Photos, videos and docs of Jon Searles, with the keywords: "Brno"

ZSSK #350020-4 in Brno Hlavni Nadrazi, Brno, Moravia (CZ), 2012

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:09:47 +0000

ZSSK are, for the moment, the national railway of Slovakia. Many of their trains, with their locomotives, still venture into the Czech Republic, especially on Eurocity services. This one would take me back to Prague, with Class 350 electric #350020-4 on the point.

Brno Tram #1928, Brno, Moravia (CZ), 2012

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:09:46 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Around the same time that DPP in Prague were receiving delivery of Skoda 14t trams, another variant called the 13t was being delivered to Brno. This is #1928.

Hrad Spilberk, Picture 4, Brno, Moravia (CZ), 2012

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:09:45 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Here is one of the artillery pieces, although I don't know if it's original.

Hrad Spilberk, Picture 3, Brno, Moravia (CZ), 2012

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:09:44 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

If you circle the parapet, you eventually find 18th-Century fortifications with cannon, as well as some modern-day restaurants. This view is looking at the keep, though, with the cannon out of the frame behind and to the right, and the restaurants out of the frame to the left.

Hrad Spilberk, Picture 2, Brno, Moravia (CZ), 2012

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:09:43 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

This is the entrance to the castle keep, such as it is.

Hrad Spilberk, Brno, Moravia (CZ), 2012

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:09:42 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Hrad Spilberk, in spite of its name "Hrad," or "castle," is really more an 18th-Century fort, as it was very gradually rebuilt in that century and to some extent the one preceding it. The original foundations, however, date to 1277, giving the site medieval heritage. It has actually had a number of uses over the years. Until 1959, it was a military base, and for the period of 1620-1855 it was also used as a prison, where a number of abuses were committed, especially against political prisoners. It reprised this role during World War I (1914-1918) and during the Nazi regime (1938-1945), when it also continued to serve as a barracks. Since 1959, the castle has been a museum. This is the main entrance to the walls, which surprisingly has a normal street number, visible on the right, property number in red and white, and street number (for orientation) in blue.

Church of St. Thomas, Brno, Moravia (CZ), 2012

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:09:41 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

The Church of St. Thomas is actually much older than it looks. The Baroque facades on it now are just that, facades, that were installed in the 17th Century to hide battle damage from the Thirty Years War. The original foundation (and presumably structure) of the church dates to 1356, having been consecrated in the presence of Holy Roman Emperor Karluv IV, although the church had been planned under his father, John of Luxembourg. Today the church is next to the entrance to Brno's system of catacombs.

Brno Tram #1086, Brno, Moravia (CZ), 2012

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:09:40 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Tram #1086 is a K2, but I've been unable to find out if it's been modernized, other than in the automated announcements, the ticket validators, and the digital destination boards. If one goes by the boards, it looks like it could be a P or a T.

Brno Tram #1038, Brno, Moravia (CZ), 2012

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:09:39 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Tram #1038 is a Tatra K2T. K2T trams were built originally as basic K2's (during the original 1967-1983 production run), but were partly modernized in 1999-2000.

Brno Tram #1028, Brno, Moravia (CZ), 2012

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:09:38 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

This is Brno Tram #1028, which is a tatra K2R. All of these units are rebuilds of the earlier K2 class built between 1967 and 1983. The original K2's were articulated trams based on the T3 (in spite of the number 2 in their model number). In turn the K2R's were based on the T3R, although the T3R's, it should be noted, were also built new. Both the T3R and the K2R (via rebuilds) were built from 1995-1998, with some additional K2R's being completed in 1999. Many of the tram classes used in Brno are not used in Prague, as most of Brno's trams are articulated, whereas only some of Prague's are, particularly those built recently.

Metropol in Brno Hlavni Nadrazi, Brno, Jihomoravsky Kraj, Moravia (CZ), 2010

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:40:30 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

....then the Metropol pulled in, and we didn't pull out. In the end, we opted for the Metropol since we figured it would get priority. In the end, we were right.

