An impressive restoration

Morello Cherry · August 25, 2023

The Sibiu-Agnita railway in Romania has managed to restore it's first carriage and it has been quite a journey.

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A brief translation of the story. The coach was built in 1985. When the line closed in 2001 it was left at Sibiu station. [I think I have photographs of it from that period]. It was used by the local homeless as somewhere to sleep. In 2007 it was moved to outside the loco depot where it was heavily vandalised. The preservation society wanted to buy the carriages but the auctions kept on being cancelled. When an auction was held it was sold to a scrap metal company who had never been to any of the previous auctions. It was saved from being scrapped when someone passing on a train saw the carriages (there was a batch of them) being cut. This was the only one to be saved. A very rapid mobilisation took place to save the coach. Local mayors from the valley in combination with the Mihai Eminescu trust organised and collected enough scrap metal to replace the scrap metal that the coach represented.

In 2009 the restoration started - they had no experience of carriage restoration, and only basic tools and so did it in the open air. By 2010 they had got it restored enough for it to run behind a borrowed steam engine at Agnita to celebrate the centenary of the line. They were able to build a shed around the carriage at Agnita to help to protect it as they restored it. By 2015 it was ready to go, but with the success of the line and demands of maintaining the track meant they did not have the ability to finish the coach. They also found that due to poor materials the interior was suffering due to the moisture in the air. It went on the backburner, finally in 2020 funds were found to enable the carriage to be restored in Hunedora. This restoration included a new interior, lights, chassis work, and working brakes(!), making it the most modern coach in Romania. It is the first part of their plan to develop a full train for the line.

2008