1871 · 1908 The railway picks a winnerŽeleznica vybrala víťaza

In 1871 the Košice–Bohumín railway was driven along the basin, and the station went up on Poprad's ground rather than Spišská Sobota's. It decided everything. Freight, sawmills and workshops came to the tracks; the rich medieval neighbour stopped growing and the small one took off. From 1908 a narrow electric railway began climbing from the same station to Starý Smokovec, reaching Štrbské Pleso by 1912, and the High Tatras became a place an ordinary family could get to in an afternoon. Poprad has been the gateway to the mountains ever since — and Spišská Sobota, frozen at exactly that moment, is now the reason people stop.Roku 1871 prešla kotlinou Košicko-bohumínska železnica a stanica vyrástla na popradskom, nie na sobotskom chotári. Rozhodlo to o všetkom. Za koľajnicami prišli sklady, píly a dielne; bohatý stredoveký sused prestal rásť a malý Poprad sa rozbehol. Od roku 1908 začala od tej istej stanice stúpať úzkorozchodná elektrická železnica do Starého Smokovca a roku 1912 dosiahla Štrbské Pleso — Vysoké Tatry sa tak stali miestom, kam sa obyčajná rodina dostala za jedno popoludnie. Poprad je odvtedy bránou do hôr. A Spišská Sobota, zamrznutá presne v tom okamihu, je dnes dôvodom, prečo tu ľudia zastanú.