The Other Train to Prague Arriving in Brno Hlavni Nadrazi, Brno, Jihomoravsky Kraj, Moravia (CZ), 2010

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:40:30 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

This train, which was also late, actually arrived before the Metropol, and it was also headed to Prague. I ran over to Platform 1 (I think that's the station side one in Brno), and boarded it with another person who wanted to experiment....

Late Metropol Displayed on Platform Trainboard, Brno Hlavni Nadrazi, Brno, Jihomoravsky Kraj, Moravia (CZ), 2010

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:40:30 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

This trip is becoming a bit of a legend with my friends, even though it wasn't anything special. Basically, I chose not to stay over in Brno because I had to work the next day and I needed to get back to Prague reasonably quickly, so I figured I'd take the famous EuroNight sleeper train the "Metropol," which runs from Budapest to Berlin. This train isn't always on time, though, and in this case it was spectacularly late. In fact, it was probably the latest train I had ever had to wait for other than in the United States or Britain. The trainboard says that as of the time I took the photo it was 120 minutes late, but by the time it departed I think it was even later. Long before that, the Czechs on the platform were swearing in English. If you think about it, who wants to spend over two hours standing on a station platform in the middle of the night? What if it had been winter?

Brno Cathedral, Picture 3, Brno, Jihomoravsky Kraj, Moravia (CZ), 2010

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:02:41 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

And...finally, another view from Zelny Trh.

Brno Cathedral, Picture 2, Brno, Jihomoravsky Kraj, Moravia (CZ), 2010

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:02:41 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Here's another view of the Cathedral down Josefska.

Brno Cathedral, Brno, Jihomoravsky Kraj, Moravia (CZ), 2010

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:02:41 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

This was, oddly, one of my first good photos of Brno Cathedral, in spite of my having had a much longer visit previously, and at this point in my second trip I had only just got off the train. Officially known as the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, it was built gradually during the 14th and 15th Centuries.

CD #230041-6 Near Brno, Jihomoravsky Kraj, Moravia (CZ), 2010

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:09:32 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Here's a rather odd class of electric locomotive, the Class 230. Built by Skoda from 1966-1967 for Ceskoslovenske Drahy, these streamlined, very retro-looking locomotives are still in service on Ceske Drahy today, although some were exported to Bulgaria in the late 1960's and early 1970's. They're rated at 3,080Kw, or 4,130 horsepower, which would still have been very impressive at the time, and they have a maximum service speed of 110Km/h (68 m.p.h.), meaning that they're already obsolete for express passenger services. This one is marked, however, for the CD Cargo business unit, so it's probably well-utilised.

Christmas Market In The Evening, Brno, Moravia(CZ), 2005

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:02:01 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

I made my Brno trip at the end of 2005, so Christmas was approaching fast, only days away, in fact, so there was the inevitable Christmas market in the town square of Brno.

1936 Tatra T87, Picture 2, Brno, Moravia(CZ), 2005

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:02:01 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Here's a rear view of the T87, illustrating yet another safety flaw to the rear-engine design: no rear windshield! In actuality, though, the driver could look back through the engine compartment and see out of the louvers.

1936 Tatra T87, Brno, Moravia(CZ), 2005

nobody@ipernity.com (Jon Searles) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:02:01 +0000

Jon Searles has posted:

Prior to 1998, Tatra was the main make of Czech luxury car, and the company is quite old, still producing trucks and trams today. This T87 was made in 1936, if I'm not mistakan and was classified as a "sport limousine," whatever that means. It was capable of speeds in excess of 160Km/h, but it was rear heavy, and as such, dangerous. Nevertheless, the Germans loved it, and when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia, the Czechs called it their "secret weapon," because it killed so many Nazi officers! This didn't dampen Ferdinand Porsche's enthusiasm for it, though, and it heavily influenced the design of the Volkswagen Beetle, and hence the Porsche 356 and 911, being a rear-engined, streamlined, high-performance car. Okay, so with the beetle the high-peformance thing is a stretch, but it is notable that the performance of a T87 is higher than an original 1949 Porsche 356!