Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: holesovice

I finally caught up to the Czech version of the Fiat Pendolino a week or two ago, and here's my first photo!! Amazingly, it came out reasonably well, in spite of the 100 ISO film (unusual for me) and the low light. I didn't expect it to, so I ran down the platform to the lead end, rested the camera on a bench, and took a second shot. It didn't come out. :-) I guess it's good that I took this one on faith, then. :-) Hopefully I'll have more of these in the foreseeable future, but not soon, as Pendolinos are rare in this country. Enjoy.

This is another black and white conversion from my Fujicolor 100 in my Lomo 135. I saw this scene and thought of how it perfectly represented the Communist ugliness of much of Prague's outskirts, although in honesty American capitalists are at least as good at making suburbs look repulsive. Actually, though, Nadrazi Holesovice, Prague's international train station (it's bus and Metro terminal is in the foreground, dedicated, appropriately, in 1984), is one of the best-run in Prague, and maybe the very best. Although, not being Czech, and can't speak for all Czechs, I do know that people come from other parts of Prague just to make reservations and get railcards here because it's less of a nuisance than at the other Prague stations.

As you can see, I caught up to the Pendolino, again at Holesovice, although I still didn't get a chance to ride it. It was going in the wrong direction for me. :-( Still, I like this photo, and I hope that you do too.

Trams pass by the old Mestan Pivovar all the time, but this was a lucky shot.

This was another dusk shot of a tram in Holesovice, this time at the train station, with similar dramatic late-day results.

Ortenovo Namesti isn't far from Mestan Pivovar, and in fact is probably the closest tram stop. This was the tram that was going to take me home as the sun was setting, giving me great late-day lighting to give me a darker, more dramatic shot than usual.

Here you can still see the original lettering on the pivovar, which I think was probably kept for historic purposes.

Here you can see a little bit more detail on the Kommunardu (that's a street) side.

This is another, brighter shot of the old Mestan Pivovar.

Mestan is a 19th Century brand of Czech beer that is now the cheapest brand name beer you can buy in Prague, with a half liter bottle sometimes going for less than 4Kc, which comes out to less than 20 cents. This is the original Mestan Pivovar, or brewery, if I'm not mistaken, opened in 1898. Nowadays, though, Mestan is brewed at the equally historic Staropramen Pivovar in Smichov, and this old brewery has become an office complex on the upper levels, with an Arnold supermarket in the basement.

Finally my train, EC170, the "Hungaria," arrived with a Slovak Class 350 electric waiting to be cut off and replaced with the 371 pictured earlier. It was about 10 minutes late, but ultimately I didn't miss my Berlin connection as a result.

Finally, I had the treat of a freight train pulling through Holesovice ahead of my train, which probably explained why my train was about 10 minutes late.

I'm really stumped as to what this machine is, although it's obviously some kind of MOW equipment. I'm assuming its a rail grinder, as it doesn't look elaborate enough to be a ballast cleaner. Does anybody know?

Just as the sunset illuminated other trains and objects, it also had the chance to illuminate the Pendolino, which showed up exactly when I was ready for it. I heard the announcement, ran a few meters, composed the shot, and clicked.

This was the same sunset as earlier, only reflected in the glass of a shelter on my platform in Holesovice.

I took many, many different versions of this shot while waiting for the "Hungaria" to take me to Berlin. This locomotive would be our power, but for the moment it was waiting for the train to arrive with Slovak power on the point. The lighting was what struck me more than anything, though, as Class 371s are a dime a dozen in Holesovice.

I shot this while waiting for a train to Bradford, England. YES! REALLY!! I'm sick of airlines losing my luggage. Anyway, I would have to take six trains, actually, one from here to Berlin, a couchette from Berlin to Brussels, the Eurostar Brussels to London Waterloo, the Underground Waterloo to King's Cross, a GNER Intercity 225 to Leeds, and finally a First Northern local to Bradford Interchange. I don't know if it was the longest train trip I ever took, but it was certainly one of the longest. In any case, I hope you like this sunset!! :-)