Bulgarian Railways: Septemvri - Velingrad from the driver's view

Cab ride on the narrow gauge line in the Rhodope mountain from Septemvri to Velingrad with the morning train 16103 and diesel locomotive 77 009. This is the only left narrow gauge line in Bulgaria, which is still in a regular use. The whole journey takes approximately five hours through the beautiful valleys and gorges of the Rhodope mountains with wonderful views in the last part of the journey towards Rila and Pirin mountains.
The railway was built in several stages between 1921 and 1945 with total length of 125 km (78 miles). Gauge is 760 mm. The Varvara-Pazardzhik branch line, which was closed in 2002, was 16.6 km (10.3 miles) long. Due to the characteristics of the route through the mountains, the narrow-gauge line Septemvri-Dobrinishte is also known as the Alpine railway in the Balkans. Avramovo station, situated at 1267 meters above the sea, is the highest station in the Balkans.
And now just enjoy the first part of the video - from Septemvri, a station also on the main line Sofia - Plovdiv up to Velingrad - the spa capital on the Balkans.
p.s. I'm very upset about some vibrations of the camera, which you can notice when the locomotive engine is working on a high revs, but I didn't manage to do anything about this in the editing process.
Here is also the virtual timetable:
0:25 - Septemvri station
9:35 - Pamporovo halt
12:15 - Varvara station
24:00 - Marko Nikolov halt
32:50 - Tsepina halt
39:15 - stop at the railway crossing on km 16+100
50:10 - Dolene station
1:14:05 - Kostandovo station
1:26:10 - Velingrad station
Part 2 of the route is available here:
• Bulgarian Railways: Ve...
And finally - the last part of the route:
• Bulgarian Railways - Y...

[@gideongoosen]

The most beautiful rail journey I gave seen. Exceptional beauty of mountains , river , tunnels and the lush green vegetation. The clouds formations make it much more beautiful. I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey.

[@philh5829]

Quaint and nostalgic, beautiful views, more please

[@Wallykget1]

Nice! beautiful route.

[@aliesf2572]

Sehr tolles Video

[@rotterdam11100]

Very nice traject!

[@CantofanCristian]

Very nice dear friend. 👍

[@NikosKantiris]

Super !!!

[@bigcasey4143]

I love branch lines... I spent most of my 41 year career driving (standard gauge) trains on them before retiring... don't really miss the job though... the railway doesn't own my time anymore...

[@robertcoleman4861]

A wonderful scenic journey in a beautiful country many thanks ivo and i hope they never ever close this line can not wait for part 2 cheer's bob.

[@IvoRadoev]

Thank you! Part 2 is already available here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIrIaaKPfLd7gLM Probably I should add the link in the description.

[@MrMondeo2010]

bravo for the video

[@alejandropis3740]

la trochita , an international well know argentine narrow gauge railway , is 750 mm and 402 km lengh , is in regular use for turistic porpouse . un saludo

[@marcelomarcos3568]

No, it isn´t. Only two short sections at Chubut. The remaining sections of the line are without regular use.

[@ririmelo]

Linda viagem!

[@EuropeanTrainDriver]

Wunderschön video

[@danamack7405]

Wonderful video - do you think you could film a locomotive cab ride from a class 55 sometime ? Can't wait for your next beautiful video ! Regards, Dana.

[@danamack7405]

When did you anticipate filming another one of your wonderful train cab rides - it has been so long! :))))) Regards, Dana.

[@IvoRadoev]

I'm working on it, but the time is problem. I don't have enough for now.

[@scottbrooks3417]

Whatever you did beginning at time 5:00 to change the sound, I REALLY like that!!! Excellent job. The speedometer's clicking sound gets a little hard to take after a while, and I'm so glad you've developed a different way to record the sound on this video. Good for you! oops, the clicking came back at 9:27... and went away again at 9:51... interesting! Perhaps you can put the camera on the outside? You probably already do that! I love this video!

[@IvoRadoev]

Hi! Thank you for the nice comment! I didn't do anything to the sound, it is the original from the camera, without any modifications. It is changing and becomes more muted sometimes, probably due to the increased speed and wind flow. The camera is mounted outside of the cab. You can hear so strong the clicking sound from the speedometer, because it is in the middle of the cab, just behind the camera. :)

[@rostislav6583]

Като гледам как се лакатушкане дори при 30км малле изглежда яко. То 30-50 км е безопастната скорост ама каква е максималната с риск за дералиране или просто обръщане? Хубав клип!

[@IvoRadoev]

Максималната скорост зависи от няколко фактора - проектна скорост на трасето, текущото състояние на железния път, както и от конструктивната скорост на подвижния състав - локомотив и вагони. По Родопската теснолинейка специално доколкото ми е известно никога не е имало по-висока скорост от 70 км/ч и то само в един кратък участък между Септември и Варвара, където линията върви абсолютно направо в полето. Разбира се това е било някога, когато железния път е бил в по-добро състояние. Сега там е 50 км/ч и все пак това си остава най-скоросния участък. Иначе ако по острите кривите (завоите) някъде се изсили влака с повече от 30-40 км/ч има реален шанс от дерайлиране, но пак е много относително всичко. Някъде може и да издържи железния път, някъде не. Клатенето и на вагоните и на локомотива е специфично за теснолинейката, но не смятам че е опасно. Скоростта е достатъчно ниска все пак. Ако се подменят по често амортисьорите на локомотива и вагоните, може би няма да се клатят чак толкова :)

[@rostislav6583]

@@IvoRadoev благодаря много

[@andrzejkomorowski6588]

A jaki to rozstaw .?.

[@user-lb2lz6yy5d]

От какво се получава звука на 59 и 50 минута при завиването на влака

[@IvoRadoev]

От триенето на реборда на колелото в релсата. Завоят (кривата) е остър и вписването на двуосната талига предизвиква силно триене метал в метал (колело в релса), от там се получава този стържещ звук.

[@Labottega-wi3dg]

It's so slow. Hard to use on daily bases

[@nekokonaruru]

Колко широк е габаритът?

[@IvoRadoev]

От това, което намерих в наредбите - най-широката позволена част на статичния габарит е 2800 мм (2,8 м). Най-широката част на строителния габарит е 3650 мм (3,65 м).

[@nekokonaruru]

@@IvoRadoev Благодаря ти много!

[@VasilkaPetrova_]

Не е пампорово вече а лазар пампоров