information on pre-WW1 romanian railroad sought

[dead-cat]

does anyone have any figures like # of locomotives, rolling stock?

[Carol I]

The latest count before WWI (1915) gave:

932 locomotives
1499 passenger carriages
24138 freight wagons

[petru]

Where did you get these numbers from?

[Carol I]

[quote]Where did you get these numbers from?[/quote]
I found them in a history book describing among other things the economic development of Romania during those years: Agrigoroaiei et al (2003) Istoria Românilor - De la independentã la Marea Unire (1878-1918).

[petru]

Thanks.

Do you know the type of equipment we got in the winter 1916-1917 when the army was reorganized. I know we received 120 mm guns and 150 mm guns (or 155). What about the machine guns. Those shoulde have been french, not Austrian or Russian.

[dead-cat]

thanx for the input. i remember having read an almanach from early 1917, which provided a detailed description of the 1916 campaign in Romania. the figures for the captured locomotives quoted were about 1200 locos captured. that's pretty much the entire rolling stock. i guess the figures is inflated by a factor of 2.

hard to say if the ratio 1/26 loco/railcar is normal. for germany it was about 1/40

This post has been edited by dead-cat on December 27, 2007 09:38 am

[petru]

I don't think there were captured so many locomotives. My impression is that most of the rolling material was evacuated in Moldova. Actually the rails were so crowded that it was necessary to derail the carriages. After the armistice it was an efficient “cleaning” of the country, but still the number is too high.

[Carol I]

QUOTE

hard to say if the ratio 1/26 loco/railcar is normal. for germany it was about 1/40

According to the source I mentioned, Romania always had a ratio of 1 locomotive to 20-25 wagons between 1873 and 1915.

[dead-cat]

on Oct. 2nd 1916 the Austrian newspaer "Reichspost" (Vienna) mentioned:

during the battle of Hermannstadt (Sibiu) 10 locomotives and 300 railcars (ammunition supply) were captured.

[Dénes]

Captured by which army? I assume you're talking about Austro-Hungarian locomotives (engines) captured by the Rumanians.

[Victor]

On 2 October, Sibiu was no longer in Romanian hands, I believe.

[Dénes]

I assume that the mentioned Austrian newspaper did not refer to up-to-date events.

[Carol I]

I have also heard of the railway rolling-stock captured by the Austro-Hungarians after the battle of Sibiu, but without numbers. It seems that they were part of the supply force of the Romanian army that could not be retreated as the railway line was one of the first objectives to fall into the hands of the Bavarian Alpine Corps supposed to close the encirclement of Romanian forces.

As for the chronology of the events, Sibiu fell before 30 September 1916, the date when both Bucharest and Vienna issued official press releases about the capture of Sibiu by the Austro-Hungarian army. It is therefore most likely that the Austrian newspaper was indeed mentioning the Austro-Hungarian capture of Romanian rolling-stock, probably using the official numbers from the press release of 30 September.

[dead-cat]

no i refer to rolling stock captured by the german army.

the newspaper allways mentions events with at least 1 day delay (report has to come in, be verified(or not) the article has to be written, go to press etc.)

and since it was about war booty it would take time to count/evaluate it.

[Carol I]

I was living under the impression that the Austrian forces that have retreated North of Sibiu in the beginning of September 1916 later did the frontal attack, while the German army of Gen. von Falkenhayn attacked on the left flank of the Romanian forces. But you may be right that the Germans did capture the Romanian rolling-stock, as this material must have been behind the front line and therefore most likely to fall to the encircling German army.

However, I fail to see the contradiction with respect to the chronology of the events. If Sibiu fell before 30 September, then the Germans had the time needed to count the war booty and to issue the press release on that day. The newspaper you mentioned appeared on 2 October, i.e., two days after the official press release. Therefore there was plenty of time to write the article and print the newspaper.