Pioniereisenbahn (Pioneer Railway) is the German term for a narrow gauge railway operated by children in the countries of
Comecon
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (, ; English abbreviation COMECON, CMEA, CEMA, or CAME) was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc along wi ...
. The children who work there in their free time were interested in rail transport and often members of the
Junge Pioniere or the
Freie Deutsche Jugend
The Free German Youth (german: Freie Deutsche Jugend; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.
The organization was meant ...
, called ''Pioniere'' (pioneers). The children and teenagers became acquainted with the railroad's occupations and get practical experiences. Also apprentices of the
Deutsche Reichsbahn
The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...
were taught signal technique there.
Today they are often called
Parkeisenbahn or
Kindereisenbahn but the principle is the same. Examples for German pioneer railways can be found at ''
List of children's railways''.
Children's railways
Soviet inventions
Rail transport in East Germany
Organisations based in East Germany
East Germany
Ostalgie
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