Sofia trams 3007 and 3008 arrive at the ul. Dobrotich (ул. Добротич) stop on bul. "Nikola Mushanov" (бул. "Никола Мушанов"), working a route 11 service from kv. Knyazhevo (кв. Княжево) to zh. k. Vrabnitsa 1 (ж. к. Връбница 1, the temporary northern terminus of route 11 during a line closure from 22nd February to 5th June 2025).

We were changing trams here, about to do route 22A (this was its southern terminus, trams turning via the depot between here and the next stop), and had alighted from the previous route 11 service - which had arrived just right behind the previous 22A... 1,009mm gauge route 22A was replacing part of the standard gauge route 22 - note the very rusty outer rail of the dual gauge track along this stretch, used by route 22.

When I took this I was slightly disappointed to have people walking in front of the tram, but after looking at the image on a computer screen I have decided they add to rather than detract from the scene. I attempted to do a similar shot with the tram not far behind (which we boarded), but there were also people in front of the tram, and were much closer to me - and I didn't even press the shutter.

Trams 3007 and 3008 are ČKD Tatra T6A2B vehicles, new in 1990 and numbered 2007 and 2008; they were renumbered when transferred from Krasna poliana depot to Banishora depot in July 2014. They carry a very similar livery to the older trams in Budapest (Hungary), the difference being on the Budapest examples there is no (off-)white below the yellow; this is, apparently, a variation of a legacy livery (of all yellow with maroon stripes). There are, however, other batches of trams which do not wear the current Sofia blue, yellow and white livery, these being those acquired from Basel (dark green) and Prague (red and off-white).

Fifty-seven Tatra T6A2 trams were built for Sofia in two batches, forty classified T6A2B (B for Bulgaria) in 1990 and then seventeen classified T6A2SF in 1999 (although the last, 2057, was used briefly in Plovdiv). The first batch (2001 to 2040) were renumbered (into the 30xx series) after being transferred between depots in 2014, but the second batch (2041 to 2057) retain their original 20xx series numbers.

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Sofia tram 2362 departs from the terminus at kv. Knyazhevo (кв. Княжево), working route 5 to Sadebna Palata (Съдебна Палата).

This was the second day of a six-day trip to Bulgaria, my first ever visit to the country. We'd flown from Stansted to Sofia the previous afternoon, and spent much of this day in Sofia before moving on to stay two nights in Vratsa (sometimes transliterated as Vraca), one night in Plovdiv, and one night in Velingrad after a day on the 125km-long Rhodope narrow gauge railway.

Today included some short rail journeys (as well as the longer one to Vratsa early in the evening), but we also travelled a few tram routes. It was a mostly cloudy day, but there was a brief spell of sunshine early in the afternoon; photography was limited to grab shots when and where I could.

Our two main aims regarding the tram system today were to ride route 22A, a 1,009mm gauge route which was replacing part of the standard gauge route 22 and doing three curves which otherwise would have no normal passenger service, and to do the route to Gara Sofia Sever (Sofia North Station), which had had a service reinstated only a year or so ago and some people thought might lose it again.

Having just done route 22A southbound, we continued to the end of the line (here) on route 11 (see this photo taken just after arriving) and were then going to return the same way. Two trams were in front of ours on the balloon loop when we arrived, and the first departed fairly soon. With over ten minutes before the next route 11 departure, I nipped across the road to see if I could get a picture of this tram departing, intending to walk a short distance down the road - until I spotted the artwork on the end of the building. The road traffic was quite variable, with short periods of almost-stopped nose-to-tail vehicles and short periods when the road was clear; I was partly lucky when this tram set off as there was traffic passing but it was moving reasonably well, so I was able to get some shots between the vehicles - although I've used a small portion of the next frame in the burst to remove a car from the bottom right-hand corner.

Tram 2362 is a PESA "Swing" 122 NaSF2 car, built in 2023. Sofia's trams (and trolleybuses) are operated by Sofia Electric Transport Company JSC (Столичен електротранспорт ЕАД).

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90011 and 90009 pass flooded fields on the approach to Ledburn Junction in Buckinghamshire while working 4L67, the 1020 Trafford Park to Felixstowe service.

The weather pattern over northern Europe through the last month of 2024 and the first two months of 2025 has been dull and rainy, with limited amounts of winter sunshine. On 27th February the winter gloom finally cleared into a spell of several days of springtime frosts, early fog and blue skies.

Taken with a pole-mounted camera.

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GBRF's 66783 'The Flying Dustman' leads 66765 'Julie Garn' through Whissendine working 4C09 (11.03) Wellingborough Up TC - Bristol East depot DGL, 66772 'Marie' can be seen on the rear on 2nd March 2025.

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DRS's 88008 'Ariadne' passes the entrance to the new Northampton gateway terminal working 4L48 (13.37) Daventry (TESCO) - Tilbury 2 container terminal on 28th February 2025.

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