The former

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

empire had a narrow-gauge rail network thousands of kilometres in length, most of it using

Bosnian gauge Bosnian-gauge railways are railways with track gauge of . These were found extensively in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire as a standardised form of narrow gauge. The name is also used for lines of the same gauge outside Bosnia, for example in ...

or gauge, constructed between 1870 and 1920. Landlords, mines, agricultural and forest estates established their own branch lines which, as they united into regional networks, increasingly played a role in regional passenger traffic. Following the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It forma ...

some railways were cut by the new border, many remained on the territory of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. Due to a lack of intact roads, following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in many places narrow-gauge railway was the only reasonable way to get around. In 1968 the Communist government started to implement a policy to dismantle the narrow-gauge network in favour of road traffic. Freight haulage on the few remaining lines continued to decline until 1990 from when a patchwork of railways was gradually taken over by associations and forest managements for

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

purposes. State Railways operated narrow-gauge railways at

Nyíregyháza Nyíregyháza (, sk, Níreďháza) is a city with county rights in northeastern Hungary and the county capital of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. With a population of 118,001, it is the seventh-largest city in Hungary and the second largest in ...

and

Kecskemét Kecskemét ( , sk, Kečkemét) is a city with county rights central part Hungary. It is the eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the capital Budapest and the country's th ...

that played a role in regional transport until December 2009. Most railways have a

track gauge In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many ...

of , unless otherwise specified.

Common carrier railways

* Kecskemét narrow-gauge network (no operation since 2009) * Nyíregyháza narrow-gauge network (no operation since 2009) * Balatonfenyves Narrow Gauge Railway

Forest railways

Almamellék Forest Railway

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

* Csömödér Forest Railway * Gemenc State Forest Railway * Debrecen Forest Railway * Felsőtárkány Forest Railway, Southern Bükk Mountains, near

Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights. Eger is best known for its castle, thermal baths, baroque bui ...

, now a

tourist railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

, (see below).
Kemence Forest Museum Railway
narrow gauge * Királyrét Forest Railway – Kismaros * Lillafüred Forest Train, now a

, 2 lines

Miskolc Miskolc ( , , ; Czech language, Czech and sk, Miškovec; german: Mischkolz; yi, script=Latn, Mishkoltz; ro, Mișcolț) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 (1 Jan 2014) Miskolc is the ...

–

Lillafüred Lillafüred (Miskolc-Lillafüred) is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Hungary. Officially, it is a part of Miskolc, though it is almost 12 kilometres away from the city, in the Bükk Mountains. Lillafüred is a tourist resort. Hist ...

– Újmassa and

– Mahóca. * Mesztegnyő Forest Railway * Nagybörzsöny Forest Railway – Nagyírtás - Márianosztra -

Szob Szob (german: Zopp an der Donau) is a town in Pest county, Central Hungary, Hungary. It is just south and east of the Slovak border on the north bank of the Danube. Szob is on a major electrified rail connection from Bratislava and a major railw ...

* Pálháza Forest Railway * Mátra railway, 2 lines,

Gyöngyös Gyöngyös (; german: Gengeß) is a town in Heves county in Hungary, east of Budapest. Situated at the foot of the Sár-hegy and Mátra mountains, it is the home of numerous food production plants, including milk production and sausage factori ...

– Mátrafüred / Lajosháza

Children's railways

* Budapest

Children's railway A children's railway or pioneer railway is an extracurricular educational institution, where children interested in rail transport can learn railway professions. This phenomenon originated in the USSR and was greatly developed in Soviet times. T ...

, the

Gyermekvasút The Gyermekvasút ( en, Children's Railway) or Line 7 is a narrow gauge railway line in Budapest, which connects and Hűvösvölgy and is long. The former name of the line was ''Úttörővasút'' (''Pioneer Railway'', in reference to the comm ...

.Zsuzsi Scenic Railway Debrecen
/ref> * Mecsek Children's railway,

Pécs Pécs ( , ; hr, Pečuh; german: Fünfkirchen, ; also known by other #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the countr ...

* Tiszakécske Children's railway (Suspended in 2009, Reopened in 2021) * Széchenyi Museum Railway (operated by children)

Heritage railways

* Szalajka-Eisenbahn Szilvasvarad – Szalajka-völgy,

in a national park, 5 km, part of former extensive Felsőtárkány Forest Railway * Széchenyi Museum Railway * Vál Valley Light Railway

References

{{Europe in topic, Narrow-gauge railways in