Coal,

in Romanian railway transportation

Coal is generally defined in the specialty books as a sedimentary rock formed by the carbonation of vegetal debris and presented as strata intertwined with other rocks.
Proof of its use by the Romans in Daca is the primitive furnace discovered in the Valea Caselor in Ghelar - Hunedoara and even the burnt rubble hold in Teliuc.
In the 9th - 11th century in England and Germany coal was used to melt metals and heat residences.
On a global scale coal was used beginning with 1880 - 1881 along with the development of metallurgy and siderurgy.
The world reserve of pit coal and lignite is appreciated at 7 million tones, a quantity sufficient in normal conditions for a 4500-year consumption.
In 1900 coal represented 95% of the materials used to produce energy. Only 30 years later it occupied only 73.4 %, oil occupied 17.1% and hydraulic energy 9.45%.
In 1930 the world production of 1397.8 thousand tones of coal was used in a proportion of 22% as prime matter (10% production, 7% steel works and 5% gas plants) and 78 % as solid combustible (29% industry, 23% railways, 6% thermal plants, 3% for navigation and 17% for home use.)
Regarding the coal consumption per capita at the beginning of the 20th century the United States occupied the first place with 4110 kg/inhabitant while our country , though rich boasted a much lesser consumption of 170 kg/inhabitant, one of the lower figures for the whole Europe.
Romania had coal deposits scattered all over the surface of the country, reserves that were also known in the old days.
Anthracite and pit coal in the Muntii Banatului, brown pit coal in Valea Jiului and in the Comanesti basin, pit coal in Tara Barsei (Codlea, Cristian, Vulcan) and important reserves of pit coal in the basins Oltenia, Dambovita and Muscel.
Observing the data presented by Professor I. Mrazek in his study regarding the Progress of geological science in Romania, results that in 1931 the national coal reserves were appreciated to 21 million tones of brown coal and 25.8 million tones pit coal in the Banat basin, 26 million tones of pit coal in Tara Barsei and 1635 million tones of brown coal in the Jiu basin and 967.7 million tones of lignite in the sub - Carpathian area (Oltenia, Doicesti, Sotanga, Laculete, Filipestii de Padure and otehrs.)
The first coal strata were discovered around 1780 in Valea Jiului but remained un-exploited due to the rudimentary transport and the lack of roads.
Once the deposits in the Muntii Semenicului were given as concessions to a company with Austrian capital, the first pit coal exploitations are started in Domaniand Secu in 1788 and a little later in Anina in the Muntii Banatului.
In Moldavia the first coal exploitation is found in the year 1825 n the Comanesti basin. From here, coal left for Iasi in wagons to the fire mill or for Galati for the ships in the harbor.
Between 1830 and 1836 in the Tara Barsei, the company “Kronstader Schurverin” extracted the first lumps of coal from the lignite mines in Vulcan, Codlea, Holbav and Baraolt.
In the Valea Jiului, the brothers Hoffman and the “Brasovia Company for mines and furnaces” opened the first mine in Lonea in 1840 along with the surface mining operations in Vulcan, Petrosani and Petrila and 10 years later the pit coal in Lupeni starts seeing the light of day, mined by the COHN Company in Craiova.
There is no doubt that the extraction of coal in Romania reaches new heights after 1880 when metallurgy begins to develop and the lack of fuels start to become felt due to the thinning of the forests. After 1881 the state decided to open new sites for the exploitation of lignite in Carpatii Sudici between Valea Prahovei and Valea Dambovitei in Ceptura and Filipestii de Padure (Prahova county), Sotana and Margineanca (Dambovita county) and after 1906 in Domensti, Berevoiesti and Poienari (Arges county).

(to be continued)

Radu Bellu