Romanian Railroads 2: Sinaia (Romania 2018-02)

Sinaia, Fujifilm Acros, Leica M2 camera, polarizer filter.

Sinaia is an elegant mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania, about 3 hours drive north of Bucharest. The town was named after Sinaia Monastery, which, in turn was named after Mount Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula (another set of photographs to scan one day....). King Carol I of Romania built his summer home, Peleș Castle, near Sinaia in the late nineteenth century. The town became an elegant and trendy resort for Romania's wealthy, and the windy mountain roads have an impressive collection of grand old wooden mansions and mountain chalets (somewhat like Zakopane in southern Poland).

In the 1800s, traveling to the summer resort meant taking carriages. The 1800s were a great period of railroad expansion throughout the industrial world, the Russian Empire, and the African colonies. But Romania went through significant political changes and turmoil, and the country only gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. Major railroad construction probably lagged in Romania but I am not sure of its industrialization patterns.

This plaque shows the builder, but I was not able to find information on who sponsored or funded the project. The line ran north from Bucharest to Ploiești, the major petroleum center, and then along the Prahova River valley through the Carpathian Mountains to Brașov.

This odd sedan was equipped with railroad wheels to run along the tracks.

This line is now electrified (see photograph no. 1) and has regular passenger service. The 1913 station is clean and in good condition. We also saw trains with petroleum cars moving through the valley.

The two black and white photographs are from Fujifilm Acros film, taken with a Leica M2 rangefinder camera. The color frames are digital, from a Moto G5 phone.