St Pancras International Terminal, London, U.K.

 

St Pancras International has been voted one of London's favourite landmarks and has a rich and colourful history.  St Pancras train station commenced operations in 1868. The famous Barlow train shed arch spans 240 feet and is over 100 feet high at its apex. On its completion in 1868 it became the largest enclosed space in the world at that time. St Pancras International remains one of the greatest Victorian buildings in London. It has become the key destination for all  high-speed rail in the UK and is the home of Eurostar Trains as well.

The Tranz Alpine Railway, New Zealand.

The Tranz Alpine Express is a  passenger train in New Zealand.  This trip is often regarded to be one of the world's great train journeys for the scenery through which it passes. The journey of 223 kilometres  takes about four and a half hours. There are 19 tunnels and four viaducts, with the Staircase Viaduct being 73 metres (240 ft) high. The train runs daily between  Christchurch and Greymouth.  After leaving Christchurch, the train travels through the fertile  Canterbury Plains past the  Waimakariri River along the  Main South Line to Rolleston. It then turns onto the  Midland Line, which passes through the Southern Alps past the spectacular Waimakariri River gorge, via the  Otira Tunnel and terminates in Greymouth, on the West Coast.

Vaser Valley Railway, Romania - Part 1

Last of the Carpathian Forestry Railways

The Viseu de Sus forestry railway, located in the far north of Romania close to the border with the Ukraine, is an outstanding example of technical cultural heritage.  The line is known as the “Vaser Valley Railway” - "vaser" comes from the local German word for water, in the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  Travelling over a network of some 60 kilometers of narrow-gauge track, you will still find wood-burning steam locomotives running alongside several diesels and railcars.  CFF Viseu de Sus ("CFF" is the Romanian abbreviation for Caile Ferate Forestiere, meaning "Forestry Railway") is the last remaining forestry railway in Europe.

The track was laid at the gauge of 760 mm (the standard for narrow gauge lines within the Austro-Hungarian Empire). The line runs alongside the Vaser River with numerous curves, bridges and several tunnels, into a wild and romantic valley, high in the Carpathian Mountains.  The railway opens up a vast area of isolated forest and mountain, without roads or villages but with plenty bears and wolves instead! 

                                                                                                                             ................. cont Part 2

Vaser Valley Railway, Romania - Part 2

The industrial use of timber in the Vaser Valley began at the beginning of the 18th century, during the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  German-speaking settlers explored the forest, harvested the timber, and transported it in log rafts down the river to the saw mills of Viseu de Sus.  In 1932 the forestry railway was built - an enormous technical advance compared with the rafting.

Forestry railways were widespread across Europe, especially in the Carpathian Mountains. The operating principle was very simple: they followed the rivers, often necessitating tight curves - hence the use of the narrow gauge!  The tracks were constructed so as to enable small locomotives to pull empty logging wagons up into the mountains and to let heavily loaded trains roll down under gravity to the saw mills in Viseu de Sus.

While forest roads replaced the railways in most European countries after 1945, the forestry railways in Romania survived much longer - in 1970 the State-run forestry administration still operated more than 3000 kilometres of railway.  Even as late as 1986 new forestry steam locomotives were being built in Romania, and in 1989 more than 15 forestry railways were still in existence, totalling approximately 1000 kms of line.

                                                                                                                                      ........  cont part 3

Vaser Valley Railway, Romania - Part 3

The economic changes commencing in 1990 had a devastating impact on the State-run forestry railways of the "CFF".  Within a few years almost all were decommissioned and closed, and their locomotives and wagons were scrapped or sold. Only one of them is still operating - the Vaser River Railway.  Importantly, it still serves its primary purpose - as a forestry railway for logging.

Ever since 2003 the railway system has been managed by the private Romanian corporation: "R.G. Holz Ltd", which is also the owner of the depot area and most of the locomotives and wagons.  However the railway infrastructure, along with most of the forest in the valley, are still State-owned.

Since 2000 the forestry railway has been receiving support from abroad, specifically from the Swiss association "Hilfe für die Wassertalbahn" ("Help for the Vaser Valley Railway"). With assistance from Switzerland, some disused locomotives were restored and put back into service, new passenger coaches were purchased, and the depot and the historic station building at Viseu were refurbished.  Around the station yard in Viseu de Sus, infrastructure is being established that takes account of the increasing demands of tourism in the Vaser Valley.

                                                                                                                                    ......... cont Part 4