Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: emu

I took this on October 12th, right after getting off train #Os9608 (I think). It's pulling away in this picture, rather than into the station. You just can't tell because the markers aren't lit, although note that it's running on the right. This EMU, CD#452 013-6, also works the locals to Benesov, and I've ridden on it many, many times.

Ceske Drahy inherited a fleet of Russian bi-level coaches from Ceskoslovenske Drahy, and these are still in service, if old (see my picture of Tynec yard). They're cramped, dirty, somewhat rundown, and very hot in the summer, though, so they're far from ideal, even if the view from the upper deck is cool. Ceske Drahy must have been thinking of this, as well as the better passenger capacity in proportion to tare, when they ordered their fleet of bi-level EMUs, Classes 471 and 971, from a consortium of CKD and Skoda in the late 1990s. The oldest of these is already 10 years old, but surprisingly, they've been kept up enough so that they still seem relatively new. The upper deck is the best part, though. :-) I took this on the way to Karlstejn.

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 took this the very first time I watched trains (trainspotted??) in Britain!! It was a very exciting day, as I had never seen so many trains running at once, and doing it so well!! :-) This was during the first year of privatisation, but you couldn't see the negative effects of it at all yet. Most of it was still public-sector, and very clean and well-maintaintained. Waterloo was so spotless that day that it was a little bit hard to believe, and this mind you was without the dreadful experience of privatisation to compare it to. Instead, I was comparing it to Amtrak, which is a way is an even starker contrast when you think about it. These trains are EMUs, although I don't have my books handy to found out exactly which classes. Most of the BR Southern Region EMUs were, of course, a bit hard to tell from one another. If someone with books handy could fill me in I would be very grateful. :-)

Class 451 and 452 EMUs are a necessary evil of travelling on Ceske Drahy. They're noisy, old, dirty, slow, rough-running, heavily vandalised, and laughably out of date, but they're often the only trains working the line you need to travel, and they rarely break down, actually. Here Ceske Drahy #452 013-6, a 452 Class EMU, waits to work a local service to Benesov U Prahy.

451s are very common on local services on electrified lines on Ceske Drahy, and I've already discussed them in detail elsewhere. This one is arriving from Benesov U Prahy with a local, and will also form the return service after unloading.

This is #451060-9 after working a service from Prague, waiting at Cercany for the highball to Benesov U Prahy, where it will terminate and switch direction to work a return service to Prague. Notice the Class 810 railbus and the freight to the right. Cercany is a very busy station, in spite of Cercany being a relatively small town. There's plenty of business, too, as the only reason the platform isn't crawling with people is that the train is already loaded.

As #451060-9 was waiting for the highball, #452013-6 pulled in with a local for Praha Hlavni Nadrazi. It was the early afternoon, so the glare to the right is the setting winter sun.

Cercany is so busy it's actually possible to line up an EMU, a diesel-hauled freight, and a railbus all at once if you're careful and lucky enough. :-)

Here's...yet another Class 452 shot!! #452014-4 is waiting in this picture to work a service Praha Hlavni Nadrazi-Benesov U Prahy.

This is, as many people know, the Great Hall of the National Railway Museum, formerly a shop. I used to do volunteer work here when I lived in York, and enjoyed every minute of it. From left to right in this photo, we can see the replica "Iron Duke," L&NW #790 "Hardwicke," SR #3030, BR #55019, "Royal Highland Fusilier," the original KF7 4-8-4 exported to China, BR #92220 "Evening Star," and 41001, which was the lead power unit on the original HST.

When I went to Keighley to ride the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway for the third time, however, I departed from Bradford Forster Square rather than Leeds New. Here my train is on the left, with another 333 sitting over on the adjacent track.

Maybe the best known service worked by 333s other than the Heathrow Express is the Metro Trains service from Leeds New Station to Skipton. This service, which is monsterously fast for a local service, with 100 m.p.h. sometimes possible, was originally worked by old Class 307 EMUs with slam doors!! I actually had a chance to ride some of the last of those in 1998 before these 333s came into service. When I rode the 307s, it was on the way to Keighley for my first ride on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.

Silverlink normally operate the local services from London Euston to Birmingham New Street, so 321423 is definitely outside of its home territory here. I'm assuming that it was substituting on another service for a diffrent TOC.

Here's the same departure a few seconds later.

Here's a departure from Bradford Forster Square, heading straight out on the outbound track, which in Britain is of course on the left.

This is another arrival by a different Class 333. Although it's on the outgoing track, notice, that it's being switched over from the arrival track to take an out of the way platform on its far right.

Bradford, a city of a quarter of a million people, is large enough to have two major rail stations, Bradford Interchange, which hosts diesel trains, and Bradford Forster Square, which can also host electrics. This is the throat for Bradford Forster Square, as you can see from the cantenary. The train is a Class 333 EMU, once used only on Heathrow Express services in London but now common in other parts of Britain as well, most notably on the Metro Trains services operated by First Northern in West Yorkshire, as here. These trains, while only EMUs designed for local services, and originally the Heathrow Express, can operate as fast as 100 m.p.h., and do so even on the Heathrow Express, making them the fastest trains in Greater London. This, however, is not London. :-)