In Sibiu with the Mocanita
We will make a journey with the so-called 'mocanita' train, on a narrow railway
Daniel Onea, 14.03.2024, 13:22
Today we go to Transylvania and stop in Sibiu county. We will make a journey with the so-called ‘mocanita’ train, on a narrow railway, cared for by volunteers, which connects the tourist pole of Sibiu with the rural communities of the Hârtibaciului Valley. We will go into a nature reserve, abundantly dotted with wild fauna and special flora, in a peaceful rural landscape, dominated from a distance by the snowy ridges of the Carpathians. The Sibiu-Agnita-Sighișoara narrow railway line is classified as a historical monument.
Out of the 64 kilometers of narrow railway on Hârtibaciului Valley, until now, the seven kilometers between Hosman and Cornățel stations have been put back into operation by volunteers. Here, says Mihai Blotor, president of the Friends of Mocănița Association, diesel locomotive races are organized regularly, and steam locomotive races occasionally.
“Tickets can be purchased on the website sibiuagnitarailway.com. In fact, the reservation is made from there, because you will receive the ticket when boarding the train, it being a cardboard ticket, as it used to be, which cannot be sent by mail. More recently, tickets can also be bought directly from the station. From the station, we leave for Hârtibaciului Valley, from the edge of the village of Cornățel. In the first part of the route, we go parallel to the road. People from cars will greet us, some will even honk. Then the road turns, and we go through the middle of the valley, among hills full of oak forests, among flocks of sheep, with the Carpathian Mountains always on our right side.”
Hârtibaciului Valley remains one of the most picturesque and least explored areas in Sibiu County. It is also called, with good reason, the Green Valley. After crossing two bridges, we reach a truly wild area, says Mihai Blotor.
“We usually see deer and wild boar there. I heard there are bears too, but I haven’t seen them from the train yet. We drive through a natural protection area for birds, the second largest in Romania after the Danube Delta, a Natura 2000 area. We usually see storks, egrets, gray herons, little screaming eagles, and many other small birds. We have information posters in the train carriages. We then arrive at Hosman Station. The station itself is about a kilometer outside the village, but offers a very nice panorama of it on the right. We can see the fortified church, built on a hill in the middle of the village, and the Făgăraș Mountains, usually covered with snow, in the background. It is an image that promotes Transylvania, or even Romania, in international posters. This is how you will recognize the village of Hosman. At the church, you can visit with specialized guides. Children will not be bored either. There is a treasure hunt for children. In the village there is also the old mill. It is a mill with a machine that still runs on oil, as mills used to be in the 1900s. Hârtibaciului Valley is full of fortified churches. There were many Saxons here, and each community had its own church, different from another church, all surrounded by defensive walls. For example, Alțâna, Nocrich, would be the closest to the final station of the train.”
The biggest and best-known event on the Hârtibaciului Valley is right in Hosman, at the final station of the mocanita. It’s the Holzstock music festival, which usually takes place in July or August every year. Then the narrow gauge train makes special runs for the participants in that festival. But it is not the only event, says Mihai Blotor, president of the Friends of Mocănița Association.
“We have village days. Each village then organizes a traditional parade. In addition to these, there are some events overlooked by us, the locals, but which seem to be very successful especially with foreign tourists: the animal fairs, organized every month, in a different village in the valley. Foreigners are very happy to see all the animals, all the tools and harnesses, for example for horses, for carriages, which they have in the museum, but here they have the opportunity to see them in real life.”
If you want to enjoy a truly special horse-drawn carriage ride in Hârtibaciului Valley, schedule your trip during the Horse Riding Days event.
“It’s our biggest event, started in 2015. It was our reason to bring a steam locomotive, because we usually run with diesel. We have perpetuated it, even though we now run by steam at other times of the year too. “The Days of the Mocănița” remains our biggest and most sought-after event, because in addition to the train ride, we have all kinds of other activities, including for children. For adults, we prepare folklore shows. We also had an inflatable pool at one point, because it was very hot outside. “The Days of the Mocănița” event takes place every September, around the last weekend of the school holidays. We will travel with a steam locomotive and five passenger cars. There will be round trips about five times a day through the glorious nature of the beginning of autumn in Hârtibaciului Valley, when the colors change, and I think it is the most beautiful time of the year. At last year’s “Days of the Mocănița”, we had people from South Africa who didn’t know about the event, but were cycling through the area. They saw a train in the station and they stopped to board it. They said that it was, until then, the most beautiful adventure of their whole trip from the right to the left side of Romania, by bicycle, because it was also so unexpected. We don’t even promote ourselves much, we are a kind of hidden treasure of Transylvania. A lot of it happens by accident, and that makes the experience even more enjoyable.”
We learned from Mihai Blotor, the president of the Friends of Mocăniței Association, that the biggest project is to extend the route, so that tourists can reach as many of the local communities as possible, thus encouraging their sustainable development. In addition, communities have been, and continue to be, involved to shape a complete tourism product. Last year, the ticket price included a guided tour of the village of Hosman and its sights, and visits to local cheese makers. This year, an integrated package is taking shape with the school farm in Cornățel, where children can learn a lot about all the animals that are in a village yard, or get a ride on the ponies.
The Mocănița on Valea Hârtibaciului is the only functional narrow gauge train in Romania, operated entirely by volunteers. The 2024 season will start in the first part of April.
