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Narrow gauge railway preservation in Romania

Whilst on the face of it thingsmay seem to have been veryquiet on the Romanian Front

this is far from the case. Bubbling awaybeneath the surface there has been apositive seething cauldron of both politicaland diplomatic activity which we havebeen unable to report until now.

A lot has happened since the last editionof The Agnita Express in October 2014which carried the front page story aboutthe possibility of steam returning toCornatel.

It is perhaps worthwhile to remind readersof the problems that the line has had ingetting official sanction to undertakerepairs and restoration and to get trainsrunning again.

In spite of enthusiasm and local supportthe Romanian bureaucracy is not designedto allow old railway lines to be transferredfrom the State to local control. There iscurrently a lease of the line from theGovernment-controlled Romanian TouristRailway Authority (SAAF) - which is nowbankrupt - to add to the tangle. The leasewas for £18,000 a month reduced to 1%

for the first five years. These five yearsare up and theoretically the full amountbecomes due. This is clearly impossibleand needs renegotiating. But with whomto negotiate and on what terms? The bestsolution is for the line to be transferredlock, stock and barrel to the Consortium

of Local Authorities set up for thispurpose.

The enthusiasm is there, the local will isthere, and even the railway is still there,more or less. But it is at National level,that there appears to be littleunderstanding of how to preserve whathas now been designated a ‘NationalMonument’ – a Grade I listed structure inUK terms.

The Civil Servants have neither theauthority nor the means to make thishappen. Sibiu County Council was notinterested and it was becoming obviousthat the only way forward was to go to thetop and to talk to the Transport Ministerhimself who has the political authority toat at least investigate the matter.How to engineer such a meeting posedsomething of a problem. How does one

Morgan Meets Minister

David Morgan inspecting the Birkenhead built 1869locomotive Calugareni’ in Bucharest RailwayMuseum

Left - A foggy morning in Bucharest - ‘M’ for Metrosign prominent

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set up a meeting between an electedMinister of the Romanian Governmentand an odd gaggle of daft Brits who wantto help restore a narrow gauge railway linein a country 2,500 miles away?

Volunteering is an alien concept inRomania where people struggle to earn aliving as it is and certainly don’t havemuch time for indulging their passions orhobbies. It is understandable thereforethat a load of foreigners giving their timeand effort for free to help Romania keep asmall part of its considerable railwayheritage is viewed with suspicion and isconsidered slightly bizarre. All in all nota very convincing scenario!

However all is not lost. Following arecent visit to Transylvania by DavidMorgan, (recently retired chairman of theHRA) we revisited the possibility ofinviting David in his capacity as Presidentof both The European Federation ofMuseum and Tourist Railways (Fedcrail)and The World Association of TouristTrams and Trains (Wattrain) to considerthe possibility of meeting with theRomanian Minister of Transport to see ifhis considerable talents could unlock thebureaucratic deadlock that is holdingback the revival of the SAR.

On the 17th October an email, with TheAgnita Express attached, winged its wayto David with an invitation to renew hisinterest in the line. The response wasimmediate – “Why not? Come to Londonand let’s talk”. This meeting took placein early November, the prospects anddifficulties of the restoration werereviewed and we were delighted whenDavid agreed to take on this vitalnegotiating role. I was to be his legmanwith instructions to fix the meeting!

Fortunately the British Embassy inBucharest had been kept informed of ouractivities and the help that we were tryingto provide to Mihai and The Friends ofThe Mocănița to achieve their ambitiousgoal. As a result we’d had a long-standing invitation to visit the Embassywhenever we might be in Bucharest.Given the interest of the Embassy and theenthusiasm of Paul Brummell, theAmbassador, for the concept of‘volunteering’ it was considered that the

Top - ‘Calugareni’ built in Birkenhead in 1869; last in steam in 2014Centre - Meeting with the Director of the Romanian National Railway Museum in BucharestBottom - 1958 2nd class coach used on the SAR and preserved in the Bucharest Railway Museum

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best route to the Romanian Governmentwould be via the Embassy.

