Carpatia Express with CFR 150.216 at Viseu de Sus Station

  If you travel to Viseu de Sus to visit the Mocanita train, you will most likely need a place to sleep. There are plenty of hotels and pensions in town for that, but recently a much more interesting possibility has become available: to spend your night(s) on the Carpatia Express. In case you wonder what that is, its the name of the standard gauge train found in the yard of the Mocanita train station, here:

  Carpatia Express is a train made up of the CFR 150.216 locomotive and 3 passnger cars, in which tourists can sleep. Well, actually, to be more specific, only two of the train cars are for sleeping, the third one is a restaurant car. It is the first ever hotel train in Romania and it is open since the spring of 2011.

  Carpatia Express has a total of 20 compartments, each with two beds and toilet. The price for one night is 59 RON (13-14 Euro) for one bed or 75 RON (about 17 euro) for the whole compartment (and breakfast is included). The hotel train has heating, so it is open all year.

  The locomotive of the Carpatia Express is CFR 150.216, one of the 282 steam locomotives of the CFR 150.000 series built by Uzinele Domeniilor Resita and Uzinele Nicolae Malaxa (Uzinele "23 August") Bucuresti between 1946 and 1960. These were powerful locomotives built after the Second World War for the purpose of pulling heavy freight trains. They were designed almost entirely based on the German BR 50 locomotives, with some modifications like the Cosmovici double fueling system (they could burn both coal and crude oil). The locomotives of the 150.000 series were the last type of standard gauge steam locomotive produced in Romania. Although not so many were built (282), quite a few have survived and some of them can even be seen exhibited today (others have not been so lucky and are slowly being eaten by rust somewhere).

  CFR 150.216 was built by Uzinele Domeniilor Resita in 1958. It served at Targu Mures when it was active. A few years ago it was moved to Razboieni. Some pictures from that time show it in a really bad shape, but since then it has been restored and nicely repainted, so now it's the pride of the Carpatia Express train.

Facts:
ID: CFR 150.216
Wheel arrangement: 2-10-0
Leading Wheel diamater: 850 mm
Driving wheel diameter: 1400 mm
Axle load: 15.3 t
Weight (without tender): 86.9 t
Length over buffers: 22940 mm
Power: 1723 HP
Top speed: 80 km/h
Built: 1958
Builder: Uzinele Domeniilor Resita
Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)
Location: Viseu De Sus, Romania (CFF Viseu de Sus Mocanita Train Station)

  The three train cars of Carpatia Express have been restored recently too, repainted in their original colors, so on the outside they look the same way as when they were produced in the German Democratic Republic. On the inside, however, they are more comfortable than they were during their service time.

Links:
Carpatia Express at Daniel Secarescu's Mocanita blog
The CFR 150.000 series at www.railwayfan.ro
The Mocanita of Viseu de Sus
New Year's Eve on the Mocanita Train at Viseu de Sus
CFF Viseu de Sus Official Site

CFR 40.005 near Subcetate Station

  Only one special cog railway (rack railway) line ever existed in Romania, between Caransebeş and Subcetate (in Hunedoara county). It was built in 1908 to connect the Petroşani region of the country, where coal existed, to the Resiţa region, rich in metals. The part of the line stretching from Boutari (Băuţar) to Zeicani was too steep for conventional locomotives, so it was fitted with a rack running between the tracks and special cog locomotives were bought for transporting the raw materials on it.

  Wiener Lokomotivfabriks, AG in Floridsdorf delivered 7 cog locomotives in 1908, which were classified into the 40D (40.000D) series of CFR locomotives and numbered from 40.001 to 40.007. They were used until 1978 when the whole line was closed. Today their situation is the following:

• CFR 40.001 is at Petrosani
• CFR 40.002 was barbarically melted (after being exhibited in Iasi for a while)
• CFR 40.003 was sold to Slovakia
• CFR 40.004 is exhibited in the steam locomotive museum at Sibiu
• CFR 40.005 is in a restricted area near the Subcetate train station
• CFR 40.006 was sold to Slovakia
• CFR  40.007 is exhibited in the Dej Triaj collection

  These locomotives were considered to be very advanced technologically at the time when they were built. They possessed two 4-cylinder engines, one for the normal, adhesive wheels and one for the cog-wheels. These two engines could operate simultaneously and the non-cog engine could also work by itself.They always rode in the front of the train, so they needed to be turned around at the ends of the line. for this purpose two manual turntables were used, so the heavy machines were turned using human power. you can see an example of this in the movie "Steam in Roumania 1969". The top speed of the rack locos was 40 km/h on normal sections and 12 km/h on rack sections.

