30th January 2015 - Jindřichohradecké místní dráhyFriday 30th January 2015 Our stay in Austria was short-lived as it was back to the Czech Republic this morning, to Jindřichův Hradec which was about an hour’s journey by road from Gmünd. The first part of the journey closely followed the NÖVOG line to Litschau though we would not be travelling over it on this trip; apparently neither this line or the one to Groß Gerungs was available due to maintenance work and as if to reinforce this fact we briefly stopped at a level crossing on the outskirts of Gmünd to let a yellow permanent way vehicle pass. It had snowed overnight and was very cold and overcast as we arrived at Jindřichův Hradec for the first of two days covering the JHMD narrow gauge system. This first day would be spent travelling on the “northern” branch to Obrataň, a rare outing for steam as the timetabled steam hauled trains during the summer on this line terminate around the halfway point at Kamenice nad Lipou. In typical East Europe branch line fashion, the JHMD station was across the station forecourt from the standard gauge ČD station and our train was waiting there with a quite large and powerful-looking ex Polish Railways 0-8-0 tender engine on the front. Px48.1916 at Jindřichův Hradec31st January 2015. The second day spent on the JHMD with Px48.1916 on the Railway Touring Comapny's "Winter in Austria and Bohemia" trip. Today's special would cover the railway's other branch to Nová Bystřice. Shortly after leaving the station, the narrow gauge line joined the standard gauge and carried on as dual gauge track for about two kilometers before peeling off to the left and heading north; the dual gauge track continued until the line to Nová Bystřice branched off some 500 metres further on. We had a pleasant journey through the snow-covered landscape until Lovětín where we had to cross a service train which, despite our faint hopes of it being loco-hauled, was a DMU. There were four of these quirky looking units on the line which had been rebuilt from older units with a new body including some rather strange round windows, leading to them gaining the nickname of “Nautilus”. They were in a horrible dark grey livery which was some sort of undercoat, apparently the railway plan to put vinyls on them but had yet to decide on a livery / design. M27.001 at Obrataň30th January 2015. Arriving with Os210 12:44 Jindřichův Hradec to Obrataň. The next stop was at the normal terminating point for steam at Kamenice nad Lipou where the loco took water and the passengers lunch in the restaurant opposite the station. This was in the form of a well laden buffet with plenty of choice so there was no excuse for anybody to go hungry. Px48.1916 at Kamenice nad Lipou30th January 2015. Px48.1916 takes water whilst working the 9:55 Jindřichův Hradec to Obrataň. Once we resumed the journey to Obrataň another DMU was soon passed at Včelnička followed by a second at Křeč then we stopped to perform a run-past, it wasn’t a bad spot but being a rather exposed location meant that there was a biting wind which cut though the thickest clothing so we were all glad to get back on the train. Px48.1916 near Křeč30th January 2015. Run past shortly after leaving Křeč. Obrataň station was a single track station with the run-round loop before the platform so we stopped in the loop for the loco to run round. Unfortunately the special was booked to pass a service train here then depart as soon as it had arrived so we were left needing another visit in order to get the final 200 metres of track in! Maybe something for a summer visit when there are rather more trains running meaning that there might be a chance of getting a hauled train. T47 019 at Jindřichův Hradec30th January 2015. Built by ČKD in 1958, works no. 4147, this loco was numbered 705 919 in ČD days but still carries that number under the plate bearing it's current identity of T47 019. As the loco was now running tender first there was no point in stopping for any photos but we did pause at Kamenice again for the loco to take water and the unit we saw earlier to overtake us; perhaps we had missed a trick here and should have caught the service train back in order to get that final 200 metres of track in the book! Kamenice had a booking office which had a good selection of items for sale considering its size, one of which was a rather nice colour book which one of our fellow participants recommended having purchased one on a previous visit. It was purely a picture book documenting the railway’s two branches with the forward and all the captions being in Czech, German and English. It was indeed a worthwhile purchase and provided a nice pictorial record of the railway. One more service train was crossed before we arrived back at Jindřichův Hradec just after 5pm meaning that there was time for the coach to drop us in the town for a brief look round. It was a nice enough place, quite historic but nearly everywhere was shut by now however, true to form, the two of us managed to find a café that was open with an amazing selection of cakes though, thinking of dinner on our arrival in Gmünd, we managed to restrict ourselves to a cup of tea. It was only a short walk back to the town square where the coach picked everybody up for the journey back to Gmünd, this time it went via Heidenreichstein which was actually a better road given the weather conditions though it also meant that we could have a “pit stop” next to Heidenreichstein castle just in case anybody had indulged in too much tea / coffee / beer. Comments
No comments posted.
Loading...
|
Subscribe
RSS
Recent Posts
9th & 10th January 2018 - A lucky trip
8th January 2018 - Brewery Bonus
7th January 2018 - To Bern for steam
6th January 2018 - Onwards and westwards
5th January 2018 - A Tale of two Banskás
4th January 2018 - Bobbing around Brno (again)
3rd January 2018 - Delay Dodging
2nd January 2018 - Third Time Lucky
1st January 2018 - Happy Republic Day
31st December 2017 - Farewell 2017
Archive
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
|