2009

This station name actually dates to 2007, if I'm not mistaken. I remember first seeing this sign coming back to Prague in 2008 from Christmas Break, and it must have gone up before the break, of course. Realising their blunder, however (Kafka wrote stories about hellish bureaucracy and mismanagement), Ceske Drahy quickly removed these signs from inside the rail station proper, or covered the name in tape, rather. This sign, at the bus station end, was allowed to stay, however, so although I kicked myself for not getting the signs in the station earlier, I was able to get a photo of this sign as a last resort.

When I got home from the U.S., these Christmas cookies were still left over, sitting on the kitchen table.

Soon after I arrived back to Prague, we had a major snowstorm that was cold enough to frost all the trees, and it stayed that way long enough for me to get some photos.

This is one of my favorites.

Here's the third shot.

Here's a closeup of the frosted branches on one of the trees.

The gloom in this shot isn't bad post processing, as there was some mist in the air, a sure indication that this scene wouldn't last long.

Here's another frosted tree.

This tree was so frosted that it looks like an IR shot taken in the summer, but it isn't.

Here's another branch closeup.

And a third branch closeup.

Here you can see the building with the clock on it, down near the Metro.

My first international trip after getting back to Prague was to Dresden, which meant that I departed from Nadrazi Holesovice. Since the Schengen agreement took effect, my sense is that the various European railways have been less hesitant to allow their locomotives to operate across international borders, as these Austrian OBB Class 1216 electrics have been turning up in Holesovice quite a bit lately.

At this point, my train, coming from Budapest (if I'm not mistaken) hadn't arrived yet, but the locomotive that would take the train into Germany, CD #362164-6, was already waiting.

Here's another Austrian locomotive that happened to be waiting in Holesovice, double headed with either a CD 362 or 363 Class electric.

My train arrived in Holesovice behind ZSSK #350006-3, which would have been added in Slovakia, of course.

As my train headed north towards the border, I took several shot of the snowy scenes as they went by, but many were limited by poot light and the tinted windows on the train. This one came out better than most. The church is the church of St. Mary.

I originally had no idea what this locomotive was because the photo was so blurred, but eventually I found the info that I needed. This is Ex-CSD 475.179, which is an operable 475 Class 4-8-2 based at Decin, as seen here. I don't have the exact build date, but it would have been sometime between 1947 and 1950. The power rating is 1480kW (1985 horsepower), and the maximum speed is officially 100Km/h, although obviously a locomotive this powerful with medium-size drivers could probably do more.