Some time ago, we told you in an article how for several times Plovdiv came close to having a tram transport system, but for one reason or another, the projects failed.
Today, however, we take you back to the time when trolleybuses still ran in the city under the hills, and it wasn't uncommon for all traffic to stop so the driver could adjust the pantographs, which happened to often disconnect.
Trolley transport in Plovdiv was permanently stopped in September 2012, but the first trolleys crossed the city in 1955. At that time, traffic mainly consisted of trolleys, carts, and bicycles. Cars were rarely seen.
The very first trolleybus stop in the city was literally at its heart — right where "Gen. Gurko" street crosses "Otets Paisiy" street. This was also the place where the "heart of the trolleys" was located: the rectifier station for the network in the central district. It was a massive, extremely expensive, and powerful facility that specialists deemed impossible to move. In fact, Plovdiv has seven such stations, but this one was the first and most important one, which is now considered a historical artifact. The building was completed in 1957. Initially, transformers and all equipment were transported by bullock carts to the stations, and many of the installations used quicksilver.
Over 12 years ago, Pod Tepeto published the personal story of Georgi Gugov, who worked there for 44 years. During one of his shifts, the most dangerous incident one could imagine occurred in the magnificent building. Back then, the network would shut down about 40 times a day due to overload. In some cases, the equipment wouldn’t turn back on, and it had to be restarted manually, which was very dangerous. During one such restart, Georgi was literally set on fire, but even that didn’t stop him from continuing to work in the "heart of the trolleys". On his first day back after the accident, he manually restarted the trolleybuses again, risking his life, knowing that many passengers depended on these dangerous actions of his.
In the busiest years, there were over 119 trolleybuses, with many female drivers among the workforce. Trolleybuses even ran along Glavnata (“the Main Street”), as we can now see in some archival footage.
Today, fewer and fewer people remember the numbers and routes of these vehicles, and for younger generations, this type of transport in our city seems like a legend.
Photos: Бай Иван Карачомака
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