Trip to the Balkans - Autumn 2018
General Notes
Trip to Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia and Greece, mainly to take part in the PTG "Balkan Circular" 7-day railtour. Afterwards I went to Ruse to visit the Express Service railway workshops there. Photo album here.
Operating Company Abbreviations:
- BDŽ - Bulgarski Darshavni Železnici (Bulgarian National Railways)
- MŽ - Makedonski Železnici (Macedonian Railways)
- OSE - Οργανισμός Σιδηροδρόμων Ελλάδος (Hellenic Railways Organisation)
- ŽS - Železnice Serbije (Serbian Railways)
Track gauge
All trains and trams listed are standard gauge (1435 mm) unless otherwise stated.
| Place | Arrive | Depart | Train | Traction details & notes |
Saturday 29 September 2018
| Timperley | 04:00 | taxi | ||
| Manchester Airport T1 (MAN) | 04:20 | 06:25 | EZY 1399 | Easyjet G-EZGX push-back 06:35, take-off 06:47 from runway 23L |
| Sofia Airport (SOF) | 11:45 | ??:?? | ? | landed 11:44, bus to terminal / bus to Sofia Central station |
| Sofia Central Station | ??:?? | 14:08 | '10' | Sofia tram 2041 (1009 mm gauge) |
| Ilijantsi | ??:?? | 15:16 | '11' | Sofia tram 662 (1009 mm gauge) |
| K. Velichkov | ??:?? | 15:56 | 'M1' | Sofia metro |
| Serdika | 16:02 | 16:13 | 'M2' | Sofia metro |
| Sofia Central Railway Station | 16:17 | 16:37 | BDŽ EMU 30013/30014 | |
| Pernik | ??:?? | 18:14 | BDŽ EMU 30013/30014 via Pernik-Razpredelitelna - Volujak | |
| Sofia | 19:45 | Today's photos | ||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Ramada, Sofia. Close to the railway station. | ||||
| Notes Home to Sofia, then a few tram and metro bits. To Pernik to meet up with some friends. |
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Sunday 30 September 2018
| Sofia | 11:35 | MBV 17292 | BDŽ DL 07 001 + 3C PTG charter train | |
| Via Ilijanci (reverse 11:45/12:01) - Petarch (12:29/12:35) - Dragoman (12:55/13:00) - Kalotina Zapad (13:15/14:00) | ||||
| * Dimitrovgrad | 14:10 | 13:45 | ŽS DL 666 001 | |
| Via Niš Odvojna Skretnica 4 - Niš Odvojna Skretnica 2 - Crveni Krst (17:31) - Niš Ranzirna (17:40) - Rasputnica Most | ||||
| Niš | 17:51 | Today's photos | ||
| New non-passenger track today: Ilijanci - Volujak; Niš Odvojna Skretnica 4 - Niš Odvojna Skretnica 2. | ||||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel New InterCity, Niš. PTG bus between station and hotel both ways. | ||||
| Notes Day 1 of the PTG "Balkan Circular" railtour. Good to get the north to west curve avoiding Sofia, and the east to north curve avoiding Niš. I had done through Niš Ranzirna on the staff shuttle in 2004. One of the reasons for starting and ending in Bulgaria is that we could have our our own carriages, 'fresh air' with opening windows, for the full trip. That didn't work out as will be seen. |
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Monday 1 October 2018
| Niš | 16:30 | ŽS DL 441 710 + 3C PTG charter train | ||
| Via Crveni Krst - Trupale (16:47/17:10, loco run round) - Niš Ranzirna - Međurovo | ||||
| Preševo | 20:26 | 21:00 | arr 19 early/dep 26 early | |
| * Tabanovce | 21:13 | 21:38 | MŽ DL 661-410 (arr 27 early/dep 20 early) | |
| Via Skopje (22:17/22:20) | ||||
| Veles | 23:00 | 23:01 | ||
| Bitola | 01:07 | Today's photos | ||
| New non-passenger track today: Trupale - (Niš Ranzirna) - Međurovo. | ||||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Epinal, Bitola. PTG bus between station and hotel both ways. | ||||
| Notes Day 2 of the PTG "Balkan Circular" railtour. A very late start was planned to avoid an engineering block on the route south from Niš into Macedonia. This gave time for a look around the fortress at Niš, plus lunch there. Arriving very late at our hotel didn't seem too bad at the time, however..... |
