Almost a decade after my only previous visit, it is time to pay a return to what has now become the last surviving 760mm (2’ 6”) gauge line in Czechia (Czech Republic), following last autumn’s (October 2022) collapse of the JHMD network in Southern Bohemia, only three months after I had spent a week travelling the system there.
Hoping that I do not have a jinx on these little railways, I am returning to the charming 20km (12.5-mile) line in Eastern Czechia that remains operated by state rail operator České Dráhy (ČD) and runs from a junction station in a village called Třemešná ve Slezsku to a small town called Osoblaha through a narrow rural peninsula of Czechia jutting into neighbouring Poland.
Given how ČD gave up on operating the larger JHMD system 26 years ago it does seem remarkable that this rural line clings on, with no remaining freight activity and just four round trips each day, which comprise one of the line’s vintage T47 diesel locos (numbered as 705.9) pulling a single passenger coach.
This line opened in 1898, principally to serve a sugar processing plant at Osoblaha, and has survived several closure attempts, but was re-built in the mid-1980s, with heavy gauge rail and, for now at least, its future seems secure.
It is a charmingly rural branch line that twists and turns through open country and then along the banks of a small river, with a number of fine station buildings at intermediate stations along the route, notably at the only two settlements of any size, Liptan and Bohušov.
While passenger loadings on these weekday services are distinctly modest, what brings this railway to life is its hugely popular summer weekend steam service, where loadings make a marked contrast to the handful of passengers on weekday services, attracting scores of tourists to the line.
Tourist operations on the line are in the hands of a society called the Slezské Zemské Dráhe (SZD) with the mainstay of its weekend round trips being an attractive blue-liveried Bosnian 0-10-0 tender locomotive, which was built by Skoda in 1932, numbered U57.001, and subject of a loan agreement with the line by its owners, an Austrian society called Club 760.
SZD also owns a Romanian 0-8-0T, Resita 946/1951 ex-CFF no. 764.368, which is now numbered U46.002 and was in the Osoblaha diesel shed at the time of my 2014 visit, but was in steam at Třemešná on 17 August 2023, as seen above. There is also a Romanian-built Lyd2 diesel, numbered Tu38.001, acquired from a Polish factory and used when there is no steam service.
Travelling on one of CD’s scheduled services on the line makes a remarkable contrast to one of heavily-loaded steam trains. Two days before travelling on a crowded steam service, I was among ten passengers aboard the 11.27 departure from Třemešná ve Slezsku on 17 August 2023, half of whom alighted at three intermediate stations, leaving just five of us aboard on arrival at Osoblaha.
Returning after a 90-minute break in Osoblaha, there were 13 passengers aboard on our departure, including all five of us who had arrived at 12.16, with two joiners at our first intermediate call meaning that there were a healthy 15 of us on board when we reached Třemešná ve Slezsku.
For those with the time to find them and wait, there are three good vantage points in Třemešná ve Slezsku to photograph the narrow gauge trains, with a track crossing the line up a lane opposite the church, an over-bridge a little further on (pictured above) and, 15 minutes’ walk from the station, a level crossing on the main road.
What is something of a mystery is how many of the T47 locos remain on the line. On the three days I spent in the area services were in the hands of an immaculate 705.913. On my previous visit I had also seen two others (705.914/917) but neither was in evidence this time, and the loco shed at Osoblaha was empty.
Fares on CD are remarkably good value, with a full single fare from Krnov to Osoblaha (37 Kms) costing just CZK78 (£2.80) while a round trip from Třemešná to Osoblaha costs a mere CZK48 (£1.75) which is rather less than the CZK320 (£11.50) it costs for a round trip on the weekend steam service.
As there does not seem to be anywhere to stay in either Osoblaha or Třemešná ve Slezsku, I once again opted for the nearby town of Krnov, less than 20 minutes’ away by connecting standard gauge service. Here I spent four nights at the charming Penzion Eva that I had found on Booking.com, cost around £23.50 a night (room only) and was an easy 15 minute walk from the rail station and just ten minutes from the attractive town centre.
Rather than take a lengthy train ride (4-5 hours) across the country from Prague, I flew to Ostrava with Ryanair, which operates there from Stansted on Wednesdays and Sundays. From here to Krnov (83kms/52 miles) cost just CZK 158 (£5.65) on a slightly tortuous rail journey involving two changes and a lengthy wait at a terminus station called Opava Vychod.
To avoid the usual language and pronunciation issues at ticket offices, I bought all my tickets online via the CD app, which gives full journey details in English, allowing you to download paper tickets and gives endless live updates that you are alerted to on your phone by the sound of a train whistle!
RailwayWorld.net 
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