Trip to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey - September 2014
General Notes
A trip to participate in the September 2014 PTG "Rail Wonders of Northern Greece" tour. Photo album here.
Operating Company Abbreviations:
- BDŽ - Bulgarski Darshavni Železnici (Bulgarian National Railways)
- OSE - Organismos Sidirodromon Ellados - the train operator in Greece.
- TCDD - Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları (State Railways of the Republic of Turkey).
Track gauge
Standard gauge (1435 mm) unless otherwise stated.
| Place | Arrive | Depart | Train | Traction details & notes |
Saturday 13 September 2014
| Timperley | 12:11 | Metrolink tram 3040+3042 | ||
| Altrincham Interchange | 12:15 | 12:25 | '18' | bus |
| Manchester Airport The Station | 12:51 | |||
| Manchester Airport (MAN) | 15:30 | EZY1931 | Easyjet A319 G-EZIO push-back 15:33, take-off 15:43 from runway 05L | |
| Sofia Airport (SOF) | ? | ? | landed 20:34, on stand 20:40; bus to terminal PTG bus transfer to hotel | |
| Hotel Ramada Sofia | ? | |||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Ramada, Sofia; close to main railway station. | ||||
| Notes Simple route to Sofia. |
||||
Sunday 14 September 2014
| Sofia | ? | BDŽ DL 52 046 shunt | ||
| Sofia | ? | 06:21 | MBV1361 | BDŽ EL 44 100 PTG charter dep 78 late |
| Via Zahorna Fabrika (dep 07:53) - Gorna Banja (arr 08:03/dep 08:08) - Pernik (pass 08:30) - Batanovci (pass 08:39) - Delyan (pass 09:11) - Blagoevgrad (arr 09:54/dep 09:57) - Peio Yavorov - General Todorov (arr 10:21/dep 10:23) - Strumiani (arr 10:40/dep 10:57, cross train 360) | ||||
| Kulata | 10:45 | 11:25 | 7651 | OSE DL A.467 PTG charter arr 46 late / dep 68 late |
| Strimon | 11:45 | 12:00 | 7670 | OSE DL A.467 PTG charter loco run-round; dep 60 late |
| Via Serres (dep 13:30) - Drama (arr 14:30/dep 14:37, photo stop) - Livera (dep 16:11, photo stop) - Xanthi (arr 16:40/dep 17:13, cross train 601) - Komotini (pass 17:57) - Kirki (pass 18:43) - Alexandroupolis Dialogi (reverse, propelling move) | ||||
| Alexandroupolis Port | 18:43 | ? | PTG bus | |
| Hotel Alexander Beach | ? | Today's photos | ||
| New passenger track today: Strimon - Drama - Alexandroupolis Dialogi; Alexandroupolis Dialogi - Alexandroupolis Port. | ||||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Alexander Beach, Alexandroupolis. | ||||
| Notes Day 1 of the PTG "Rail Wonders of Northern Greece" railtour. Alexandroupolis Port station is a lot nearer the town centre than Alexandroupolis Dialogi, but is on a ~1.5 km dead-end branch. Loco-hauled trains simply 'propel' (loco on rear of train) in one direction or the other. |
||||
Monday 15 September 2014
| Hotel Alexander Beach | ? | PTG bus | ||
| Alexandroupolis Port | ? | 09:36 | 7680 | OSE DL A.507 PTG charter dep 23 late |
| Via Alexandroupolis Dialogi - Pythio (10:58/11:10; dep 32 late) - Dikaia (11:46/12:00; dep 61 late) | ||||
| Svilengrad | 12:15 | 13:40 | MBV12491 | BDŽ DL 07 049 PTG charter dep 42 late |
| Kapıkule | 14:00 | 14:30 | ? | TCDD DL DE33 029 PTG charter dep 90 late |
| Via Edirne (photo stop, dep 16:29) - Pehlivanköy (photo stop, dep 17:23) - Apullu - Muratli (arr 18:45/dep 19:05, loco run-round) | ||||
| Tekirdağ | 18:50 | ? | arr 45 late PTG bus | |
| Hotel Ramada | ? | Today's photos | ||
| New passenger track today: Alexandroupolis Dialogi - Pythio - Svilengrad. | ||||
| New non-passenger track today: Muratli - Tekirdağ. | ||||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Ramada, Tekirdağ. | ||||
| Notes Day 2 of the PTG "Rail Wonders of Northern Greece" railtour. Dikaia (Greece) to Svilengrad (Bulgaria) lost its passenger service in 2011. My first time in Turkey since April 2010. The 28 km branch line from Muratli to Tekirdağ, off the international main line to Istanbul, only opened in 2010, and had a passenger service for only one year. |
