🇷🇴 R 402 Prietenia @ Bucureşti Nord
There is only one pair of trains outside the territory of the former Soviet Union where Moldovan coaches are used: R 401/402 «Prietenia» Chişinău (MD) - Bucureşti Nord and v.v. The train's name means "Friendship", which is appropriate for a train linking the capitals of two countries that share a common culture and language - at least as far as the respective majorities are concerned. The first two coaches are Romanian (first- and second-class seaters, respectively) and run only as far as Iaşi, Romania's second-largest city, near the Moldovan border. The CFM sleepers and restaurant car continue to Chişinău, with a break-of-gauge in Ungheni (MD). Note that coaches are used that are built according to the Soviet profile, which is wider and higher than the standard European profile (cf. the first two coaches). The loco is of class 45, meaning that it is a modernised class 41 loco. Bucureşti Nord, 13-06-2011.
See www.flickr.com/photos/wesleybalkans/ for the non-railway photos of my stint in Romania.
🇷🇴 R 402 Prietenia @ Bucureşti Nord
There is only one pair of trains outside the territory of the former Soviet Union where Moldovan coaches are used: R 401/402 «Prietenia» Chişinău (MD) - Bucureşti Nord and v.v. The train's name means "Friendship", which is appropriate for a train linking the capitals of two countries that share a common culture and language - at least as far as the respective majorities are concerned. The first two coaches are Romanian (first- and second-class seaters, respectively) and run only as far as Iaşi, Romania's second-largest city, near the Moldovan border. The CFM sleepers and restaurant car continue to Chişinău, with a break-of-gauge in Ungheni (MD). Note that coaches are used that are built according to the Soviet profile, which is wider and higher than the standard European profile (cf. the first two coaches). The loco is of class 45, meaning that it is a modernised class 41 loco. Bucureşti Nord, 13-06-2011.
See www.flickr.com/photos/wesleybalkans/ for the non-railway photos of my stint in Romania.