How could you get back in time if you did not ride a type of train used in the interwar period to transport the wood and which, surprisingly, has today the same destination, but one more: that of transporting tourists, since 2000. And if you add a charming and wild landscape to the winding Mocanita, such as Valea Vaserului, which since 2007 belongs to the Maramureş Mountains Natural Park, then you have even entered a dream from which you will not want to you wake up.
The evil Vaser stretches over 60 kilometers, and its course among the rocks that you can almost touch with your hand, forests, poiens and springs, creates a fairy tale, of which you can be part when choosing to start in an exciting journey with the famous steam train. The starting point for such a trip is the town of Viseu de Sus, and before you reach Paltin station, the end point of the walk, you will pass under a Maramureş gate. Tradition of Maramures to carve the wood of churches and gates is so old that it has become a modus vivendi, without which one can not conceive of their life.
The railroad goes along the Vaser river 50 km to Comanu Terminal and is one of the last railways for Europe's active steam locomotives, still being used in Romania to lower logs from the mountains , which will turn into wonderful gates by the migratory hands of the woodworkers.
We set off on such an unforgettable trip early in the morning, not before shooting with the Bavaria mosquito, made at the Resita Plant (1954), which would offer us palpitations, and you will see why ...
On the way, I made a few stops for the mosquito to be fed and loaded (but also for pictures 🙂), but whoever wants to decide to start on a mountain trip but needs to know the times at which the mosque passes through the halls.
The Viseu de Sus train station, belonging to the Viseu de Sus Forestry Railways, set up in 1933 to replace Vaser, is a forestry station and the image you will leave is that of a warehouse wood.
The steam locomotive is attached to both wagons and wagons for tourists, and the view left by the whistle of the train that pours all the way as the smallest smoker seems to have been removed from the old films. When also the manual or automated dinghies like "ancient" cars on rails that compete with you, you wonder how old you are back or if you have not gotten into the future in which cars will not only circulate wheels, but also on rails ...
One by one, in front of us, the houses of Viseu de Sus were passed, because after about seven kilometers we entered a landscape of the story, which is also the seamless Stone of the Falcon. So beautiful was the road that I did not sit there for a moment and I took pictures of the pictures to capture a route that perhaps we would not have to go through the second time, although I realized that the mosque is circulating in winter and I think the landscape is a fabulous one.
Sometimes it goes slower, sometimes faster, but with a maximum of 30 km / h, it depends on the way ahead, easier or harder, giving us real emotions, as if jumping off the rails and .... that's how it happened! The wagon in front of us began to shake from all the wrists, and we did not realize exactly what was happening when the mosquito stopped suddenly after our wagon had begun - easy to tremble ... Obviously it derailed a wagon , but it is a common thing, as far as I understand, the mechanics were not scared at all and tried to calm us, because anyway the area was marked with the possible derailment sign, when we got off the train and returned the mosquito on narrow narrow gauge rails (built on the 760 mm Austro-Hungarian track) in just a few minutes, occasionally taking a good air of air and laughing together with our group, which we had fun with, it happens when you have a travel guide that knows how to close the group so that we all feel like our old friends or family.
This incident has not bothered us so much, the gentle train started blowing it down the valley through the very picturesque nature, continuing with the adventure that would take us to Paltin station, with other short stops for fuel and water supplies .
Moped trip is also a real challenge for breaking reality and connecting with anyone other than your friends or family with whom you went on a trip because the phone no longer has a signal ... And for this trip to give you and more the feeling that you have come back in time, the climbing controller in each wagon will give you a train ticket as it once was, a small carton on which the track of the train is engraved, a real piece of collection, occasion with which you will learn the story of the mosquito.
At the Paltin station, rustically arranged with wooden tables and benches, we stopped for one and a half hours, while we did a picnic, but there is also a restaurant where one can eat for who wants something other than what he put it through the trays.
After the first walk that we made in the heart of the mountain and in which the sun held with us in a great way, we climbed into the mop for the return trip, as fascinated as the first time, especially when we I met with the opposite, both saluting with a long whistle that awakened our dreams.
We almost do not care about the long way from Bucharest to get to Maramures, where we visited many tourist attractions during the four days of our mini-vacation, including a stop in Sibiu and Sighisoara.
We have come back to Viseu de Sus station, not to rest, although for me to travel is synonymous with relaxation, but to embark on a pleasant hike to the Horseshoe Falls, on a mild rain, this time, but on an equally stunning trail, proving that every day spent in the morning and until late at night in as many interesting places is a time gained, giving life experience and years of memories without which our passing through it it would not be worth or meaning.