April 2008

Monthly Archive

April 17, 2008

Balatonfenyves small railway

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Monday, 13th of April. The third small railway to experience was near the beautiful lake of Balaton in Balatonfenyves. The small train runs all year round 5 times per day (in summer 6 times per day). It consists of 1 wagon and a locomotive. The controller is a very gentle man, greeting everybody – obviously knowing everybody around. He sells the tickets inside. One way ticket to the last stop, Somogyszentpal, costs 330Ft. The train stops on Központi Fömajor station and then Palmajor station before reaching its final destination.

Somogyszentpal. The one way journey is about 40 min, during which the train passes trough beautiful meadows and forests and picturesque villages. If you are lucky you might see wild fauna as roe deers or pheasants.

 

April 11, 2008

Kismaros small railway

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Saturday, 5th of April. A one day excursion to visit the small railway going from Kismaros to Kiralyrét. This small train stops in a few stations before arriving in Kiralyrét. This stop is on a dead end automobile road site in the Börzsöny massif. The railway is partly along a small river and cross fields and woods. At 40 min by train from Budapest, the landscape let to forget the urbanisation. From Kiralyrét there are many possibilities to hike and have fun on the railways bikes.

 

April 3, 2008

Small train in Bulgaria

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The story of the small railway begins almost a century ago. In 1919 the Parliament took decision to construct railway between Septemvri and Nevrokop via Ludjene.

The terrain itself is tremendously hard for making a railway. There were no routes before constructing the railway. Along whole section (125 km) were made 25 tunnels. The longest one – at the Avramovi huts – is 314 m. For the track – lying were use construction technology allowing small radius of curvature, which gave good opportunities to deal with rugged terrains.

The first part (Septemvri – Varvara) is finished in 1921. The second section (Velingrad – Dobriniste) is the harder part of the route. It is passing through the steep slopes of Rodopi and Pirin mountains. It is finished after the Second World War in 1945.

Passing along the picturesque slops and wonderful little villages make the railway not just a mean of transportation but also a nice and ecological way of traveling and tourism. That is why the railway Septemvri – Dobriniste is in the international list of the most interesting railways in Europe.

Nowadays on the railway section are traveling four couples of trains. They go from Septemvri and take the 125km section to Dobriniste for 5.05 hours. In 2004 the train has been reconstructed for tourism. The first reconstructed locomotive has been produced in Poland in 1949. Its first traveling was in December 1949.

The railways in Bulgaria are owned by the state. At the moment there is procedure conducting by Bulgarian government to give the railway for renting to a private company. Most probably the action will be in the autumn. We hope this transfer will not decrease the quality of the service but increase it.

 

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