About this journey

Septemvri station is the junction where Bulgaria's national network meets its most unusual branch: Второстепенна железопътна линия 16, the country's only operating 760 mm narrow-gauge railway. A special law adopted in May 1920 authorised the line to connect the then-isolated Nevrokop region with the wider network, and construction began in 1921. Work advanced in stages through difficult terrain and lean post-war years, with the first section reaching Ladzhene by 1 August 1926. The final extension to Dobrinishte opened on 9 December 1945, giving the completed line a length of 125 km.

The hardest climbing lies between Velingrad and Yakoruda, where the line threads 25 tunnels, four spirals and an average gradient of 30 ‰ to reach Avramovo station — at 1,267 metres above sea level, the highest railway station in the Balkans. The maximum gradient anywhere on the route reaches 32 ‰ near Kostandovo station, which sits at 801 metres. Beyond Yakoruda the alignment eases considerably, as that section was originally surveyed to standard-gauge parameters, and near Razlog the track crosses a 58-metre, four-arch stone viaduct before descending toward Dobrinishte. Hauling the train throughout is a BDŽ class 75 diesel locomotive, one of ten delivered from Henschel AG in 1965 and 1966 and still in regular service on this line.