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Narrow gauge railway preservation in Romania

It was mid-afternoon on a hotWednesday in late September 2012and eight members of SARUK were

being driven in a VW minibus towing acanvas-covered baggage trailer throughthe delightful countryside of southernTransylvania. We had flown Wizz Airfrom Luton to Transylvania Interna-tional Airport (formerly Târgu Mureș)where we were met by our minibusdriver, Nik, who made himself knownby holding up a sign that simply said‘SARUK’. Having identified his charg-es, Nik then proceeded to round us uprather like a mother hen gathering herchicks!Romania was ‘enjoying’ its hottest sum-mer for sixty years; there had been norainfall since May and the countryside,with its fields of well ripened maize, wasmore yellow than green. We set off forAgnita pausing only for an excellent

traditional lunch ata wayside taverna.The road passedthrough several vil-lages along theroute lined withtraditional Saxonhouses, many withdates painted orembossed on theireaves and decorat-ed in a variety ofpastel shades.Huge bunches ofblack grapes hungon the vines which providedmuch needed shade in thecourtyards.In Agnita the curiouslynamed Ice House welcomed us withspotless rooms and even more welcomebottles of ice-cold Ursus beer. This

smart, modern and inexpensive hotelwas to be our base for the week ahead.

Transylvanian Travels

Agnita has a new Mayor, Mr IoanDragoman, and we were delightedto have had the opportunity to

meet with him during our visit. AgnitaTown Hall is appropriately enough almostopposite the town’s old railway stationwere we were most cordially greeted andushered into his guest room.

Our conversation lasted about half anhour, ably translated by Nina who is anEnglish teacher at a local school. Webrought greetings from the UK, explainedto him our enthusiasm for the railway re-construction scheme, advised him of ourexperience and possibly stunned him withsome of the economic figures currentlygenerated by the Welsh Highland Rail-way.

We presented him with a short video onthe reconstruction of the Welsh Highlandthat had been produced by John Woodenof the FR, as well as the current WHR

Traveller’s Guide, and reassured him thatour only intention was to help TheFriends and the Consortium with theirambitious project.

He advised that Agnita had no money tospend on the project, but he went on toconfirm that Sibiu County had now joinedthe Consortium and were currently look-

ing to produce a new feasibility study asthe previous one was out of date.

However we have since learnt that Sibiuhave delayed their decision to join pend-ing administration changes within theConsortium

SARUK Meetsthe Mayor

SARUK party at Transylvania Airport.Back L-R Alasdair Stuart, Warren Marsh, Graham Farr, JohnKeylock. Front - David Allan, John Stretton, Jenny Allan, FrankCooper

Agnita’s Mayor, Ioan Dragoman (left), welcomesSARUK chairman David Allan to AgnitaBoth pictures on this page by John Stretton

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It was day two of our visit and wewere met at Agnita station by RaduPopa who introduced us to ‘The Ve-

locipede’, a curious machine constructedof two bicycle frames welded side by sidewhich could be operated by two peoplepedalling and which could carry fourpassengers on bench seats.

This was manhandled onto the track andafter some experimentation with two inthe ‘engine room’ and four ‘passengers’ itset off towards the bridge at BarghisSwamp some two kilometres distant.The odd crossing had to be dug out butthe contraption sailed merrily alongthrough the grass-covered tracks withgreat aplomb. The remainder of the par-ty surveyed the eccentric progress fromthe safety of the minibus on the parallelroad!

At the bridge a second crew took overwho were to ride on it to the next ‘stationstop’ along the line ­ Benești ­ which, wewere assured, would be ‘a piece of cake’.However the information that there wasonly the odd missing fishplate and a fewshrubs to overcome proved to be less thanaccurate; indeed the distance to Beneștihad also been miscalculated as we weresoon to discover!

The first few hundred yards were easy, aswas manoeuvring the machine over dislo-cated rail joints, but soon the ‘few shrubs’

turned into a veritable forestand the whole exercise wasbecoming a sort of dry landversion of ‘The AfricanQueen’!

We abandoned the velocipede,having decided to collect it onthe return trip and set off towalk the ‘two’ kilometre dis-tance to Benești in searingheat and unrelenting sun. Adirt track seemed to follow theline of the track and we tookto that to avoid the sometimesdifficult walking on the trackballast. By this time we weregetting suspicious that Roma-nian kilometres perhaps didn’tmeasure up to the usually ac-cepted international notion ofthat distance, our suspicionsbeing confirmed by the carvedstone kilometre posts thatadorned the track at regularintervals.

