I am glad to announce that steam trains tours on CFF Viseu de Sus will continue in 2012 with Spring and Autumn workshops. For more information and details about photo tours please fell free to use our online “Mocanita Info Desk“.
Film (c) Daniel Secarescu
A normal working day for a Romanian forestry narrow gauge steam locomotive.
Here is a short film about a wintertime working day on CFF Viseu de Sus line in Maramures. This is about “Elvetia” steam locomotive and several places this locomotive passes on its way throw wild deep forest. First the little steam engine must be heated up in the depot and in wintertime this job has some particular moments.
For the trip, besides regular log empty wagons, sometimes mocanita takes up different loads for the people working all week long in the forest. On the day I made the film the loco had to get up, from one station to another, a hay wagon.
Film (c) Daniel Secarescu
A “tapinar” is a specialized forest worker that handles the logs with “tapina” (special tool for logs handling, a special beak metal head with a wood stock). These forestry lumber workers are up in the forest no matter the season or weather. Last film presented was about the same activity but in autumn, this one is about their job in winter time.
Cutting down the trees, caring them down to the train and loading the wagons by hand are activities that are no longer used in Romania. For many years now the logs transportation activity is made entirely by machines and tractors. The only place to see these manual activities still happen is in Maramures, on the last active forestry narrow gauge steam railroad: CFF Viseu de Sus.
On this line mocanita is still carrying down loaded wagons and in this film you can see the old process of manually loading wagons.
This is an an exclusive video material about these forestry activities.
Film (c) Daniel Secarescu | www.mocanita.ro
What makes a photo tour so special is that each participant has a different vision about the line, the social environment and photography. Some photographers are more focused on details, while others are giving special attention to the people that works on the line and their families. There are some photographers working in advertising or tourism and their business has a certain relation to trains so they take photos for printed materials like flyers or leaflets, websites or even larger printed materials for tourism fares.
On the last photo tour I came across another vision about railway steam and photography: the classic style of beautiful scenery photography. I like this focus on “railway scenery photography” in a classic manner. This is the style you are familiar with if you love steam adventure calendars and books made in the ’80s and ‘90s by Hans Hufnagel, Roland Beier, Serban Lacriteanu or Florian Hofmeister.
Here is a showcase for illustrating the above described scenery photography vision, containing photos made by Peter Millar from England and shared with you only on mocanita.ro.
Click on the photo below and enjoy!
Early frozen morning activity in mocanita’s depot in Viseu de Sus. The line, the switches, the coal everything was frozen as the temperature reached -9 on Thursday morning.
It was a special trip with both “Mariuta” (764-211) and “Krauss” (763-193) to Novat Delta.
Today we run with “Mariuta” (1910 Orenstein&Koppel) steam locomotive with a special train up to Bardau. Not far from Cozia, in a courve without sun, the wind brought a lot of snow on the track after the second production train passed that point.
Movie (c) Daniel Secarescu
On Sunday night, in Valea Babii, you could easily make an astronomy map as all the stars were up in the clear sky. We thought that for the next day the sun will rise and it will be a beautiful late February day. Only that Monday was one of the coldest days I can remember and by the time we were leaving Faina on the way to Viseu it started to snow.
Photo (c) Daniel Secarescu
Cold! It is very cold this time of year in Vasser Valley but this and snow are the perfect conditions for a pictographic smoke. The steam and smoke from the engines is more beautiful when it is cold outside, but in the same time it is important if mocanita uses only wood or coal as well.
Movie (c) Daniel Secarescu
What better place for the steam locomotive photo tour briefing than the restaurant wagon in Viseu de Sus? There is quite a lot of snow on the valley and -9 degrees outside but friendly atmosphere inside of the wagon and delicious meal.
Sunday morning will begin with an early departure with a production train, pulled by “Cozia 1” steam locomotive, up to Valea Babei where the group will stay until Monday.
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Photo (c) Daniel Secarescu
There are only a few days left until the first 2011 photo tour and we expect to have snow up in the mountains, on the forestry line. The groups are complete, even the one for September, and all the preparations are done. Last week was a little warmer in Romania, but now the winter time is back with snow especially up in the mountains.
This post’s picture was taken by photographer Michael Schneeberger on CFF Viseu de Sus last week. Mocanita “Mariuta” (1910 Orenstein&Koppel) was used as backup locomotive when the train diesel engine was broken down in Novat. The steam locomotive was then used to pull up the empty wagons from Delta Novat to Cozia station. On the way back mocanita brought to Viseu the loaded production train.
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Photo (c) Michael Schneeberger, Viseu de Sus
