Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: main

This was my last shot of my railfanning session, in which I tried to capture the late-day sunlight on Hlavni Nadrazi. Although my Nokia 301 cameraphone was limited, being a cameraphone, it did occassionally have decent luck with sunsets, and not only while pointing directly into the sun.

This was my second shot, as the train proceeded into Praha Hlavni Nadrazi.

Ceske Drahy #150210-3 is a class 150 electric locomotive, which is typically used on express passenger trains, as seen here. These units like the Class 362 and 363 classes, date to the Communist era, having been introduced in 1978 (the Class 362/363 units date to 1980-1990). Consequently, they are only capable of operating at up to 140Km/h, or 86 m.p.h. They are more powerful than the Class 363 units, at about 5364 horsepower (converted from 4000 Kw). However, they only can run on 3000 volts DC. In any event, the slightly higher performance of these units means that they are more likely than the Class 363 units to be seen on international services. I am not aware if this train was coming in from Linz, Graz Wien/Vienna, or from a domestic origin to the south, though.

This was another service operating by a Class 471 "City Elefant" EMU, this time entirely in the new blue livery. This service, while I have been unable to identify it, was almost certainly a local service to either Strancice, or Benesov via Strancice.

This was a second shot of the City Elefant arrival, illustrating that this was actually a two-unit lashup of three bi-level coaches, for a total of six. The rear trainset still has the original red, white, and blue City Elefant livery, which has been replaced by the more generic two-tone blue used on local electric trains on Ceske Drahy. Starting from about 2010, Ceske Drahy actually began using the two-tone blue not only on the City Elefant, but on all passenger stock, even the express stock, although this repainting project didn't affect the majority of stock until about 2013. By 2015, it was starting to become rare to see the older liveries.

This was another shot I took from Spanelska, overlooking the south/west throat of Hlavni Nadrazi. This Class 471 "City Elefant" EMU was actually arriving with a local service (although I don't know which one), rather than departing. These are obviously bi-level units, and have largely been used to replace the Communist-era EMU's like the Class 451 and 452 "Pantograph" or "City Frog" units. By 2015, there were few, if any, Communist-era units left, and by 2018 they were gone except for on excursions. Also, by 2015, they generally only worked services out of platforms 1-4, but that was only incidental. Part of the reason was that they had recently been replaced on the locals to Strancice and Benesov (via Strancice) out of platform 7.

This was the first in a series of photos I took while railfanning at Praha hlavni nadrazi. This overlook, from a parking lot on Spanelska, overlooking the south/west throat of Hlavni Nadrazi, is a favorite with railfans who want to get photos. Within a few metres of this spot is probably the most popular spot, on Vinohradska immediately above the tunnel entrances. The railway tunnels at Hlavni Nadrazi are actually the ones from the 1966 Czech film Sedmikrasky. The express train on the right is probably headed for Ceske Budejovice, the most common destination for express trains from platforms 6 and 7. The other likely destination would be Linz. That electric locomotive is probably a Class 362 or 363, which are multi-voltage locomotives with between 4104 horsepower and 4667 horsepower, depending on the voltage used. Their maximum speed is only 75 m.p.h., but this route (via Cercany and Benesov) isn't very fast until you get south of Cercany. Both express and local trains on the Prague-Benesov route consistently use platforms 6 and 7 at Hlavni Nadrazi.