A long email outlining the project wassent to the Embassy on 3rd November.After a slight hiatus caused by misdirectedemails the Ambassador responded verypositively indeed. His email said “I’mdelighted to hear about the project, whichsounds fascinating. We would be veryhappy to approach the two ministries tosee whether they would be willing to meetwith David. I would also be delighted to

meet with David when he visits, to learnmore about the project”.

At last we might just be gettingsomewhere. It was too soon to make anypublic announcement. The meeting withthe Minister had to be arranged, diarydates examined and above all theAmbassador properly briefed.

David Morgan has a vast range of interestsand responsibilities and so rather than askhim to brief the Ambassador it wasthought best that a SARUK delegationmight be a better bet to perform this task.However before meeting with theAmbassador it was necessary to obtain thetimes that David might be free to go toBucharest. This was done and armedwith a range of dates and some briefingpapers, including the enclosed illustratedsummary of the project, three of us set offto the British Embassy in a snow-boundBucharest for a meeting with theAmbassador on the 9th January. StephenWiggs was flying from Heathrow,Alasdair Stewart and David Allan fromLiverpool and Mihai was joining us at thehotel next to Bucharest’s main railway

station having travelled by train fromSibiu. We were all to meet in the hotelfor dinner and to decide how we were topresent our case.

The next morning, following a trip on theBucharest Metro (never miss anopportunity), we arrived at the BritishEmbassy tucked discreetly down a sidestreet. The Embassy building wassomewhat intimidatingly guarded byarmed soldiers but once inside we weregreeted with great hospitality. PaulBrummell, the Ambassador and his stafflistened intently to our story and we weredelighted with their promise of help,confirmed by email when we got home.It was essential that we had anunderstanding of both the legalcomplexities and the legal possibilities ofthe proposal under Romanian law. Inthis we were professionally assisted byNeil Mcgregor, an English lawyer whopractises in Bucharest - Neil just happensalso to be Secretary of the Nene ValleyRailway!

How it all BeganInterest in revival was started byThe Mihai Eminescu Trust withJessica Douglas-Home pressing topreserve the local way of life inparts of Transylvania. Thisawareness of the possibility ofrevival was picked up by localrailway enthusiast Mihai Blotor whoformed a Friends group, whichbecame known as the ‘Friends of theMocanita’. The Mayor of Agnita,Radu Curcean, became involved andlent very active and enthusiasticsupport.

The action was now taken up byNEHRT (New Europe HeritageRailway’s Trust under thechairmanship of London railwaylawyer Stephen Wiggs, who,together with Frank Cooper, visitedthe area to see if official enthusiasmcould be encouraged. They found agreat deal of scepticism and littlesupport.

Meanwhile Bill Parker of The FlourMill in the New Forest added hispassion for steam and, importantly,funds. Spurred on, Mihai and TheFriends organised a steam event inAgnita to celebrate the line’scentenary to which the Great and theGood of railway preservation turnedup, including an assortment ofBritish enthusiasts.On the flight back to the UK andunwilling to let matters rest, theypondered the question of forming asupporters group. It was one ofthose ‘good ideas’ that sometimesfirst see the light of day by chattingover a pint in the pub!

A General Meeting was arranged inBirmingham and SARUK was bornwith the aim of supporting ourRomanian colleagues in theirambitious task.

Top - waiting for a Bucharest tramLower - Tram arrives

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Whilst in Bucharest the opportunity wastaken to meet with old friends ofStephen’s, Octavian Urdiste (chairman ofThe Train Club of Romania) andRuxandra Bratu who was an excellenttranslator. We were to meet with theDirector of the Romanian NationalRailway Museum who showed us round –the museum was closed and refurbishmentwas in progress, but we were still able toexamine the really excellent displays.This was followed by a visit to a locoservicing depot. Our hosts had pulled outtheir very special exhibit – ‘Calugareni’an 1869 built loco, that had been in steamonly last year and which to your scribe’sdelight was built in his home town ofBirkenhead by Thomas Brassey! All thisexcitement was followed by an excellentlunch provided by our hosts.

