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.

Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum Video

Now, that we have seen the locomotives of the Sibiu steam locomotive museum in detail, let's watch the video overview of the museum:

CFR WMA 65.4 Steam Crane at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

In the Sibiu steam locomotive museum there is a big steam crane, the Ardelt CFR WMA 65.4. It is exhibited with the steam locomotives, coupled to the end of CFR 077. Back when it used to function, the crane could lift up to 65 tons.

Facts:

ID: CFR WMA 65.4

Built: 1939

Builder: Ardeltwerke

Lifting capability on big hook: 65 t on 7.5 m long arm

Lifting capability on small hook: 15 t on 9-17.5 m long arm

Top speed with counterweight: 3 km/h

Top speed when pulled: 65 km/h

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

CFR 077 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

CFR 077 is part of a batch of 42 locomotives designed and delivered to CFR by the A.G. Maffei and Hanomag (Hannoversche Machinenbau AG) factories between 1911 and 1915. 40 Ct-n2 locomotives of this type were delivered between 1914 and 1915. These locos were used to pull passenger, freight and mixed trains on short secondary lines. They were retired from service after 1968. CFR 077 was retired at Ploiesti in 1971 and transfered to the museum in Bucuresti.

Facts:

ID: CFR 077

Wheel arrangement: 0-6-0T

Built: 1915

Builder: Hanomag (Hannoversche Machinenbau AG, Hannover-Linden)

Top speed: 45 km/h

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

The CFR 077 steam locomotive is now on display in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum, coupled to the CFR WMA 65.4 steam crane. It has not been used for many years but it is in a fairly good shape (not operational, however).

Links:

CFR 077 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 077 at www.infofer.ro

Old picture of CFR 077 at www.cimec.ro

CFR 764.056 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

In 1949 CFR ordered 10 narrow gauge (760 mm) locomotives from the Chrzanów factories in Poland. These locomotives had separate tenders and they were destined to be used at the Satu Mare Complex. Their were numbered from 765.050 to 765.059. The so called "Duna" (means Danube in Hungarian) type locomotives (the successful Px 48 Polish series) proved to be very efficient in Romania. Some of them have been used for tourist trains in the last few years on the Turda-Abrud line, before the line was closed.

CFR 764.056 was retired in 1989 at Targu Mures and transfered to the Sibiu steam locomotive museum in 1996.

Facts:

ID: CFR 764.056

Wheel arrangement: 0-8-0

Built: 1949

Builder: Chrzanów (Poland)

Top speed: 35 km/h

Gauge: 760 mm

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

Unfortunately only the tender is displayed in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum, the locomotive itself sits on a platform for many years, waiting to be put next to the tender. You can see some photos of the locomotive here:

http://www.lokralf.de/html/cfr_764_056.html

http://cfr.stfp.net/Pic/08/A-7764.056DWO^:1.jpg

Links:

CFR 764.056 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 765.056 at www.infofer.ro

CFR 94.649 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

The locomotives of type Prussian T 16 (later called DR 94) were designed by the Prussian Royal Railways to pull trains on the curvy lines of Turingia. They were tender locomotives with 5 coupled axles. CFR 94.649 (originally named Magdeburg 8110) is part of a batch of 15 locomotives of this type that became property of CFR after World War II. They were captured by Russian troupes in 1949 in Austria and given to Romania as war compensation later. Al tough they were modern steam locomotives, they were assigned to industrial units because of the big weight on axles.

Shortly after their arrival into CFR's park of locomotives, 6 of them were scrapped in 1952. The rest of them were retired and scrapped between 1971 and 1972, except one, the CFR 94.649, which worked in marshalling operations at Grivita until 1988. It was transfered to the Sibiu steam locomotive museum in 1994 and it's exhibited there ever since.

Facts:

ID: CFR 94.649

Wheel arrangement: 0-10-0T

Built: 1914

Builder: BMAG - Schwartzkopff (Berlin)

Top speed: 65 km/h

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

Obviously not used anymore, the locomotive is exhibited in a nice place at the steam locomotive museum in Sibiu, Romania. It is the sole survivor of its type among CFR's locomotives.

Links:

CFR 94.649 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 94.649 at www.infofer.ro

CFR 764.201 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

The narrow gauge steam locomotives of the 764.000 series were used by CFR on wide scale because they were very suitable for pulling trains on narrow gauge lines. Most of them were tender locomotives but the "Uzinele 23 August" (ex. "Malaxa") factories have built a few (only 9) that had separate tenders. These were more powerful and more independent and they were considered a success. These narrow gauge tender locomotives were numbered 764.201 - 764.209. CFR used them for pulling heavier narrow gauge trains over longer distances.

CFR 764.201 is currently in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum. It was retired in 1987. It's in a failry good shape, unfortunately hidden behind tall bushes, so it's not so easy to take good pictures of it.

