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A long weekend train spotting in the Czech Republic

Text and images by Ian Lawrence - All rights reserved.

So I’m ready to go. I know where I’m going and how to get there. I know where those interesting old diesel railcars from the forties and fifties can still be found in regular service. Timetables have been downloaded. Hotels have been booked. The weather forecast is good. Time off work has been arranged. I know the shots I’m after. Will it all work out?

It’s a long drive from the Netherlands to the Czech Republic so I’ve got time to reflect and look forward to what I might see. I pass villages in former East Germany where I shot German diesel railcars some years ago. The old rolling stock and the minor lines themselves have disappeared since I was there. After reunification with West Germany new roads were built, financed by the rich west. Many minor lines were no longer needed and closed one by one. I remember getting some good shots there. But that was then. Nowadays I need to travel farther afield. The Czech Republic is the next nearest place to find what I’m looking for. As I get closer to my destination, the sky gets hazier. Not good! Haze kills light. Every cloud I see makes me think the weather forecast may be wrong. There is nothing worse than sitting around waiting for good weather.

 I reach the area near Decin early the next afternoon, and there is still plenty of time to get some shots. Scouting the line from Decin to Usti I notice a good location with a great mountain backdrop. I return later in the day once the sun has moved into a more suitable position. Clouds have appeared too, and they are ready to move in front of the sun whenever a train passes. The first train comes and so does the obligatory cloud. Okay digital photography is free so I take a few shots anyway but it isn’t what I hoped for. So I lie back and wait for the next train, which should be along in an hour's time. Clouds come and go during the wait. When it’s time for the next train there is sun, but the train is delayed. Clouds darken the scene again. Stress levels rise… Who says railway photography is relaxing? Then Mr. Murphy takes a short break (he really does that now and then), and the railcar just manages to sneak past during the next break in the clouds. It’s a weak sun but it illuminates the entire rock. It will have to do.

 The next day I head straight for the famous stone viaduct of Novina. It is only a 60 km drive from the hotel, but most of the drive is on minor roads in poor condition. Evading potholes and negotiating the occasional unmarked detour it seems to take ages to get there. In the end I am rewarded with a great view. There are even better possibilities than the picture I’d seen on the internet. No clouds in sight, so nothing can go wrong on that front. I shoot a railcar, move to an alternative spot and then wait for the “train of the day”. This is the only locomotive-hauled long distance train to pass at a suitable time. Apparently this is the place to be for this train on this line, because things get a bit silly with up to four other Czech spotters joining me up on the hillside before the train finally comes.

In preparation of my tour I’d noticed that there were two large bridges over the river Labe at Decin and at Usti nad Labem. I visit them both. The bridge at Decin proves to be very challenging. I approach it from all sides but can’t find the killer shot. The composition is made all the more difficult by the fact there is only one location where you can position the train on the bridge as I didn’t want it to be hidden by the girders. And I need to fit the monastery in somehow too.

 
The bridge at Usti is easier to shoot, being the type of bridge where the steel lattice girders are positioned below the deck of the bridge. The city of Usti also has a conveniently positioned old manor house (now restaurant) on the top of a nearby hill. The view is great, not only of the bridge but of the town too and many locals join me up there to enjoy the view.

 In the evening I transfer to Olomouc in the east of the country, another four hour drive. The next day I check out a location where I shot a chartered steam train under a still bare tree four weeks earlier. I’m not into trees but to me it looked like a tree which would bare colourful blossoms. I’d shot this tree in my mind many times during the long drive. So the disappointment is great when I find that I am too early for the blossoms. I’ll have to make do with simply repeating the steam shot with a vintage diesel railcar. The railcar does appear but at the same time Mr. Murphy decides the sun has been exercised enough for the day. With poor light and no blossoms, this missed shot is the main disappointment of the tour. You can’t win them all. Because I know you don’t want to see failed shots I’ve included an image of a different tree, which did work out.

 
Even the railcars on the rural lines are used by locals, so I am constantly looking for strong station scenes. I take close ups of the station master giving the departure sign. I shoot trains being stormed by masses of people on arrival. I shoot general tranquil rural station settings. Nice shots, but nothing really exciting, nothing really to get the heart pounding. On the last day I go for a more experimental type of shot in which I put the train out of focus, like I often do. At the time I think of it as just another shot. As sometimes happens the shot was really made in post processing back home with a black and white conversion turning it into that special shot I was looking for. Delayed success will do just nicely, thank you.

 I execute a planned shoot over a pool near Sternberk which I’d seen a month earlier too. I sit in my car as a rain shower passes. When it gets a little brighter I move into position. Waiting for the train the light gets worse by the minute. Yes, Mr Murphy is working hard to give me a soaking. I  crank up the ISO to 400. I need a wide angle lens for this shot and my example needs to be stopped down to f8 for the best results and I was already down to f6.7. How fast will the train pass here? What is the slowest shutter speed I can risk? Will the train pass in time? Is there an alternative position that will allow me to use my superior 28-75/2.8? Can I chance it and move position? The train just comes in time and I get the hoped for perfect reflection just seconds before the wind gets up and I have to run for shelter from the shower. I don’t mind getting wet after the shot though.

 Everywhere I go I’m on the lookout for the definitive spring shot, but without luck. Trees either aren’t in flower or the colours simply aren’t strong enough compounded by the hazy light. Suitable trees all seem to be too far from the railway line to be usable. Near this rural crossing I finally manage a reasonable shot.

What about the low light shots you all know I like to take? Was I too lazy to get up for the 5 O’clock sunrise? Well there was no sunrise.  Because of the haze, the sun unpretentiously appeared mid morning. The clouds in the evenings ruled out any meaningful sunset shots too.

 As an unexpected bonus the lines on both banks of the river Labe have a Rhine valley look to them in certain areas. I need to visit them again to fully exploit the potential here as the time is quickly running out and I need to leave to reach the hotel half way back home before the reception closes. After a one and a half hour ordeal on local roads (they are still building the motorway), I’ve crept over the border, and am back on the German Autobahn. Traffic is low and I can put my foot down. Doing 150 km/h most of the way I reach the hotel with minutes to spare.… Well judged or just lucky?

Technical Information

I used a Canon EOS 10D for all shots. I had three lenses with me. A Tamron 28-75/2.8 as my general purpose lens used on 90% of the shots. A Canon 70-200/4L for the long shots and a Voigtlander 19-35/3.5-4.5 for the wide angle shots, which I actually only needed once. I used two 512MB CF cards and a 40 GB mobile harddrive on which I copied the days shots each evening. On the 5 day tour I shot about 200 frames.

About the Author

Ian Lawrence lives in the Netherlands and works as a civil engineer (piping and pipelining). He spends his spare time photographing trains in their surroundings, always looking for the perfect shot in the best light. As the Netherlands don’t have many locations where he can get the type of shots he likes, he travels abroad whenever he can.
More of his work can be seen on his homepage at www.railway-photography.net 

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