I am going to tell you a local legend from the beginning of the twentieth century, which helped the development of the trade relations between Yambol and Elhovo – the horse tram.

Until nineteen twenty-nine, the horse tram was a real attraction for all the people from Yambol and their guests. Here is how that technical prodigy appeared. At the beginning of the twentieth century the goods in Yambol region were transported mostly by cars. Every day iron cars and colourful carts hurried to and fro Yambol and Elhovo.  The cars were pulled by oxen and buffalos, and the carts – by horses and donkeys. The carters transported the goods on the road Yambol – Elhovo, which was made in nineteen oh seven, for a long time. But that was a slow process and took quite a lot of time.

It was like that till May, nineteen ten, when the Council of Ministers took the decision to start building a railway from Yambol to Elhovo. It was a big enterprise, and it required a great amount of money. It cost four and a half million levs to build it.

Just when everything concerning the building of the railway was ready, there was the outbreak of the Balkan War and the railway was indefinitely forgotten. But the need of a railroad for transportation of ammunitions and food to the front was more than tangible and despite the difficulties the War Ministry and the General Staff decided instead of a regular railway to build a narrow-gauge railway, pulled by horses. The people immediately called it the horse tram. The route had already been explored – it actually coincided with the road Yambol – Elhovo. The tracks had just to be put on the lay-by of the road and the railway would be ready. And thus, the building of the horse tram began in October, nineteen twelve and continued for about thirty days. One hundred and forty-five soldiers were engaged, superintended by the third construction railway company. Finally, they built it. The length of the railway was fifty-two kilometers, and the width between the tracks was sixty centimeters. The maximum speed of the new railway was about thirteen kilometers per hour. For this reason the distance between Yambol and Elhovo was covered in about four hours. Quite faster than going by a cart.

During the Balkan War the horse railway was used for transportation of any kind of ammunitions and food. However, in nineteen seventeen, it started to be used for transportation of wheat from the region of Elhovo to Yambol railway station. This continued until the world war one. After the end of the war, the railway was used by the Transport Ministry. It ran from Yambol to Elhovo and backwards. The line consisted of four carriages – two freight ones and two passenger ones. It weighed a ton and a half and was pulled by four horses in two teams. We wouldn’t be wrong if we say it was a four horsepower tram.  The passenger carriages were designed for twenty-five people. There was neither electricity nor heating in them, and that’s why the horse tram ran only during the day. The whole enterprise consisted of two hundred horses and the necessary staff. But the important thing was that the distance between Yambol and Elhovo as if suddenly shortened, and it was no problem to get from one place to the other.

Yambol narrow-gauge railway had three stops – near Boyanovo, after the big curve opposite Karavelovo, and at Okop. At those stops the horses were replaced by rested ones, and the tired ones were taken to special stables near the road, to have a rest. Upon entering Yambol, the horse tram ran along Rakovska Street and then stopped in the square. After that it continued to the station. The people of Yambol were really proud of their new gain, because there was only one tram like that on the Balkan Peninsula and it was in Istanbul.
The last run of the horse tram was at the end of July, nineteen twenty-nine. Two years later, in nineteen thirty-one, the newly built railway Yambol – Elhovo was set in motion.

This is the story about the horse tram. If you like it, listen to the other stories as well.