The luxury once experienced by kings and party leaders on their trips across Bulgaria is now available to everyone, with ticket prices being quite reasonable. So for example, if you want to go to Bankia, which is some 30km away from Sofia, on the train of Bulgaria’s former totalitarian leader Todor Zhivkov, you will pay around 2.5 e. The cars have got a dining room, a spacious conference hall, a luxury en suite apartment, as well as separate cozy cars furnished with armchairs, tables, sinks, etc. The steam locomotive of Mr Zhivkov was produced by the Swiss factory SLM Winterhur in the remote 1935, being one of the most mass-produced fast locomotives of 20th century. Ever since the train was restored some 8 years ago. it has been used for attraction tours and various film productions.
If you would rather explore Bulgaria’s scenery on an antique and comfortable vehicle without demanding much luxury and VIP service, then you could try out the narrow gauge line starting at the town of Septemvri in Southern Bulgaria and ending up at the village of Dobrinishte at the foot of the Pirin Mountain. The vehicle passes by extremely picturesque places, moving along the only operating narrow gauge railway in Bulgaria and being very popular among foreign tourists. Here is more from Bulgaria’s Transport Minister Alexander Tsvetkov.
“If someone wants to feel like a king while traveling, he or she can do it with the Bulgarian State Railways. These retro compositions will include the so-called king car with all the luxury it offers, as well as other retro cars that will move along different directions. In reality, very few trains in Europe offer locomotive tours. Therefore, we expect a lot of interest from abroad”, Mr. Tsvetkov commented. 
The vintage trains interior
The retro trains are to travel along several tracks across Bulgaria. One of them will connect Sofia to Plovdiv, which is a most visited city by foreigners. The Sofia-Burgas railway track will cross longwise the country serving some of the holidaymakers on the Black sea. At the moment people are showing the greatest interest in the locomotive connecting Sofia and Bankia, which was set into operation last week. Every day the retro train transports some 1000 people, mostly residents of the capital, who are eager to try out the new attraction. There are also a lot of foreigners who want to ride on the steamed locomotive. The management of the Bulgarian State Railways has stuck deals with several leading travel agencies. Since early 2011 the unconventional cars carry a lot of British, Australians, French and Germans.
English version: Vyara Popova
