site.btaIn 1934-1944 Sofia Insisted on Having Finest, Most Luxurious Trams, Journalist Stanislav Kolev Says
During the tenure of sofia mayor Ivan Ivanov (1934-1944), Sofia insisted on having the finest and most luxurious trams, journalist Stanislav Kolev said at the presentation of the September issue of LIK magazine on Thursday.
Very few written sources have survived on the history of the development of Sofia’s electric public transport, Kolev said. He is also an author in the new issue of the magazine. Thousands of technical drawings of trams from the former Tramkar tram factory were destroyed after September 9, 1944, as old and unnecessary paper, Kolev said regretfully.
He said that the first tram in Sofia was an incredible experience for Sofianites. They were afraid to board it because they thought it was dangerous to their lives. Initially, Sofia had five tram lines with a total length of 23 kilometres. As the city grew, the network was expanded to meet the needs of the new Sofianites - many of them migrants from Southern Dobrudja, Western Thrace and Macedonia, the journalist said. In his words, Sofia’s mayors realised that to solve the transport problem of the growing city, which was developing its industry, something had to be done about the capital’s trams, which were the cheapest, fastest and easiest means of transport.
The first trams to run on the streets of Sofia were manufactured in Belgium, most probably in Charleroi, and their parts were most likely assembled from different trams - bodies, bogies, wheels, motors and so on. They travelled at lower speeds and had a smaller passenger capacity, Kolev recalled in recounting the history of Sofia’s trams.
In 1937, during the tenure of Mayor Ivan Ivanov, Sofia Municipality issued detailed technical requirements for what the trams running on Sofia’s streets should look like, including the type of brass handles and curtains, on which the symbols of Sofia Municipality had to be embroidered, Stanislav Kolev said at the presentation of the September issue of LIK.
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