2015

This show was a few weeks after the Gattaca show, one of many that I attended at Klub 007 during 2015. I've only uploaded a handful of these cameraphone shots, as there are a very large number of them in my files, most of them mediocre to bad in quality. The Unholy Preachers were a fun band to see, though, so this show seemed like a worthy one to include.

This was the first in a series of photos I took while railfanning at Praha hlavni nadrazi. This overlook, from a parking lot on Spanelska, overlooking the south/west throat of Hlavni Nadrazi, is a favorite with railfans who want to get photos. Within a few metres of this spot is probably the most popular spot, on Vinohradska immediately above the tunnel entrances. The railway tunnels at Hlavni Nadrazi are actually the ones from the 1966 Czech film Sedmikrasky. The express train on the right is probably headed for Ceske Budejovice, the most common destination for express trains from platforms 6 and 7. The other likely destination would be Linz. That electric locomotive is probably a Class 362 or 363, which are multi-voltage locomotives with between 4104 horsepower and 4667 horsepower, depending on the voltage used. Their maximum speed is only 75 m.p.h., but this route (via Cercany and Benesov) isn't very fast until you get south of Cercany. Both express and local trains on the Prague-Benesov route consistently use platforms 6 and 7 at Hlavni Nadrazi.

This was another shot I took from Spanelska, overlooking the south/west throat of Hlavni Nadrazi. This Class 471 "City Elefant" EMU was actually arriving with a local service (although I don't know which one), rather than departing. These are obviously bi-level units, and have largely been used to replace the Communist-era EMU's like the Class 451 and 452 "Pantograph" or "City Frog" units. By 2015, there were few, if any, Communist-era units left, and by 2018 they were gone except for on excursions. Also, by 2015, they generally only worked services out of platforms 1-4, but that was only incidental. Part of the reason was that they had recently been replaced on the locals to Strancice and Benesov (via Strancice) out of platform 7.

This was a second shot of the City Elefant arrival, illustrating that this was actually a two-unit lashup of three bi-level coaches, for a total of six. The rear trainset still has the original red, white, and blue City Elefant livery, which has been replaced by the more generic two-tone blue used on local electric trains on Ceske Drahy. Starting from about 2010, Ceske Drahy actually began using the two-tone blue not only on the City Elefant, but on all passenger stock, even the express stock, although this repainting project didn't affect the majority of stock until about 2013. By 2015, it was starting to become rare to see the older liveries.

This was another service operating by a Class 471 "City Elefant" EMU, this time entirely in the new blue livery. This service, while I have been unable to identify it, was almost certainly a local service to either Strancice, or Benesov via Strancice.

Ceske Drahy #150210-3 is a class 150 electric locomotive, which is typically used on express passenger trains, as seen here. These units like the Class 362 and 363 classes, date to the Communist era, having been introduced in 1978 (the Class 362/363 units date to 1980-1990). Consequently, they are only capable of operating at up to 140Km/h, or 86 m.p.h. They are more powerful than the Class 363 units, at about 5364 horsepower (converted from 4000 Kw). However, they only can run on 3000 volts DC. In any event, the slightly higher performance of these units means that they are more likely than the Class 363 units to be seen on international services. I am not aware if this train was coming in from Linz, Graz Wien/Vienna, or from a domestic origin to the south, though.

This was my second shot, as the train proceeded into Praha Hlavni Nadrazi.

This was my last shot of my railfanning session, in which I tried to capture the late-day sunlight on Hlavni Nadrazi. Although my Nokia 301 cameraphone was limited, being a cameraphone, it did occassionally have decent luck with sunsets, and not only while pointing directly into the sun.

For many years, I went to Kontakt Foto to get scans of medium format negatives, since I lacked a scanner that could do 120 film. I subsequently had to find other labs that would do them (they are available, but you have to do some searching, and they're much slower). They were located in the CTK Pasaz, seen here, and most likely they took a hit when photojournalism went digital. CTK are actually one of the main Czech news agencies. Kontakt Foto's closure has meant that, in general, my photography has become harder, although my slowness to produce new film photographs is more down to laziness on my part than a lack of suitable labs.

There are actually two Vytopna locations in Prague, one here, in the Palladium Shopping Centre, and another one on Vaclavske Namesti (plus another one in Vienna, in Austria). This is a railway-themed restaurant, with mostly American-inspired food like burgers (even if the trains are mostly Czech and European), and a large G-Scale model train layout integrated into the restaurant. This is the case in both the Palladium and Vaclavske Namesti locations. The trains are computer-controlled, using a similar system to that used on the (real-life) Docklands Light Railway in London, with a signal wire down the middle of the track. This is so that they can be used to deliver drinks to the tables, although they are too small (in spite of being G-scale) to deliver food. One thing their small size doesn't impact much is their speed, as they can operate at up to 20 Km/h, comparable to real 19th-Century freight trains (at least in the United States). This means that they're hard to photograph without a good camera with a fast sensor or film. This is one of my better shots from this visit in 2015, where I managed to catch one of the gondolas loaded with two full 500ml beer glasses. Empty beer glasses also generally return to the bar via rail.

The model railway in Vytopna also has station buildings, although they're purely decorative. This station is for "Stare Brno," which is probably a reference not so much to the city of Brno (as Brno doesn't have a station by that name), but more likely the Starobrno beer brand. Despite this, when I was there Vytopna was mostly serving Krusovice, which is brewed in the city of the same name (historically, from 1581 to 1685, Krusovice was the royal brewery of Bohemia, and has passed through various owners since).

