CZECH TRIP REPORT

Saturday March 4^th:

Flight 10.00 Leeds Bradford-Prague arrived around 12.30, taxi from Airport to the Ariston Hotel, which I had booked several weeks earlier through Octopus Travel at £38.50 for a twin room. It was a 3 Star place, very good quality with breakfast served in what appeared to be a former theatre, and around 10-15 minutes walk from the station. After checking in, we took in the tourist sights of Prague on foot, ending up at the Castle, and having a drink and meal in a small restaurant near there.

Sunday March 5^th:

Our original plan had been to do an overnight move on the Sunday night, but having found the hotel and its breakfast so good (and also with it being very cold outdoors), before we left, we decided to see if we could stop there an extra night. The receptionist said our room was available, and offered it for a discounted rate of around £40 (full price was about £50).

After walking down to the station, we purchased our 7-day  First Class "Sitove Jizdenky" tickets (basically, a season ticket covering the whole country) for 1053 CZK (around £23-24) at Praha (Czech name for Prague) Hln station before starting on the day’s trip.

The Sunday outing took us to the west of the country, on the main line to Plzen and Cheb then a bit beyond here to Frantizkovy Lazne. Motive power for this was a Class 363 electric (see here) – these are dual voltage locos built by Skoda between 1980 and 1990 and are common on passenger use. A quick leap took us back to Cheb on another 363, where we changed for a north-east bound service, taking us back by a different route.

Another 363 took us as far as Chumotov. Part if this route was still in the process of being electrified, so between Ostrov Nad Ohri and Vojkovice nad Ohri, we were dragged by a Class 749 diesel – these are quite old machines, introduced in 1964. The adding/removal of the diesel from the front of the train was accomplished in under a minute at each station, imagine that in the UK!

From Chumotov it was onto a secondary line taking us the 100 or so kilometres back down to Plzen. We had arranged this around a loco-hauled service (most trains on this line are units), and a Class 750 (built in 1968) produced for the 2 ½ hour journey. Back at Plzen it was back to Praha, and we made our way to a brew pub for a traditional meal of Goulash and Dumplings with a couple of beers, meeting up there as planned with a fellow crank, Nigel, who had flown out that afternoon. We soon split up again, him for an overnight and us back to the hotel.

Monday March 6^th:

Another Class for haulage this morning, a Class 162 electric which we took as far as Kolin then on to a Class 363 bound for Brno – our eventual destination. However, we bailed at Zdar nad Sazavou to do the picturesque non-direct line to Tisnov, diesel hauled. This was worked by a Class 714, a rather quiet diesel, hauling a couple of ‘wheely bins’. These are rather awful coaches to travel in, and make a pacer seem smooth riding. Two hours later, we rejoined the main line at Tisnov, and caught a stopping service, hauled by a Class 242 electric (dating from the late 1970s) to Brno, arriving early afternoon where we checked in to out hotel right opposite the station.

The hotel lived up to its name of the 'Grand Hotel', being 4*, and we had a suite for a room – complete with desk, sofa, etc. The breakfast room had a water feature/fountain in it. Cost was £55 for the night.

Having dumped our bags, we had a quick wander into the town for some lunch (a nice noodle soup) at a bar, then back down to the station for a trip out. A Class 754 diesel (built 1979-80) took us south to Hrusovany nad Jevisoukou, then our first unit – a Class 842 single car across to Breclav (near the Austrian border), followed by a Class 242 direct back to Brno. Eventually found a nice little restaurant in the town for a meal and beer, for the usual price of about £5. Afterwards, met up with Nigel again who had an hour or two to kill before his next overnight.

Tuesday March 7^th:

Today’s plan took us to the north of the country, with another change of hotels. Our train (Class 363 hauled again) should have taken us right through to Tyniste nad Orlici, but unfortunately engineering work meant there was a rail replacement bus between two stops! It was then on to another service (worked by a Class 130) for the last leg. We thought this would mean missing our connection, but despite being late due to the bus journey and change of trains, it was held for us.

The main aim of today was to do the diesel-hauled line from Tyniste nad Orlici to Mezimesti. A Class 749 took us on this journey where we observed a pair of Polish diesels passed through on a freight, which was something interesting to photograph in the snow. we then did a Kart on the short branch to Broumov and back (14 mins each way). It was then back to Tyniste nad Orlici behind a Class 714, stopping off on the way at Nachov for lunch and a coffee, getting another 714 an hour later in the book too.

