Praha Liben. R863 0752 Praha HN – Brno is a plus 7 at Liben for R892 0425 Stare Mesto u Uh. Hradiste – Praha HN back in, it being due away from Liben at 0806; I was in Hlavni Nadrazi at 0807 and the damn thing was already coming round the corner in the distance when I got to Liben! I was thankful of the earlier arrival back into Hlavni Nadrazi though as the plus 2 I had turned into a more relaxing walk under the subway to board R764 0815 Praha HN – Plzen with 362078 and just over an hour later I was getting off 362079 at Praha HN on R755 0633 Cheb – Praha HN; having done two trips to Smichov.

Breakfast was served at the Hotel Esplanade until 1000 and I was back with plenty of time to spare. There was plenty to choose from, including hot food, and we collected enough bits together so as we could make some sort of lunch out of what we’d gathered together later in the day.

As the fact that I had a hair on my camera sensor was really starting to annoy me I decided to try and get it sorted before we went out anywhere that day. Armed with the hotel’s map and an “X” marking the spot where Foto Skoda lay I went to try and get said hair removed by the professionals. Misreading the map and walking twice as far as I needed to in the morning heat didn’t start my quest off well. When I found the place I was directed to a pair of doors towards the back, of what was quite a large and specialist place by the looks of it; and told to knock. Knock I did, and I walked in when told to do so, or heard what I assumed was a voice telling me to do so; in Czech.

I can only describe the room as like walking into a tech geeks cave, something like you’d find in the IT Crowd; for those that know what I’m talking about. There was a guy sat behind a desk in his swivel chair with a few small tools on the table yet there wasn’t much in the way of camera fixing going on; but I was about to find out why.

I explained my issues and even set the camera on a high F stop and took a picture on a light background to show him; it wasn’t really necessary though as you could actually see the hair with your naked eye through the viewfinder. The guy’s response to my issue was “you need service” and his response to how long was “4 days”! I explained that in 4 days I would be back in the UK and that I only had a very limited time frame, still he was adamant the service that I required would take 4 days.

The language barrier beat me in the end but even my hand gestures regarding an air blower resulted in the same answer of “4 days”. Bored of trying to get them to let me use their tools I ended up back at the front desk but my attempts to even buy an air blower proved completely fruitless; even with someone who spoke good English. I mean what kind of camera shop doesn’t sell air blowers? They’re the easiest thing to scam any unsuspecting photographer with. What I ended up with was a wet & dry cleaning kit for the sum of £4 and 45 minutes later I was back at the hotel; £4 worse off, still with a hair on my sensor and in freshly soiled clothing thanks to the glorious morning sunshine, and partly to my rushing around to get things sorted.

I was determined not to let this hair spoil my day, photos and general karma so I took the camera lens off, undid the clip that hold the mirror in place and showed that dammed hair who was boss. Baring in mind the last time I tried to show something on my sensor who was boss it ended up with more mess on it, scratched and had to be turned upside down after it had been cleaned while a new one was ordered by the camera shop; this all costing me nearly £150! This hair was shown who was boss for free, well actually a wasted £4 really, as I gently blew into the camera and the hair drifted away; problem fucking solved! So that’s two lessons I’ve now leant about things on your sensor, number one don’t try and clean it when drunk with a towel from the bathroom of the hotel you’re staying in and two try the simple things first, when sober, without letting previous incidents put you off.

Problem solved and freshly showered, we were on our way to Karlstejn Castle before midday. I’d decided that doing EMU’s to Karlstejn and back wasn’t the done thing but doing loco-hauled trains to Beroun for EMU’s the short distance from there to Karlstejn was. The bonus of the move being 362166 was sat in waiting to go with R984 0820 Brno – Praha Smichov so that sufficed to Smichov for 362083 forward to Beroun on R760 1215 Praha HN – Cheb. It wasn’t a long wait at Beroun but of course we’d have been at Karlstejn earlier had we done the EMU’s throughout from Praha; which we waited patiently at Beroun for on their return journey instead.

Our short stay in Karlstejn meant we were back into Praha Hlavni Nadrazi, having returned via Beroun as well, in time for the main cranking event of the day and 749121 was just running round it’s stock, to form the 1625 Praha HN – Cercany,  as we got onto he correct platform. Found milling about on the platform, with a proper cranks cheapo meal in his hands consisting of bread and juice, was Kev Coombe; who’d been on 749121 all day.

The stock was well and truly EH in the afternoon sunshine, unfortunately there were no proper pull-down windows on the set but at least they had inward pulling windows so fresh air could circulate and more importantly thrash could be sampled from what was to be my first ever 749; there’s nothing like starting late…….

