20th September 2014 - Bulgarian ExilesSaturday 20th September 2014 The late arrival last night meant that we didn’t want to rush out this morning and the lack of departures between 9 and 10am resulted in us not leaving Sofia until the 10:35 departure which we took to Septemvri to have a look at the narrow gauge line to Dobrinishte. Although it was only 64 miles away, the train took nearly two hours to get to Septemvri and the journey just one way on the narrow gauge would take five hours so that would have to wait for another occasion, but our interest in “little trains” meant that we couldn’t resist having a brief look. Nearly two hours after leaving Sofia, we arrived at a pleasantly warm and sunny Septemvri just over an hour before the afternoon departure to Dobrinishte which we had worked out that we could have a short ride on. The location of the narrow gauge station was not immediately obvious as we got of the train but it was soon located at the end of a subway underneath the mainline. There was nothing in the platform or sign of any life other than a humming noise which we took to be from a factory or similar so imagine our surprise when we walked round some stabled narrow gauge stock and were confronted with a British class 92 complete with BR number (92025), “Oscar Wilde” name, cast Channel Tunnel logos, Crewe depot plaque and EWS “beasties” stickers. Virtually the only sign of it’s new role was the discreet “DB Schenker Bulgaria lettering on the side and some natty black and yellow striped ploughs. 92025 at Septemvri20th September 2014. Class 92 in Bulgaria still carrying British Rail arrows, "Oscar Wilde" name, Channel Tunnel rings, EWS sticker and Crewe depot plaque! Standing between 92025 and the station was another freight with a native class 43 on the front which was why we hadn’t noticed the British loco when we got off the train; just then an approaching rumble announced the arrival of another exile, DB 232.600 which we had passed en route to Septemvri. This was running light engine and went to the rear of the 92s train and acted as a banker when it departed a short time later. Knowing how powerful the 92s are, we were surprised at the need for a banker but maybe applying full power on such a complex and temperamental loco would upset the overhead lines over here a bit! 232 600 at Septemvri20th September 2014. Assisting on the rear of a freight hauled by 92025. Now the 92 and its train had gone, we photographed the class 43, which was probably also waiting for a banker, before turning our attentions back to the narrow gauge. Two ladies were cleaning the inside of the rake of coaches which were coupled to a single cab class 81 loco, the loco shed was a couple of hundred yards down the line with at least one loco standing outside which looked as if it might be out of use. Two men then emerged from the shed area and made their way to the class 81, one of them climbed on the loco and started it up whilst the other operated the points as four coaches from the rake were shunted into the platform. 81 008 at Septemvri20th September 2014. Shunting the coaches for 16105 the 13:44 to Dobrinishte into the platform. At this point we went back over to the mainline platform to see what was working the connecting trains; a “desiro” EMU was on the train to Plovdiv but the one heading to Sofia was late so we returned to the narrow gauge rather than wait around and risk missing the very thing that we had come here for. 77009 at Septemvri20th September 2014. On 16105 13:44 Septemvri to Dobrinishte. Ten minutes and 3 ½ miles after leaving Septemvri we arrived at Varvara where we got off to catch the train going in the opposite direction – we were tempted to go further but that would mean arriving back at Sofia after 22:00 and still not covering the whole line. Anyway, Varvara was a nice enough location for photos and we took full advantage of this as the southbound train arrived a few minutes before the northbound to give the station “pointsman” time to operate both ends of the loop. 77002 at Varvara20th September 2014. On 16104 9:20 Dobrinishte to Septemvri. The class 43 on the container train was still standing at Septemvri but shortly before our train to Sofia arrived, two light engines appeared from the opposite direction and one was uncoupled; probably a banker for the train that had been waiting there for at least two hours! 43 552 at Septemvri20th September 2014. Reclining in the former DB “Halberstadt” coach with its pale green seat moquette that was so familiar to us in the late 1990s, we duly added a stay in Velingrad or Bansko to our long “to do” list for the future so that we could cover the line properly. In fact we were coming to the conclusion that Bulgaria in general would be best covered by moving around from place to place rather than staying put in one location due to the length of time taken to get anywhere quickly. We arrived in Sofia just after 4:30pm so after checking out a rumoured class 61 turn at 5pm (it wasn’t), we decided to have an early finish and check out the bus station for services back to the airport. This was not successful as though the bus station was reasonably nice and modern we were totally flummoxed when it came to working out which route went where and when. There was a long line of ticket offices, each one seemingly for a different company but no apparent means for a non Bulgarian speaker to work out who went where and when so we gave up and went down the road to the Billa supermarket to stock up on supplies for the final couple of days.
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