Now, if you've been living in western Romania, like me, than I assume you must have heard at some point about the 30 km, 151 year old railway that connects the former industrial towns of Oravita and Anina, in the Caras-Severin county, Romania. Also known as the "Banat Simmering" or incorrectly "mocănița", the route attracts a lot of tourists in this area on a yearly basis.
The railway was build by german settlers that used to populate that particular area of Romania and is still in use. As the years passed, because of the mining activity foreclosure in the area and the depopulation, the railway was neglected, no further investments were made and as a result, the number of fairs made daily decreased to just one fair from Oravita towards Anina and back, per day.
Before going to Oravita to board the 14.45 train which costs just 10 RON, or about 2.2 Euros, I looked up the course on the web. The pictures looked promising but travelers warned about the poor travel conditions, the low speed (30 km in 1:45 hours ..) and the draft that is formed in the carts. Some even said that the route is not even that spectacular to begin with, but I wanted to take my chances.
I wanted to go to Oravita in the golden-leaf season, just at the beginning of November, when all the leafs are brown and golden, because that area looks amazing. I gathered a group of six friends and with two cars we set off from Timisoara towards Resita, Anina and Oravita as a final destination. We chose a 70 km longer route (detouring via Resita and Anina) because of the wonderful mountainous area that offers a spectacle of color in the late fall. Sadly, because I had to do the driving, I couldn't take pictures of the road, only when we stopped for snacks, you just have to visit and enjoy the area first hand.
The map shows the main cities on the trip, circled in magenta. Shown in blue is the longer road, shown in yellow is the Anina - Oravita bit of the road and shown in cyan is the actual course of the railroad.
The road from Timisoara all the way to Oravita is smooth, very few potholes, but be aware that there are a lot of dangerous and swift bends in the road, do not go with high speed into a bend, you will not have time to break and make up for it.
For the photographic side of things, I used my trusty D700 with the 35 f/2 D lens and Sigma 84 f/1.4 to take these pictures, compressed 12 bit Raw format, edited for color and contrast in Nikon's Capture NX.
Those of you who know me will know that I am a Capture One Pro die-hard, but I found that Nikon's proprietary software renders the subtle fall colors more precise, with nicer contrast and vibrancy. However, what I did find really annoying about Capture NX is the White Balance tool that gives little options for modifying the tint of the WB, with +1 or -1 unit increment being too much in order to achieve a decent look. I had to rely on the color temperature alone, and that didn't cut it in a lot of shots that ended up looking too cold or warm, or with the wrong WB all together.
The Resita - Anina course is also great for cycling, and sure enough, we encountered a few cyclists on the way (not shown).
The road makes its way over the Anina mountains and down into Oravita. We arrived with low expectations and sure enough, the sight that greeted us in the Oravita train station wasn't encouraging.
The train station looks adequately neat but the train carts sitting on the rails did not.
The atmosphere inside the rail cars was festive, most of the people being tourists looking to spend a nice Saturday traveling.The benches were not that comfortable, made of painted wood battens, good thing that the voyage was only one hour and forty five minutes long.
On the 30 km trip, the train stops multiple times in small stations.
The main atractions of the voyage, besides the landscape, are the stone and cement railroad bridges constructed in the style of the roman aqueducts, spanning across gorges and overseeing the surroundings.
There are about ten bridges and tunnels, the longest tunnel is about six hundred meters long, the highest bridge is about forty meters tall.
As the train started to roll down the line, it became clear that the view from the back car was great, if only we could open the door and shoot from outside of the train...
The rail car also had a back door that could be opened. We feared that the conductor might have not agreed to that, but we opened them anyways. It turned out that he was ok, opening the door being common practice. Even children were curious about the view, and people were generally cool around the open doors.
The speed of the train was not that high and even dogs begging for food used to run behind the train. I seized the opportunity and took some shots at low shutter speeds (1/20-1/40), esentially moving panning shots.
There were bits of the railway that passed thru corridors carved in stone, with 20-30 cm clearance for the train. One would have gotten his head ripped clean off while looking out the door carelessly.
At times, the train track was built on a narrow ledge in the mountain side, with about a meter distance from the drop. I must say, riding with the open door and sitting on the car access steps has never been more thrilling.
Traveling from Oravita to Anina surprised me in many ways. The beauty of the land can barely be suggested in forty pictures taken on the move. The sensation of riding on the rail car stairs, shooting with one hand and holding on to the handle for dear life with the other hand, while the train is tracking on the edge of a two hundred meter drop is something else.
I came to this area looking for color, for an autumn painting to sooth my tired eyes. Spending 6-8-12 hours a day on a computer editing images from the events I shoot drains me. Once in a while I need to take a deep breath and recharge.
I highly recommend a train ride, bike or car trip in that area, it has a lot to offer to everyone.
Thanks for stopping by !
Costel