The track lay in a sort of de-serted valley with absolutelyno one, human or otherwise, insight. Deciding that it mightbe prudent to employ moderntechnology we tried using themobile phone, which we knewhad been successful in pin-pointing the position of losttravellers not only in the Ant-arctic and the Sahara Desert,but also the Atlantic ocean;sadly our reliance on this de-vice failed to work in Roma-nia, with ‘no signal’ being theusual response. Although ontwo occasions Alasdair’s phonepinged and we all relieved toknow that he had received anew message - but he was un-able to access it!

We were still follow-ing the railway,sometimes on thetrack itself and atother times on thecart track, alwayswondering what wasround the next bend.However Alasdairassured us that wemust be on the righttrack because theelectricity pylons,

which also accompanied the railway(more or less) would inevitably lead to avillage. He was right! After a threehour trek in the burning sun and withfootsteps beginning to falter a churchspire hove into sight rapidly followed bya line of pastel-painted, hip-roofed hous-es. The dirt track evolved into a sort ofconcrete surfaced road and there in thedistance, headlamps flashing, was ourmaroon painted minibus. Quite an un-scheduled adventure!

Travel by Velocipede or The Long Walk!

Pictures this pageTop left - Warren & Alastair provide the pedal power (D. Allan)Bottom left - Missing fishplate (D. Allan)Top right - Flying start for the velocipede from the loco unloadingramp. (John Stretton)Centre - A SPAD! Velocipede fights it way past a signal at danger (DAllan)Lower - Shrubs growing between the rails present a problem (JohnStretton)

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Walking the trackSAR track in a deserted valley

Cart track makes for easier walking

Leaving the railway for the cart track

Concrete distance marker posts

Bridges at Barghis swamp - track in good condition

Relieved to see the mini bus!

Benesti’s pastel-painted hipped roofed houses

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Stables to house the railway’s horsesare an interesting feature of theSAR. They were used to ‘shed’

the ‘motive power’ for delivering goodsto their final destination that had arrivedvia the railway and of course vice-versa.It was therefore with dismay that whenwe visited the line in September 2011 wesaw the semi-derelict state of the littlestable at Altina. (Top photograph).

Such was our concern that one of ourmembers offered there and then to pay forits repair.

Sadly when we again saw the stable ayear later in September 2012 the situationhad become worse, with the brick builtwall having been almost completely re-moved. (Centre photograph)

Unfortunately circumstances had mitigat-ed against repairs being carried out dur-ing the year. However we are delightedto report that the situation is being recti-fied and that repairs are now well under-way. It is pleasing that this interestinglittle feature of life on the SAR will onceagain grace the range of buildings atAltina.(Lower photograph)

It joins the other two buildings restoredby The Friends - the station at Coves andthe water tower at Cornatel.

The Friends will be putting the repairedstables to good use. It will become apermanent way store for tools and mayeven become a shed for the draisine. Alarge door will be fitted to thetrack-facing side of the repaired buildingfor this purpose.

The original brick walls have been re-placed by wooden planks. Whilst it wasconsidered using bricks this was discard-ed as bricks may well encourage pettytheft - as happened with the originalstructure as can be clearly seen in the toptwo photographs.

Stations on this line not only provided forthe needs of passengers but also served tohouse the station master and his family.Whilst two thirds of the stable was usedprimarily for the railway’s horses the oth-er third, divided from the horses by aninternal partition, was used for chickensand pigs to provide food for the family.

Altina Station Stable Restored

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News From The Line

The Sibiu to Agnita narrowgauge railway closed just elevenyears ago. It is located in theheart of stunning scenery in theHârtibaciu valley,Transylvania. Most of thetrack, pointwork and infra-structure remains in situ.

The goal of SARUK is tosupport the local Romanianrailway restoration group –‘The Friends of the Mocănița’ –in their efforts to re-open theline.We aim to raise funds, offerpractical advice and support,and help to overcome

Government indifference to thepotential of tourist lines inRomania, as well as publicisingthe line in the British press.

Annual subs for membership ofSARUK is just £15 for whichyou will receive four editions ofThe Agnita Express’ a year.

For more information pleaseemail David Allan(david.allan132@ntlworld.com)or phone on 0151 327 3576

Scheme Euros

Restore to operating status 6km of track, thus extending the alreadyrestored 2km at Agnita, to reach the first station towards Sibiu. Thiswill allow sustained tourism activities by means of trains, not justdraisines.

€30,000

Purchasing a light train set plus spares. €15,000

Organizing working camps with volunteers to replace sleepers.Four years @ €800 per annum €3,200

Sending young volunteers to youth camps in other partner schemes.Six @ €500 €3,000

Restore the goods warehouse in the station at Agnita as storage forsleepers and materials. €4,000

Internal supervision and management €2,000

Setback with SilverLining

Life has not been easy for ‘TheFriends’ and another set back fortheir plans was received in Sep-tember when they were told thatthe two locomotives that they hadbeen promised from Cluj were nolonger available.

