Thursday 29th April 2010: Dimitrovgrad - Mihajlovo - Dimitrovgrad - Podkova - Dimitrovgrad.
Today was totally based around covering the branch to Podkova, the afternoon/evening workings being the only practical way to cover the branch. The late arrival back meant that a hotel would be needed, and I'd been advised of a good one about 15 minutes walk from the station. After arriving on the sleeper from Istanbul, I walked up to the Hotel Slaviani to have a look, walked in, asked for a room and was offered the key! This was better than I had expected, and meant that I had all day without having to carry my large bag around. The morning run to Mihajlovo was just a time-waster as there was nothing better to do. Incidentally the main line between Dimitrovgrad and Plovdiv was shut for engineering works at this date so other options were limited. Went back to the hotel for lunch. There have been reports that the Podkova branch has been threatened with closure, though passenger levels were pretty good. The pause at Momchilgrad on the return seems to be so that staff can have their evening meal in the station cafe!
See trip report for the full itinerary, traction details and notes.
Today was totally based around covering the branch to Podkova, the afternoon/evening workings being the only practical way to cover the branch. The late arrival back meant that a hotel would be needed, and I'd been advised of a good one about 15 minutes walk from the station. After arriving on the sleeper from Istanbul, I walked up to the Hotel Slaviani to have a look, walked in, asked for a room and was offered the key! This was better than I had expected, and meant that I had all day without having to carry my large bag around. The morning run to Mihajlovo was just a time-waster as there was nothing better to do. Incidentally the main line between Dimitrovgrad and Plovdiv was shut for engineering works at this date so other options were limited. Went back to the hotel for lunch. There have been reports that the Podkova branch has been threatened with closure, though passenger levels were pretty good. The pause at Momchilgrad on the return seems to be so that staff can have their evening meal in the station cafe!
See trip report for the full itinerary, traction details and notes.
Mihajlovo
Mihajlovo