The original Prague Vytopna restaurant was actually this one, on Vaclavske Namesti. I've actually forgotten if I've ever been inside, but I don't think so. There was also a location in Brno, which is said to have been the original location in 2009, but it has since closed. The Vaclavske Namesti location was still open when I researched this caption in 2024, however.

Pragomost were a Czech soft drink brand, generally producing a higher-end alternative to the obvious brands like Coca Cola, Pepsi, RC, and in the Czech Republic, Kofola. The company was owned by F.H. Prager, who specialize in alcoholic cider. "Sipek" means "rose hip" in Czech, although what that has to do with the famous Russian-American anarchist Emma Goldman (the woman pictured on the bottle) I have no idea. Many people might wonder what she might think about being a brand, although having said this, she actually owned an ice cream shop for a time, albeit not in Prague. Emma Goldman actually isn't the only far-left political figure to be portrayed on a Pragomost bottle, actually, as Frida Kahlo and Kathleen Cleaver were used for other varieties of Pragomost soda. As of this writing (2024) it looks like F.G. Prager are no longer using the Pragomost brand, although they have now branched out into soft drinks under their main brand.

By the time I took this photo, Nadrazi Vrsovice's renovation was already more or less complete, having been renovated in 2007-2008, making it one of the earlier stations on the Prague-Ceske Budejovice route (technically Linka 220) to be completed. It was also one of the older stations on this route to be completed, in 1882, albeit under the name Nusle. In reality, Nadrazi Praha-Vrsovice is immediately on the border between the boroughs of Vrsovice and Nusle, so either name would be appropriate. The station was finally renamed Vrsovice, after a series of name changes, at the end of World War II in 1945. Getting back to 2015, just as significant as the 2007-2008 renovation itself was that Praha-Vrsovice also was one of the better-maintained stations after the 2008 rebuilding, as many of the stations on the route were quickly vandalized to the point where the renovation was irrelevant, sometimes before the stations were even reopened. I took this photo as part of a series on the route, although on this particular day I didn't make it to the end of the line (I ended up stopping in Mirosovice u Prahy). Today, Praha-Vrsovice remains in good condition, so careful supervision of the station has continued since I took this photo.

"Zastavka" and "Nadrazi" can be synonymous in Czech, although "Zastavka" usually indicates a more minor stop. In this case, Strasnice Zastavka had not been staffed since 1987, and the vandalism visible in this shot makes this obvious. The metal shelters date to that era, as they had replaced the original wooden station buildings from 1905. The pedestrian bridge, however, did date to 1905. Having said this, the heavily-vandalized state of this station was probably a factor in its closure in 2020, to be replaced by the new stations at Eden (opened in 2020) and Zahradni Mesto (opened in 2021). Eden has the advantage of being adjacent to a major shopping centre of the same name, as well as the Fortuna Arena.

This is actually the new Nadrazi Hostivar, which was under construction as I took this photo in 2015. It's about 144 meters east of the older station, which was built in 1882 to replace a smaller station from 1871, which was the first Prague station built specifically for the Kaiser Franz Josef Bahn, now Linka 220 to Ceska Budejovice. I used to regularly use Hostivar, and this continued for many years, meaning I used both the older and the newer station. The older station still survives, if for no other reason than that it has a popular pub in it. The new station was initially vandalized almost as soon as it was opened, when construction wasn't even complete, but it's subsequently become no worse than other larger stations on this route. The station building, unusually, is built out of what looks like unpainted steel, so it also rusted over before it even opened. It has also since been badly vandalized, being one of the worst damaged structures on-site. It isn't actually visible in this shot, as it would have been behind me, on the other side of the train.

Horni Mecholupy wasn't radically different before the 2005 reconstruction, although the speed limit was notably lower. Although I've rarely, if ever, ridden through this station at the full 160 Km/h (99 m.p.h.), it is supposedly good for it. There isn't any station building there, and these shelters added a few years after the reconstruction (I think in 2009 or so) were originally made mostly out of tempered glass, with a metal frame, as on bus stops. These survived only about a week, as I recall, first being covered in graffiti, and then being destroyed entirely. The construction contractors didn't attempt to rebuild the shelters in their original form, instead putting metal sides on them, as on the 1987-era shelters at Strasnice. These then were covered with graffiti, posters, and other debris, making them look just as horrible, but at least now they provide some shelter from the weather. I don't remember if I've ever used Horni Mecholupy, but it's possible I used it once, when a connecting bus was better from there than from Hostivar. I've taken similar shortcuts through Praha-Uhrineves, at least. Horni Mecholupy seems, from the vandalism, to be so insecure, though, that it I wouldn't consider it a very safe station to use, even in the daytime. This is unfortunate, because there are many examples of similar station in Prague and abroad which don't have this problem. For example, Uhrineves seems perfectly usable, and it's only one stop south of Horni Mecholupy. Incidentally, the storage area in the background of this photo had, until shortly before I took this, been a go kart track.

This is the second station building to stand on this site, being built in 1915 to the same design as the 1882 station in Hostivar. This station's name is one of the hardest to pronounce by foreigners, with the correct Czech spelling being "Uhříněves." I usually omit the Czech diacritics on iPernity for the sake of full compatibility, but in reality Czech words make wide use of diacritics distinct to Czech and Slovak. In any case, as you can see, this is one of the stations in the best condition on this route, and has been for a number of years. I don't actually remember when it was in its pre-2005, heavily-vandalized state.