Facts:

ID: CFR 40.005

Wheel arrangement: 2-8-2cog

Built: 1908

Builder: Wiener Lokomotivfabriks AG (Floridsdorf)

Top speed: 40 km/h on normal sections, 12 km/h on cog sections

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Location: Subcetate, Romania (near train station)

Links:

CFR 40.005 at www.steamlocomotive.info
CFR 40.004 at Sibiu steam locomotive museum

About the cog locomotives at www.albico.cz

About the Subcetate-Boutari line at www.albico.cz

CFR 150.1114 at Brasov Train Station

 I have known for a long time that there is a beautiful steam locomotive exhibited at the train station of Brasov. Unfortunately when I was in Brasov I was usually just travelling through, so for years I did not get a chance to see the locomotive... until the spring of 2011, when I went there with the clear purpose to take some shots of the magnificent CFR 150.1114. It is on display right behind the station, so if you go there, you really cannot miss it:

  This is not the first locomotive of the CFR 150.1000 series or of the 150.000 series that I have written about before. For detailed history about the locos 150.1101-150.1123 please read my article bout CFR 150.1123 at Dej Triaj Depot, but I also recommend taking a look at CFR 150.1105 at Sibiu steam locomotive museum and CFR 150.105 at Dej Triaj Depot. Note, however that the 150.1100 and 150.100 series are quite different. Also the locomotives 150.1101-150.1123 (including the 150.1114 at the Brasov train station) were not really built for CFR, they arrived to Romania as war prey and they are German locos. The 150.1114 is actually a steam locomotive of type DR 50.

  Being exhibited in the train station of one of the most important cities of Romania, CFR 150.1114 is quite well known. Even H0 scale copies of it exist. Here are a few videos about the CFR 150.1114 model:

  CFR 150.1114 is well-maintained and nicely painted. The poeople who travel through the Brasov train station really do have something to see there:

Facts:

ID: CFR 150.1114

Wheel Arrangement: 2-10-0

Built: 1941

Builder: Borsig

Top Speed: 80 km/h

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Location: Brasov, Romania (train station)

Links:

CFR 150.1123 at Dej Triaj Depot

CFR 150.1105 at Sibiu steam locomotive museum

CFR 150.105 at Dej Triaj Depot

CFR 50.497 at Predeal Train Station

  The Prahova Valley is a beautfiul place in Romania and it's worth visiting it regardless if you're a train fan or not. However, if you are one, you'll find some nice surprises in almost every train station along the valley. I already wrote about the CFR 230.039 steam locomotive at the Sinaia train station and about the permanent miniature railroad exhibition hosted there. Now it's time to look at the train station of Predeal, where another real steam locomotive is preserved, and not just any steamer, but one that was famous in its own time and is an important part of the history of the Romanian State Railways.
  Predeal is a small mountain resort, a great place to spend your holidays, but if you're more interested in seeing the mentioned steam locomotive, you should have no problem finding the train station, located here:

  The locomotive exhibited just behind the station is the CFR 50.497. It was retired at the end of the 20th century, after a long service. In it's last years of activity it was used for maneuvers in train depots, as steam locomotive traction in Romania was mostly replaced by diesel and electric traction around 1970. After its retirement, CFR 50.497 was kept for a while in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum and a few years ago it has been moved to Predeal and exhibited behind the train station. Unfortunately, as you can see from the images, it is not in great shape anymore, the weather has imprinted its destructive effects on it already...

