Shred's Europe and Asia trips.

[shredder1]

Central Europe (I wouldn't call CZ eastern!) Is well worth it. Depends how much time yiu have forvtravel outside Prague...

Prague - trams in vast quantity.
The "Prague Semmering" line 122 with a class 810 "breadbin" railbus - think it no longer runs from a platform in Smichov Goods but most of it is in the City Zone for ticketing.
At weekends there are big 749/754 diesels and double deckers on the scenic line 210 to Cercany via the Sazava valley.

Yes Czech is Central Europe of course these days, when the wall was up we knew it as the Eastern Bloc before the split of Czechoslovak. The Prague trams really are something else, so many of them, old and new. On Grumpy`s, 749/754 we do a lot of railtours in both Czech and Slovak, sometimes on steam heated unsilenced locos, amazing.

 

[shredder1]

Central, Eastern and Western, Europe, (Day 1). Thursday 26th October 2017.

It seemed like ages since I`d left the UK, having said that, I have done about 20 different countries this year, so can hardly complain. I`d booked a few weeks annual leave and took a late flight out of John Lennon Airport Liverpool to Prague on the Wednesday night and booked in at the Hostel Rosemary, just across the park from Prague`s main railway station, Praha Hlavni Nadrazi. I arrived into Prague airport just after 22.00 so decided to take a taxi into the City, it cost about £22, expensive by Czech standards, but that was the going rate 650 koruna.

The hostel was great and I was charged £13 for 2 nights, sharing with two Biochemistry PhD students from India and an Italian Architect, great lads. I was up early on Thursday morning before first light, showered and off across the park and into the amazing Praha Hlavni Nadrazi, I`d missed it so much since my last visit. After photting around the station as dawn was breaking, I took a breakfast in a station café, classic croissants, cheese and ham, alright but give me a full English anytime.

I`ve decided to take a trip down to Ceski Budejovice and visit the depot, one I hadn’t done before, sadly engineering works were taking place and my train only went as far as Veseli nad Luznici, where a bus replacement took us into Ceski Budejovice. I didn’t bother going out to the depot because of the time it had taken to get down to the town, so instead I returned return by bus to Veseli nad Luznici, and then took a train out to Brno, via Jindricuv Hradec and Horni Cerekev. I returned to Prague by Rail Jet paying a supplement of about £6, because my Czech day rover didn’t cover the service, but it got me back into Prague by around 20.00, so not a bad first day. I few local ales and late tea in one of the Cities cafes and I was soon back at the hostel and tucked up in the bunk, I was back.

https://www.facebook.com/nick.melli...1073742891.100001125840218&type=3&pnref=story

 

[Cowley]

Now it becomes clear why you’d been so quiet.
Good work on spelling all those names out.

 

[shredder1]

Now it becomes clear why you’d been so quiet.
Good work on spelling all those names out.

Haha, cheers , Cowley, I have Slovak and Czech rail maps for the spellings, the pronunciation however are something else .

 

[Techniquest]

Shred I am jealous!

 

[shredder1]

Shred I am jealous!

Hahaha, nice to see you on the dark side mate, lol

 

[shredder1]

Central, Eastern and Western, Europe, (Day 2). Friday 27th October 2017.

The second day in and I met up with my mate Rob on Prague Hl n shortly after day break. Rob had travelled down from Poland and we were having a day in Prague prior to meeting up with the guys for one of Russell`s Grumpy Rail Tours, a two day tour around some rare lines in Northern Czech.

After a few photos around Prague Hl n, we took a tram out to the Vrsovice area, Rob had booked the Hostel Alia nearer Vrsovice station ready for the rail tour the following day, so we decided to get a local day ticket and travel on a few lines not too far out from the city.

Our first run was out to Nymburk to check out the yard and works, we got caught in heavy rain while going around the yard and depot, but it was worth the effort and we soon dried off again.