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Tuesday 2 October 2018
| Bitola | 07:25 | MŽ DL 661-410 + 3C PTG charter train | ||
| * Prilep | 08:33 | 10:44 | 661-410 declared a failure; forward by MŽ DL 661-234 taken off a freight train | |
| Via Bogomila (08:38/08:58, arr 166 late/dep 156 late) | ||||
| Veles | 09:45 | 10:00 | arr 160 late, loco run round, dep 189 late | |
| Kočani | 12:23 | 12:45 | arr 196 late, loco run round, dep 209 late | |
| Veles | 14:48 | (18:50) | arr 227 late / train-replacement bus due to damaged river bridge | |
| Kukuričani | 19:30 | 19:44 | MŽ EMU 411-102/101 (replacement for PTG charter train) | |
| Gevgelija | 16:33 | 17:00 | OSE DL A.506 + 2C + OSE EL 120 027 PTG charter train arr 258 late/dep 281 late | |
| Idomeni | 18:06 | 18:50 | arr 283 late/dep 279 late - via Ghefira | |
| Axios | 20:00 | 20:10 | reverse, dep 269 late | |
| Thessaloníki | 20:27 | arr 276 late Today's photos | ||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Thessaloniki Capsis Hotel, Thessaloniki. Close to the railway station. | ||||
| Notes Day 3 of the PTG "Balkan Circular" railtour. The loco was declared a failure only an hour out of Bitola, and by the time rescue arrived we were nearly three hours late. More time was lost covering the Kočani branch. During the day we heard that a river bridge on the line south from Veles towards Greece had been damaged. We had to leave our Bulgarian coaches behind at Veles, from where we got a bus to an intermediate shack then a Macedonian EMU to Gevgelija. There we got on a scratch pair of Greek air-con carriages that had been conjured up, which we used until Thursday. Like all trains on the Idomeni - Thessaloníki line at this time we had to reverse at Axios, to avoid a longer-term bridge problem, hence the provision of top-n-tail locomotives - this might have been interesting, except that we had done the 'rare' curve here back in 2015. Arrival at our hotel well over four hours late, after 01:00 for the second night running, was not appreciated. |
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Wednesday 3 October 2018
| Thessaloníki | 09:01 | 7610 | OSE DL A.506 + DL A.451 + DL 220 002 + 2C PTG charter train dep 44 late | |
| Via Strimon (10:37/11:35, photo stop, dep 17 late) - Serres (11:57/12:12, dep 19 late) - Drama (13:01/14:41, arr 20 late, lunch stop, dep 30 late) - Paranesti - Toxotes - Xanthi (16:38/17:08, arr 27 late/dep 18 late) - Komotini (17:40, 24 late) - Mesti (photo stop, dep 18:43) - Kirki (phot stop, dep 19:10) - Alexandroupolis (18:36/18:39, arr 56 late, reverse/propel, dep 54 late) | ||||
| Alexandroupolis Port | 18:44 | arr 53 late Today's photos | ||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Astir Egnatia, Alexandroupolis. PTG bus between station and hotel both ways. | ||||
| Notes Day 4 of the PTG "Balkan Circular" railtour. A simple enough run from Thessaloníki to Alexandroupolis, but the lunch stop at Drama was a farce, I hadn't received my food by planned departure time! A couple of 'fresh air' coaches had been found from somewhere. |
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Thursday 4 October 2018
| Alexandroupolis Port | 11:05 | 7680 | OSE DL A.506 + DL A.451 + DL 220 002 + 2C PTG charter train dep 12 late | |
| * Alexandroupolis | 11:10 | 11:15 | DL 220 002 shunted off arr 15 late/dep 24 late | |
| Via Pythio (12:32/12:57, arr 36 late/dep 16 late) - Dikea (13:33/13:38, arr 34 late/dep 65 late) | ||||
| Svilengrad | 13:50 | 15:10 | BV8690 | BDŽ DL 07 001 + 3C PTG charter train arr 71 late/dep 29 late |
| Via Simeonovgrad (15:40/16:05) - Radnevo (16:48/17:00) - Nova Zagora (17:28/18:03, loco run round) | ||||
