Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: masarykovo

I call this a "canopy" for want of a better word. I'm really not clear on what else I could call it. It's not a trainshed, in the traditional sense, because the trains pull up to a waiting area covered by it, but don't go under it. It's also too lightly constructed to really be considered completely a part of the Masarykovo station building, and indeed it isn't original, if you look at old prints from the 1840s.

I saw the abstraction and beauty of this shot immediately, so I took it, although I've burned the sky in here using Photoshop. The train itself is a Ceske Drahy Class 971 bi-level EMU (built by a consortium of CKD and Skoda), identical to the Class 471 in nearly everything but length, if I'm not mistaken.

I like the way the sun was illuminating the bricks in this shot, so I figured I would compose it with the train and the platform for good measure. The main challenge was waiting for passengers to stop walking by. I also have had to burn this one in a bit.

Here's the glass roof of the Masarykovo station canopy, similar to many other stations, even if it isn't the grandest.

These 810 Class railbuses are everywhere in the Czech Republic, or at least I've seen them everywhere. They're not new, either, as they first entered production in 1973, and were built until 1984, always by Vagonka Tatra Studenka a name that is usually abbreviated Stud. The 810s are diesel-hydromechanical, like most railbuses, and are very quick to start and stop, although their maximum operating speed is only 80Km/h (about 50 m.p.h.). That last thing doesn't matter, though, as they're mostly used for local services on very primitive branchlines where the speed limit is usually closer to 40Km/h. Their only real vice, if you assume that you want a railbus for moving small numbers of people in local services, is that like most railbuses, 810s are noisy and not particularly smooth, although they're probably not as bad as the ex-BR Class 144 Pacers used in Britain.

This is one of my favorite pantograph shots. I really like the contrast between the snow and the darkness under the canopy, especially considering that most details in the photo came out fine, esepecially on the train itself.

In addition to the new Class 471s and 971s, Masarykovo still hosts services operated by the older 451 and 452 classes, although they are gradually dwindling in number. Hlavni Nadrazi is generally the better place to spot "pantographs" if that's really what you're after.

During the recent snowstorms (actually back in February), I couldn't resist taking some train photos, so I walked and rode trams around Prague to see what I could get. I took this shot in Masarykovo Nadrazi.