We returned by rail into Prague Masarycovo and later caught a single car DMU out to Praha Cakovice and returned to Prague Vrsovice. The sun had come out by the time we arrived, so we decided on a depot visit and after asking permission, was allowed to go around, Czech rail workers and shed foremen are always very welcoming. The depot was busy and our Grumpy for the weekend was on shed awaiting the rail tour over the weekend.

We spent the rest of the afternoon photographing the diversions through Prague Vrsovice, returning to Prague Hl n and later back to the Hostel Alia and the obligatory few ales to round the day off.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/121...tif_id=1510259705511672&notif_t=group_comment

 

[shredder1]

Central, Eastern and Western, Europe, (Day 3). Saturday 28th October 2017.

NFP Rail Tours

Itinerary Day 1, Praha Vršovice – Praha-Smíchov-severní nástupištĕ – Praha Zličín – Hostivice – Kladno – Kralupy nad Vltavou – Neratovice – Mladá Boleslav – Dolní Bousov (reverse) – Bakov nad Jizerou (reverse) – Srní u České Lípy – Výh Žizníkov (Česká Lípa avoider) – Mimoň – Mimoň staré nádraží (reverse) – Mimoň (reverse) – Liberec.

The first day of the rail tour and both Rob and I were up and out of the hostel by 07.00 and made our way across the railway yard at Prague Vrsovice. Grumpy T478 2065 was waiting for us behind the heritage rake of coaching stock. It was great to catch up with old friends, Steve, Mark, Andrew, Graham, Nigel and the gang and to put a face to some Facebook friends, Paul, Richard and Mark and our fearless leader Russell of course.

We were away on time and soon heading across the Vltava River and through `Smichov yard before circling Prague and climbing up into the mountains above the city. The ales were flowing shortly after we started moving and with excellent company the tour was off to a roaring start.

We travelled the various branch lines, with a few reverses, some very little used ones and towards the end of the day we arrived at our destination for the night Liberec. I left the train with Rob and we stayed in the Hotel Arena, a lovely hotel at the side of a large stadium. The tour however was continuing up the line to a brewery, for the more hardened drinkers, (beers monsters), a section of line we were to travel the next day anyway. Rob and I went for something to eat in the stadium and found a bar and ice hockey game taking place, so we had an excellent evening watching the game, eating Bratwurst and Sauerkraut and drinking more Czech ale, before retiring to our excellent hotel room, it had been a good tour day.

https://www.facebook.com/nick.melli...69459420568.1073742896.100001125840218&type=3

 

[shredder1]

Central, Eastern and Western, Europe, (Day 4). Sunday 29th October 2017.

Rail tour Day 2, Liberec – Raspenava – Frýdlant v Čechách – Jindřichovice pod Smrkem (reverse) – Frýdlant v Čechách – Liberec – Turnov (reverse x 2 (reverse) – Dolní Bousov ((reverse) – Dĕtenice – Kopidlno ((reverse) – Veleliby – Nymburk mĕsto – Poříčany – Praha hln – Praha Vršovice (281kms).

I was up and showered before Rob at the Hotel Arena and arranged to meet him at Liberec station, as I left the hotel the rain was very heavy accompanied by strong winds at times, I had no idea that I was entering the back end of Storm Herwart which had devastated parts of Germany, Czech Republic and Poland, indeed the rain and winds were still very heavy and to add to this my sense of direction let me down and I went the long way round to the station, despite the new Gortex coat I was quite wet by the time I arrived at Liberec station and had to dry my clothes out on one of the station radiators. Rob who has far more sense than me, got up later and took a taxi to the station, arriving dry.

The winds were very high as I tried to take a few photographs at the station and although the tour left on time, we only managed to travel to Raspenava, and Frýdlant v Čechách, the line towards Jindřichovice pod Smrkem, was blocked by a fallen tree, a number of the lads got off the train to remove it, but we had only gone a few yards further when we found a much large tree was across the track and impossible to move, so for the rail tour, that was it, game over and we had to reverse back quite a few miles to get to the next run round loop.

