I flew from Heathrow to Praha on Czech Airlines flight OK653. The weather was perfect at Heathrow, bitterly cold and brilliantly clear, but continental Europe was blanketed in cloud all the way from the channel coast to the Czech Republic. Somehow, the sun was shining when we arrived at Praha and I took this as a good omen. It didn’t stay sunny for long and the journey into Praha on the AE bus was under cloudy skies. I normally take the 119 bus to Dejvicka them Metro A to Muzeum and Metro C to Hlavni Nadrazi but, this time, I forgot to bring any change for the ticket machine. The AE was, as I suspected, slower than my usual route due to traffic congestion in the centre of the city. I had plenty of time so it didn’t matter anyway.

The Praha hl.n. rebuilding continues and I had the pleasure of buying my first ticket from the new ticket office, a totally underwhelming experience, particularly as the first class Sitove Jizdenky has been discontinued and I had to make do with the replacement CDNet ticket, second class only and at a higher price than the first class ticket used to be. They didn’t have any timetables at Hlavni Nadrazi and neither did the Pragomodel stall or the information office at Masarykovo. I eventually tracked one down at the Masarykovo ticket office.

My chosen train to Usti nad Labem, EC174, was running late so I travelled on the following Decin train, R776 with 162.011 on the front. I was expecting EC174 to overtake us somewhere en-route but it never did. Praha was having an 011 fest with 151.011 and 350.011 also in evidence.

At Usti, I booked into the Interhotel Bohemia, a multi-storey concrete relic of the communist era but comfortable enough. The hotel is in the town centre, only 5 minutes walk from Usti hl.n. and around 10 minutes from Usti Zapad. The afternoon was spent south of Usti nad Labem-Strekov trying, and failing, to get some sunlit shots along the riverside. So much for the good omen!

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
151011	EC147	12:11 Praha hl.n. - Zilina Passenger	12:10 Praha hl.n.
150011	IC571	12:39 Praha hl.n. - Breclav Passenger	12:39 Praha hl.n.
150203	R629	12:26 Praha-Smichov - Vsetin Passenger	12:39 Praha hl.n.
162011	R776	12:50 Praha hl.n. - Decin hl.n. Passenger	12:48 Praha hl.n.
122031		EB Freight	13:00 Praha-Holesovice
162019	R781	11:24 Decin hl.n. - Praha hl.n. Passenger	13:05 Praha-Holesovice
371004	EC173	06:15 Hamburg Altona - Villach Hbf Passenger	13:14 Roztoky-Zalov
753727 753731 740426 740404 122049 751148 753754		Stabled	13:25 Kralupy nad Vltavou
123024 363066		Stabled	13:45 Hnevice
130021		Stabled	14:05 Lovosice
123016		NB Hoppers	14:20 Prackovice nad Labem
371201	EC175	08:17 Hamburg Altona - Budapest Keleti pu Passenger	14:27 Prackovice nad Labem
163095	Os6416	14:18 Lysa nad Labem - Usti nad Labem zapad Passenger	15:50 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
163092	Os6413	16:03 Usti nad Labem zapad - Lysa nad Labem Passenger	16:10 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
123008		SB Freight	16:12 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
123012		NB Hoppers	16:20 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
163257	Os6454	16:04 Steti - Usti nad Labem zapad Passenger	16:46 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
122053		NB Car Carriers	16:50 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
163095	R723	16:47 Usti nad Labem zapad - Kolin Passenger	16:54 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
163259	R718	15:15 Kolin - Usti nad Labem zapad Passenger	17:01 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
163075	Os6455	17:03 Usti nad Labem zapad - Steti Passenger	17:10 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
163094	Os6418	16:18 Lysa nad Labem - Usti nad Labem zapad Passenger	17:45 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
753720 753717 740510		NB Oil Tanks	17:51 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
123005		NB Freight	18:07 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
163259	Os6417	18:03 Usti nad Labem zapad - Lysa nad Labem Passenger	18:10 Usti nad Labem-Strekov
163096	R720	17:15 Kolin - Usti nad Labem zapad Passenger	19:04 Usti nad Labem-Strekov