Valley of Bistrița
Early morning sun sheds light on the 60-1017 of the Romanian National Railways, as it crosses the Bistrița river, while working the early morning regional train 5472 from Bicaz to Piatra Neamț, with the coaches later being connected to a direct interregio service to Bacău. Chasing this train in the morning was a nice start to our day, before venturing out to hike.
This railway line (Bacău - Bicaz no. 509) runs entirely along the river Bistrița (aka. Beszterce, Bistritz, Bystrzyca and others), using its valley to navigate through the hills of eastern Carpathian mountains. The river itself however, is a little longer, at around 280km. Over its course it has an astounding number of dams, used for regulating the water flow and generating electricity.
Out of the 10 of them blocking the river stream across the 280 kilometers, 5 are located on the 30 kilometer stretch betwen Bicaz and Piatra Neamț, with the first one of them - Izvorul Muntelui (3km upstream from Bicaz) - forming the largest artificial lake of România.
Dam number 2 on this short stretch - Pângărați - can be seen just under the train. The light blue building is its power station part, generating only a small amount of power for local needs.
Photo by Piotrek/Toprus.