Its been a long six months! Just a weekend trip this but fingers crossed the next six months will be something of a recovery to normal standards…

754012 drags 242221 wrong road into Tisnov on the 0538 Ostrov n O-Breclav service, due an earlier derailment and resultant OHL damage they were dragging between Rikonin and Kurim

363050 is spending August on hire to CD due to a reported shortage of passenger traincrew around Ceske Bud. It is working the 0921 Brno – Plzen away from Protivin. 362s are making inroads onto 242 turns on these interregional services, but I won’t complain too much when it was Cargo on in big letters

Back to basics – 242201 and 242244 cross at Protivin working locals between Bud, Pisek and Razince. There is a significant uplift in hauled stoppers out of Bud now, and the micropanther reliability is as dicey as ever for 4/4 diagrams resulting in regular vice aswell.

751219, sadly silenced, has an annual outing from Ostrava to Mala Moravka for the blueberry festival. This years festival was cancelled due to CV19 however then reinstated on an “unofficial” basis and the tour was back on.

751219 at Svetla Hora half way down the branch pausing to cross the service train, which this summer is being worked by Junior Markets 710466

Which is seen arriving on the 1134 Bruntal – Mala Moravka. The “booked” micro has presumably been deemed underpowered for the branch which is the steepest non-cog standard gauge in CZ.

The booked “pair” of Gorillas on Saturdays 1427 Zilina – Praha (from Bohumin) produced 151027 and 151023 unsurprisingly dead inside.

Dire photo that i wouldn’t usually have bothered with, but six months since some of this sees 749253 at Melnik on the Mseno. Good run too, the assault on Satalice bank out of Vysocany certainly something for sore ears!

August 2019 Event, only four 210s in action due to a crew shortage meaning a bus from Rybnik to Vyssi Brod. All from the Saturday, had planned to return Sunday, however after spreadsheet hawking some diesels occurred instead which are thrown in here for good measure.

210039, Vyssi Brod Klaster

210058, Certova Stena – Vyssi Brod

210058, Certova Stena – Vyssi Brod

210039, Certova Stena. Canoes waiting for the return upstream service.

210057 (L), 210023 (R), Canoes (R), Loucovice

210057, Loucovice – Loucovice Zast

210057, Loucovice – Loucovice Zast. Let me off for it being in to the sun, its got canoes on FFS!

210039, Loucovice Zast – Loucovice

210052 (L), Canoes (R), Lipno n V

210057, 210058, Loucovice

210052, Vyssi Brod Klaster

210057, Vyssi Brod Klaster

742377, Nymburk Mesto, 0840 Praha Vrsovice – Turnov. Positioning move to get the Cargo 742 back after it had worked in on the Saturday after the booked goggle expired.

After a 150/362/242/814 transfer via Plzen, a long overdue catch up with 749107 which was having a very quiet 2019 season. Seen here at Blatna deputising for 749121 with the afternoon Cyklo Brdy back to Praha. Regular readers will notice the bodged half brake which has been refurbished, shame about the two hoppers behind it.

And just to prove it made it, 107 at Praha! Unfortunately it retreated back to Vrsovice shed for the rest of the year rather than a hoped for regular outing as this showed it worked…

From the December 2019 timetable change, R8 services between Brno and Bohumin were put out on a tendered basis as the Czechs sadly move away from CD into a Balkanised mess of a system. On the upside, this did leave a Vectron harvest available with RJ using Lokotrain as provider who in turn generally hire disploks from ELL. The use of an EP Cargo branded – part of lokotrain – Czech registered 383 was a bonus. These are all phots from January 2020 hence the general greyness! Stock is a combination of ex-SNCB compos for FC, gyppo coaches off the RJ commerical routes and former CNL couchettes which vary from tarted up to absolutely hanging, the latter generally used on Fridays and Sundays to strengthen otherwise standard 5-coach rakes of stock.

193221 arrives into Ostrava

193757 leans into the curve approaching Studenka

Some late and early services terminate at Brno Hl rather than continuing to Kralove Pole, 193222 is seen after an unexpected arrival in the bay platforms with a goggle off the Jihlava line alongside.

193762 hammers into Suchdol. Some of the drivers seem more than entertained by the power on hand for the loads.

383062 at Brno Kralove Pole. Most trains run here for turnaround out the way of other traffic.

After running round, 383061 arrives back into Brno heading for Bohumin

And a reminder of the old order with 362046 and 362163 crossing at Nezamyslice in October 2018

Post-tour trip down to Tabor to cover the Bechyne route 113s, with recently reinstated 113001 a massive winner and two diagrammed out in the afternoon. However with Hurricane Sabina (a developed UK Storm Ciara) blowing through our chances of getting them before the place degenerated into a farce were low. We did, but the weather soon caught up saw a six hour trundle back to Prague…

We had missed our plus at Tabor by miles, so lunch and a beer then out to view 113002 working the all day turn, seen here bringing the 1201 Bechyne – Tabor in. Yes the light really was this strange at this point!