From Tyniste nad Orlici, we caught a Class 749 across to Jablonne nad Orlici (more new line), where we had a reservation at the Hotel Filipinum for the night at 1200 CZK (around £28) for a twin. We had a relatively early finish (around 6pm), so I used the opportunity to use the hotel internet access to catch up with things, and we then headed for the hotel restaurant where I decided to splash out by having the salmon – excellent value at around £7! In fact, with a sweet and a couple of drinks the whole meal only came to just over £10 I think – probably the most expensive meal we had over there.

Wednesday March 8^th:

Back down to the station in the morning, photographing some huge icicles hanging off the buildings en-route! A unit took us to Letohrad, then a Class 111’ single cab electric hauled us to Usti nad Orlici, the junction for the main line from Ceska Trebova to Praha. Caught a Class 162 bound from Praha, but alighted at Kolin as we had done the direct line between here and Praha on Monday morning, so decided to take the longer route. A Class 163 took us to Lysa nad Labem, where we joined a 1960s vintage Class 451 EMU (our first EMU) for the journey to Praha, which should have taken around 40 minutes. However….

Around ½ km before Zelenec, there was a loud clatter on the roof of our train, and we suddenly ground to a halt – we had brought the wires down! The train stood there for a couple of hours, during which time several people alighted, by either forcing the doors open, or – in the case of one guy – opeing  the window and then slowly lowering himself out. We last saw him crossing the field in the direction of the main road! Eventually, a Class 742 diesel appeared and dragged us to Praha Horni Pocernice, where everyone was chucked off to wait for the next service. We eventually arrived at Praha almost 4 hours late, and with our afternoon plans out of the window, headed straight for the hotel. I did a quick trip out to Kralupy VN in the evening (out on a Class 162, back on a Class 150), and we then headed for an excellent beer hall (which had been recommended to us) for another traditional Czech meal with 2 beers for around a fiver.

Thursday March 9^th:

The aim of today was to cover the narrow gauge diesel hauled lines between Obratan, Jindrichuv Hradec and Nova Bystrice. Meeting up with Nigel again, a Class 363 took us south to Tabor, and a Class 810 unit to Obratan. The snow here was rather deep, and as we approached the station, Nigel commented “outr loco’s in”. We alighted from our unit and walked over to the other platform to find a loco there – but no stock. A couple of “Ada’s” were busy climbing into the back cab/luggage area, and it turned out that this loco by itself was in fact our train! Due to the run round loop being blocked by the snow, the coach had been left down at the next station which had a run round loop, so for the first 15 minutes, the 9 passengers (including the 3 of us) travelled in the loco. When we arrived at Cernovice a Tabora, we all got out and into the coach, the loco then reversed onto it and we were away.

We had an hour’s wait at Jindrichuv Hradec, and found a bar for a drink, before rejoining the same loco/coach for the trip to Nova Bystrice. Incidentally, these narrow gauge lines are privately owned so our "Sitove Jizdenky" tickets were not valid – we did 3 journeys of around 90 minutes, and each cost under £1.

Back on to the CD network, and a pair of Karts took us to Vaseli nad Luznici, where we rejoined the electrified line and caught a Class 363 back to Prague for an evening meal in another brew pub then back to the hotel.

Friday March 10^th:

Dobris was our first branch for today, behind a Class 714 and back towing some ‘wheely bins’. The following day, we observed that the branch was being worked by a Class 749 (I think) on better stock – as the line is a 90 minute each direction, I would recommend you do it on Saturdays if you like comfort!

Returning to Praha around lunchtime, we went for a quick bite to eat in Wencelas Square (which is actually retangular!). This is a major tourist trap and I would recommend eating away from there – we paid as much there for a soup and drink as we did for a full meal at the beer hall 10 minutes away in the evening!

In the afternoon, we did a circular trip, taking a Class 714 to Luzna u Rakovnika, then a Class 854 unit (new, and very comfortable too – why can’t we build trains like this?) hauling stock to Chumotov. A Class 363 took us across to Usti nad Labem Hln, where the train reversed for the journey back to Praha behind a Class 162.

Saturday March 11^th:

Our flight back was at 13.55, so not much time to do a lot this morning. However, we did manage a quick spin out from Praha Hln to Praha Vrsovice to get another Class 749 ‘in the book’, and also discovered a swapmeet taking place in one of the offices at Praha Hln station, where I managed to pick up a decent map of the Czech railway network. Back to the hotel to collect the bags, then away to the airport, and arriving back home at 16.45.

Map Link:

Czech network:  http://bueker.net/trainspotting/map.php?file=maps/czech-network/czech-network.gif