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,Children's railways: Gorky Park, Moscow 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 feature railway technology not seen anymore on the main lines and can be considered heritage railways. Though few exceptions exist, most children's railways built in the Eastern Bloc have a track gauge of at least :de:Pioniereisenbahn and can carry full size narrow gauge rolling stock.
List of children's railways
Armenia Yerevan Children's Railway
Azerbaijan Baku Children's Railway (not operating)
Belarus Children's Railroad (Minsk)
Bulgaria Plovdiv Kardzhali
China Harbin
Cuba Camagüey, Parque Camilo Cienfuegos Havana, Parque Lenin (not operating) Havana, Havana Zoo
Georgia Tbilisi Rustavi (not operating)
Germany , Berlin, Wuhlheide , Bernburg, Krumbholzallee Parkeisenbahn Chemnitz, Chemnitz, Küchwald – Park , Cottbus, Eliaspark – Spreeauenpark , Crispendorf, Ferienland Dresdner Parkeisenbahn, Dresden, Großer Garten , Gera, Tierpark , Görlitz, An der Landskronbrauerei , Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Peißnitzinsel Leipziger Parkeisenbahn, Leipzig-Wahren, Auensee Magdeburg, Rotehornpark, until 1967 , Plauen, Syratal , Vatterode, Vatteröder Teich
Hungary Budapest Children's Railway Mecseki narrow gauge railway, Pécs Széchenyi Railway Museum, Nagycenk
Kazakhstan Alma-Ata Children's Railway, Almaty Karaganda Children's Railway, Karaganda Shymkent Children's Railway, Shymkent closed railways: Aktobe Arkalyk Atbasar Ekibastuz Kokshetau Children's Railway Kostanay Astana Pavlodar Semey Schuchinsk Zhezkazgan
Poland Silesian Culture and Recreation Park, Chorzów Park Railway Maltanka, Poznań (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
Turkey Gençlik Parkı (not operating) Ali Çetinkaya railway station (not operating) Kültürpark (not operating)
Turkmenistan Ashgabat
Ukraine Dnipro Donetsk Kharkiv Kyiv Lutsk Lviv Rivne Uzhorod Zaporizhzhia
United Kingdom Downs Light Railway
Uzbekistan Jizzakh Tashkent
See also Backyard railroad Garden railway Minimum-gauge railway Ridable miniature railway Train ride
References
External links
Children's railways of the USSR Children's Railways of the former USSR
hu:Gyermekvasút