By Train to Chișinău (or a Short History of European Railways)

In the dynamic and always interesting world of railways, one of the things that attracts the most attention is the track gauge. We cannot (while waiting for a delayed train) observe the track without wondering what is the distance between those two steel rails and why it is exactly that much. Namely, in order for our iron horse to travel safely, the distance between the rails must be the same from the beginning to the end of its journey. In Serbia and most of Europe, it is 1435 mm and is known as the standard gauge. Nearly 60% of the world's railway tracks are of this gauge, rightfully earning it the title of a global standard.

From the fast Japanese "Shinkansen" trains to the long American freight giants measuring over 2 km, from the "Eurostar" racing beneath the English Channel to the local train from Niš to Zaječar, all of them travel on the 1435 mm gauge track. The popular diesel-electric locomotive "Kenedijevka" (series 661 of Serbian Railways), produced at the former "Electro-Motive Division" facilities in La Grange, Illinois, could travel its entire overland journey from the factory in America to Belgrade on rails of the same gauge.

There are many theories and myths about the origin of the famous railway dimension of 1435 mm (in beautiful and quite round imperial measures of 4 feet 8 and a half inches). According to one theory, this gauge width dates back to the Roman Empire and was established based on the size of horse-drawn carriages used at that time.

Another theory tells us that 1435 mm is exactly 2.75 Egyptian cubits. English engineers of that era were familiar with ancient Egyptian measurements and often used them, so it is possible that builders of pyramids had some influence on our railways. To make things more interesting, it is believed that George Stephenson chose this gauge width for his first railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway built in 1825, based on the gauge width of simple industrial "tramroads" previously built in mines and ironworks throughout Britain. The quotation marks are used to emphasize that these were not railways in the modern sense but rather makeshift transportation systems in mines and ironworks, where coal and ores were mostly carried in simple carts powered by human and animal labor.

Although the Stockton and Darlington Railway was the first railway to carry passengers and freight in public traffic, the credit for the first railway journey goes to the British engineer Richard Trevithick. He was the first to build a steam locomotive, and the inaugural journey of a composition consisting of a locomotive and freight cars on an industrial track at the Penydarren Ironworks in Wales took place on February 21, 1804. The gauge width was exactly 4 feet 4 inches or 1320 mm.

Things certainly didn't look rosy and cheerful from the very beginning when it came to adopting the standard track gauge. Often, the choice of gauge was the least technological-economic analysis and mostly driven by vanity, stubbornness, or what sometimes seems like exercises in selecting random numbers. After the enthusiasm for the revolutionary new mode of transportation, the construction of new railways followed, first in Great Britain and then in the rest of Europe. The construction was characterized by minimal or, at best, very symbolic communication and collaboration among the creators of various new railways. Interestingly, a certain similarity could be observed in the chosen track gauge widths, which did not deviate much from 1435 mm. An exception was the great engineer Brunel, who, guided by the motto "bigger is better," chose a track gauge width of a mighty 7 feet and ¼ inch or 2140 mm for the railways he built.

In Great Britain, the track gauge confusion was resolved in 1846 with the enactment of a regulation stating that all new railways must be built with the standard track gauge of 1435 mm. By then, the track gauge of 1435 mm was already known as Stephenson's gauge. Existing railways were gradually converted to Stephenson's gauge, a process that lasted until the end of the 19th century. Interestingly, the same regulation defined a different standard track gauge for Ireland, which is 1600 mm, and it has remained in use to this day.

Track gauges around the world were often determined based on the country from which locomotives and wagons were purchased or were influenced by the local terrain. After the standard gauge, the most common track gauges are 1520 mm or 1524 mm, often referred to as the Russian gauge. The entire former Soviet Union uses this track gauge, including Mongolia and Finland.

When Imperial Russia decided to start building railways, foreign engineers were called for assistance. The prominent American engineer George Whistler proposed a track gauge width of 5 feet or 1524 mm, which he had already used in the United States. The first railway, Petrograd-Moscow, was built from 1842 to 1851, and in 1860, the track gauge of 1524 mm was determined for all future railways. In the Soviet Union, they rounded it to 1520 mm, which, of course, did not affect safety.

For railway enthusiasts, a particularly interesting event is a train journey that involves a change to a track of a different gauge. There are several ways to travel seamlessly, but the most interesting one involves lifting the carriages with cranes and replacing the bogies with wider or narrower ones. One of the simpler ways to experience this is by traveling from Bucharest to Chisinau on a night train.

But enough with the numbers and history; let's pack up and head east to a hidden corner of Europe.

There is one pair of night trains operating daily on the Bucharest-Chisinau-Bucharest route. It takes about 13 hours, including border, customs, and technical formalities, for a distance of around 550 km. The train departs from the main station, Bucuresti Nord, every day at 19:15. The part of the train heading to Moldova consists exclusively of carriages from the Moldovan Railways CFM (Calea Ferată din Moldova), while a few Romanian carriages with seats only travel as far as Iași. The train is shorter than expected for the former USSR and usually consists of 5 or 6 carriages. Most carriages are "coupé" type with compartments featuring 4 berths (similar to our couchette compartments), while one or two carriages are "sleeping cars" with two beds per cabin. The tickets are quite affordable, with the price of a round trip in sleeping cars being around 65 euros. Interestingly, both the Romanian and Moldovan railways offer the option of purchasing tickets online. The popularity of this railway among railway enthusiasts is confirmed by the presence of many foreign tourists on the platform, eager to experience the old trains from the mystical Soviet Union.

Although there were still about twenty minutes left until departure, the train was nowhere in sight. However, just as the tension on the platform reached its peak, our blue composition appeared precisely at 19:00. The excited passengers felt an instinct to secure their seats and formed lines to board the carriages. Fresh memories of double bookings on trains along the coastal route gave us the courage and ensured a leading position during boarding. The carriage attendant checked the tickets and let us into the sleeping cars. The conductor, whether male or female, is responsible for order, work, and discipline. They are characterized by an extremely low tolerance for any attempt to cause trouble on the train. The carriages are clean and tidy, although quite old. Uninformed passengers unfamiliar with the intricacies of Russian carriages naively claim that the heating will start when the locomotive is attached to the train. They missed the fact that many Russian carriages have coal-fired steam heating, and since the carriage attendant (conductor) was not prepared to stoke the furnaces, it was clear that we would spend a chilly spring night and need extra blankets.

To be continued...

Author: Mihailo Popesku