Facts:

ID: CFR 764.201

Wheel arrangement: 0-8-0

Built: 1949

Builder: Uzinele "23 August" (Bucuresti)

Tops speed: 40 km/h

Gauge: 760 mm

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

Links:

CFR 764.201 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 764.201 at www.infofer.ro

CFR 764.106 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

CFR 764.106 is one of the many steam locomotives of the 764.000 series. These locos were specially built for the Romanian narrow gauge forest lines by several factories. They proved to be very efficient and reliable, so they were used on many forest railways throughout the country. Actually, they were so fit for their purpose that after the steam era, between 1982 and 1987 the IRUM Reghin factory built an additional 12 locos of this type based on the original Resita design. A few are still working at Viseu de Sus.

CFR 764.106 was built by the "Uzinele Domeniilor" Resita factory and was part of the lot of 100 locomotives of this type built between 1951 and 1959 at Resita. It was assigned to the ministry of mining and it also did service on the Sibiu-Agnita line. This loco was retired late, only in 1998.

Facts:

ID: CFR 764.106

Wheel arrangement: 0-8-0T

Built: 1952

Builder: "Uzinele Domeniilor" (Resita)

Top speed: 30 km/h

Gauge: 760 mm

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

These days the little loco is not used anymore. It is on display at the Sibiu steam locomotive museum in a place where it is accessible to visitors. Unfortunately it is not in a great shape, it seems to me that even some wheels are missing.

Links:

CFR 764.106 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 764.106 at www.infofer.ro

Old picture of CFR 764.106

Sibiu-Agnita railway

CFR 763.148 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

CFR 763.148 is a small narrow gauge (760 mm) steam locomotive built in 1923 by Orenstein & Koppel (Berlin) and bought by a private company in 1924. Not a strong or fast steamer (only 50 hp power and top speed of 15 km/h), it was used on forest railway lines in the Arges Valley. In 1948 the little loco was nationalized and became property of I.F.E.T. Curtea de Arges (I.F.E.T. stands for Intreprindere Forestiera de Exploatare si Transport in Romanian, which means forest exploitation and transport enterprise). After its retirement in 1972 it was exhibited in front of the institution's building, until 1997, when it was donated to the Sibiu steam locomotive museum.

Facts:

ID: CFR 763.148

Wheel arrangement: 0-6-0T

Built: 1923

Builder: Orenstein & Koppel (Berlin)

Top speed: 15 km/h

Gauge: 760 mm

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

The little steamer is not used anymore, it's on display. Unlike many other locomotives in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum, it is in a place where it's visible, not crowded between others (maybe this was possible because it's so small).

Links:

CFR 763.148 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 763.148 at www.infofer.ro

CFR 6845 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

CFR 6845 is a little narrow gauge steam locomotive built by the August Borsig steam locomotive factories in 1908 in Wien for the Huszko, Lozinsky & Co. company in Kiev. So how did it end up in Romania? During World War I it was captured by Austrian troops and it was used in Galitia for operations. At the end of the war it happened to be on Romanian territory and it was taken over by the Romanian troops. So it became part of CFR's park of steam locomotives.

Being a private locomotive, it had no identification number (these locomotives usually just had a name), so when it became CFR's property, it received an ID equal to after its build number: 6845. It was assigned to the Sibiu depot and it was used there mostly for maneuvers until the 70s, when it was finally retired. Today it is being displayed in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum.

The small loco is unusable. Not much information is available about it. I couldn't even find out its top speed, but we do know for example that it has steam-operated brakes. Unfortunately, like many others, its behind the bushes, not displayed as it deserves.

Facts:

ID: CFR 6845

Wheel arrangement: 0-6-2T

Built: 1908

Builder: August Borsig locomotive factories (Wien)

Gauge: 42"

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

Links:

CFR 6845 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 6845 at www.infofer.ro

CFR 40.004 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

CFR 40.004 is a special steam locomotive, designed to be able to climb sections of very steep track, with up to 70% declivity. It can do this with the help of two cog-wheels. In some sections a third line exists between the tracks, which is used to interact with the cog-wheels of the locomotive to help pull the weight. Such special cog railways existed in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the former Czechoslovakia, etc. There was one in Romania too, between Subcetate and Boutari. It was built between 1908 and 1909 and it served for the transport of raw materials.

Only a few locomotive factories existed in Europe which produced special steam locomotives with cog-wheels. One of them was the Wiener Lokomotivfabriks, AG in Floridsdorf, which delivered 7 cog locomotives to the Subcetate-Boutari line in 1908. One of them is the CFR 40.004 locomotive, which has two 4-cylinder engines, one for the normal, adhesive wheels and one for the cog-wheels. These locomotives had been working on the Subcetate-Boutari line until 1978 when the line was closed. They always rode in the front of the train, so they needed to be turned around at the ends of the line. On the Subcetate-Boutari line two manual turntables existed.