  CFR 50.497 belongs to the 50.100 series of CFR locomotives, not to the 50.000 series, as one may suspect. There are considerable differences between the two types. The 50.100 series is one that had an important role in the Romanian railway transportation in the 20th century. In the first part of the century Romania's railway system was expanding and there was an increasing need for powerful locomotives. The CFR also tried to standardize the locomotives and their parts as much as possible in order to minimize the problems induced by the fact that their earlier locomotives came from many different builders and many different countries and they were difficult to manage. The locomotives of the 40.000 series were an important step towards achieving these two goals (powerful engines that could handle the increasing traffic volume and that were also standard types), but there was one important problem with them: they were very heavy (17.2 t axle load) and the country's lines were in a bad shape, they could not handle the wight. So CFR looked for an alternative solution of locomotives that could handle all kinds of traffic (passenger, freight, mixed) and were light enough for the existing railway system. So was the 50.100 series born. At first these locos were imported from foreign builders. The first order was placed in 1920 and the German locomotive factories delivered a total of 804 such machines. In fact the locomotives of type 50.100 are a copy of the Prussian G 10 design. The G 10 had been a successful type of steam locomotive used for cargo hauling for quite a few years before the first CFR 50.100 loco has started running. It proved to be a reliable machine with good performance achievements and it was also lightweight, that is why CFR decided to adept the design, but the 50.100 locomotives were a bit different from the G 10 engines. Obviously the parts were standardized and they were fitted with the famous crude oil burning system developed by George Cosmovici.

  With a top speed of 60 km/h, the 50.100 series was considered a general purpose design and these engines were used for pulling just about any kind of standard gauge trains. At the beginning of the 20th century Romania's rolling stock came mostly from foreign builders. But CFR wished to break free from this dependence and in 1927 a law was brought which encouraged the country's own locomotive factories to build their own machines for CFR. So, beginning with this year, CFR bought the Borsig license for the G 10 and the two main Romanian railway manufacturers, Uzinele Domeniilor Resita and Uzinele Nicolae Malaxa Bucuresti started building the engines. Actually, the first 50.100 steam locomotive, the 50.243, was built a little bit earlier at Resita, it was delivered on the 14th September 1926 and it was named "Regele Ferdinand" after the Romanian king. The first engine of the same type left the Malaxa factories two years later, on the 28th of December 1928. It's number was 50.340 and it too was named after a Romanian king, "Regele Mihai". In 1936 an improved subtype was ordered, with a top sepped of 70 km/h, but due to the soon arriving war, only 10 were actually built, numbered 50.1001 to 50.1010.

  The 50.100 locomotive was probably the most wide spread steam engine ever used by the CFR. In the Second World War it transported most of the Romanian troops, before and after the war it transported just about anything. Some engines were still used in the 1990's for maneuvers inside train depots. Many such steam locomotives existed and they played an important role in the Romanian transportation of the 20th century. Surprisingly only two were truly preserved, the 50.378 in the Resita steam locomotive museum and the 50.497 at the Predeal train station. A few more are left to rust in different corners of the country...

Facts:
ID: CFR 50.497
Wheel arrangement: 0-10-0
Length over buffers: 18912 mm
Height: 4250 mm
Wheel diameter: 1400 mm
Axle load: 15.4 t
Top speed: 60 km/h
Built: 1930
Builder: Uzinele Nicolae Malaxa, Bucuresti
Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)
Location: Predeal, Romania (train station)

Links:
CFR 50.100 series at www.railwayfan.ro
CFR 50.100 series at railnet.ro

CFR 230.039 at Sinaia Train Station

  

  As I wrote earlier, this spring I had the opportunity to visit Sinaia, a quiet small town in the center of Romania, which has many things to see and that includes some eye candy for the railroad enthusiasts too. Those who are into railway modeling will be thrilled by the permanent miniature railroad exhibition hosted in the building of the train station, but those who are more into real, full size locomotives, will not be disappointed either because just behind the station there is a beautiful steam locomotive on display, the CFR 230.039.

  The 230.00 series of CFR locomotives includes machines of type Prussian P8 (KPEV, 2C-h2), which is considered to be one of the most successful and beautiful types of German steam locomotives. Their construction began in 1906 in the Schwartzkopff factories, also known as Berliner Maschinenbau. They were elegant, simple, fast and economical engines which were also relatively easy to drive. Most of them were employed in passenger hauling.

