The last narrow gauge forestry steam train in Europe is in Romania and it is known by the locals as Mocaniţa. You’ll find one of the trains in Vişeu de Sus, a town in Maramureş County, northern Romania. The country still has a vast network of narrow gauge railways and forest trains, but the Mocaniţa is the only form of mechanised transportation into the rugged Vaser River valley.
The Vaser Valley railway was constructed in the period 1933-1935 and uses a gauge of 760 mm (2 ft 5 7⁄8 in). It was partially destroyed by the Germans during World War II, but rebuilt to serve the transportation needs of the people from the region.
While replaced in most of the European countries after 1945, the forestry railways in Romania survived for a long time: In 1970 the state-run forestry administration still operated more than 3.000 kms of tracks, up to 1986 still new forestry steam locos were built in Romania, and in 1989 still more than 15 forestry railway existed with together approx. 1.000 kms of tracks according to the official website of the Vaser Valley forestry railway.
You will also find mocaniţe in the Aries mountains region of Alba county, from Abrud to Câmpeni; in the historical region of the Hartibaciu valley from Sibiu to Agnita (which recently celebrated 100 years of existence); from Covasna to Comandău in Covasna County; from Crişcior to Brad in Hunedoara county; from Târgu Mureş to Band; from Dorneşti to Nisipitu, and at Moldoviţa.