David Morgan too now needed to be fullybriefed on the complex situation

surrounding the railway. This neededseparate papers on ‘The Major Players’,‘The History of the Line’, ‘The LegalPosition’ and the Proposal to Restore andRun the Line’. This required a good dealof research and pulling together of all theinformation into a concise andunderstandable format. Gradually all theducks were being persuaded to line up in asingle row!

Eventually we received an email from theEmbassy - the meeting had ben arrangedand would take place on the 25th February.The next decision was who would attend.The Ambassador and his senior politicaladvisor would be there as would DavidMorgan and Mihai Blotor as The Friends’Chairman. We didn’t want to go mobhanded, and eventually Neil McGregorwas added to the party.

The Ministerial party included Ioan Rus,the Minister, supported by MacarieAlexandru Moldovan - General director ofCFR (Romania’s National Railways),George Vuscan - councillor of the

minister and Gabriela Sirbu - director ofthe department for European affairs andinternational relations within the ministryof transport, as well as three otherofficials.

The Government had dropped a bombshella few days in advance of the meeting byproducing their 15 year Transport MasterPlan. This included six potential touristrailways of which the SAR was one. Soeven without the meeting the line had atlast made it onto the Ministerial radar!

So how did the meeting go? This was thecrux of the matter. Would the Ministertake any notice? The short answer was‘Yes’! The Transport Master Plan wasapproved by the Romanian Governmentwithin hours of the meeting. The SARhad been promoted to No. 1 on the list ofpotential tourist lines. The Plan has nowbeen forwarded to Brussels for assessmentfor European Funding. It is howeverunlikely that a tourist line will receiveapproval for EU funds and so a way willhave be found for the administration of theline to be passed to local hands. Thismay mean a new Law or it is just possiblethat a legal pathway already exists. TheEmbassy has promised to keep usinformed of progress and as soon as wehear anything then we shall pass theinformation on.

Meanwhile Federcrail have agreed to holdtheir Autumn meeting in Sibiu on theweekend of the 26/27th September - theday that steam returns to the line on theCornatel to Hosman stretch as reported inour October issue. This September SteamEvent is now assuming wider politicalproportions. To have the Great and theGood of Europe's Railway Preservationfraternity gathering in Sibiu in support ofthe restoration of ‘our little line’ with allthe razzamatazz of civic receptions, thepress and TV involved, the traditionalBrunch to be held at Cornatel on theSunday makes this weekend a really majorevent and for all supporters of the line,one not to be missed.

Top - very rusty SAR coach in need of some TLCLower left - Lavatory bowl in above coach -possibly not for the faint-hearted!Lower right - coach interior

Vote of ThanksWe must here record our gratefulthanks to the British Ambassador,Paul Brummell, and his staff for allthe help and support they haveprovided for this somewhat madcapadventure. They have gone waybeyond anything that we might haveexpected.

Thanks too to David Morgan forlending both his expertise and hisauthority to the venture and toFedecrail for their support and forarranging their Autumn meeting inSibiu - a great boost!

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This is a summary of the main pointsthat arose from the David Morgan'smeeting with the Ioan Rus, TheRomanian Minister of Transport

1) Minister confirms that SARheads the list of Romania’spotential tourist railways.

2) The Transport Master Plan,which covers the next 15years, has been approved bythe Romanian Government.

3) The Master Plan will now besent to the EU Commissionfor analysis and then hope-fully approval of the identi-fied funding, which in thecase of the SAR is Eu58.8million.

4) If approved the RomanianGovernment will then enacta Law as a priority that willenable minor lines to be ad-ministered by Local Author-ities.

5) If the bid is not approvedthen the Law will still beenacted (subject to Parlia-mentary approval), but willno longer have a high priori-ty.

6) The Master Plan is bindingon all future Governments.

7) The SAR team concludedthat in the circumstances itwould be appropriate to sup-port the Government’s plan.