Storm Herwart had caused chaos across the Czech Republic, southern Germany and Poland, with many of those parts being stopped, 6 people were very sadly killed in the storm, so a failed rail tour falls into insignificance in comparison to the more serious suffering and damaged caused.

We had to follow a more direct route back towards Prague and we had to follow service trains as paths became available and didn’t arrive back into Prague until around 23.00. It was fine though, we were in good company, had food to eat and the beer was still flowing, it was certainly an adventure, but still a good tour, a big well done to Russell and his helpers and most of all the bar staff in the last coach, well done guys.

http://www.dw.com/en/storm-herwart-sweeps-across-germany-czech-republic-poland/a-41160734

https://www.facebook.com/nick.melli...98689407645.1073742897.100001125840218&type=3

 

[Techniquest]

I've not quite reached the Euro cranking stage of doing foreign tours, and while I don't know where those places are that you did on it, it still sounds like fun. I couldn't have done beers before 12 noon mind! That storm really did stuff things up, but as you rightly point out it could have been a far worse situation.

The link in your Day 4 report is reported by Facebook as being broken. I've had a quick look at them as I've already seen them on Facebook, and I'm immensely jealous of the fun you clearly had in Czech. I still want to try one of those Czech Pendolinos, although those CD locos would be good fun I reckon. I'd be happy with the RegioJet trains mind, they looked quite reasonable from a quick walk-past at Hlavni on my visit.

As always, an enjoyable read. I seem to recall you're not on the continent again for a while now, but equally it won't be long until it gets here. 2 months today I'll be home from my latest adventure! As soon as I can figure out the dates for it and get a week booked off, I'll have Denmark booked. I've got huge plans for that trip, lots to research...

 

[shredder1]

I've not quite reached the Euro cranking stage of doing foreign tours, and while I don't know where those places are that you did on it, it still sounds like fun. I couldn't have done beers before 12 noon mind! That storm really did stuff things up, but as you rightly point out it could have been a far worse situation.

The link in your Day 4 report is reported by Facebook as being broken. I've had a quick look at them as I've already seen them on Facebook, and I'm immensely jealous of the fun you clearly had in Czech. I still want to try one of those Czech Pendolinos, although those CD locos would be good fun I reckon. I'd be happy with the RegioJet trains mind, they looked quite reasonable from a quick walk-past at Hlavni on my visit.

As always, an enjoyable read. I seem to recall you're not on the continent again for a while now, but equally it won't be long until it gets here. 2 months today I'll be home from my latest adventure! As soon as I can figure out the dates for it and get a week booked off, I'll have Denmark booked. I've got huge plans for that trip, lots to research...

Thank you very much for your kind comments Tech, I`ll check the link for day 4, thank you, can`t wait to get back, you`ll enjoy Denmark, but maybe not the prices

 

[shredder1]

Central, Eastern and Western Europe, (Day 5). Monday 30th October 2017.

After a late night Sunday on the tour, we left the Hostel Alia and headed for Prague Vrsovice railway station, we were headed towards Most, via Decin and Usti, we were trying to track down the illusive Crocodiles that operate around Most mining areas, these locos are giant thing, but rarely photographed, (Industrial Loco, 3 unit mining loco built by Skoda, length 2156 mm Bo-Bo-Bo). We arrived at Most and took a tram down to Most locomotive depot, but the roundhouses there mainly cater for wagon works these days with only 4 locos on shed, the Class 127 are apparently in another depot behind the power station somewhere, so we need to revisit again and see if access is possible, a similar class 27E operates around Soklov out towards Cheb in the West of the country, so that’s another job for the next trip.

After our depot visit we caught another tram outside the loco depot that took us to Litvinov and a train back to Usti and we caught up with the old class 141 working on a passenger shuttle between Usti nad Labem Hl n and Decin Vychod, so that was a novelty that a few of the lads from the tour had gone for haulage. We returned to Prague Hlavnl Nadrazi, where we boarded a direct service to Brno for the night, where we had booked a hostel in the city, a few local ales were the order for the night with another great day exploration behind us.

https://www.facebook.com/nick.melli...92705984910.1073742900.100001125840218&type=1

 

[Techniquest]

You like your ales don't you? Not a bad thing, before you ask, as I love them too and they're a great way to relax after a busy day on the rails!