The engines included a steam loco,which it was planned to display atSibiu terminus and a diesel thatwas destined for Agnita were itcould have been put back into run-ning order. However the cost ofmoving them proved to be beyondwhat the The Friends could afford,but as they were only on loan foran initial period of five years thenperhaps this was a blessing in dis-guise.

It will allow such funds as theFriends may have at their disposalto be set against the acquisition ofthe carriages and steam outline pet-rol-electro loco from the children'srailway in Bucharest.

EU Grant?As this edition goes to press we learn, that with the help of Fedecrail, the Friendsmay be in line for an EU grant. The Friends have applied for funding under aFedecrail-inspired scheme - details in the table below - for a total of 57,200 euros(about £47,000).The applications need to be with Fedecrail secretary Livius Kooy within the nextfew days.

Shed FundFollowing the appeal in the last newslet-ter for funds to help with the concretefoundation for the new shed we are de-lighted to report that we have so far rev-eived just short of £1200. This is awonderful response for such a small or-ganisation. Added to this can be the£800 in the SARUK account whichshould go a significant way to getting thefoundations in place before winter setsin.

‘Friends’ NewsletterMihai Blotor, President of ‘The Friends’,advises that they will be producing theirown newsletter, the first edition is nearlyready for the printers.

JOIN US!

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As reported in the last News-letter The Friends have ac-quired a draisine – built by

one of their members - Marian Du-mitru - this 4-wheeled, rail-mountedvehicle is powered by a 600cc Tra-bant engine and tows a four seatertrailer.

Following our three hour ‘track in-spection’ (see page 2) on day two ofour September visit, and after an ex-cellent lunch in the little Ivvis Pen-sion in Cornățel, it was to providesome splendid rail-related R & Rwith an exhilarating five kilometreride in the company of Radu Popa.

To accommodate the filming of aJameson Whiskey commercial amonth earlier about five kilometresof track had been cleared and re-paired from Cornățel station towards Ag­nita. The motorised draisine and trailerwere first dragged from their storage depotin an adjacent farm workshop, across abusy road featuring a blind bend, which initself was an interesting experience, andthen on to the track. Radu confirmed thatthis was the first time that he had driventhe beast, but nothing ventured, the partyclimbed aboard and set off at a crackingpace clattering over the point-work inCornățel station and onto the single line.The breeze created by the speed of the for-ward movement did a lot to counteract theheat of the day and as we sped onwardshoots and whistles were exchanged withthe cars and lorries on the parallel road.

Our excursion ended roughly in the mid-dle of nowhere! The loco was turned bythe ingenious method of jacking up thedriving vehicle at its centre point andhand-turning it about its axis. The ‘loco’moved forward and the trailer, which hadbeen previously removed from the rails,was re-railed behind it. Ah, the ingenuity

of narrow gauge rail-ways!

Alasdair claimed thedriving seat for thereturn journey andafter a slightly uncer-tain start soon had thecontraption poweringdown the line back tothe station at Cornățel.

En route John Strettonsuggested a photo run-past and so with theCarpathian Mountains in thebackground, the sun shiningfrom a blue sky, the photog-raphers in position, the drai-sine, with its trailer load ofwaving Brits, drove slowlypast the assembled snappers -a bizarre moment in a dra-matic setting - but great fun!

Draisine From CornatelDraisine &trailer in the Transylvanian sun(John Stretton)

SAR track from the draisine near Cornatel (David Allan)

The track crosses a small bridgenear Cornatel (John Stretton)

Draisine in Cornatel station (David Allan) Pointwork approaching Cornatel on the return run (David Allan)

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Dragging the draizine across the road (David Allan)

Terminus in the middle of nowhere! (David Allan)

Jacking up the draizine prior to turning (John Stretton)

Turning the draisine on its axis (David Allan)

Re-railing the trailer (David Allan)

Run past with the Carpathian Mountains in the background (John Stretton)

Riding the Rails Radu Popa talks to John Stretton

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Moving the Shed

It was the Sunday of our visit - tradition-ally a day of rest, but not for this party –it was timber moving day!

The huge eight-wheeled lorry which arrivedat the site of the goods warehouse tooksome two hours to load, with one team onthe ground and another on the vehicle. Thenine metre long timbers that had spannedthe width of the shed at some 2.5 metersabove the floor and whose job it was to keepthe uprights aligned as well as supportingthe roof, were loaded first; these overhungthe back of the wagon by some considerabledistance. As it was feared that they mightsnap whilst negotiating the difficult roadsurface in Agnita, they were strapped to-gether for the journey.