||||
Tuesday 16 September 2014
| Hotel Ramada | ? | PTG bus | ||
| Tekirdağ | ? | 10:30 | ? | TCDD DL DE33 029 PTG charter |
| Via Muratli (11:00/11:30; loco run-round) - Alpullu (photo stop, dep 12:33) - Pehlivanköy (photo stop, dep 13:31) - Uzunköprü (arr 14:00/dep 15:15, photo stop) | ||||
| Pythio | 15:20 | 16:17 | 7681 | arr 15 late OSE DL A.455 PTG charter dep 155 late |
| Alexandroupolis Port | 17:54 | ? | arr 150 late PTG bus | |
| Hotel Alexander Beach | ? | Today's photos | ||
| New non-passenger track today: Pehlivanköy - Uzunköprü - Pythio. | ||||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Alexander Beach, Alexandroupolis. | ||||
| Notes Day 3 of the PTG "Rail Wonders of Northern Greece" railtour. The 'second' border crossing between Turkey and Greece, from Pehlivanköy to Pythio, lost its passenger service some years ago. |
||||
Wednesday 17 September 2014
| Hotel Alexander Beach | ? | PTG bus | ||
| Alexandroupolis Port | ? | 11:52 | 7611 | OSE DL A.456 PTG charter |
| Propel to Alexandroupolis Dialogi (11:58) then forward via Komotini (12:52/12:56, cross train 600, dep 14 late) - Xanthi (pass 13:43) - Toxote (13:37/14:00, photo stop, dep 16 late) - Satvroupolis (cross freight, dep 14:47) - Drama (15:50/16:00, arr 7 early, photo stop) - Lefkothea (16:30/16:45, photo stop) - Serres (pass 17:15) - Strimon (17:40/17:47, cross train IC90, dep 5 late) - Rodopoli (18:12/18:27, photo stop) | ||||
| Thessaloníki | 19:52 | Today's photos | ||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Rotonda, Thessaloníki (1st of 2 nights). Short walk to station. | ||||
| Notes Day 4 of the PTG "Rail Wonders of Northern Greece" railtour. |
||||
Thursday 18 September 2014
| Thessaloníki | 07:40 | 7730 | OSE DL A.461 PTG charter | |
| Via Plati (08:08/08:24, cross branch train, dep 12 late) - Veria (pass 08:57) - Edessa (09:16/09:22, dep 14 late) - Agras (09:31/09:41, photo stop, arr 14 late/dep 10 late) - Agios Panteleimonas (km 152+150) (pass 10:24) - Aminteo (10:24/10:27, cross train IC84, dep 15 late) | ||||
| Florina | 10:54 | 12:10 | 7780 | OSE DL A.461 loco run-round PTG charter |
| Via Mesonisio (main line; 12:15/12:25) - west-to-north curve - Mesonisio (at north apex of triangle; double-reversal to reach line towards Neos Kafkasos - Neos Kafkasos (12:40/12:55, loco run-round, then propel to border with Macedonia; dep 60 late) - north-to-east curve | ||||
| Aminteo | 13:35 | arr 124 late | ||
| Aminteo | 15:02 | 7721 | OSE DL A.461 PTG charter dep 47 late | |
| Edessa | 15:42 | 19:40 | 7723 | OSE DL A.461 PTG charter arr 51 late/dep 2 late |
| Via Veria (20:15/20:19, cross train IC85) - Plati (20:40) | ||||
| Thessaloníki | 21:08 | Today's photos | ||
| New non-passenger track today: Mesonisio triangle and line to Neos Kafkasos. | ||||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Rotonda, Thessaloníki (2nd of 2 nights). | ||||
| Notes Day 5 of the PTG "Rail Wonders of Northern Greece" railtour. Some historical notes about the lines in the area we visited this morning. The line from Thessaloníki to Bitola (named Monastir at the time, and now in Macedonia/North Macedonia) was opened in 1894 when the area was controlled by the Ottoman Empire. Originally the large town of Florina was served by road from the nearest station on the Bitola line, named Florina but in the village of Mesonisio; a ~5 km branch line was built in 1931: the new station was named Florina and the original station was renamed to Mesonisio. The line between Mesonisio and Bitola became a cross-border line after the creation of Yugoslavia but survived until closure as an international passenger route in 1984: international