Viseu de Sus 2004

This is a report of a May 2004 visit by Roland Beier

In November 2003 private operator R.G.Holz Company took over Viseuforest which had gone bankrupt. Viseuforest had been the successor company of the old state owned CFF Viseu de Sus and ran the CFF Viseu rolling stock and the sawmill. Operations of Visueforest during 2003 had been erratic but with the take over the glory of the old days has been revived at Viseu. R.G.Holz took over the old shed and cleaned it up, operations are now based here again.

764.436 and 764.469 ex Viseuforest pose at the shed which is now owned by R.G.Holz

 Timber traffic is heavy and trains now run Monday to Saturday. The line to Coman is served daily and the section between Viseu and Noviciorul has been completely relaid. The Ripi ranch is at present being rebuilt, Novat-Ihoasa has been completed whilst in May the section to Betigi was under repair. Betigi-Ripi will not be reopened. In addition to timber trains there are also ballast trains between Novat and Betigi. The Monday morning trains had more coaches than on other days to carry workers into the forests. 

COZIA-1 heads the Monday train to Faina which has three coaches.

During the last week of May the situation was as follows:

Viseu-Coman train: diesel (LDH18)

Viseu-Faina train: COZIA-1 (CFF 764.408R), this train was booked to depart at 08.30 and was also available for tourists

Viseu-Novat-Betigi train: usually 764.469 but when this loco failed a small diesel was used instead and on one occasion COZIA-1 appeared whilst the Faina tourist train was diesel on that day. The Betigi loco usually took empty trucks to Ihoasa then returned to Novat and brought two ballast wagons to Betigi. The whole consist returned to Novat in the late afternoon.

Viseu-Cozia train: usually diesel railcar

Viseu sawmill shunt: COZIA-2 (CFF 764.449)

COZIA-2 leaves Viseu shed to shunt the sawmill

COZIA-1 passes through Cozia station

So there were usually 1-2 steam trains a day plus the sawmill shunt. Altogether the motive power situation was as follows:

COZIA-1 (764.408R) in daily use

COZIA-2 (764.449) in daily use shunting. The loco has problems with the Klien-Lindner axle and usually does no line work at present

764.469: in use but suffered from tube plate troubles

764.436: out of use, required suspension repairs but otherwise in good condition

764.313, 452, 457, 484: all dumped out of use

COZIA-1 near Poiana Novat on the Ripi branch

Diesels LDH18-001 and 003 in daily use, LDH45-0053 and 87-0032 dumped, 87-0033 awaiting engine repairs. It is expected that once 87-0033 is operational again it will replace a small diesel on the Coman train. This will have not much impacts on steam workings as the released diesel will then act as a standby loco in case of failures. During our visit no spare loco was available which resulted in delays on some days.