Mátravasút (Gyöngyös-Mátrafüred)

At the edge of Gyöngyös's historical city center, next to the 350-year-old Berze Nagy János High School and the Orczy Castle, home to the Mátra Museum, stands the final stop of the Mátravasút railway, under old chestnut trees. In the unique station building next to the curved tracks, there is a small waiting room and a ticket office; from here, the loudspeaker system reminiscent of large train stations, which warns passengers of train departures, is also operated. 

Immediately after departure, the train passes by the railway vehicle depot. Here, besides the resting trains in daily service, many other special cars can be observed: the gray UBA-series stone transport cars capable of tipping their crushed stone cargo by themselves, the track maintenance team's workshop car, the small C50 diesel locomotive used for shunting, as well as gondola cars, and even the track supervisor’s old handcar.

On the other side of the road, the military-arranged four-story buildings of the Dobó István street housing estate line up, loosely grouped around three nine-story tower blocks. What looks like a classic housing estate is in reality home to Gyöngyös's best apartment flats, most of which offer year-round views of the Sár Hill and the Mátra, inviting residents for nearby excursions.

The block buildings gradually disappear, and after the university, the railway finally reaches the foot of the vineyards on Sár Hill. Once, the entire hill was covered with vineyards, but following a phylloxera epidemic at the end of the 19th century, only the vineyards closer to the town resumed cultivation. On the higher parts of the hill, only partly collapsed stone walls marking the former gardens’ boundaries remain: from a distance, a strange, shapeless labyrinth at the hilltop, which as an ecological corridor has helped native shrubbery and rock grassland communities to return to the abandoned lands.

The railway runs for a long time through panoramic terrain toward the hill, following the curves of main road 24 on the opposite side. Those wishing to see more of this area can get off at the upcoming Farkasmály wine cellars stop. The name of the stop will not disappoint, as the local wine tastings of the surrounding farmers are indeed reachable with a short walk.

Continuing along the railway, one gets closer to the still blue peaks of the main ridge of the Mátra: Kékestető, Galyatető, and the somewhat nearer Sástó's nameless plateau, where a huge lemon-yellow lookout tower, a former oil drilling tower, stands on the edge.

This connecting section was one of the busiest narrow-gauge railway stretches in Hungary in the first half of the 20th century. Many branch lines brought wood and ore toward Gyöngyös, while freight and passenger trains loaded with goods also rolled uphill. By the 1930s, when it seemed the track had reached its capacity, plans for a second track and electrification were prepared, but these could not be realized due to the forthcoming war and the spread of road transport (although numerous double-track, electrified narrow-gauge main lines were built in Hungary, mostly in mining areas and their surroundings).

A few minutes later, the train enters the forest; the view of the parallel main road is replaced by nearby trees. The track ascending in a long straight becomes steeper: here, we are nearly 150 meters above Gyöngyös. At the edge of the forest, there is a small stop and a road crossing, from where one can briefly look along the long straight of the Mátrafüred Pálosvörösmarti road. From here, it is just a minute to the Mátrafüred railway station's splendid park decorated with avenues, where the locomotive works hard right to the last meters on the seemingly unbeatable slope. There is no need to brake: after releasing the throttle, the train stops within moments.