The two sections of the forest system at Covasna-Comandau were separated by an inclined plane first opened in 1886. The plane was entirely worked by gravity, the heavier loaded wagons pulled up the empties using a long steel cable and progress was controlled by braking on the drum in the winding house. Each wagon was loaded on to a trolley which kept them horizontal during their journey, shunting being done at both ends by horses - during our trip the horse at the top was sent up with the first wagon each day. The lower section was steeper than the upper section and for this reason, the 'trolleys' were stopped half way and a number of metal weights transferred so the upper trolley was always heavier than the lower one. Each transfer took about 20 minutes. A loaded wagon is just arriving at the lower station. It will now be shunted by the horse to the yard which was located approximately 300 meters away. There the train was formed and a steamer brought it down to Covasna. Between duties, the horse was resting in the hut that can be seen on the right side of the photo. In 1995, only a few years after celebrating its centenary, the Inclined Plane underwent a series of unfortunate events when a powerful storm toppled almost all the nearby trees. In addition, in 1997 the top control station was destroyed by fire. A drastic reduction in wood volumes ended the Inclined Plane on 1 October 1999 (along with 32 km of railway that formed the last remains of the forestry railways system from Comandau).