MAIN POINTS FROM MINISTERIAL MEETING

Top - 2nd class coach at Sibiu incirca 1970.Upper - Flower sellers abound inBucharestLower left - Bucharest Metro -taking pictures is forbidden!Lower - right - National RailwayMuseumBottom left - Sleeper train about todepart to Sibiu from Garra de NordBucharestBottom right - Police car inBucharest

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The plane from Bucharest was halfan hour early but I was delightedto be collecting four of our

Romanian colleagues, all members ofthe Friends of the Mocanita in Sibiu, atLiverpool Airport on their visit to theUK. They had come to learn somethingabout track-laying during the FR’s TrackWeek and hopefully to take thatknowledge back to Romania in the questto help restore the lovely narrow gaugeline that ran between Sibiu and Agnita.

It was the first visit to the UK for RaduTompa (vice chairman of The Friends)his wife Nicoleta, Claudia Pamfiloiu andAlex Barac. The weather hadn’t reallybothered to turn up and the Liverpoolskies were dull and grey and perhapseven a little sulky. However once intoWales the sun peeped out and the twohour journey to Porthmadog wentwithout mishap were the party washanded over to the tender care ofAlasdair Stewart. Alasdair then tookover and introduced them to themysteries of Minffordd Hostel whichwas to be their home for the next week.Here we must thank the WHR and FRSocieties for their generous help towardsaccommodation charges.

The next day saw them out helping withtrack work in Minffordd – including theladies. Visits were arranged to BostonLodge and to Harbour station. Tripswere enjoyed on both the FR and theWHR with a footplate experience forthem on a Garratt.

The ladies helped with coach cleaningand a visit to Gelert’s farm introducedthem to the concept of a shop helping toswell the profits of a preserved line.

They met with WelshAssembly Member LordDaffyd Ellis Thomas andprospective parliamentarycandidate Liz SavilleRoberts as well as localcouncillor SelwynGriffiths. FR GeneralManager Paul Lewin wason hand to welcome themto Harbour station;Romanian and Welsh flagswere flown and exchangedand photographs taken.

Most of the week the earlySpring sunshine shone ontheir endeavours and weeven threw in an eclipse asa bonus!

All in all a ‘good news’ -story so much better thansome of the negative stuffabout Romania that is tobe seen all to frequently inBritish newspapers.

Come back soon Romania -you are very welcome.

Romania Comes to Wales

Top - Paul Lewin welcomes theparty to Harbour StationBelow - Lord Thomas explainsto Nicoleta & ClaudiaNext - Claudia & Nicoleta inBoston LodgeBottom - Jonathan Walsh talkswith RaduLeft Alex in an FR coach atBlaenau Festiniog

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Sibiu Track Week 29th May - 5th June

Railway Preservationists indulgetheir hobby in many ways, one ofwhich is repairing and

maintaining the track on which theirsteam steeds will run. The majority willdevote two or three days or possibly aweek of hard graft in single-mindedpursuit of this aspect of keeping romanticold railway lines like the SAR alive.

Not many however will travel twothousand miles for the privilege. Butthis is exactly what Alasdair is inspiringseveral members of SARUK and theFR/WHR track gangs to do. Alasdairhas arranged to upgrade the existing trackbetween Cornatel and Hosman on theSAR to a the required standard toaccommodate the steam train inSeptember.

He has arranged to drive a van loadedwith the necessary track layingequipment to Sibiu, via Budapest, for aweek starting on the 29th May. Theremay still be places in the van but ofcourse you can also fly to Sibiu via theBudget Airline Wizz Air from Luton -three flights a week. The van is beingmade available courtesy of TrackSystems UK with thanks to ChrisPhilimore

Some work was done on the trackbed lastSeptember by the SARUK party thatspent a week in Cornatel. Massivestands of unfriendly thistles were scytheddown and the young growth sprayed withRoundup weedkiller. The line waswalked from Cornatel towards Hosmanand the rails were spray painted tohighlight faults such as rotten sleepersmissing fishplates and absent trackspikes. The previous year we had helpedto replace a length of rail on this sectionthat has been damaged by a passingtractor.