The first section out of Tabor runs alongside local streets, 113002 is just crossing ulica Husova as it drops down to the river bridge

There we go, the gold at the end of the rainbow! After years dumped out of use, 113001 had been put through Prerov emerging in late 2019. Seen with two refreshed shiny coroprate 010 trailers before backing into Tabor. Lovely.

113001 departs Slapy where we leapt for ‘002 back. This was wise as the branch was closed not long after with both sets stuck at Bechyne end due to trees coming down.

Despite the investment in locos and stock recently, this is to be the last few years of these locos – likely any locos – on this unique, lightweight branch which is to be re-electrified at standard 25kV by 2023, doing away with this 1.5kV DC outpost. This will also mean the end of the heritage 100 and EMU use which are much celebrated due to this being Czech’s first electrified railway (as opposed to tramway, despite it being very much a tramway feel!)

Weekend in Brno to push away the January blues. With new region-led management of the Jihomoravsky region the writing is finally on the wall for the Brno cross-city 242s, just the excuse for a trip. They should see service until late 2021 when new region-owned carts arrive. Sadly the intermediate period sees CD cutting all costs – evidenced by shortened rakes and internal condition already, and also the removal of the regional rover as only IDS JMK tickets are now available on all Os/Sp/R trains in the area.

242260, Brno, having just terminated after working the 1830 from Tisnov. This loco has been through a mini-overhaul at Prerov, presumably for life extension and had its paintwork patched up rather than receiving corporate blue.

242234 rolls into Cebin on the 0830 Tisnov – Breclav. Overnight snow and think fog made for an atmospheric if cold morning!

Absolutely hanging 230058 leads 230100 and a 742 through Brno Reckovice with part of the great european log merry go round, running bang road due to a classic SLW possession for minor maintenance tasks being carried out.

242260 notches up away from Kurim on the 0837 Zdar n S-Vranovice, which would be terminating at Modrice due to yet more engineering work taking place on the Breclav line.

242246 heading north on the 0953 Brno – Zdar n S. This turn at least retains the previously used load 4, many having now been shortened to load 3.

242227 in the later and more common corporate colours gets away from Brno Kralove Pole with the 0941 Breclav – Tisnov. Within an hour or so the snow had all melted away and I had a flight home to catch sadly!

An afternoon peak hour in the usual spotters perch just to the north of Praha Liben as it was too hot to bother doing anything with the trains all in Friday wedge mode – the 1624 Zilina went past load 14 F & S!

130028 draws a rake of empties out of Liben yard which won’t be much of a challenge for it on the climb out of the city

In reaction to the long-term closure of the Negreli viaduct out of Masarykovo, the hauled Louny commuter starts from Liben instead, and the ECS is seen here shunting across for its 1617 departure, formed unusually of 714228 & 174227 top and tail vice the booked single “happy cow”

Slovak “Gorilla” 350016 drops down the bank on the 0940 Budapest – Praha running around 30L. This is better tahn our journey in the same train the previous day which had been 200+L when we bailed at Bratislava (but without complaint as we gained a Cargo goldfish!)

Regiojet 193206 was next on the 0745 Kosice – Praha. These locos will (well, say current plans) be displaced by a section order of yellow TRAXX (187 type to run as 388) from mid 2020, although I don’t think it would be much surprise to see them kept if Regiojet continue to expand.

ELL Vectron 193743 has spent much of the year on hire to the yellow team and is seen here nearing the end of its journey on the 1247 Bratislava – Praha. With this being a /7 rather than a /2 meaning it can go to basically most of Europe its hire was expected to be short term, obviously ELL didn’t need it to give to someone needing the extra countries! The red stripe on the front indicates that Italy is one of these.

With plans to head for an event at Benesov and a conveniently located hotel, it made sense to pop up the famous Zizkov steps where you can overlook the “new” bridge out of Praha Hlavni before it enters the long tunnel under Vitkov Hill. Slight misjudment of the shadows in September meant the “head on” shot from the viewpoint wasn’t on so we shuffled to the more sideways view for around half an hour…

KZC’s 749259 was off to Jicin, sounded much like “Mr Thrash” in the cab too!

Retro “gorilla” 151023 was a very helpful appearance on the 0824 Praha Zilina EC

Running a few minutes late just meters into its 686km journey with EC176, the 0832 Praha – Hamburg, placed in the hands of 193291 which will work throughout.

KZC’s second departure was 749006 trundling past with the 0835 Praha – Mseno. An unidentifed CD gorilla heads into Praha with a train likely to be from Hradec Kralove.

749259 at Rakovnik after arriving with KZC’s 0909 from Praha via Beroun. It had run round its pair of Bmx trailers and pushed here to stable for the day.