They never were fast locomotives. the maximum speed on normal sections was 40 km/h and 12 km/h on cog sections. They were able to generate a power of around 441-514 kW. These steam locomotives were very advanced from technological point of view and were also very reliable. CFR 40.004 is also a film star. It appeared in the movie "Petrolul, aurul si ardelenii".

Facts:

ID: CFR 40.004

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: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

The locomotive, of course, is not being used anymore. It is on display in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum, close to the entrance, in a fairly acceptable state. Unfortunately it too is stuck behind bushes, hard to even photograph.

Links:

CFR 40.004 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 40.004 at www.infofer.ro

About the cog locomotives at www.albico.cz

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

CFR 388.002 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

This little narrow gauge steamer was built well over a century ago, in 1896 by the Wiener-Neustadt factories for the Sibiu-Agnita railway. Originally named "Segesvár" ("Sighisoara"), it received the circulation number 2. In 1911 in was taken over by MÁV and got the number 388.002, which is still kept today. In 1919 it was taken over by CFR. The little loco serviced the line between Sibiu and Sighisoara until the '60s, when it was retired into the Sibiu train depot. Between 1974 and 1995 it was on display in the front of the People's Council building in Sighisoara. In 1995 it made its last trip between Sighisoara and Sibiu, this time loaded in a standard gauge train car. Since 1995 it is being displayed in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum.

Facts:

ID: CFR 388.002

Wheel arrangement: 0-6-0

Built: 1896

Builder: Wiener-Neustadt

Gauge: 760 mm

Top speed: 30 km/h

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

The locomotive is not in the greatest shape. It could use some painting. A few years ago it looked much better. But at least this one is not crowded between other locos.

Links:

CFR 388.002 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 388.002 at www.infofer.ro

Sibiu to Agnita narrow-gauge railway

CFR 324.951 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

The locomotives of the 324.000 series became the property of CFR after the First World War when Romania received 499 locomotives of this type as war damage compensation. This is a pretty big number, actually it's more than half of the steam locomotives of this type built by MÁVAG. The locomotive factory at Budapest created a total of 905 locomotives of this type between 1909 and 1917 in three variants: compound without superheating, with twin cylinders and superheating, and with Brotan boiler and superheating. The 1C1-h2 type locos were robust and resistent, they included new technologies and they were versatile enough to perfectly satisfy the needs of the Hungarian Railways (MÁV).

The 324.000 series has become the second most widely spread steam locomotive of CFR, after the 50.100 series. Actually, they were very similar from traction power point of view and both types were suitable for all kinds of traction and maneuvers. They had been used for pulling passenger, freight and mixed trains on sections of track with relatively low declivity. Due to their good characteristics, the locomotives of the 324.000 series had been in service for over 7 decades, until the end of the steam era in Romania. Most of them had been retired around 1978. The Romanian engineers and mechanics used to call them "the Hungarian goat" ("capra ungureasca")

Unfortunately, in spite the fact that so many of them existed in CFR's property, only two steamers of this type survived. 324.951 is one of them. It has been working at the Mirsa ballast-pit until 1980, when it was abandoned. After 13 yars, in 1993, it was taken over by the Sibiu depot. It is now on display in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum.

Facts:

ID: CFR 324.951

Wheel arrangement: 2-6-2

Built: 1917

Builder: MÁVAG (Budapest)

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

The locomotive is in a fairly good shape. It is on display in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum, not used anymore. It's a pity that it's jammed behind the bushes and it can only be photographed properly from one side.

Links:

CFR 324.951 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 324.951 at www.infofer.ro

CFR 324.951 at www.railwayfan.ro

CFR 324.951 at http://forum.lokomotiv.ro

CFR 20.064 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

CFR 20.064 is a special locomotive built in 1924 by Henschel & Sohn (Kassel). It is one of the two fireless locomotives imported by CFR. Instead of using coal, wood or crude oil as fuel, the locomotive can be filled directly with steam and water through the hole located at the front of the boiler. Once filled with steam, the loco could run for as long as 8-9 hours. It was built for special use in places with high risk of explosion (such as ammunition depots, refineries and distilleries).

Its "sister" locomotive is said to be abandoned on a hill near the Constanta train station. The two steamers were used at Chimimpex Constanta and Mararsesti Chemical Factory until 1976 when they were retired from service. CFR 20.064 was donated in 1995 by the Marasesti Chemical Factory to the Sibiu steam locomotive museum and it's on display there ever since.

