VISEU DE SUS, ROMANIA, MARAMURES, 26 MAY, 2023: The Well Known Mocanita Train. Editorial Image

Viseu de Sus forest railway (also known as Mocanita de pe Valea Vaserului) is a narrow-gauge railway in Maramures county, which runs from Viseu de Sus, on Valea Vaserului, to the Carpathians, at Coman station, close to border with Ukraine. The railway is exploited both for forestry and tourism, being classified as a historical monument. The construction of the forest railway started in 1932, at a time when this type of railway was very fashionable in Europe, especially in the Carpathian area. The narrow gauge was necessary to allow the railway to follow the winding course of the river. On the way up, the locomotive pushed the empty wagons for wood, and on the way down, the weight of the wood, combined with gravity, allowed the train to go down to Viseu. Tourism on the Viseu de Sus forestry railway developed after the 2000s.