 

[30907]

these locos are giant thing... (Industrial Loco, 3 unit mining loco built by Skoda, length 2156 mm Bo-Bo-Bo).

That's a tiny giant, think there's a typo - even 21.56m is only 71ft

 

[leightonbd]

Did you make it to Cesky Krumlov? Probably about 45-60 minutes beyong Ceske Budejovice? I hope you managed a Budvar while you were in CB!

 

[Cowley]

Looks absolutely brilliant Shred. I love the sound of some of those diesels over there.
How did Grumpys get there name anyway?
I liked what you said about the storms and how all this doesn’t matter when people are so badly affected or even killed.
Enjoyable reading about your adventures as always.

 

[shredder1]

You like your ales don't you? Not a bad thing, before you ask, as I love them too and they're a great way to relax after a busy day on the rails!

Oh yes, like a good ale, whisky mainly though, although I only ever drink to excess

 

[shredder1]

That's a tiny giant, think there's a typo - even 21.56m is only 71ft

Could never get my head round metrics, that`s actually taken from the website though??

 

[shredder1]

Did you make it to Cesky Krumlov? Probably about 45-60 minutes beyong Ceske Budejovice? I hope you managed a Budvar while you were in CB!

No sadly, not, the bus replacement killed the day really, so I need to revisit Ceske Bud.

 

[shredder1]

Looks absolutely brilliant Shred. I love the sound of some of those diesels over there.
How did Grumpys get there name anyway?
I liked what you said about the storms and how all this doesn’t matter when people are so badly affected or even killed.
Enjoyable reading about your adventures as always.

Thank you very much Cowley, yes love it mate, the Grumpy`s got their name from the roof over the cabs which give them a Grumpy look so I`m told, when we get un-silenced and steam heated Grumpy`s on the tours they really are something else.

 

[shredder1]

Central, Eastern and Western, Europe, (Day 6). Tuesday 31st October 2017.

I was first up at the Hostel in Brno and out on the streets as dawn was breaking, to give me some extra time to do some early photting of both the trams and the trains, Rob caught up with me later on the station and we took the first train out to Zidenice, the first stop out and the location of Brno Malomerice locomotive depot, which despite having visited Brno about 5 times now, I`d never actually visited the depot.

The shed foreman was great, although he did look very stressed, but when we asked for permission to go around the depot he simply said “yes go” and I did my usual bowing and thank you sir as I left his office. What an amazing depot, a little bit off the beaten track, as it was a little walk from Zidenice station, but it was an amazing place with plenty of locos on shed, including two preserved steam locomotives, Škoda Plzeò (CZ) 475.101 4-8-2 and CSR (CSD) 2-8-2T No. 433.001, we even managed to get a coffee from the staff brewing machine on the way out and left through the main entrance to catch a tram directly back into the City.

On returning to Brno Hln, we boarded a train to Breclav, which has the locomotive depot at the side of the station. Breclav is a great depot and always worth a visit while I`m in this part of the country, we went around the sheds without problem and had a great visit with lots on shed including the large scrap line.

The next train we caught was a cross border single car DMU to Kuty, Slovakia, it was only a short journey from Breclav and we changed here for a train into Bratislava, Slovakia`s capital. I had my picture taken in the station photograph machine at Bratislava and applied for my free Slovakian railway travel pass and at the same time booked a free ticket to take the overnight service across the country to Kosice, although I suspect my free pass will only last as long as I`m in the EU.

