Children railway, Plovdiv, railway line in Bulgaria
The children railway in Plovdiv is a small electric-powered train with a locomotive and three cars that runs about 1 kilometer through the green landscape at Youth Hill. The route crosses a viaduct shaped like the number six, passes through a 50-meter tunnel, and offers a view over the city from the Panorama terminal station.
Construction began on 21 April 1979, carried out by schoolchildren and students for the 35th anniversary of the "Septemvriyche" pioneer organization and the first "Peace Banner" assembly. The line opened on 23 September 1979 as the "Peace Banner" children's railway; 25 tickets and honorary badges were printed for guests. Tracks and cars came from the Kocherinovo–Rila Monastery narrow-gauge line, closed in 1954. Service stopped in 1997 and resumed on 22 September 2007 after municipal repairs.
The line opened on 23 September 1979 as the 'Peace Banner' Children's Railway, named for the first 'Peace Banner' assembly and the 35th anniversary of the 'Septemvriyche' pioneer organisation. For the opening, 25 tickets were printed and honorary badges made for official guests. Today the train runs from Pioneer Station to Panorama Station, and children under 10 ride only with an adult.
The line runs 1,090 m on 600 mm gauge between Pioneer and Panorama stations, with a 50 m tunnel and a stop at Snezhanka. Trains are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays; from April to mid-October they run 09:30–18:15, otherwise 08:45–17:15. A ramp at Pioneer station serves children with limited mobility.
The number-six shape belongs to the steel-concrete bridge and to the spiral viaduct after the Snezhanaka stop, not to the tunnel curve. The tunnel itself runs under a paved zigzag path leading to the radio and TV lattice tower and the swimming pool on top of Youth Hill, and it doubles as the train's depot, where the locomotive batteries are charged outside operating hours.
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