Steam Logging Railway in Romania

I saw this on Youtube today and thought others here would enjoy it as much as I did.

I copied this about it from Youtube
“In the Carpatian mountains (In the upper North of Romania) runs one of the most interesting narrow gauge railways in the world.
Twice a day a fully loaded log train follows the banks of the Vaser river.
Twice a year a Swiss railway organization organizes a special week for railway fans in which all available steam loco's come in action.
This is part one of a 25 minutes documentary of the winter 2011 trip. less”
YouTube - ‪Magirus32's Channel‬‏
Part 2
YouTube - ‪Magirus32's Channel‬‏
Regards,
Jim

Pretty interesting! I noticed they warmed up the cylinders and pumps with a burning bit of oil soaked rag before starting......good trick to get rid of the condensation!

At first there was some oily rags burning under the cylinders, but then it was under the mechanical lubricator. Probably to heat up the oil to make it flow better.

That was good.

The railway in the videos reminded me of a standard gage logging railway near where I live .

Both places could make do and get by ,to get the job done even if the conditions were far from ideal
I rode on one of the excursions on the Thruso Railway in the early 1980 s and a friend of my helped with the restoration of the old business car # 27
Many folks from the B.R.S. would have hoped to have been able to have an operation similar to the one in the video at the T.N.V.R.

Thurso and Nation Valley Railway

Regards,
Jim

Guys -

A friend visited this railroad about 25 years ago. He likes to ride railroads in unusual parts of the world (Pakistan up to the pass into Afghanistan, a narrow gauge road to a silver mine in Myanmar, trip over the Andes requiring oxygen at highest altitude, etc.)

On the way to Romania, one of his buddies with him (always went with 9 Brits on the trips) opened his briefcase on the plane, and my friend was amazed at it being full of syringes, bandages, etc. The guy said that he brought his own medical stuff in case he was injured on the trip, since they re-use syringes, etc. in Romania and AIDS was easy to get!

Well, that made an impression on my friend! Later in the week, my friend was riding on the railroad on top of one of the logging flatcars with logs on it. He fell off and broke his leg badly. He refused medical treatment there, booked a flight to Vienna (which took a day), then booked a flight there back to Houston, where he finally got the broken leg set, 2-1/2 days after the break!

Never did see his photos of that trip! Not your average railroad fan trip!

Other adventures:

Two soldiers, one on each side of him, needed to accompany him in Pakistan in the northern provinces; a "warlord's" son sat in a chair on the pilot of the steam loco as they passed through his tribe's territory; the train only ran twice per month.

In Myanmar, he traveled the drug road to the "Golden Triangle" of China, Thailand and Myanmar (Burma) for five days to get to the 30 mile railroad. The road was only 150 miles long, but was one lane wide with two-way traffic. The Myanmar style of toilet and shower in the "hotels" where he stayed had the shower drain in the back of the toilet...

A.T.