If you choose Hunedoara county as a holiday destination or you are simply passing through here, you should not miss the "Valentin Banciu" Train Museum. A unique museum, thanks to the diorama with mountain landscape, which contains a small part of the impressive collection of miniatures of the former Hunedoara rally driver, Valentin Banciu, winner of many car trophies.
A ticket to a fairytale world
From the entrance to the museum, located on Libertății Boulevard, the passengers' steps are guided, to their destination, by a railway track, drawn on asphalt, and all those who embark on the magical journey, receive a ticket similar to those from the Romanian railway “CFR”. Once inside, you are greeted by a magical world of miniatures. The collection includes only 10 percent of the 18,000 pieces belonging to different eras, collected, over almost half a century, by the Hunedoara rally driver.
Intrarea la muzeul trenuletelor
An incredibly real atmosphere
Train sets, locomotives and cars. All these are displayed, in four rooms, in a fairytale setting. The platforms are full of passengers, who are waiting for the trains. The birds also sing their trill, and the mountain landscapes are absolutely charming. There are also tunnels and viaducts, and the atmosphere created is incredibly real. Also reproduced in miniature are: the Corvin Castle, the “Mocanita” ( old coal train) route and a gondola route, and visitors are led through all four seasons.
"In the museum we exhibited about 10 percent of Valentin Banciu's collection. There are pieces collected over 40 years, especially from abroad. Also on display are some of the trophies my husband won during his lifetime, as well as his collection of cars. The museum is unique due to the diorama, the only one in the country with a mountain landscape. For this achievement, I thank and remain eternally grateful to Dana Ille, the landscape painter of dioramas, without whom I would not have succeeded ", quated, for GO Hunedoara, by the administrator of the" Valentin Banciu "Train Museum, Delia Banciu.
He started collecting at the age of six
Shortly after the death of the Hunedoara rally champion, his wife, Delia Banciu, decided not to alienate the impressive collection. She decided to open a unique museum, where she managed to exhibit only a small part of the items collected by Valentin Banciu. Delia Banciu stated that: "My husband started collecting trains at the age of 6, when he received the first train as a gift from an uncle in Austria.
That gift aroused his passion for modeling and trains. He was a national rally champion, he participated in a lot of competitions and he was also passionate about cars, but I think that the main passion of his life was trains ".
The last piece, purchased two days before he died
Valentin Banciu passed away in 2018, at the age of 54, due to a relentless illness. Aware of his poor health, the pilot left his wife the addresses of auction houses to evaluate the pieces he collected throughout his life.
"I knew better than anyone what this collection meant to him and how much he loved each piece in his collection. He didn't even play with them. After receiving them, he took them out of the box, looked at them and put them back. He had a room specially designed for this collection. It was important for him to know that they were there and he had them. The last piece in the collection ordered her two days before he died. I couldn't afford to let the collection get into the wrong hands.
So I thought their place would be in a museum. It was the only way to highlight this impressive collection of my husband. Even if he is no more, through his lifelong passion, he can arouse the passions of others. When I see children and also adults, how excited they are about the exhibits, I feel that I have reached my goal ", Delia Banciu also specified.
The most valuable piece from the Banciu collection is an American Big Boy locomotive.
The museum, built in a year and a half
The woman describes that it was not at all easy for her to open this museum, without any help, but she really wanted to carry on her husband's name, which is why the train museum bears her name.
Prețul unui bilet este de 20 lei, pentru adulți, și 15 lei, pentru copii. Copii până în trei ani, persoanele cu dizabilități și însoțitorii acestora au accesul gratuit.
Programul de vizitare:
luni este închis
de marți până duminică este deschis între orele 10:00 si 20:00
1 Review for Train Museum "Valentin Banciu", a magical world in miniature
E frumos facut, ideea e interesanta, insa cele trei sali nu prea merita 20 de lei pe adult si, mai ales, 15 lei pe copil. Nu vad interesul unui astfel de pret. Am fost patru si am fi intrat cu totii, la un tarif mai mic. E aproape la nivelul Castelului Corvinilor la pretul de bilet. Sunt sigur ca la un pret mai mic si la o publicitate pe masura, incasarile ar fi mai mari.
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