  The first locomotives of the CFR 230.000 series have arrived to Romania as war prey after the First World War and their exploitation began in 1919. CFR has also acquisitioned 131 more from several German locomotive builders. The first lot was ordered in 1920 and they arrived to the country in 1921. Seeing that they were so fit for the conditions of the Romanian lines and they had proved very efficient in pulling passenger and mail cars, the Romanian locomotive factories started building them too from 1932 onward. Until the year 1940 several were built, 139 by the "Uzinile Domeniilor" factory from Resita and 91 more by the "Uzinele Nicolae Malaxa" in Bucuresti. The fact that together they have built a total of 230 locomotives for the 230.000 series is just a coincidence. The engines built in Romania were technically updated and they were able to use not just coal as fuel, but also crude oil. Romania did not have much coal, but there was plenty of crude oil in the country, so this double fuel system, developed by George Cosmovici, was applied to many types of Romanian steam locomotives. These locos served the Romanian State Railways for many decades, the last of them being retired in the 1980's.
  Unfortunately not many of them have been preserved, only about 10 (but that's quite a lot compared to how many other types of Romanian steam locomotives have been barbarically melted). I previously wrote about the CFR 230.299 located in the Dej Triaj collection here and here.

  CFR 230.039 was built in 1907 by Stettiner Maschinenbau - AG Vulcan. It was retired quite late, after a long service of 76 years, in 1983, and is now exhibited in the Prahova Valley, next to the train station of Sinaia. It was placed there in 2007. You can find a detailed article abut how it was exhibited at the Modelism Feroviar blog, here.

Facts:
ID: CFR 230.039
Wheel arrangement: 4-6-0
Driving wheel diameter: 1750 mm
Leading wheel diameter: 1000 mm
Length over buffers: 18.49 m (with tender)
Axle load: 17.2 t
Own weight: 76.3 t (without tender)
Max weight: 137.9 t
Number of cylinders: 2
Cylinder diameter: 575 mm
Boiler pressure: 12 bar
Power: 1300 HP (868 kW)
Top speed: originally 100 km/h, plates state 60 km/h
Built: 1907
Builder: AG Vulcan
Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)
Location: Sinaia, Romania (train station)

Links:
CFR 230.039 at Modelism Feroviar blog
CFR 230.000 series at railwayfan.ro
Prussian P8 locomotives at Wikipedia
CFR 230.299 at Dej Triaj Train Depot
Permanent miniature railroad exhibition at Sinaia Train Station

Steam in Roumania August 1969 DVD

I have recently acquired a very interesting DVD: "Steam in Roumania August 1969". It contains 57 minutes of footage filmed in Romania in 1969, the last year when the steam locomotives handled the largest share of rail traffic in this country. The video was filmed by none other than Ton Pruissen, the famous producer of historical railway films who has dedicated his life to filming steam locomotives. His passion began when he was only 16 years old and as the years passed, he created unparalleled quality films about steam locomotives. In 1969 he took a "steam trip" to Romania, where he found friendly people and cooperative railway men, and, in spite of the odds of being arrested, he succeeded in producing high-quality footage about the magnificent CFR steam locomotives, with their unique polished brass embellishment.

The film starts off by presenting some interesting facts about the Romanian steamers, such as they used a system of dual firing (coal and oil), because Romania had plenty of oil but no coal, or such as the fact that Romanian steam locomotive series were numbered according to the French system, where the wheel arrangement (according to Whyte notation) was divided by two, the leading zeros omitted and so the class number was obtained (for example a 4-6-2 was included in the 231.000 series and a 2-8-4 was in the 142.000 series). Also at the beginning of the film some main classes of the CFR steam locomotives are enumerated and presented: the Prussian P8, Prussian G10, Prussian G81, 2-6-0 and 2-6-2 steam locos, 2-8-2 rack locos, the 2-10-0 locos based on the German class 50, the magnificent 2-8-4s based on Austrian design and the elegant Pacifics.

The trip begins at Timisoara. It continues with images of the Subcetate-Boutari rack line. After that comes the station of Cluj, where a considerable amount of the footage was filmed. Next is Sibiu and the narrow gauge line to Agnita. Finally, it ends with Bucuresti (Bucharest), home of the Romanian Pacifics.

The film is tightly packed with important historical shots, it contains rare images of important types of Romanian steam locomotives, many of which are the few such steamers that have escaped scrapping and can be seen exhibited today. It is a pleasant, enjoyable film, with well organized content. Most of it (about 90%) is in black and white and it is obvious that the used filming equipment is what was available over 40 years ago, but that does not spoil the fun at all. The commentary is in English and is very good (but I've heard that versions with German commentary are also available).