When a steam ban drops something big out – 700001 recently fettled at Luzna was a very good choice to work a return to Beroun which is seen here at Rozotky u Krivoklatu pausing to cross a unit. With wooden boxes leading for the downhill trundle there wasn’t much to write home about…

Going back uphill on the 1612 Beroun – Luzna was much better! As there wasn’t a move to intercept ‘259 we leapt off at Mestecko u Krivoklatu for a unit back to Beroun – as the line twists and turns up the valley this just happened to be near perfect for a phot too

Next day was a more usual outing, taking 749006 on the Jicin then across to Turnov for a new class in 710866 on the 1332 Turnov – Semily ‘Ceskym Rajem’ summer working which this 50-year old shunter shares running dates with steam on, seen here leaving Zelzny Brod.

A couple of carts later and another Jicin afternoon photo of 749006 at Jicin prior to working the 1654 Praha. Due to engineering work on table 70, this was diverted from Vsetaty to Lysa n L where the train was combined with 749253 on the return Mseno back to Praha via Celakovice

Another summer grumpy tour that began cloudy, 749162 of IDS was the power of choice and is seen at Lomy Morina quarry, a few kms down a branch from Nucice. The jazzy stock was provided by train operator KDS, who are big fans of the paintbrush.

Passing back through Praha hl n and slight disapointment at not getting a clear run through the centre road was eased by this cheeky phot of 111035 from the corridior after it had brought in the stock of the 1145 Munich from Praha Jih CS.

Due to yet more can we/can’t we issues a number of sidings around Caslav where dropped from the itinerary and replaced by an evening run from Praha to Dobris and return which certainly suited the majority. 749162 at Dobris with some logs for company as ever!

Thursday before the Czech July holiday long weekend and we’d spotted a few things in the week that were worth a look. As there wasn’t a cloud to be seen went for an afternoon’s photting session too, partly avoid some very very wedged trains as half the country was on the move.

754061 is an elusive ‘goggle’ as its based at Decin for standby duties only. It however had been reported working a morning Rumburk – Kolin service and return, its seen here at Kolin adding a trailer to the rear of what would become the 0944 Kolin – Rumburk

151011 and loads LOTS storm through Chocen with the 0459 Warsaw Wsch – Praha. The Warsaw portion is somewhere in the middle, fresh air “Friday” coaches on the front (to go back Thursday before the holiday weekend) and all sorts further back too.

Due to engineering work between Hradec Kralove and Tyniste nad Orlici the branch from the latter down the mainline at Chocen was being worked by isolated locos. As it was new track was worth covering anyway so we went for a nose – spotting the 111 from the breakfast car of a fast gorilla – and doubling back to Chocen for this the 1257 departure to Tyniste nad Orlici.

111019 pausing at Cermna nad Orlici whilst working the 1257 Chocen – Tysnite nad Orlici.

371005 has avoided corporate colours and returned from overhaul at Prerov outshopped in the classes original red and cream. Nicely this still includes cast plates which are generally now replaced by stickers, sadly due to theft. Its seen here near Brandys nad Orlici working the 1231 Luhacovice – Praha semi-fast

362111 and just two suburban coaches are working the 1343 Brno – Chocen, which is one of very few hauled trains currently booked out of Brno Hlavni to the north.

Slovak Gorilla 350016 was entrusted to the 0940 Budapest – Praha, again seen near Brandys nad Orlici running around 45 late

Ex SNCB 1209, now refurbished by CZ Loko and on lease to CER Cargo as “365004”, heads west with a train of tanks. More of these locos are in service now with contracts signed for all of them to (eventually) be re-instated with private freight operators.

151019 comes through Brandys nad Orlici working the 1022 Krakow / 0822 Warsaw – Praha. Not sure what the random MAV coach mid-consist is, with an ex-OBB further back and the CD bar behind the loco it makes for a lovely rake to phot

Some photos of smaller diesel types from a recent quick trip. WordPress have changed their editor and it seems to particularly dislike images being entered individually so whilst I work out how it now works things might look a bit more scrappy!

721073 sitting at Bratislava on two empty sleeper vehicles, probably being taken around to Nove Mesto. In termperatures of around 30, the Velke Hektor was evidently a bit hot as the crew opened the grills on the offside!

714203 departs Hlucin on the 1636 to Opava Vychod with three wheelie bins in tow. I flagged it for a phot and direct bus back to Ostrava.

703044 at Mnichovo Hradiste on an early doors additional from Bakov n Jizerou to Turnov in connection with a Kolej Klub open day at Turnov depot.

This wasn’t in the plan! 714222 appearing vice 814 on the 0931 Liberic – Rovensko bikex at Turnov had to be taken as a winner

And my luck was in with 742383 vice goggle the train back, seen here after shunting to the reception line at Turnov having worked the 0840 ex Praha Vrsovice.

Peserved on Turnov depot is “Milka” 714001, which you’ll notice looks very different from those above. Its ex 735117 and was only rebuilt internally maintaining the larger body of the T466 donor. Unfortunately it is kaput!