It's up in the leafy area of hilly Buda and the track runs right through the forest. For reasons of location, I'd never even heard of it.
When my friend said "Children's Railway", I didn't think in the possessive sense. The train that came to my mind was one of those miniature trains, or one of the train-cars that you see driving on the roads in holiday towns sometimes (in Hungarian, these are known as the Dottó).
So, when we rolled up to the station and found the ticket office, I was surprised to see this rather diffident chap doling out the tickets:
In actual fact, the Children's Railway, is run by children. Which is awfully charming, don't you think?
Just look at their little uniforms!
This place was straight out of an Arthur Ransome book. And luckily we were right at home, as my friend had brought along some provisions. Not Enid Blyton approved ginger ale and scones and jam, but we substituted Hungarian style and made do with cold beers and cheese scones instead. (You're allowed to drink beer on the train - just like on any other.)
The trains are pretty rare and apparently you won't find them outside of Hungary. I really don't know much at all about trains or transport or anything like that. I think most of the trains come from the 1960s and they also have a steam train, but sadly it wasn't running today.
We set off a little late and quickly had our tickets inspected.
There are a few stations, so you can hop off and have a little walk around the forest and at some of the stations there are places to get something to eat. From János-hegy station you can reach the Érzsébet look-out tower by foot.
We travelled along the whole line. We started at Huvosvolgy and ended at Széchenyi hegy, which I think is technically backwards, but I don't really see the difference.
The track runs mainly through the forest, which is pleasant enough, but occasionally you can catch a glimpse of the panoramic views of Buda.
This idea of children running the railway is quite exciting to me and I'd never heard of anything like it before. I had a good explanation from my travelling companion and I did some reading on it this evening. The Children's Railway was an activity set up in the Soviet Union to encourage kids to learn about how the railway works and, I suppose, to push them to choose a career in it. It all sounds like good clean fun and I can't believe it never took off as an idea anywhere else. Communist connotations and all that, maybe.
This relief, above one of the station entrances, depicts three Pioneer girls in uniform. Pioneers were the equivalent of Scouts or Guides in communist countries and it was the Pioneers who originally ran the railway. When Socialism ended in Hungary, the Pioneers ended too (in 1990), but enough money was gathered to keep the railway running and the only noticeable change was the colour of the childrens' ties, from red to blue.
Perhaps I should point out that the children sell tickets, man the stations, operate the signals, but there's an adult to drive the train and others to supervise.
You can read more about Children's Railway in English here: http://www.gyermekvasut.hu/english/chrw_home.php
