Steam & Excursion > Narrow Gauge Steam in Romania

Last week I was fortunate to be a  participant in FarRail's Romania narrow gauge steam tour. Yes, it is European. So if you don't like foreign steam, read no further. But I posted here as it gets more readers than the European forum.  Our group consisted of participants from Germany (the majority), U.K, Netherlands, and three from the USA. All internal travel was done by bus with overnights in local pensions of varying quality. Charters were arranged on 5 different railways the first of which is still an active working forestry railway, albeit it with diesel power. However negotiations with the railway allowed us to have a working loaded log train with steam power including photo runpasts. The other lines are utilized only for limited tourist service. We even had a loco taken by flat bed from one line to the other to insure it was authentic to the line used. The first photo is from the working line at Viseu de Sus, located in northern Romania close to the Ukrainian boarder. Logs were loaded to our empty train by horse power as was done with the line first began operation. The logs were then taken by a real money earning steam train to the mill at Viseu de Sus. Home made rail vans are used to transport workers to the logging sights. Derailments are not uncommon.
 

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Our brakeman enjoys a cold one with his friends on the way out of town. The second line visited is a preserved line out of Moldovita, about 2 hours east of Viseu de Sus.

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The next forestry railway was located in the small mountain village of Comandau. Since there were no suitable locos there, we had to transport one by flat bed. Then we made our way out of town with a train of finished planks ordered and paid for by the organizer Bernd Siler. The third photo demonstrates the need to bring the loco to Comandau.

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The final two lines visited are located in the south east part of the country. An 8 hour bus ride away. The first is an industrial line out of Brad to serve Criscor Industries 4 kilometers to the north. Only equipment authentic to each line was utilized on this tour.The weather finally cooperated with a day of full sun. The second line was built for passenger service in the region. A 12 kilometer section has been preserved for tourist use. Gypsies have taken over the station located at Campeni. In fact we almost didn't get to do this line as the previous day, Gypsies (tramps and thieves) tried to build a road over the line in their lawless village. Police were called and with the treat of arrest the rocks were removed in time for our charter the next day. All doors and windows were closed to prevent them from entering the train when passing through their village.

Again, I'm amazed so few Americans take advantage of these wonderful and unique tours. A tour like this, with all of our government regulations would be impossible to pull off in this country. No worries there about using only brakes, very poor tack conditions (we derailed 3 times) or other such safety measures. Well worth the time and expense to get there. FarRail tours aren't cheap, but you get great value for your money and everything was exceptionally organized.

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Very nice.  Thanks for sharing.

GREAT pictures.......now I need to learn more about FarRail tours....Arlen

Astounding photos! That's really something - piggybacking a live steam engine! It's hard to name a personal favorite, but it probably is #4, the guy saluting the train with the bottle of vodka.

Keep your photos coming!

EO

 

Wonderful photos and sescriptions. You got your money's worth and then some. Thanks for sharing!

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com 

WOW !! Talk about recreating a scene. Bring in your own loco and lumber :)

Wonderful photos, thank so much for sharing !!

Mike