Here is a short teaser of the DVD:

The short clip was made available by Camden Miniature Steam Services, which is where I ordered the DVD from: Steam in Roumania August 1969 at Camden Miniature Steam Services.

CFR 150.1123 at Dej Triaj Depot

After the end of World War II, Romania received from the Soviet Union 30 German locomotives as war prey. They were engines of the DR 42, DR 44, DR 50 and DR 52 classes. As others, most of them arrived to Romania from Austria between 1948 and 1958 to be repaired and transformed to fit the broad gauge of the Russian railway lines at the railway workshops in Bucuresti and Iasi. However, these 30 engines were given by the Soviet Union to CFR, because they had severe damages or simply because the Russians were not interested in running steam locomotives with such technical characteristics on their lines. 23 of these locomotives belonged to class DR 50 and DR 52. CFR enlisted them in its inventory with ID numbers ranging from 150.1101 to 150.1123. Four engines of class DR 50 received the IDs CFR 150.1113 - CFR 150.1116. The rest of 19 locomotives originally belonged to class BR 52, which was derived from the class DR 50 by the Deutsche Reichsbahn during the war by the means of simplification, making the locomotive as cheap as possible (they've built over 7000 pieces in 4 years!). This also meant that the life expectation of these locomotives was not high, still some of them have functioned on the lines of CFR for over 40 years. All except one of the locos that came from the DR 52 series, were equiped with tenders of type 2'2'T32 (wannentender). During the reparation in the CFR workshops, the locomotives have been prived of their smoke deflectors, the only one that kept them until today is CFR 150.1105 in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum.

The last one of these steamers was retired by CFR in 1989, after 10 years from its last technical inspection, after which it has rolled uninspected for 522.837 kilometers. It is no other than CFR 150.1123, the last from its series, which has done service in Hungary, belonged to the Soviet Union and finally ran on the Romanian lines. After its retirement it has arrived in 1996 to Dej, where it has been left to rust for several years. Here are a few pictures in which you can see in what a sad state it got by 2009:

CFR 150.1123 rusting at Dej in 2009 - image 1

CFR 150.1123 rusting at Dej in 2009 - image 2

Luckily, unlike so many CFR steam locomotives, 150.1123 has escaped the scrapyard and by the summer of 2010 it has been salvaged and restored by a handful of railway enthusiasts, led by Mr. Florin Nan. He and his team have saved several Romanian steam locomotives, they have nicely restored them and they are now all on display in the Dej Triaj train depot. For this they deserve great respect, for they are the few who dedicate their time and effort to saving such precious pieces of Romanian railway history, standing against the general tendency of destroying old steam locomotives.

Facts:

ID: CFR 150.1123 (ex DR 150.1127)

Wheel arrangement: 2-10-0

Built: 1944

Builder: Skoda (Pilsen)

Top speed: 80 km/h

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Location: Dej Triaj (train depot)

Links:

CFR 150.1123 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 150.1105 at Sibiu steam locomotive museum

Credits:

Much of the information in this article has been taken from the book "Istoricul tractiunii feroviare din Romania" by Serban Lacriteanu and Ilie Popescu. Thank you!

CFR 764.059 in the Roman Gardens at Satu Mare

There were a total of 68 pieces of 760 mm narrow gauge steam locomotives in the 764.000 series used by CFR. These small locos mostly ran on forestry lines or used for industrial purposes. Well adapted for their purpose and resistant, a few are still working at Viseu de Sus, after so many years of exploitation.

One of these locos is CFR 764.059, which is not functional anymore, but is on display in the Roman Gardens (Ro: Gradina Romei, hu: Kossuth Kert) at Satu Mare in Romania. A little different from the usual representatives of the 764.000 series, it's one of the 9 engines bought from Chrzanow, Poland in 1949 (764.051 - 764.059).

