European Railroad Discussion > Germany & the Czech Republic 1994

My dad turned 70 in 1994. To celebrate my mum asked me whether I would take them both to Prague for a holiday, and could we get there without flying. It wasn't as though they were scared of flying, they simply didn't enjoy all the waiting around and queuing. And back in 1994 there were no low cost airlines flying from regional airports, so a flight to Prague would have involved riding the train from Yorkshire, where they lived, to London King's Cross and from King's Crss to Heathrow on the underground followed by all the waiting and queuing. So I prepared an itinerary which saw us catch the overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam, an overnight stop in the Rhine Valley (at Bingen), four nights in Prague, another overnight stop in the Rhine Valley (at St Goar), the ferry from Rotterdam to Hull which saw us back in Alne, just north of York, in time for a mid morning coffee. We had a great time. I did most of the driving although dad did chip in on a couple of occasions. Back in 1994 there were no autobahn / motorway connections between the Czech Republic and Germany and the Czech Republic had yet to join the EU and the Schengen travel area so getting across the border was a bit time consuming, it took about 45 minutes and from there to Prague we were on single carriageway roads.

I managed a few photographs whilst we were away, en route too and from Prague, in Prague itself and in Tabor, which we visited as an antidote to the crowds in Prague. Tabor is also a movement in Ma Vlast, Smetana's symphonic poem to his Bohemian homeland and music was one of the reasons why dad wanted to go to Prague so it was an appropriate destination.

1: An IC service passing through Bingen. Note that semaphore signals are still in service although their replacement colour lights are in place but not yet operational. The loco is a DB class 120, a class which is still in service today, albeit not in the numbers DB originally envisaged.
2: In Tabor a CD (Ceske Drahy - Czech Railways) class 363 (Skoda 1984 - 1990) on a freight
3: And another 363 on a passenger service. Tabor is an important junction on the line between Prague and Ceske Budejovice. 363s are dual voltage locomotives able to operate off both 25 kV AC and 3kV DC, both voltages encountered on the journey to Prague

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4: On the way back to Prague we stopped IIRC because I saw a green signal and assumed, rightly, that on a single track railway a green must mean a train. It's another 363 on a mixed freight
5: Taken at Prague Holesovice station, a classic 1959 built class 141
6: Taken on our last full day near St Goar after a shower of rain, a DB class 111 on a regional train

There are a few more to be found at https://nick86235.smugmug.com/Trains/2018/Germany-the-Czech-Republic-1994/i-SbsRwdF

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The DB class 120 is my favorite electric loco!

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Interesting story and images.  Thanks.

Great look back photos and story.
Thanks for posting.
ALLEN
 

Excellent ! Thank you for sharing !!! :):):)