12. The Steam Train on Vaser Valley

Until four decades ago, in Maramureş there were over 200 km of narrow-gauge railway, serving steam trains which transported salt, timber, various other goods, and people. Today, the Mocăniţa on the Vaser Valey is the only narrow-gauge railway in the European Union which a forest train still runs on. The entire system is over 50-km long, stretching both along the wooded gorge of the river and on two side valleys. The now tourist train climbs to mid valley (km 22), at the Paltin Station, where it stops for a few hours for the passengers to enjoy an open-air picnic before starting back. The locomotives which tow the train, built between 1910 and 1986, are steam engines and they provide spectacular stops along the way.