2010

Across from the Narodni technicky muzeum (National Technical Museum) near Letenske Namesti and Letna, is the Národní zemědělské muzeum, or National Agricultural Museum, which has a large tractor collection, among other things. This Fordson from the late 1920's or early 1930's is displayed on one of two plinths adjoining the front steps. The other plinth also has a tractor on it, although I'm not familiar with the model.

This was an alternate to the shot I posted earlier of this same train. Here you can see the sillouettes of the auto racks better.

Eurocity services between Prague and Munich are at least partly contracted out to Arriva at the moment. Given Arriva's history in Britain, this surprises me, although we weren't too horribly late into Munich in the end, just late. Some of this was Ceske Drahy's fault (or rather the fault of the Czech track authority), though, as most of the delays happened in Plzensky Kraj. The ALEX coaches include many ex-CD coaches like this one, mildly rebuilt with new seats.

A woman who I was travelling with pointed out this station to me as a bit of a landmark in railway architecture. It was built after World War II, although I think it bears more of a resemblance to stations built in the 1930's. The city itself, for many years known by its German name of Klattau, has long been home to some of the richest Czechs, being originally built with the profits from nearby gold mines in the 14th Century. In more recent decades it has been a resort town, partly for skiing. The town, like most of its era, also has a castle, which now features an art gallery.

Here's another shot of the canopies at Nadrazi Klatovy, showing the rounded ends.

The first stop in Germany on the route is at Landshut, which is a combination passenger and freight station.

The freight handled at Landshut was mixed, but I spotted a number of interesting things, like these hopper cars from Poland.

I don't know if this interlocking (or possibly more modern) signal box is still used for its original purpose, but it's still standing and manned.

Regensburg is an old Romanl city dating to about 90 A.D. Most of what's left is medieval in nature, although not so much in the vicinity of the station (that building behind the station on the right looks Baroque). These historic buildings were better preserved than most German buildings in World War II partly because Allied commanders spared it on purpose for its historic value. To me as a modern American living in Europe, though, I was impressed by the extensive use of bicycles in Regensburg, as you can see in the racks on the platform.

Here's a better view of Regensburg Hauptbahnhof. Again note the bikes.

This looks, at a glance, like a Class 440 EMU, although from this angle I can't read the number.

This Class 183 is the standard electric locomotive used by ALEX, as well as the Vogtlandbahn before they switched over to EMU's (This is from WIkipedia, I don't know if it's accurate since in 2005 I noticed they were already all-EMU). This is #183001, although I don't know if it's genuinely the first of the class. The Class 183 is a variant of the ES 64 U "Eurosprinter" electric used by the OBB and DB, designated internally in Seimens as the ES 64 U4. On the OBB, the ES 64 U is classified as Rh 1016, and on the DB as Class 182. SZ, the Slovenian railway, although has a few, classifying them as Class 541. In spite of looking quite brutal and heavy, these locomotives, while indeed powerful with 8,600 horsepower, can operate at 230Km/h (143 m.p.h.), and reach a top speed of 357Km/h (222 m.p.h.), making them one of the fastest electric locomotive classes in history. Actually, given that most German and Austrian coaching stock is only rated for 200Km/h (124 m.p.h.) this is overengineering in the extreme.

Here are some DB EMU's outside of Munchen Hbf as we approached the station (I was shooting back). I don't know the classes since I can't read the numbers (they're blurred), but they would be either Class 422, 423, 424, 425, or 426, as they have very similar carbodies to each other.

I was very happy when we arrived in Munchen Hbf to see several classic German locomotives, in addition to some original Class 401 ICE sets. This is a Class 111, introduced in 1974, and so well-known that it made it into the strategy computer game "Railroad Tycoon II," one of my all-time favorite games. In real life, these locomotives were so successful that 227 were built by various contractors until 1984, and the only ones scrapped to date (two of them) were totalled in accidents. These locomotives have 4990 horsepower, and can reach a maximum operating speed of 160Km/h (99 m.p.h.), although they don't generally work too many express trains anymore. Originally, they weren't used in express service, and weren't even rated for 160, but from 1980 onwards they were upgraded to support the even-faster (and older) Class 103 express locomotives, although both the 111 and the 103 have now been mostly replaced in this role by the 101 and similar newer classes.

This is another classic that I spotted, a Class 218 diesel. Although it resembles the old (and even more classic) V200 diesel of the late 1950's, the Class 218 was introduced in 1966, and was initially classified as the V164 before DB changed their numbering and classification system in 1968. It was part of the V160 series of diesel classes intended to replace the V200, which was the first mainline express passenger diesel used extensively by DB. Today, very few diesel locomotives are used in express service in Germany due to extensive electrification, so most work locals on branchlines. We had actually spent much of our trip behind diesels because of diversions and construction work, but this wasn't the usual situation for our train. Getting back to the Class 218, the Class 2,467 horsepower in prototype form (the first 12 in service 1966-1968), but this was upgraded to 2,763 from 1968 onwards, putting it close to American diesels, which at the time were some of the more powerful diesels in the world. Maximum operating speed was and still is 140Km/h, just as fast as all of the electrics of the day except for the 103 (which was allowed a maximum of either 160 or 200 depending on the service, making it the fastest in the world at the time). The 218 was more interesting than is obvious, though. Firstly, it isn't a diesel-electric but a diesel-hydraulic, and in spite of the terrible reputation of this technology, the 218 has been in continuous service for 44 years. In addition, because it's a mixed traffic locomotive, it has both a high and a low gear, the low one limiting the top speed to 100Km/h, doubling the tractive effort. Some locomotives originally had a third gear that tripled the tractive effort, although I don't know how many still do. At least one source cites the low-gear top speed as 90Km/h, so this may refer to these units. In 1996-1998, 10 units were re-geared in the opposite way for 160Km/h express services, interestingly out of Munich, being classified during that time as Class 210. Finally, while modern diesel-electric locomotives have dynamic brakes, using the traction motors for braking, the 218 has hydraulic braking that accomplishes the same goal.

Strangely, I've had trouble getting information on these. I've seen them before, but I can't find information on them on the internet.

Very strangely, I also can't find too much information on this Cathedral, which is actually small enough to look like just a normal gothic (in style at least) church. It's a few blocks from the Augustiner brewery, in St. Paul's Platz. I really liked how it looked lit up at night, though, so I took some photos.

This was my second attempt at photographing the cathedral, only from the opposite side, where the front portal is.