News


13 Jul 2010
Recently the Romanian Organization of Scouts relocated their headquarters to Nocrich, half way between Sibiu and Agnita on the railway, and have expressed a major interest in getting involved, together with the Friends of the Mocănița Association, in the restoration of the SAR.
Today marked their first action on the railway, 30 highschool girls of their summer camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) having cleared vegetation and soil on 100 meters of track just outside the Nocrich station. As a reward, we were glad to offer them our bicycle trolley for a speed tournament on the length of track they've uncovered. They really enjoyed the tournament, everybody getting to ride the trolley and, most of all, having the satisfaction of seing the purpose of their work, while enjoying it. We wish to thank Mr. Nicu Romaniuc, the camp organizer, who made everything possible.

1 Apr 2010
The exterior restoration works at the small railway building at Coveș, started last autumn by a team of local workers, were completed on 1 April, 2010.
Since the railway closed the building had fallen into disrepair, been taken over by various gipsy families, and become the subject of vandalism and theft, despite being listed as a historic monument, like the rest of the railway. It has now been restored to the standards and livery of the Hungarian railways of 1910. Minor work remains to be done, but the re-birth of the building proves that the "wheels are turning" and acts as an incentive for those involved and hopefully as a magnet for others.
Our thanks go to the Mihai Eminescu Trust, who provided materials and previously set up and trained the team of workers, to the Friends of the SAR for overseeing the works and providing tiles for the roof, and in particular to Bill Parker of The Flour Mill Ltd in England, who funded the work. Meanwhile, he has also supplied the Friends with new sandblasting equipment, much needed for the carriage restoration.
The building is close to and very visible from the main road leading from Agnita to Medias and Sibiu. It demonstrates to all who pass by that the railway is not dead, "but sleeping".

14 Dec 2009
Given that the 27 Sept 2010 will mark the railway's 100'th anniversary, at the request of the SAR's Friends Association an agreement was made between them, the Consortium and the Mihai Eminescu Trust to cooperate in order to mark both the centenary and the reopening of the line, on the weekend of 25-26 Sept next year. While the Friends Association's members will volunteer to do the necessary works, the MET will fund most of the project and the Consortium will help with logistics. The plan is to restore one of the passenger carriages which were saved from scrapping last year and to clean-up / repair the track as far as possible starting from the Agnita station towards Beneşti. Since the Consortium does not own any locomotive yet, a steam engine will be borrowed for the event.
On Saturday, the Agnita station will also host next year's last Brunch event.

29 Oct 2009
Noticing the advancing works on the road at Cornăţel, the mayor of Agnita was asked by the friends association to enquire about the planned situation of the nearby level crossing, on the branch line between Cornăţel and Vurpăr. Upon discussing with the works supervisor it became clear that the level crossing was supposed to be dismantled, with no regards of the line's status as historical monument. Fortunately the level crossing was saved, at least for the moment, an agreement being made not to do works on the road for 25 meters each side of the level crossing.

24 May 2009
Between 4 - 15 May three members of the SAR's Friends Association were in Wales for a change of experience with railway restoration projects there. After a two day tour of London we went to North Wales to visit the Festiniog and Welsh Highland railways. Seeing both lines from the observation coaches, discussing with people involved in the restoration projects and the vast historical knowledge of our host - Mr. John Keylock has given us a good idea of how such a project should be managed. Indeed these two railways are an example to follow for any heritage narrow gauge railway.
We then went to Carmarthenshire in South Wales, where we helped the recently started Burry Port to Gwendraeth Valley Railway restoration project. Apart from helping their members on scraping the rust and painting the boiler of their Pontyberem steam locomotive, painting level crossing gates, working on trackbed drainage and helping the Swansea Vale Railway to dismantle their tracks, we also made very good friends there, learned together which are the first steps in a railway restoration project and, most importantly, developed a tweening between the two projects - BPGVR and SAR, both at the same stage of their development. Looking backwards, this is a perfect example of EU's benefits - tweening similar projects at its opposite borders.
The whole trip was a great leap forward for our association, and we wish to thank New Europe Railway Heritage Trust and its Chairman - Mr. Stephen Wiggs, who came up with the idea and also made it happen. We can only hope that soon we will be able to return the favour to all those involved in our visit.
Read more about our visit to BPGVR on the BBC website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southwest/sites/local_history/pages/gwendraeth_rail.shtml

16 Apr 2009
Members of the SAR's Friends Association have started spring cleaning works at the Cornăţel station. The plan is to remove last year's dried out weeds, cut the trees which have grown too close to the tracks or buildings, and treat the station and as much track as possible, towards Hosman and Casolt, with herbicide. The treatment was made possible by a donation from the Mihai Eminescu Trust Sighisoara, which continues to support our efforts.

