Sun 1 May 2011
Sun 1 May 2011
31/07/12 17:10
Most of the day was spent travelling from Raspenava to Zvolen, in Slovakia. The sun was shining first thing and I couldn’t resist one last shot in the Liberec area before leaving. There’s only one loco hauled passenger turn from Liberec these days, covering two trips to Usti nad Labem and back, seven days a week. It’s also the only turn in the whole Czech Republic booked for a class 750. I went to a spot in the hills, between Zakupy and Mimon, for the morning train from Usti. The light wasn’t round far enough for the shot I had in mind but a suitable alternative was found nearby.
Then it was four hours solid driving past Praha and Brno and on to Popovice, between Uherske Hradiste and Uhersky Brod, on line 341. The only sighting en-route was of another rarity, an 850 at Nesovice on the Brno - Veseli nad Moravou line.
The Luhacovice branch was closed for engineering work again but the trains were still running as far as Uhersky Brod. Unfortunately both Stare Mesto - Luhacovice turns were being covered by locos in the hideous new livery so I didn’t feel any urge to stay for more and drove on to Zvolen and the Hotel Polana. Notes from the Slovakian part of the trip can be found here.
It’s amazing how two almost identical classes of loco painted in the same two shades of blue can look so different. CD Cargo’s 753.7s look really smart while 754s in the new passenger livery look dreadful. I still haven’t really worked out why. It’s not just the grey. There are plenty of locos around with similar amounts of grey paint and they look perfectly good.
E of Bozikov
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 750.118 | R1157 | 09:27 Usti nad Labem hl.n. - Liberec | 10:40 |
Then it was four hours solid driving past Praha and Brno and on to Popovice, between Uherske Hradiste and Uhersky Brod, on line 341. The only sighting en-route was of another rarity, an 850 at Nesovice on the Brno - Veseli nad Moravou line.
Nesovice
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 850.021 | Sp1728 | 12:34 Stare Mesto u U.H. - Brno hl.n. | 14:00 |
The Luhacovice branch was closed for engineering work again but the trains were still running as far as Uhersky Brod. Unfortunately both Stare Mesto - Luhacovice turns were being covered by locos in the hideous new livery so I didn’t feel any urge to stay for more and drove on to Zvolen and the Hotel Polana. Notes from the Slovakian part of the trip can be found here.
Popovice u U.H.
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 754.037 | R706 | 14:34 Uhersky Brod - Praha hl.n. | 14:44 |
| 754.067 | R709 | 10:32 Praha-Smichov - Uhersky Brod | 15:15 |
It’s amazing how two almost identical classes of loco painted in the same two shades of blue can look so different. CD Cargo’s 753.7s look really smart while 754s in the new passenger livery look dreadful. I still haven’t really worked out why. It’s not just the grey. There are plenty of locos around with similar amounts of grey paint and they look perfectly good.
