Gyermekvasút - Railway Children in Budapest

On the outskirts of Budapest , through the beautiful Buda hills , stretched railroads are short and narrow called Gyermekvasút , which in Hungarian means " Railway Children " ( Children's Railway ) . But Gyermekvasút not a toy train as it is commonly found at amusement parks . This is the original railway line with original station , the original diesel locomotives that pull carriages of the original , and runs on a schedule that is real. "Children " here instead of passengers. They are railroad workers .

Children's Railway managed and run mainly by children of pre-adolescents aged between 10 and 14 years, under adult supervision, of course. Only machinist and maintenance of equipment carried by an adult. All other work, from checking and issuing of tickets, signal operation, make announcements and to provide information to passengers, performed by children dressed in official uniforms neatly and complete with all the appropriate equipment.

Children's Railway is a relic of the communist era, was built during the Young Pioneers movement (Young Pioneers) is in its heyday. Young Pioneers is the Communist Party's youth movement, similar to the Scouting movement in the Western world, in which young people learn social skills of cooperation and attended the summer camp publicly funded. Young Pioneers is the first Scouts of the Bolsheviks before the October Revolution of 1917. Many scouts, however, reject the communist and fought in the ranks of the White Army and interventionists against the Red Army during the Russian Civil War of 1917-1921. After communism can control the whole country, Pramukadiberantas system and replaced with the Young Pioneers organizations with different ideologies to really educate children with communism.


Children's Railway, sometimes also called the Pioneer Railway, is a project of the Young Pioneers in which adolescents and children learn professions railways. They were established throughout the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe where communism is present. First opened in Gorky Park, Moscow, in 1932. While in Budapest, Gyermekvasút, opened in 1948. At the time the Soviet Union broke up, there are more than 50 railroads and more in the Eastern Bloc. Many Pioneer Railway is still used today serves as the railway heritage and tourist attractions. In addition to Budapest, also can be found in Minsk, Dresden, Berlin, Belarus, Tbilisi and some other cities.

Gyermekvasút in Budapest is a railway line along 11.2 km and passes through seven stops, all of which are popular recreation spot. To work on Children's Railway, children underwent four months of training and exams in all areas of railway management before receiving a one-year license.

Children work once or twice a preformance two weeks, so that they can customize with their school schedule. They even have allowed for the current school does not work on the railroad. Working on Gyermekvasút is a privilege, which is highly desired by young children Hungary.