25 Nov 2008
The 4 carriages which were saved earlier this month were transported today to a secure place in Agnita. They were loaded in flatbed lorries and travelled on the Hârtibaciu valley once more after 8 years, stopping in every community to increase the villagers hope that the Mocăniţa is slowly returning. To make things better, the carriages entered Agnita and 'ran' on its main street for the first time since 1965, when the rails were lifted and the station moved 3 km outside town towards Sibiu.
The carriages are now safely stored in Agnita, waiting for their renovation.
We wish to thank Mr. Lucian Dumitra and Mr. Ion Chiri for their efforts in loading/unloading and transporting the carriages, as well as all those involved.

14 Nov 2008
The diesel locomotive which was also saved from scrapping was lifted up and transported today. From now on, it's new home will be the Central Works of Criscior, in the Apuseni mountains, property of S.C. Calea Ferată Îngustă S.R.L.

5 Nov 2008
Of the 5 diesel locomotives, 6 carriages and one heating wagon which SFT (the state tourist railway company who owned the SAR's rolling stock) decided to sell for scrap earlier this year, we managed to save only 4 of the carriages, due to unreal asking prices and various acts of corruption.
One of the diesels and the heating wagon were saved from scrapping by others, and will probably soon be moved from Sibiu.
However, the SAR is lucky, since SFT's decision affected all state-owned narrow gauge railways in Romania (including the Turda-Abrud and Târgu Mureş lines) where far fewer items have been saved, and those that have are going for use elsewhere.
The 4 carriages, which were damaged by the scrap men before we were able to save them, are now being secured and cleaned by the Friends of the SAR Association, and plans are being made for their restoration.
We wish to thank the Mihai Eminescu Trust for their valuable contribution towards acquiring the carriages.

1 Aug 2008
Finally, after months of discussions and lobbying, a contract has been signed with the SAAF - the current owner of the SAR, for a 25 years concession of the line to the Consortium. Even though the contract only refers to the line, with no additional buildings or assets, this is a major step forward since it enables us to write an EU funding project for the restoration of the SAR.
Others have already been invited to join the Consortium, such as the local councils along the railway and the Sibiu County Council.
The struggle goes on to save the rolling stock from scrapping.

31 May 2008
Even though some of its members were already active, today marked the first action of the SAR's Friends informal association. Our goal is to secure and improve the static assets of the railway while waiting for EU funding for the restoration of the whole line.
We are all young people, some of us still students, who are willing to work as volunteers for the benefit of the railway and are now focusing on the Cornăţel station, one of the most affected by theft, which we are hoping to slowly bring back to its former appearance. More details here.

12 February 2008
The "Consorţiul pentru dezvoltare intercomunitară Sibiu-Agnita" (Sibiu-Agnita intercommunity development Consortium) was formed with the sole purpose of taking over the railway. The Consortium is a public right type of organization, thus being able to receive state owned assets.

15 August 2007
Today the first meeting of the Consortium formed to represent the interests of the SAR took place. Among the things discussed, the most important were the future legal form of the Consortium (since now it is just informal) and the proposal to ask the Sibiu County Council to join.
So far the members of the Consortium are the Hartibaciu Valley Association, the "Mihai Eminescu Trust" and the Sibiu Department of Culture.

12 June 2007
Years of hard work have been rewarded yesterday, when the Sibiu Culture Department announced in a press conference that the Sibiu-Agnita Railway, along with the branch line to Vurpar and the station buildings and bridges from the Agnita-Sighisoara section is now officially declared a historical monument.
This means that the line has been saved from scrapping and makes possible its revival.
We wish to thank everybody involved in this operation, especially Mr. Marius Halmaghi and the head of the Sibiu Culture Department, Mr. Crisan.

7 April 2007
An official letter was sent to the CFR Infrastructure Dept. regarding the selling price of the narrow gauge maintenance rolling stock which they own.

2 April 2007
A BBC crew filmed a working steam narrow gauge train in front of the depot in Sibiu, as part of a documentary regarding saxon life in Transylvania.
The documentary will be shown on BBC 1 channel on 29th April, as part of the Countryfile show.

20 March 2007
An official letter was sent by the New Europe Railway Heritage Trust and Fedecrail to the Romanian Minister of Transport and Tourism requesting the transfer of the railway to the local community.

17 January 2007
Our representatives met with the chief executives of both SAAF and SFT to discuss a possible short distance narrow gauge operation in Sibiu during this summer, as part of the Sibiu - Capital of Culture 2007 program.