freight traffic may have continued up to 1994. Passenger services to Neos Kafkasos, 1.6 km short of the border, ran until 1989, freight traffic ceasing in 1997. There have been many 21st Century plans to re-open the route and a lot of money has been spent: Mesonisio to Neos Kafkasos and up to the border was refurbished by 2006. On this trip we were able to cover all of the line to Neos Kafkasos, including all sides of the triangle at Mesonisio, plus beyond Neos Kafkasos station to about 200 metres short of the international border; about 12 km altogether. [Post-2023 addendum: on the Macedonia side refurbishment work took place in the late 2010s, and a passenger service started in February 2023 over the 11 km section between Bitola and Žabeni - I travelled over that route on 29 March 2023 - but seems to not have operated since October 2023. Now I just 'need' the 5 km gap!] At Aminteo we were booked to go down the freight branch as far as Ptolemais but this was refused on the day due to a track washout. Edessa is a very interesting place for a wander around, including the rather splendid waterfalls. |
||||
Friday 19 September 2014
| Thessaloníki | 07:50 | 7900 | OSE DL A.462 PTG charter | |
| Idomeni | 09:10 | 09:22 | 7901 | OSE DL A.462 loco PTG charter run-round dep 33 late |
| Thessaloníki | 10:40 | 14:00 | 7652 | OSE DL A.469 PTG charter |
| Via Strimon (15:42/15:52, loco run-round, dep 10 late) - Promachon | ||||
| Kulata | 16:21 | 17:12 | MBV1362 | BDŽ DL 06 029 arr 22 late/dep 5 late |
| Via Peio Yavarov (17:57/18:11, cross train 361) - Simitli (18:29/18:47, cross train 50247) - Blagoevgrad (19:02/19:42, did not cross booked train 5611, dep 35 early) - Kocherinovo (19:17/20, cross train 5611) - Deljan (20:15/20:17, cross train 50235) - Dyakovo (did not cross booked train 50235) - Pernik (21:04/21:39, did not cross booked trains, dep 45 early) - Pernik Razpredelitelna (20:59/21:01, cross train 5625) - Vladaya (21:58/22:06, did not cross booked train 50233) | ||||
| Sofia | 22:30 | arr 50 early Today's photos | ||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Ramada, Sofia; close to main railway station. | ||||
| Notes Day 6 of the PTG "Rail Wonders of Southern Greece" railtour. Standard return routing from Thessaloníki to Sofia. |
||||
Saturday 20 September 2014
| Central Railway Station | 09:34 | 'M2' | Sofia metro | |
| James Bourchier | 09:44 | 09:49 | 'M2' | Sofia metro |
| Obelya | 10:08 | 10:17 | 'M1' | Sofia metro (through working) |
| Inter Expo Center – Tsarigradsko shose | 10:49 | 10:53 | 'M1' | Sofia metro |
| Serdika | 11:10 | 11:22 | 'M2' | Sofia metro |
| Central Railway Station | 11:25 | 11:56 | '12' | Sofia tram 812 (1009 mm gauge) |
| kv. Iliyantsi | 12:17 | 12:52 | '12' | Sofia tram 822 (1009 mm gauge) |
| Central Railway Station | 13:10 | |||
| Sofia | 13:25 | ? | BDŽ EL 45 199 | |
| Iskar | 13:37 | 14:02 | ? | BDŽ EL 43 090 dep 43 late |
| Sofia | 15:02 | |||
| Central Railway Station | 15:29 | '12' | Sofia tram 720 (1009 mm gauge) | |
| bul. Hristo Botev | 15:33 | 15:50 | '20' | Sofia tram 4119+4117 (1435 mm gauge) |
| Sofia Med JSC | 16:31 | 16:32 | '20' | Sofia tram 4103 (1435 mm gauge) |
| bul. Hristo Botev | 17:16 | |||
| Opalchenska | 17:51 | 'M1' | Sofia metro | |
| Serdika | 17:52 | 17:57 | 'M2' | Sofia metro |
| Central Railway Station | 18:00 | ? | bus? | |
| Sofia Airport (SOF) | ? | 21:25 | Easyjet | |
| Manchester Airport (MAN) | 22:50 | ? | taxi? | |
| Timperley | ? | Today's photos | ||
| Notes Heading home, but not before some metro and tram coverage in Sofia. My journey notes do not show how I got to Sofia airport, nor home from Manchester Airport. |
||||
|
Summary: A very pleasant week away, with enough unusual track coverage to make it very worth while. |