Most people rate 749’s so I had high expectations as we left the platform, a few minutes later than our booked 1625 departure. What was immediately evident was that the driver was a good one and not afraid of the power handle, this giving me my first taste of 749 thrash before we’d even got to the platform end. Was I impressed? Suitably! We only did it out to Praha Branik but the thrash was good enough for me to be impressed and the departure from Branik, as I stood and watched it depart, was quite impressive too. Initiation over I was intrigued to see what it sounded like on a longer distance journey and what 74906 sounded like to have something to compare it to; which would obviously have to wait until the following day.

Having spent most of the day without any real food we headed straight back into Praha with 754008 on 9062 1540 Cercany – Praha HN, running 15 late, before heading straight to the hotel, dropping our stuff and making a bee-line for the Pizza & Pasta Factory to get some food down us.

The Moves

Gen for Saturday 26^th July 2014

749006 9207 0912 Cercany – Zruc nad Sazavou (from spreadsheet)

749121 9061 1055 Praha HN – Cercany (from spreadsheet), 9060 1406 Cercany – Praha HN, 9065 1625 Praha HN – Cercany

754008 9057 0923 Praha HN – Cercany, 9062 1540 Cercany – Praha HN

754031 9055 0825 Praha HN – Cercany, 9064 1636 Cercany – Praha HN (from spreadsheet)

The Photos

Sunday 27^th July 2014 (Seats reserved for everyone except normal people)

I opted for a bit of early morning cranking before breakfast again and found a bit of a surprise when I got onto Hlavni Nadrazi when centre cabbed shunting device 111010 was just dropping onto some stock on the far side of the station, which looked to have people on board. When I got onto platform 7 I found that the train that had just arrived was 402 2200 Krakow – Praha overnight and the stock about to be shunted off consisted of the two motor-rail wagons and two sleeping cars; so as people were milling about in the doorways I chose to join them and see what happened. What could be the worst thing that happened……?

As it happened the stock was dragged off the end of the train and shunted into the adjacent through siding by platform 7, where a centre cabbed diesel then attached to the other end, shunted the two motor-rail vehicles into the offloading dock and then the stock into a platform by the offloading dock so people could then get out and sort their cars out. This left me a little stranded then as I was the wrong side of the station to get back in and it was a long walk round to the other side to enter by the main entrance. Thankfully I noticed someone walking over the foot crossing nearby, and back onto the platform ends, so I confidently followed suit and wasn’t challenged at all. Luckily the diesel that had shunted us into the sleeping car platform hadn’t buggered off and I found 714023 idling just off the end of the stock; and having had a very cheeky move before I’d even planned I found 362159, sat waiting to depart with R863 0752 Praha HN – Brno, and boarded with about 2 minutes to spare!

Having done the same move the previous day and been 6 minutes early into Praha HN on R892 0425 Stare Mesto u Uh Hradiste – Praha HN I was well aware of the potential to miss the train. What I didn’t quite expect was it to be already at the platform end as we rolled in on R863; thankfully the correct platform end and just arriving, not departing. 151210 was the engine, the same as the previous day, the only thing different about the train from the previous day was the fact it was earlier; and so early it was into Praha HN before it should have even departed Liben! Dangerous move that little move turns out to be; thankfully it was the last time I would do it.

Back at Praha HN the weekend’s CD gen had held up as I found 754008 to have worked ecs in with two sets of stock, for both the 0825 & 0925 departures to Cercany, with 754031 attached to the rear. When the former departed, with me on board to Praha Vrsovice, I can only assume that 754008 then backed onto the other set after the stock had been split. It was a very quick out and back, and one I’d expected to return from on a unit, but thanks to a bit of late running 362081 was just coming to a stand with 654 0557 Ceske Budovice – Praha HN and I made it with ease in the end; after a mad dash across for it! I’d actually struggled to figure out what the train was initially and had originally thought it was some kind of ecs, but with people on board. Common sense soon figured it out though; while I walked back to the hotel for breakfast.

After breakfast the very point of being in the Czech Republic on a weekend would take up the rest of the day and having done 362167 out to Praha Liben on R865 0952 Praha HN – Brno we settled in for the journey to Svetla nad Sazavou on board R977 0942 Praha Smichov – Brno with 362170; which was almost a bum move as the train was wedged but luckily there were a couple of seats free in a compo towards the front of the train.

All soon went downhill when the guard moved us out of the compartment half way to Svetla; we were apparently sitting in a compartment reserved for those with children. I didn’t see any of the locals in a rush to get out though! As we’d already seen the train was wedged it was completely fruitless walking back through it so we just sat in the front coach; a completely empty 1^st class coach with just us in it. That didn’t last the whole journey unfortunately as the guard eventually moved us on, thankfully with only about 20 minutes left of the journey; bless him though he did take us to some unoccupied seats and sat us down. These were actually reserved for people with bikes though! Plenty of seats but not that many for people who are just travelling as people, it seems there’s more chance of getting a seat on some trains if you have a kid or bike, or are old or disabled. Still it wasn’t quite as bad as what was sat waiting for us as we made our plus 3 at Svetla into the 1146 Svetla – Cercany DMU.

