A for the Bánki Donát Technical College at the University of Dunaújváros 11. Railway engineer-technician students visited the plant a Széchenyi-hegyi Children’s Railway Antal Lajos with the accompanying teacher.
Photo: Lajos Antal
In the eleventh year of school, future railway engineers study specific railway subjects for the first time. Led by the coordinator Fülöp Szilárd, the students were able to see the equipment they learned about in the railway engineering classes, facilities, vehicles and service equipment of the connecting track. The children’s railway began operation on July 31, 1948.
It started as a children’s railway, then it became the Pioneer Railway, and then it has had its original name since the early nineties. The 11.7 km long railway with a diameter of seven hundred and sixty millimeters is the steepest railway line in our country. The difference in level between the two cutting stations is 235 meters, which corresponds to slopes of 30 thousandths. The heated house in Hűvösvölgy has many interesting features for students preparing for technical careers.
Children’s Railway Experiences
Among the locomotives, bogies and engines under maintenance is the wheel lathe made in 1895(!), which, thanks to the plant’s special engineers and technicians, is now working as a wheel lathe CNC. The Children’s Railway turning wheel is also very rare, it is the only small railway turning wheel in Hungary that has an electric motor.
After visiting the factory, our Bánkis students traveled the distance between Hűvösvölgy and Széchenyi-hegy by regular train. During the visit, two members of the former children’s railway team – Jónás Kovács and Nándor Mészáros – gave detailed information about the operation of the plant and the special features of the light rail station.
