Bucharest – 15 September 2022. Although I am not a regular visitor to the “sala de fitness” and do not share the enthusiasm of some of my Board colleagues in the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce for hacking their way around golf courses, I do make a point of having at least one week in each year to get plenty of fresh air and exercise – as well as working on some of the more arcane areas of Romanian vocabulary such as “macaz”. This is satisfied by my week in Sibiu and the Hârtibaciu valley, working with the Romanian volunteers of the Asociația Prietenii Mocăniței and the visiting volunteers from the British supporting society, Sibiu – Agnita Railway – UK (or “SARUK”). The work involved preparation for the annual gala over the weekend of 10 – 11 September at which a steam locomotive is hired in: at other times trains are hauled by the new diesel locomotive which the Association was able to purchase with a grant from regional development funds.
The preparatory work involved a good deal of physical effort, principally centred on the fact that wooden sleepers used to hold the rails deteriorate over time. This is not good for the line, because they both support the rails and when trains pass over them and also hold the rails to gauge. Changing the worst of them for new sleepers is therefore very important, but involves removing the ballast around the sleepers with picks and shovels, removing the old sleeper and sliding the new ones in place of the old, fastening the rails down to the new sleepers, shovelling the ballast back around the new sleepers and packing it under them to fill any voids which have been left. All done by hand, in conditions varying from gorgeous warm sunshine to persistent rain. At the end of the process if we have done it correctly, not only do passengers have a smoother ride but we have also burned off more than a few calories and exercised rather more than we usually do when “driving a laptop”. I certainly found it harder to get up from the table after dinner in Piata Mare at the end of a long and active day, but had absolutely no problem in sleeping at night and felt great the following morning. The old sleepers themselves are used as fuel for the visiting steam locomotive, so that the operation is “green”.
The visiting SARUK volunteers, in addition to sharing techniques from their work on heritage railways in the UK with our Romanian colleagues, also found time to show a television crew what we were doing and to explain our reasons for spending a holiday in Romania in this way. We were also able to spread the word at the monthly expats’ mixer which is organised by the BRCC’s representative in Sibiu, Norman Frankel, as well as to at a wine-tasting event held by the German business community, with new business connections being made and older ones renewed.
Business opportunities connected to the gala were not limited to the running of trains: the many visitors to the station at Cornățel (including the British author of “Along the Enchanted Way”, William Blacker) were able to browse and purchase local produce such as honey and artisanal pottery. This is as it should be with this sort of project: the largest economic benefit of a preserved railway is likely to be in the area through which it runs. The presence of the television crew filming for an international news service is another example of how the effect of events such as the gala weekend are amplified and may continue to attract visitors into the area long after the event itself.
Last year, members of SARUK and others in the UK provided the association with funds to make a successful bid to purchase number 764.158, the steam locomotive which had sat in the rain and snow outside Sighișoara station for many years. Since then, the locomotive has been moved to Hosman and partially stripped down to commence the overhaul which is needed before it can return to service. This year the steam locomotive which was hired in was the sister locomotive of 764.158, being 764.159. The hired locomotive looked very well in the landscape of rural Romania, so thoughts have turned on to how we can complete the restoration and overhaul of 764.158 – particularly so that the Association can have a steam locomotive available should a particular supporter of the project call in again on his next visit from the UK. The flexibility of the Association having its own working steam locomotive should also make it much easier to run trains during the year, particularly when the weather is fine (which is not always the case in September). The good news is that the initial checks of 764.158 are that it is capable of being restored to service and also that one of SARUK’s founder members owns a workshop which overhauls and restores steam locomotives for the UK’s National Railway Museum. This would be an ideal place for 764.158 to be returned to service.
The challenge is that the Association’s steam locomotive is in the Sibiu area and that the steam locomotive works which is ready to overhaul the locomotive is in western England. The locomotive can be fully overhauled, run in and tested before being returned to Romania to haul trains up the Hârtibaciu valley whenever the Friends wish to do so. Added to this, one of the Romanian employees of the Association can also be brought to the UK to learn how to maintain and to operate the locomotive, which will pass on skills which are in danger of being lost in Romania.
The opportunity is therefore there for businesses to sponsor or otherwise assist with this, starting with the transport of 764.158 from Romania to the UK for the overhaul to be carried out. This can be an excellent chance to be associated with the return to steam of the flagship locomotive of the Association. The return of the overhauled locomotive to the Hârtibaciu valley is likely to attract widespread media attention, given the level of international interest in the Mocăniţa project. If you would like to discuss how this opportunity to assist in overcoming the challenge of restoring 764.158 to service can be good for your business, please get in touch. (Mocănița Văii Hârtibaciului - sibiuagnitarailway.com)
Neil McGregor, Vice-Chair for Corporate Governance & relations with the British Chambers of Commerce, immediate Past Chair, BRCC