It was tiring work, espe-cially, as apart from Alas-dair, we could hardly bedescribed as being in thefirst flush of youth. Thegardening or work’s glovesthat the party had been in-structed to bring certainlywere to prove their worth,but there were still somebloody scratches thatneeded attention. OnlySARUK Secretary andTreasurer John Keylockworked bare-handed, al-though he brought somefrivolity to the occasionwith his somewhat eccen-tric choice of head gear.

A short break saw a tripto the adjacent garage forthirst-quenching drinksand then work began againin earnest. Coincidentlythe garage was adjacent tothe site of the original Ag-nita station but nothing re-mained of this building.

At last the truck was fullyloaded and ready to take itscargo of timber to the newsite at Agnita station. Toadd to the interest of thejourney the main street inAgnita had been dug up toallow for a new water sup-ply system which resultedin numerous potholes anduncontrolled single filesections. However the ex-

perienced driver negotiated the road withgreat aplomb and it arrived safely at its des-tination - the ‘new’ Agnita station.

The sun continued to beat down and, as itwas also mid-day, we needed to live up tothe ‘mad dog and Englishman’ image. So,without a break for lunch, the unloading be-gan. This if anything was more exhaustingthan the loading bit. It was hot, we weretired and apart from Alasdair and Mihai,youthful exuberance had more or less de-serted us. Nevertheless the wagon was un-loaded and the long lengths were stored inreasonable safety in the Tin Shed alongsidethe coach. At the end of the day we foundthat we had moved about three quarters ofthe old timbers. The ice-cold local Ursusbeer was the most popular drink on the ter-race of our hotel that evening!

There was some discussion on the best loca-tion for the re-erection of the old woodenrailway goods warehouse. Bill Parker hadpointed out that the line on which it hadbeen proposed to re-erect it was on a slightincline which could lead to safety problemswith parked rolling stock. However, withour captive engineer Alasdair Stewart inagreement, it was eventually decided that asthe pros outweighed the cons the originalapproved location, adjacent to the Tin Shed,remained the best option.

Top - The wood moving gang, minus John Strettonwho took the picture!L-R Warren Marsh, Frank Cooper, Alasdair Stuart,Graham Farr, Jenny Allan, David Allan, LaurieWebb, John Keylock, Mihai BlotorLeft top - Alasdair Stuart and Mihai loading theplanks.Left centre- almost done!Left Bottom - Load arrives at Agnita station

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All volunteer organisa-tions attempt to haveitems related to their

cause to sell in order to boost income andSARUK is no exception!

For our first deal we are pleased to offer aSARUK mug and a SARUK high viz vest.The mug, with its iconic SAR picture sellsfor £6.95 post paid and the high viz vest isat £9.95 again post paid

We are also pleased to advise that the fullcost of these items has been sponsored by a

SARUK member so that the total incomereceived from sales goes direct to theSARUK account.

Not only that but The Friends have pro-duced a very nice calendar featuring mod-ern photographs of the line and we shallhave an English version on sale at a price tobe advised.

May we just remind members that all mon-ey received by SARUK goes directly to TheFriends for the benefit of the SAR - no ex-penses are charged either for this newsletteror for any any other outgoing.

So please support this modest sales effort!

Send your orders to JohnKeylock, Weathervane Cottage,Childswickham, Broadway,Worcs WR12 7HLplus your cheque made out toSARUKPrices include post & packing

S.A.R.U.K. SALES

SAR Rescued Coaches

These former SAR coaches were rescued from the scrapman and are cur-rently stored in a builder’s yard in Agnita. A fourth vehicle is semi re-stored and back on the rails under cover in the Tin Shed at Agnita station

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SAR Pictures by Trevor Rowe

SARUK has been extremely fortu-nate in receiving permission topublish photographs taken by

Trevor Rowe during his visit to the line in1966.

We are very grateful to Trevor for allow-ing us to use his pictures in The AgnitaExpress.

The first of these is of the narrow gaugeterminus of the SAR in Sibiu, located ad-jacent to the standard gauge station.

The image shows a busy scene with a lo-co and train about to depart for Agnitafrom the narrow gauge station.

Meanwhile a loco is receiving attentionon the cross-over line to the goods sheds,wagons and a couple of carriages stand

on the line to the rear ofthe station building andyet more carriagesawait in the ‘platform’road.

The lower photographtaken during theSARUK visit in 2011shows the same scene45 years later. Thegoods warehouses havebeen demolished, butthe narrow gauge sta-tion still exists. Thewooden water towerhas also been demol-ished and replaced by aconcrete building. Thestruts visible in the low-er photograph belong toa rolling crane used for

unloading electricity transformers. Astandard gauge siding serves the premiseswhich splits from the narrow gauge justbefore the narrow gauge station.

Is that pitched roof building to the rear ofthe narrow gauge station the same as canbe seen in the later photograph?