Sinaia railway station

Gara Sinaia
Căile Ferate Române

View of the station building
Location Sinaia, Romania
Coordinates 45°21′9.594″N 25°33′10.50″E / 45.35266500°N 25.5529167°E / 45.35266500; 25.5529167Coordinates: 45°21′9.594″N 25°33′10.50″E / 45.35266500°N 25.5529167°E / 45.35266500; 25.5529167
Owned by CFR
Electrified yes
Services
Preceding station   CFR   Following station
toward Arad
CFR Intercity 200
toward Oradea
CFR Intercity 300
CFR Intercity 400
toward Brașov

Sinaia railway station serves the Sinaia mountain resort in Romania. The first station was built in 1913 by the Demeter Cartner Company, and it was reserved exclusively for the Royal Family and its guests at Peleş Castle, generally foreign leaders.

Memorials

On the station platform, there is a memorial plate marking the spot where Prime Minister Ion G. Duca was assassinated by the Iron Guard in 1933. A second memorial plaque was erected in 1999 to mark the celebrations then held to mark 120 years of the Ploiesti to Brașov railway line.

New ceremonial station

The newer Ceremonial Railway Station is a short distance away from the first one, built following the plans of architect Duiliu Marcu in 1939. Constructed as a new royal railway station it has remained in use as a ceremonial station for state occasions and guests. It is a stone building in Neo-Romanian style, which originally displayed the Hohenzollern coat of arms. Its single platform is continuous with platform 1 of the original (and now public) railway station. The building also featured a depot housing the Royal Train.

In front of the ceremonial station there is a large plaza designed with the purpose of holding official welcome ceremonies for various foreign leaders. The main room is decorated with a wall painting (5.50 meters x 5.50 meters) depicting a boar hunt of Wallachian Prince Basarab I (eight life-size characters on horseback, alongside an inscription in Latin reading Basarab Voivode, 14th century).

The ceremonial station's purpose was retained during the communist regime. A presidential train brought American President Gerald Ford and Romanian President Nicolae Ceauşescu here on August 6, 1975. It is not open to the public.

Exhibitions

The main (original) railway station has a large booking hall, and extensive offices. In addition the northern part of the station building has been developed into a model railway exhibition, which is open to the public most days, and some static exhibits of railway memorabilia have been placed on the platform beyond the model exhibition. These include a 230 series 4-6-0 steam locomotive number 230.039 (displayed with the tender of sister engine 230.050), and a motor car converted for railway track inspection duties, with flanged wheels fitted.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/25/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.