Alasdair suggests that you will need tobring a valid passport, a sense ofadventure, and a willingness to help akeen bunch of enthusiastic volunteersmove their project forward in a tangibleway.

No previous railway track experience isrequired, though any that you can offerwill be helpful…..

An EHIC card, some sun protection andinsect repellent would be sensible thingsto pack and pair of stout boots, ideallywith steel toe caps.

See enclosed leaflet for full details

“The idea of this trip is to help our friends and colleges of the ‘Friendsof the Mochinita’ fettle up the stretch of line between Cornatel andHosman such that it is vaguely fit to run a steam engine and carriageover on the weekend 26�� / 27�� September, very much like the eventheld in Agnita station in 2010 to commemorate the centenary of therailway.” - Alasdair Stewart

Ceremonial handing over of the spray can from Frank Cooper (left) to David Allan

Missing plates from the girder bridge at Cornatel

Burning the thistle cleared from the track - pictures taken during the track inspection in September 2014

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Sibiu in September

This will be the sixth successiveyear that SARUK will be visitingThe Hârtibaciu Valley region of

Sibiu County in Transylvania. We arenot only here to help with the restorationproject but also to enjoy the stunningcountryside of this little known region.

However, the highlight of the trip has tobe the Steam Event on the weekend ofthe 26th/27th September when a steamtrain will return to Cornăţel.   There aretwo possible routes to Sibiu. One byflying direct to the city from Luton -three flights a week by budget airlineWizzair - or going from Liverpool toBucharest via Blue Air and then takingthe train to Sibiu in wonderful side-corridor coaches hauled by a double-headed diesel express train.

The weekend also sees the traditionalTransylvanian Sunday Brunch which isheld on the last Sunday of each month inone of the little villages that line the oldrailway. On this weekend it will beheld in Cornăţel on the farm oppositethe station. These are wonderfully jollyaffairs with traditional music and loadsof local Transylvanian food and drink -something not be missed!

This will be the weekend when the SARmakes its presence felt on Europe’sRailway map. Will another gem ofrailway heritage be saved not only forRomanian but also for Europe?

We will be going out on the 23rd

September and returning on the 30th. Ifyou want to go please give me a ring orsend an email. Tel 0151 327 3576email david.allan132@ntlworld.com

Accounts & Subs

Following the sad loss of JohnKeylock, our secretary andtreasurer, 18 months ago; our

accounts have been taken on by FrankCooper - we are grateful to Frank for hishelp with this essential task. An auditedstatement of the accounts as at the end ofthe financial year - December 31st 2014 -is enclosed.

The policy is that all money receivedfrom subs or donations is eventuallytransferred to Mihai as chairman of Thefriends of the Mocănița for use on SARprojects. The Group’s expenses are allmet by individuals. So please do yourbit and pay your subs for 2015. Justsend a cheque for £15 to Frank Cooperusing the enclosed form.

The Group was pleased to help save oneof the coaches purchased several yearsago by an individual in Romania thatwas threatened with being sold to pay offhis company's debts, with your help thisis now owned entirely by The Friends.

Funds raised by sponsorship of the SibiuMarathon will be used to help pay for thecosts associated with the Steam Event inSeptember. We presented Mihai with£1300 on our visit in September 2014

SARUK Snippets

STOP PRESSAs we finish putting this newslettertogether we hear that the EuropeanCommission has sent back theTransport Master Plan foramendment. Fortunately this hasnothing to do with the SAR but theCommission have asked for reprioritisation of two EU Romaniantransit routes. The plan needs tobe resubmitted by 9th April.

REPAIR TRACK THISMAY ON THE SARGET INVOLVED!

Fancy doing something alittle different? Then whynot try a few days tracklaying in gloriousTransylvania The party areleaving on the 29th May soget in touch with Alasdairnow. You’ll find him on07931738976 or emailstewart_alasdair@hotmail.com

Top picture taken at Cornatel in circa 1980 by MKibler - The Friends are hoping to replicatesomething like this on 26/27th September 2015.

Lower - Local Hârtibaciu Honey on sale at theBrunch in Altina last September - highlyrecommended!