Mocăniţă

Mocăniţă

A mocăniţă (Romanian pronunciation: [mokəˈnitsə]) is a narrow gauge railway in Romania, most notably in Transylvania and nearby regions. Archetypely, they are situated in mountainous areas and the locomotives operating on them (which themselves can also be referred to as mocăniţăs) are steam-powered. These railways were built for cargo and passenger services - some in the era of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before 1920 - but fell into disrepair over the years. Some are now being rehabilitated for the purposes of tourism.

Contents

Etymology

The word mocăniţă is a term of endearment, derived from the Romanian word mocan, meaning shepherd or one who lives in the mountains, and suffixed as feminine and diminutive in keeping with the tradition of naming conveyances and indicating small size. It's also been suggested that it means "coffee machine", as one of the little locomotives is reminiscent of one of these in action.[1]

Vasar Valley Mocăniţa

Mariuţa
A Rocar minivan on rails

The most well-known mocăniţă runs in the Vaser Valley in Maramureş County. This railway was constructed in the period 1933-1935 and uses a gauge of 760 mm (2 ft 5 78 in). It was partially destroyed by German troops during the war, but was rebuilt again. It has primarily been used for logging, and is still used for this purpose, but in 2004 work began on rehabilitating it as a tourist attraction. A Swiss enthusiast who came to Romania in 1987 helped this greatly by starting an organisation for saving the railway: "Hilfe für die Wassertalbahn in Rumänien". Several steam engines are used: 764-211 (Măriuţa) was built in Berlin by Orenstein & Koppel in 1910; 763-193 (Krauss) was also built in Germany, in 1921; and there are five Romanian locomotives built at Reşiţa between 1953-1955. Diesel engines (built in 1960s-1970s) and other vehicles such as converted minvans also run on the lines. The latter are used by border police, rangers and others for getting quickly up the mountains.

The tracks run from Vişeu de Sus, from a yard on Strada A. I. Cuza, 1.5 km north from the town centre. The main line is 43 km long, from Vişeu de Sus to Comanu, near the Ukrainian (former Polish) border, though the service may terminate before then at Faina. This trip usually takes between 3 and 4 hours each way. There are two other branches: along the Novat Valley (13 km) and towards Stevioara (3 km). The train can occasionally come off the rails, but at a speed of 10 km/hour this poses no danger, and experienced passengers help to get the train back on the rails! The Vaser Valley is an exceptionally scenic location, the habitat of many bears and deer, along with many cattle and sheep. The line is run by a private company, Căile Ferate Forestiere (CFF). As well as regular services, trains can be charted by tourists; special services are also run, for instance on New Year's Eve. This video made about this Mocăniţă is accompanied by local music from Maramureş.

The railway, and the Mariuța engine complete with rolling stock featured in episode 3 "Wild East" ("From the Dniestr to the Danube" in the US version) of Michael Palin's New Europe. It can be viewed in part 3 of that episode on YouTube at time index 2 minutes 54 seconds.

Other mocăniţas

  • In the Aries mountains region of Alba county (in Romanian only). Trains are now operating on Abrud to Câmpeni section of this line; it is planned that in the future they will run from Abrud to Turda. When operated as a non-tourist railway the journey time for the 93 kilometre trip from Turda to Abrud took some six and a half hours. (CFR timetable 1988).
Narrow-gauge mixed train from Turda to Abrud, August 1978

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • mocăniţă — MOCĂNÍŢĂ, mocăniţe, s.f. 1. Mocancă (1). 2. (Glumeţ) Tren de linie îngustă, care circulă în regiunile de munte. – Mocan + suf. iţă. Trimis de LauraGellner, 13.09.2007. Sursa: DEX 98  MOCĂNÍŢĂ s. v. mocancă. Trimis de siveco, 13.09.2007. Sursa:… …   Dicționar Român

  • mocancă — MOCÁNCĂ, mocance, s.f. Nume dat femeilor din regiunile muntoase (în special ale Transilvaniei). Trimis de green, 07.04.2004. Sursa: DLRC  MOCÁNCĂ, mocance, s.f. 1. Soţie sau fiică de mocan; femeie originară din Transilvania. 2. (La sg. art.)… …   Dicționar Român

  • Narrow gauge railway — Track gauge by size Broad gauge St …   Wikipedia

  • Bahnstrecke Dorneşti–Gura Putnei–Nisipitu/Putna — Dorneşti–Gura Putnei–Nisipitu/Putna Kursbuchstrecke: 515 Streckenlänge: 58,94 / 5,45 km Spurweite: 1435 mm (Normalspur) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kursbuchstrecke 515 (Rumänien) Dorneşti–Gura Putnei–Nisipitu/Putna — Dorneşti–Gura Putnei–Nisipitu/Putna Kursbuchstrecke: 515 Streckenlänge: 58,94 / 5,45 km Spurweite: 1435 mm (Normalspur) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wassertalbahn — Streckenlänge: 56,1 km Spurweite: 760 mm (Bosnische Spur) Höchstgeschwindigkeit: 15 km/h Legende …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • List of heritage railways — is a comprehensive listing of heritage railways sorted by country, state or region. A heritage railway is a preserved or tourist railroad which is run as a tourist attraction, and is usually but not always run by volunteers, and seeks to re… …   Wikipedia

  • Vaser River — Geobox River name = Vaser River native name = other name = other name1 = image size = image caption = country type = Countries state type = region type = district type = Counties city type = Villages country = Romania country1 = state = state1 =… …   Wikipedia

  • Caşolţ — Kastenholz Hermány Hilfe zu Wappen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Harbachtal — Der Harbach, zwischen Cașolț (Kastenholz) and Mohu (Moichen) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”