Just when we thought we’d got a bit of space around us in the power car, not the trailer; we were invaded by a group of school kids, all wearing nice bright yellow t-shirts for their special day out. It was probably into the high twenties outside, we were sat in a tin box, thankfully with opening windows, surrounded by kids and without much room to breathe; it was a wonderful journey, I was just grateful it was a short journey and very relieved to watch the red tin box disappear and leave us behind to the tranquility that Vilemovice oozed. The only noise there was the buzzing from something inside the waiting shelter, which we kept well away from, and the joyful voices that came from the passing rafters on the nearby river.

Our wait in the wilderness wasn’t long and we could hear 749121 snaking its way towards us long before we could see it. Danielle was left as the person to signal to the driver to stop while I got myself a decent shot of 749121 arriving in the glorious sunshine. On board were a few cranks, two English, including Kev Coombe, a Czech and an Austrian. It seemed like giving the engine hell was the order of the day as a spirited departure from Vilemovice set the precedence for the remainder of the day; thankfully.

Those wanting beer got a few shacks before Svetla while we carried on and sat in the shade at Svetla while 749121 ran round and sat ready to depart with 9206 1346 Svetla – Praha HN. There was a shop to buy everything from sweets to ice cream and even beer on the station, right by the shade of the tree, so we didn’t starve during our time there and feasted on stuff we’d stashed from breakfast at the hotel while we waited.

I’d toyed with the idea of doing the 1153 from Praha HN to Svetla which was only a plus 3 onto 749121’s train. As our plus 3 had made to get us down the line for it I was expecting the plus 3 onto the 1346 departure towards Cercany to make. I wasn’t that aware that it hadn’t when we departed 5 late and was actually thinking we were just drawing down the platform as we set off; when the engine was opened up fully though I was reminded of just why I hadn’t risked the plus 3 in the first place and was so glad we hadn’t done it; the train was nowhere to be seen as we left the main line and headed off towards Cercany.

The beer drinkers were collected where we dropped them off and our 6 coach train ran pretty empty to Zruc nad Sazavou where all but one crank got off to do 749006 behind it to Cercany; where 749121 would then re-engine the same train for the run into Praha via the electrified main line. 749121 made a spirited exit from Zruc but I couldn’t help but think that it just needed that bit more at the top end. It had been driven well, which must have made a big difference to the 749 experience anyway but there was just that bit missing.

Keen to sample another to be able to compare the thrash I was pleased that Sp1832 1600 Zruc nad Sazavou – Praha HN was as empty when it left Zruc as 749121’s train had been when it had departed. Thankfully the driver was also into punishing his loco, just as the one on 749121 had been and it was immediately evident that 749006 had that bit more than 749121, it was a crisper noise and sounded meatier; it too though did seem to lack that something extra at the top end, especially after it had been wide open for a period of time. This better illustrated by 749121 when it dropped onto the other end of Sp1832 at Cercany and was hammered up the main line towards Praha.

749006 was shunted straight to shed at Cercancy to wait for another week before repeating the same as it had done every weekend since the start of the Summer timetable. 749121 was then wound up at the Praha end of the train as given what for all the way to Praha; unfortunately from this run I deduced that 749’s sound far better when on start stop trains as opposed to long distance flat out trains. They’re a bit similar to 37’s in that way, plenty of thrash when setting off and at low speeds but at speed there’s not much there and they’re a bit wishy-washy. Still, as 749121 dropped us at Praha HN I was pretty pleased with the day’s bash but was also glad to be heading off to a nice air conditioned hotel room. It had been a very hot day, we’d been practically melting on board the stock and I was in desperate need of a shower.

Thankfully the sun disappearing behind the horizon cooled the evening down nicely and we sat and watched the world go by at the Pizza & Pasta Factory one last time; there we no un-tasteful arse cheeks hanging out to put us off our food but there were still plenty of fashion casualties to base our conversation on while we ate. Unfortunately it was back to the hotel afterwards to pack as we’d be Slovakia bound the following morning.

The Moves

Gen for Sunday 27^th July 2014

749006 Sp1832 1600 Zruc nad Sazavou (to Cercany)

749121 9207 0912 Cercany – Svetla nad Sazavou, 9206 1346 Svetla – Praha HN (to Cercany), Sp1832 1600 Zruc nad Sazavou – Praha HN (from Cercany via electrified main line)

754008 9057 0923 Praha HN – Cercany, 9062 1540 Cercany – Praha HN (from spreadsheet)

754031 9055 0825 Praha HN – Cercany, 9064 1636 Cercany – Praha HN (from spreadsheet)

The Photos