Facts:

ID: CFR 20.064

Wheel arrangement: 0-4-0F

Built: 1924

Builder: Henschel & Sohn (Kassel)

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

This interesting steam locomotive is in a fairly good shape, but it is not used anymore, it's simply being displayed in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum. Unfortunately it too is crowded between other steamers. There is no information panel next to it to inform visitors about the special design of the locomotive (as a matter of fact there is no information displayed about any of the locomotives in the museum).

Links:

CFR 20.064 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 131.040 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

The locomotives of the 131.000 series, of type 1C1t-h2, are considered a great achievment of the Romanian railway industry. They have been designed and built entirely by Romanian engineers and technicians. The prototype, 131.001, built by the Uzinele Domeniilor Resita factories, was finished in 1939. Its designers were hoping to create a locomotive that could replace the the 375.000, 376.000 and 377.000 series locos that were servicing the secondary lines of CFR at the time because these were too old, technically outdated, inefficient and not powerful enough.

So was the first 131.000 series steam locomotive born, which had an empty weight of 48.5 t and 61.6 t service weight. It could produce a power of 632 HP and 81 kN pulling power. The optimal speed was 50 km/h but it could reach up to 65 km/h. The main wheels' diameter was 1.2 m and the whole locomotive was 11.87 m long.

The tests proved that the 131.001 locomotive was strong enough and suitable for its purpose, so the Uzinele Domeniilor Resita factories started building more of them. 66 more locomotives of this type were assembled between 1940 and 1942. The total of 67 steamers of this kind got the numbers 131.001 - 131.067. Beginning with 1953 some of them were transformed so that they could also use crude oil as fuel. They were used in the Banat region until 1975 - 1976 when CFR retired them. After 1980 most of them were scrapped, only a few survived.

CFR 131.040 was saved in the last moment by railway enthusiasts. In 1992 it was taken to Arad depot in order to be dismantled, but they rescued it and thanks to them since 1994 it is on display in the Sibiu steam locomotive museum.

Facts:

ID: CFR 131.040

Wheel arrangement: 2-6-2T

Built: 1941

Builder: Uzinele Domeniilor Resita

Top speed: 65 km/h

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

The locomotive is in a good shape, displayed among others in the steam locomotive museum in Sibiu. Unfortunately it is crowded between other locos and homeless dogs live under it, so it's pretty difficult to even take a good photo of it.

Links:

CFR 131.040 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 131.040 at www.infofer.ro

CFR 130.503 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

Originally numbered 130.569, this is a steam locomotive of type 1C-h2, which was pretty wide spread in the past among the CFR locomotives. The first 40 locos of this type were bought by CFR between 1911 and 1916. Due to the good results of these locomotives in service, in 1920 CFR ordered another 80 from the Škoda factories in Plzen. They were delivered between 1921 and 1922 and numbered 130.501 - 130.580. Used mainly for pulling passenger trains on lines with low grades, these steam locomotives functioned mostly until the 70s, when they were retired. Rarely they pulled freight trains too because they were powerful enough.

130.569 was first exposed in 1972 when the north station of Bucharest, Romania (Gara de Nord Bucuresti) was 100 years old. Two years later the original 130.503 was dismembered and 130.569 received its number plates. Since 1994 it is being displayed in the steam locomotive museum of Sibiu, Romania.

Facts:

ID: CFR 130.503

Wheel arrangement: 2-6-0

Built: 1921

Builder: Škoda (Plzen)

Gauge: standard (1435 mm)

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

The locomotive is in a good shape, on display in the steam locomotive museum in Sibiu (not being used anymore).

Links:

CFR 130.503 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 130.503 at www.infofer.ro

CFR 150.1105 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

CFR 150.1105 is a steam locomotive of type 1E-h2, which is part of the German DR-52 series. Some locos from the DR-52 series (including CFR 150.1105, former DR 52.196) were given to Romania by the Soviet Union after the Second World War (between 1949 and 1950) as war damage compensation. Built by BMAG Schwartzkopf, it is the strongest locomotive used in Romania for pulling heavy trains on steep grades. Retired from regular service only in 1988, it was used many years after for pulling nostalgic trains. Today it is out of service, because the boiler's usage certification has expired. It is being displayed at the Sibiu steam locomotive museum. The locomotive has a special boat-shaped tender made of steel. It was created this way so that the bullets would glance off it and the water supplies would remain intact. Most of the 150.1000 series locomotives were rented by CFR from DR (Deutsche Reischbahn). They were a bit different from the original locos of the series because they had to be built fast and they were required to be serviceable easily.

Facts:

ID: CFR 150.1105

Wheel arrangement: 2-10-0

Built: 1943

Builder: BMAG - Schwartzkopf

Top speed: 80 km/h

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

The locomotive was completely retired from service only a few years ago and is in a fairly good shape.

Links:

CFR 150.1105 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 150.1105 at www.infofer.ro