Children's railway explained

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. The world's first children's railway was opened in Gorky Park, Moscow,^[1] in 1932. At the breakup of the USSR, 52 children's railways existed in the country.

Many children's railways are still functioning in post-Soviet states and Eastern European countries. Many exhibit railway technology not seen anymore on the main lines and can be seen as heritage railways. Even though few exceptions exist, most children's railways built in the Eastern Bloc have a track gauge of at least ^[2] and can carry full size narrow gauge rolling stock.

List of children's railways

Armenia

• Yerevan Children's Railway

• Baku Children's Railway

Belarus

• Children's Railroad (Minsk)

Bulgaria

• Plovdiv^[3]
• Kardzhali

China

• Harbin

Cuba

• Camagüey, Parque Camilo Cienfuegos
• Havana, Parque Lenin (not operating)
• Havana, Havana Zoo

Georgia

• Tbilisi
• Rustavi (not operating)

Germany

• Berliner Parkeisenbahn,^[4] Berlin, Wuhlheide
• Parkeisenbahn Krumbholz, Bernburg, Krumbholzallee
• Parkeisenbahn Chemnitz, Chemnitz, Küchwald
• Parkeisenbahn Cottbus, Cottbus, Eliaspark - Spreeauenpark
• Ferienlandeisenbahn Crispendorf, Crispendorf, Ferienland
• Dresdner Parkeisenbahn, Dresden, Großer Garten
• Parkeisenbahn Gera,^[5] Gera, Tierpark
• Görlitzer Parkeisenbahn,^[6] Görlitz, An der Landskronbrauerei
• Parkeisenbahn Peißnitzexpress Halle,^[7] Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Peißnitzinsel
• Leipziger Parkeisenbahn, Leipzig-Wahren, Auensee
• Pioniereisenbahn Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Rotehornpark, until 1967
• Parkeisenbahn Plauen,^[8] Plauen, Syratal
• Parkeisenbahn Vatterode, Vatterode, Vatteröder Teich

Hungary

• Budapest Children's Railway
• Pécs
• Nagycenk
• Tiszakécske

Kazakhstan

• Aktobe (now defunct)
• Alma-Ata Children's Railway, Almaty
• Arkalyk (now defunct)
• Atbasar (now defunct)
• Ekibastuz (now defunct)
• Karaganda Children's Railway, Karaganda
• Kokshetau Children's Railway, Kokshetau (now defunct)
• Kostanay (now defunct)
• Astana (now defunct)
• Pavlodar (now defunct)
• Semey (now defunct)
• Schuchinsk (now defunct)
• Shymkent Children's Railway, Shymkent
• Zhezkazgan (now defunct)

Poland

• Chorzów, Silesian Culture and Recreation Park
• Poznań, Park Railway Maltanka (now run by the city)

Russia

• Chelyabinsk
• Chita
• Ekaterinburg
• Irkutsk
• Kazan
• Kemerovo
• Far East Children's Railway, Khabarovsk
• Krasnoyarsk
• Kratovo
• Kurgan
• Liski
• Nizhny Novgorod
• Novomoskovsk
• Small West Siberian Railway, Novosibirsk
• Orenburg
• Penza
• Rostov-Na-Donu
• Sankt-Petersburg, Malaya Oktyabrskaya railway
• Svobodny
• Tyumen
• Ufa
• Vladikavkaz
• Volgograd
• Children's Railway Sakhalin, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
• Yaroslavl

Slovakia

• Košice Children's Heritage Railway, Košice

Slovenia

• Ljubljana

Turkmenistan

• Ashgabat

Ukraine

• Dnipro
• Donetsk
• Kharkiv
• Kyiv
• Lutsk
• Lviv
• Rivne
• Uzhorod
• Zaporizhzhia

• Downs Light Railway

Uzbekistan

• Jizzakh
• Tashkent

See also

• Backyard railroad
• Garden railway
• Minimum-gauge railway
• Ridable miniature railway
• Train ride

External links

• Children's railways of the USSR
• Children's Railways of the former USSR
• http://www.gyermekvasut.hu
• https://archive.today/20121219115656/https://www.gysev.hu/portal/page/portal/INTERNET/GYSEV_ONLINE_3?p_h_menu=6

Notes and References

1. http://www.dzd-ussr.ru/towns/moscow/cpkio.html Children's railways: Gorky Park, Moscow
2. [:de:Pioniereisenbahn]
3. Web site: Cildren's Railroad "Zname na mira" in Plovdiv . 2007-11-12 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071215230848/http://web.railfriends.org/EN/Childrens%20Railway/index.htm . 2007-12-15 .
4. Web site: Berliner Parkeisenbahn - Fahrplan. www.parkeisenbahn.de.
5. Web site: Parkeisenbahn. www.gera.de.
6. Web site: Görlitzer Oldtimer Parkeisenbahn - Startseite. www.goerlitzerparkeisenbahn.de.
7. Web site: Startseite. Christian. Wodzinski. www.pe-halle.de.
8. Web site: Förderverein Parkeisenbahn Syratal Plauen - Home. www.parkeisenbahn-plauen.de.