| Stara Zagora | 18:30 | Today's photos | ||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Merian Palace, Stara Zagora. Close to the railway station. | ||||
| Notes Day 5 of the PTG "Balkan Circular" railtour. We got 'our' coaches back at Svilengrad. |
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Friday 5 October 2018
| Stara Zagora | 08:05 | BV4691 | PIMK Rail DL 07 077 PTG charter train | |
| Via Dimitrovgrad Sever (09:07/09:13) - Dimitrovgrad (09:18/09:37) - Most (10:55/10:57) - Sredna Arda (11:23/11:30) - Zvezdelina (11:38/11:48) - Momchilgrad (12:26/12:28) - Rogozche (12:42/12:54) | ||||
| Podkova | 13:01 | 13:16 | BV4692 | loco run round |
| Via Momchilgrad (13:36/13:46) - Kardzahli (14:06/15:30) - Jel Vrata (15:39/15:49) - Momina Skala (15:53/16:03) - Zvezdelina (16:11/16:21) - Most (16:52/17:02) | ||||
| Haskovo | 17:55 | Today's photos | ||
| Overnight: Park Hotel Europe, Haskovo. PTG bus between station and hotel both ways. | ||||
| Notes Day 6 of the PTG "Balkan Circular" railtour. |
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Saturday 6 October 2018
| Haskovo | 09:36 | BV1690 | BDŽ DL 07 001 PTG charter train | |
| Via Dimitrovgrad (10:02/10:05) - Plovdiv (11:00/11:40) - Septemvri (12:18/12:48) - Iskarsko Skose (14:21/14:23) | ||||
| * km 41.850 | ~13:30 | ~14:30 | 07 001 failed. BDŽ EL 43 514 attached to front and haul forward ~2 km to Vakarel | |
| * Vakarel | ~14:35 | ~15:00 | BDŽ EL 43 514 detached, BDŽ EL 43 533 attached to work forwards to Sofia | |
| Sofia | 14:35 | arr 83 late Today's photos | ||
| Overnight (PTG): Hotel Ramada, Sofia. Close to the railway station. | ||||
| Notes Day 7 of the PTG "Balkan Circular" railtour. 07 001 failed on the last stretch of the 2.4%-grade climb to Vakarel: we were rescued initially by 43 514 (borrowed from a freight train) then onwards to Sofia by 43 533. |
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Sunday 7 October 2018
| Sofia | 09:25 | 462 | BDŽ EL 45 176 dep 15 late, awaiting connection from Istanbul | |
| Ruse Razpredelitelna | 15:45 | 16:00 | ? | BDŽ EL 45 176 dep 29 late |
| Ruse | 16:07 | arr 29 late Today's photos | ||
| Overnight: Hotel Cosmos, Ruse, just outside the railway station. | ||||
| Notes With a friend; service trains to Ruse. |
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Monday 8 October 2018
| Ruse | ? | taxi | ||
| Express Service workshops visit | ? | ? | '33' | bus |
| Ruse | ? | 14:34 | ? | BDŽ EMU 32-070/069 |
| Gorna Orjahovitsa | 16:56 | 17:09 | ? | BDŽ EL 44 127 |
| Sofia | 21:20 | Today's photos | ||
| Overnight: Hotel Adria, Sofia; a short walk from the railway station. | ||||
| Notes I had arranged a visit to the Express Service workshops (lz1866.com) outside Ruse. This is where most of the overhaul and repair of the imported UK class 86 and 87 locomotives is carried out. A fair number of scrap locos (spare parts?) outside but plenty of work ongoing inside. Though the works is rail connected, and adjacent to a railway station (Obraztsov Chiflik) the train service is of no use, so we got a taxi there and the bus back. Service trains back to Sofia. |
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Tuesday 9 October 2018
| Sofia Central Railway Station | 10:14 | 'M2' | Sofia metro | |
| Serdika | 10:17 | 10:38 | 'M1' | Sofia metro |
| Airport | 10:58 | |||
| Sofia (SOF) | 13:00 | EZY1934 | Easyjet G-EZGH push-back 13:33, take-off 13:40 from runway 27 | |
| Manchester (MAN) | 15:00 | ? | landed 14:40 on runway 23R, on stand 14:44 | |
| Timperley | ? | |||
| Notes Home time. |
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Tickets: single tickets as required.
An excellent trip, except for the two very late nights....