Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: Class 363

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.

When I took this, I hadn't done any rail photography in Hostivar for awhile. The intermodal freights through Hostivar seem to be increasing in length, over 40 wagons (cars), which is probably good news both for business and the environment. Electric locomotives are ideal for this given their greater power, on average, than diesels, and Czech electrics are generally geared for slow speeds, which in this case is another advantage.

This was my train back to Prague at Rokycany. This 363 Class electric has the new CD blue and grey livery.

#363079-6 worked my return train to Prague, and although this photo is a bit dark I decided to include it anyway. The quality of light varied on the way back, but it actually stayed light quite late.

I'm saving the video and photos of Ex-CSD #498.022, the "Albatros," for my NRHS shows, so here's another shot I got while at Radotin, of an outbound express.

Some of the long-distance locomotives are also being painted blue and grey, from blue and yellow, green and yellow, or green and grey, and several other schemes. This one was actually coupled to a train in the older green and grey scheme.

This was a much better blur shot taken a few minutes later of an express coming through at about 80Km/h.

This was my first photo from the south end of the new Cercany platforms, of an express running nonstop through the station at about 80Km/h.

This is the new Linka 011, which is much straighter than the original line, and is double-track all the way, in contrast to the old line, which was oddly single-track over much of its length, maybe a legacy of lower-traffic times. This new line, in order to achieve its more favourable grade, is constructed over a series of viaducts over Karlin, and through tunnels, until finally levelling out on the ground slightly out of town. On the old line, there is one tunnel that's being converted to be part of the bike trail, but the use of tunnels isn't as extensive on the old grade.

In this photo the train is harder to make out, but that's kind of the point. The huge cloud of snow enveloping the train further adds to the dramatic sense of speed. The crazy thing is that few trains running through Hostivar are doing much more than 60 Km/h.

This to me is a classic pan shot, although many people get shots like this without panning, so I'm not sure if my opinion is really correct.

This is my favorite of the four shots in the pan, although I've chosen to post all four.

I've done a number of express pans, of course, and train pans generally, but it's only a rare opportunity when I can get an express in the snow. Snow, or at least powder, inevitably magnifies the sensation of speed in a photo, or for that matter in real life.

I don't know if this was a pan shot or not, but judging from where the train is in the platform it probably is.

Here you can see the size of the cranes being used to build the new station facilities at Cercany, which appear really to be overkill given the small size of most of what's being built. Nevertheless, the reason I posted this shot is that I like how the locomotive, CD #363117-3, looks.

This was our train back to Prague, appearing in the low light (and slow shutter), to be racing through the station. It wasn't, of course.

Here's another shot I got of one of the northbound expresses for Prague making its station stop in Cercany, with #363079-5 on the point.

I can't remember if this was our locomotive from Prague, or just one that I spotted. I do note that it's numbered first in its class, although I don't know if it's really the oldest Class 363.