Pioneering railway

One of the many unusual aspects of life in the Soviet and Eastern bloc was the emergence of children’s railways, where young pioneers aged between 10-14 years covered almost all aspects of operations, with adults usually only taking on the role of engine drivers. The idea behind this was to help build up the skills of the students and foster good team working, no doubt providing many a springboard into a lifetime career on the state railways.

Around 80 children’s railways are known to have been planned or constructed in the Soviet Union, with many more set-up in eastern block countries like Hungary and Poland. While long being aware of their existence I had never actually made it to one, until now. The children’s railway in Budapest is a good place to start, with its 11.2km route making it the longest children’s railway in the world.

Diesel-hydraulic locomotive Mk-45-2005 waits to haul a service out of Hűvösvölgy

The children’s railway in Budapest is just over 75 years old, having been officially opened on 31st July 1948. It was extraordinary to discover that the first section of track and three stations had been completed in just 66 days. The entire line was completed on 19th August 1950.

It is easy to reach the children’s railway from central Budapest. After a pleasant tram journey from Széll Kálmán tér to Hűvösvölgy, we made the short walk over to the terminus of the children’s railway and picked up a one way ticket for the ride through the Buda Hills to Széchenyihegy. The motive power for our journey was provided by a Mk45 series diesel-hydraulic locomotive (no. 2005) built at the 23 August Works in Romania.

The route offers a perfectly pleasant ride through a largely wooded route, with only brief glimpses of views far across the landscape, but the railway is really the star here. We marvelled at the efficiency of the children selling and checking tickets; operating the signalling and manually switching the points. At every station we passed through the children in full uniform saluted the train.

The museum at Hűvösvölgy

Once we arrived in Széchenyihegy we watched the loco run around and then set off on its return journey before finding our way to the upper station of the cogwheel railway to begin our journey back to the city centre.

There is a wonderful small museum on the station platform at Hűvösvölgy which is only open at weekends in April. After travelling on a weekday we came back for the museum on a Saturday and enjoyed the spectacle of a steam hauled heritage train departure, with one of the 490 series tank locomotives (490.056) built at the MÁV factory. The museum tells the fascinating story of the railway, accompanied by photographs, paintings, models and redundant machinery. It’s well worth a look inside.

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