Vaser Valley Mocăniță Narrow Gauge Railway

Mocăniță describes narrow-guage railways in Romania and comes from a word for someone who lives in the mountains. CFF Vişeu de Sus runs the narrow gauge railways for forestry in the Valea Vaserului (Vaser or water valley). The line was constructed in 1933 and has been operating ever since. It goes from a yard on Strada Alexandru Ioan Cuza, east of Vişeu de Sus, for 43 km to Comanu. The trains are used daily for both passenger and for forestry workers and carrying logs. Several steam locomotives are still operating including Măriuta, built in 1910 by Orenstein & Koppel in Berlin, the oldest working narrow gauge steam locomotive in Romania. Five Romanian locomotives built in the 1950s and diesel engines of the 1960s and 1970s are also used. Police and rangers drive minivans converted for the lines.