Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: reconstruction

Here you can see the size of the cranes being used to build the new station facilities at Cercany, which appear really to be overkill given the small size of most of what's being built. Nevertheless, the reason I posted this shot is that I like how the locomotive, CD #363117-3, looks.

In spite of the preservation of the old Nadrazi Cercany, this all-new station building has also been constructed to the south. I don't know if it's supposed to be a freight station, but I do note that it has freight doors (out of sight to the right). It's already in use, with CD staff coming and going quite busily.

In addition to the canopies and the passenger subway, another improvement to Nadrazi Cercany has been the introduction of on-platform digital trainboards. This one is listing my local to Prague, via Strancice, on the main.

Back in Cercany again, I got a shot of Kolej 3, which apparently has been laid will all-new rail (it's not even completely rusted if you look carefully) and all new concrete ties, although the previous ties were concrete ones of the same design. The clamps also look to be the same, or at least similar, but the overall effect of this new construction is that you get a much, much nicer ride.

Luckily for those who want to see the old stations of the Prague-Ceske Budejovice route preserved, only part of the old Nadrazi Cercany building was knocked down. I don't actually know the age of this station, but you can tell from the woodwork inside that it's at least steam era. What remains of the station is being fully modernized, painted, cleaned, and secured, and even in August the project was very far along. In this photo, the only visibly missing component is Kolej (Track) 1.

I'm not clear on precisely what those plastic tubes were preserving, but if I'm remembering right when the tracks were reinstalled some additional signals were added, so maybe they were for wiring. You can also see the old preparation bays and roundhouse on the far left background, unchanged.

Here's an alternate shot of #714021-3

Here you can see the empty roadbed where tracks 1 and 2 would be reinstalled within the coming months. Nastupiste 2 is basically done, Nastupiste 1 is coming.

I wasn't clear whether this was a tamper or a spiking/fastening machine. Does anybody know?

Although slab track is used in new straightaways on DPP's tram system, the turnouts in Albertov and on most of the system still use the old 19th-Century methods of construction, even down to genuine creosoted wooden ties (sleepers to the British)!!! Wooden ties are becoming rarer and rarer everywhere today, especially in Europe and Asia, and if I were to see this I would much more expect it to be in the U.S. than in the Czech Republic, but here are wooden ties, being used on the tram tracks no less, right in the middle of Prague!

Here's a larger, wider view of the tram track reconstruction in Albertov this summer.

Here's a black and white conversion of my original tram rails shot in Albertov.

This is the type of rail now used on DPP's tram system, with the flangeways built into the railhead as on some of the rail used in heavy railway crossings. Perhaps to aid in standardisation, this rail is even used on lines that aren't embedded in the street.

Much of the new tram line construction that I've seen since moving to Prague has consisted of replacing conventional tram tracks embedded in cobblestone to this new slab track with purpose-built tram rails that have built-in flangeways. Even odder, some of this track still takes seperate rail, which seems to defeat the purpose to me, but oh well....

Here's another shot of Nadrazi Vysehrad, showing the recent (early summer 2007) tram track reconstruction.

Nadrazi Vysehrad is closed to the public, and at this point it's in such bad condition that it looks abandoned. Surprisingly, though, it's still staffed by Ceske Drahy personnel who watch the passing trains.