The narrow-gauge line to the Rila mountains
In mountain country a narrow-gauge railway has important advantages: it can follow tighter curves, climb steeper slopes and be built at lower cost than a standard line. Bulgaria built several, and the best known runs from Septemvri, on the main line east of Sofia, up the valley of the Chepinska river to Velingrad, and on to Dobrinishte near the ski resort of Bansko.
The track gauge is 760 millimetres. The line was built in stages from the 1920s, and the last section was finished in the middle of the twentieth century. It is about 125 kilometres long, climbs through gorges and forest and runs through many tunnels and over viaducts. At Avramovo, at roughly 1,270 metres above sea level, it reaches the highest railway station in the Balkans.
A railway that survived
Many narrow-gauge lines elsewhere in Europe were closed in the second half of the twentieth century, when road transport took over. This one has remained in regular service, partly because the road through the valley is slow and winding, and partly because of the tourists who come to ride it. Its small diesel trains, which replaced steam, take about five hours to cover the journey from end to end.