Facts:

ID: 764.059

Wheel arrangement: 0-8-0

Built: 1948

Builder: Chrzanow (Poland)

Top speed: 35 km/h

Gauge: 760 mm

Location: Satu Mare, Romania (Roman Gardens)

The loco's exact location is this:

Links:

CFR 764.059 at www.steamlocomotive.info

A few more locos of the 764.000 series:

CFR 764.055 behind Cluj-Napoca station

CFR 764.056 at Sibiu steam locomotive museum

CFR 764.059 at Satu Mare

CFR 764.106 at Sibiu steam locomotive museum

CFR 764.15X at Cluj-Napoca firing range

CFR 764.153 at Dej Triaj depot

CFR 764.158 at Sighisoara station

CFR 764.201 at Sibiu steam locomotive museum

CFR 764.221 "Mariauta" at Viseu de Sus

CFR 764.313 at Viseu de Sus

CFR 764.327 at Orastie

CFR 764.410 at Satu Mare

CFR 764.421 "Elvetia" at Viseu de Sus

CFR 764.436 at Viseu de Sus

CFR 764.469 at Viseu de Sus

CFR 060-DA-001

If you visit the Dej Triaj locomotive depot (Romania), among many beautiful CFR steam locomotives, you will also be able to admire the very first of the famous LDE 2100 Romanian diesel locomotives, the CFR 060-DA-001. Its story begins back in 1956, when CFR placed an order to Swiss locomotive builders for a 2100 HP diesel locomotive with Co-Co wheel arrangement. Three companies teamed up to deliver the loco: Sulzer Winterthur (which built the diesel engine), BBC Baden (which built the electric equipment) and SLM Winterthur (which created the mechanical structure and executed the overall assembling). Six first such locomotives were assembled (entirely in Switzerland) in 1959 and they soon arrived to Romania. Afterwards the building technology was transfered to Electroputere Craiova, where thousands of such locomotives were built in the following years. They are used by CFR ever since with great success.

In 2008, CFR 060-DA-001, the first of the legendary CFR diesel locomotives, was restored to its original technical state and livery and exhibited at the Railway Days in Bucharest.

Facts:

ID: CFR 060-DA-001

Wheel arrangement: Co-Co

Wheel diameter: 1100 mm

Built: 1959

Builder: Sulzer Winthertur, BBC Baden, SLM Winterthur

Top speed: 100 km/h

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Power: 2100 HP (1546 kW)

Weight: 117t

Length: 17000 mm

Location: Dej Triaj, Romania (depot)

Links:

CFR 2100 HP Co-Co Locomotive @ www.derbysulzers.com

Images of CFR 060-DA-001

CFR 764.357 in Orastie

In the summer of 2010 I was travelling through Hunedoara County in Romania. As I was driving on the Romanian national road no.7 (DN7) through the town of Orastie, I suddenly noticed a small steam locomotive painted in bright colors, exhibited right next to the road. It caught my attention, so I stopped and took some pictures of it. The narrow gauge (760 mm) loco looked very nice, but it also raised some questions in me as it had no ID plates. From the looks of it I knew that it belonged to the 764.000 series and it was also clear that it had been recently restored. The people who rescued it from being dismembered and melted, as so many other Romanian steam locomotives, have chosen to paint it in an unusual but appealing red color, which is not representative for its kind at all, as the CFR standard color scheme is quite different. Another strange thing about it was the fact that its coupling buffers were placed asymmetrically.

Recently I have done some digging on the Internet and found some information about the small steamer. It appears that it had been built in 1950 by Uzinele "23 August" in Bucharest based on a design by Schwartzkopf. The locomotives of its kind were not very kind to the tracks, so they were mainly used for shunting on forestry lines. This particular steam locomotive was used by the Orastie forestry company. The reason for the asymmetrically placed coupling buffers is that it used to pull not only narrow gauge train cars, but also some that had their coupling buffers placed at normal distance, like standard gauge train cars. After being taken out of usage, the loco was left to rust for a long time. But now the forestry company (IFET Orastie) rescued it, restored it and exhibited it near the DN7 road, for everybody to admire. It has even been fitted with decorative light tubes that make it visible at night.

Facts:

ID: CFR 764.357

Wheel arrangement: 0-8-0T

Built: 1950

Builder: Uzinele "23 August" (Bucuresti)

Top speed: Most likely 30 km/h

Gauge: 760 mm

Location: Orastie, Romania (near the DN7 road)

Links:

CFR 764.357 at www.steamlocomotive.info