Rob and I took a tram into Bratislava city centre and had something to eat and did a little shopping before returning to Bratislava Hlavna Stanica for our overnight train, we had a choice of two service trains, one which was going on the main line via Poprad Tatra, a line I`ve done a few times and was the faster route, and another train that was going via Zvolen on lines I hadn’t travelled on before, albeit it was through the night, so I didn’t see anything, but it took longer and allowed us more sleep. We had booked on the cushion`s, too tight to pay for a sleeper, but with the help of some Slovakian ales, we both slept like babies and woke up the next morning in Kosice, Slovakian jewel in the East, I love this city and had stayed there a few times, and it was nice to be back.

https://www.facebook.com/nick.melli...27809154733.1073742905.100001125840218&type=3

 

[Dhassell]

Sounds like a good day 6! Depots seem very relaxed in other countries! No way you could go to a depot in the UK and be allowed to just go around on your own, let alone with someone else!

 

[shredder1]

Sounds like a good day 6! Depots seem very relaxed in other countries! No way you could go to a depot in the UK and be allowed to just go around on your own, let alone with someone else!

Thanks very much yes it was, you could of course do that sort of thing in the UK in the 1980`s and before, sadly Health and Safety saw an end to it here

 

[30907]

Looking forward to more.

You were unlucky with your RRB though - usually they are almost as quick as the trains, though admittedly I've not been into C Bud on one.

 

[shredder1]

Looking forward to more.

You were unlucky with your RRB though - usually they are almost as quick as the trains, though admittedly I've not been into C Bud on one.

Thank you, yes I didnt notice the rail replacement until I was on the train, but I`ll visit again on my February trip.

 

[shredder1]

Central, Eastern and Western, Europe, (Day 7). Wednesday 1st November 2017.

After an undisturbed night`s sleep on the cushions from Bratislava to Kosice, we arrived after daylight and It didn’t look like a bad day. Kosice is Slovakia`s jewel in East, an amazing a railway station cafe and later took a walk out to Kosice`s locomotive depot, surprisingly I hadn’t visited this one before and it was well worth the effort, with a good scattering of loco`s and some of the old green liveried EMU`s.

We later returned to the railway station and decided to take a tram out to the broad gauge depot at Haniska, this was a depot I have visited previously and it always amazes me to see those mighty class 125 twins resting between duties, the depot foreman was great, although he didn’t want us taking photographs inside the sheds, he was happy for us to go around the yard.

The depot was however a good few miles from the tram stop and because of its isolated location we had to walk out to it. We did however thumb a lift on the way back and was very lucky in that a young Slovakian lad gave us a lift directly back into the City and put us ahead of schedule, what lovely people the Slovakian`s are. On a previous visit 4 of us had taken a taxi out and back from Kosice, expensive if there is only two of you though.

Prior to visiting the depot we took the tram to the end of the route line and into the USS steel complex, it sort type of annual holiday was taking place and only Rob and I was on the tram, it was eerie waiting for the tram to turn around inside the complex and take us back to the tram stop for Haniska depot.

Our next move was to take a train out to Spisska Nova Ves, the last time we did the depot here it was in an heavy rain storm and we took a good soaking, so it was a nice change to do a visit in decent conditions and the shed foreman was lovely and allowed us around, in fact I was also invited into one of the workshops by another staff member who took me into the cab of one of the mighty 131 twin`s undergoing maintenance, Spisska Nova Ves is the main depot for the class 131`s twins.

Returning to Spisska Nova Ves railway station as the light was leaving the sky, we noted a number of Class 131` twins working on the coal trains, and from there we took a train into Zilina, where we had booked accommodation for the night. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and went out on the town, an Italian in the Wolf with a few local ales to wash it all down, and with 3 Slovakian depots in the bag, it had been a another great day and after the previous night spent on the cushions, we slept well in proper beds that night.

https\://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzhhorod%E2%80%93Ko%C5%A1ice_broad-gauge_track

https://www.facebook.com/nick.melli...1073742911.100001125840218&type=3&pnref=story

 

[shredder1]

Central, Eastern and Western, Europe, (Day 8). Thursday 2nd November 2017.

I was up before Rob at the Hostel in Zilina, (so no change there), and made my way down to the railway station to capture a few dawn photographs. I returned about an hour late and Rob had surfaced by then, we checked out and made our way to Zilina locomotive depot, it was not far from the hotel and quite busy.

We asked the depot manager for permission to visit and he asked if we had a permit, when we said we didnt, he simply put his hands over his eyes and said he hadn’t seen us, what a lovely chap and we had a great depot visit.

We returned to the railway station for breakfast and caught a train to Bohumin as we were now heading for Poland, but trains are 3 hours apart, this however gave us time to get another depot visit in, Bohumin locomotive depot is just at the side of the railway station and always worth a visit with plenty on shed, we also managed to see some freight on returning to the railway station.

The Polish train eventually arrived, behind a PKP ICC EP 09 locomotive which ran around her coaches ready for the return service to Warsaw, but we only took it as far as Katowice, were we had booked another hostel next to the railway station. Rob retired to the room, while I took a few late evening photographs on the railway station and later went into the City for some tram phots, Katowice certainly has an interesting selection of trams.

I later returned to the hostel and Rob and I revisited the city and caught up with some shopping before the usual nightcaps and turning in, it had been another great day with 2 Czech depots in the bag this time and nice to be back in Poland.

https://www.facebook.com/nick.melli...2916.100001125840218&type=3&needsRefresh=true

 

[Techniquest]

I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I am getting more and more jealous as I read your thread! I've been looking briefly (not properly due to data signal restrictions and simply not having a lot of time to do much 6 days a week) at your photos and there's some really rather funky looking stuff you've been seeing.

Not jealous of the hostels it must be said though!

 

[shredder1]

I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I am getting more and more jealous as I read your thread! I've been looking briefly (not properly due to data signal restrictions and simply not having a lot of time to do much 6 days a week) at your photos and there's some really rather funky looking stuff you've been seeing.

Not jealous of the hostels it must be said though!

Hahaha, thanks very much Tech, always appreciate your comments mate, just book 5 nights in the Hostel Rosemary Czech, (£6 quid a night), for February and 2 nights in an Ostrava hostel, £5 , moneys no object

 

[shredder1]

Central, Eastern and Western, Europe, (Day 9). Friday 3rd November 2017.

I was again up early at the Katowice hostel which was quite close to the railway station, and I was photting the rush hour traffic, Rob later caught up with me. We caught a train out to Jaworzno Szczakowa to visit the large locomotive depot, it was an overcast day with rain at times and lots of work was being done on the station and top yards, so we had to negotiate a building area to gain access to the yard scrap lines of locomotives. We eventually got across the work area and blended into the lines of locomotives.

As I walked around one line of locomotives, I bumped into two security guards with a dog, Rob was just behind me and also got pulled, but we explained that we were just there for the railways and were going down to the locomotive depot to ask the shed foreman for permission, they were decent enough lads and just there to stop people pinching stuff, so they took our passport details and allowed us to carry on down to the sheds.

We met the depot manager, he was only a young lad in his 30`s, but obviously very capable, a lovely chap who introduced us to some of his under managers, he made us most welcome on our visit to the depot and allowed us free access.

Jaworzno Szczakowa is an amazing depot and with the scrap lines, held a lot of locomotives, another one of the large Polish PKP Cargo depots, we were lucky with our visit and managed to get back to the station just in time to catch a train back into Katowice before the rain came down.

On returning to Katowice, within minutes a train for Wroclaw Glowny was due to depart, so luckily we also caught this one, arriving in Wroclaw around lunch time. We checked in at the hostel, which was again very close to the station and decided to leave Wroclaw depot until the next day and instead spend the afternoon on Wroclaw station and in the town to photograph the trams. We enjoyed a meal and a few local ales in the town before retiring for the night, again another satisfying day with one of the large Polish depots in that bag and nice to be back in the city of Wroclaw.

https://www.facebook.com/nick.melli...1073742921.100001125840218&type=3&pnref=story