Magyar News, 1997. szeptember-1998. augusztus (8. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1998-02-01 / 6. szám
AT BIRTH OF CHOO CHOO TRAINS In July 1846 a fresh sound, the whistle of the first engine, cut through the melodious tone of the postilion's horn. The first train rolled out of Pest railway station towards Vienna, though at first it only went as far as Vac, 33 kilometres from the Hungarian capital. In spite of the fact that the inhabitants of Pest-Buda had known of the powers of steam on the Danube ships for over fifteen years by then, the inauguration of the first railway line was a tremendous event, for most people could not believe in the possibility of its success. The building of the first line had been preceded by so much in-fighting and controversy that the Pest-Buda citizens were justifiably sceptical and mistrustful about the new means of communication. For years they had been told that the human organism could not stand the speed of steamdriven rail transport, that its smoke would poison the air and that the sparks would set fire to the villages and cropS as it passed. It was claimed moreover that the undertaking would never pay, for no man could bring himself to sit in a train and of course the railway could not compete with the very cheap horsedrawn cart as far as the transport of goods was concerned. This was not simply the attitude of simple people, it was shared by serious scientists and experts, not only in Hungary, but in other European countries as well. The Nuremberg medical council issued an ordinance according to which the railway line then under construction should be flanked along its full length by a boarded fence four metres high, as the "thirty kilometres speed to be authorized was not only unbearable to the human organism, but the mere sight of the speeding train would drive people mad." When the anxieties over the profitability of the enterprise were more or less allayed, lengthy discussion began as to whether the new railway should be drawn by steam engines or by horses. There was an obvious aversion to the locomotive, although the first experiment with horsetraction on the Pest-Kobanya suspended railway line proved unsuccessful. The project for a monorail to Szolnok and Debrecen was never realized, and the Kobanya trial section was also only in service for seven months. Owing to the defects in the system, the company formed to carry out this ambitious project went bankrupt. Nevertheless, in spite of this failure, the second Hungarian railway—the Pozsony-Nagyszombat line— was also built for horse-traction. Its first section of fourteen kilometres opened in September 1840, but further developments were slow: the service to Nagyszombat only started in June 1846. Along this line the train, consisting of two carriages was horsedrawn right up to 1872. Before the beginning of the construction of the Nagyszombat line, the Hungarian National Assembly, sitting in Pozsony, passed an Act in 1836 for the development of a railway network. Had it not been for István Szechenyi's powerful and convincing campaign in favour of steam, it is probable that the other lines would also have been built for horse-drawn trains. An entry in Szechenyi's diary reads: "We have inspected the Manchester- Liverpool railway line. It is a staggering sight when the train passes closely by, carrying away everything with diabolical force." After travelling along the whole line by locomotive, he was finally convinced of the advantages of steam. His views eventually prevailed at home, but it still took five more years of political and financial struggle to decide whether the Pest-Vienna railway line should be built on the left bank of the Danube, via Vac and Pozsony or on the right bank via Gyor. Eventually the National Assembly decided for the left bank solution and the Hungarian railway company, a concern of the Rothschild bankers, began the work, with the parish priest of Pest cutting the first sod. The construction of the first Pest railway station was begun in March 1845 on the site of the present Budapest Western Railway Station. In the meanwhile the building of the line had advanced to the point where the first trial run could be held on November 10, 1845. With the Palatine Joseph on board, the train, consisting of seven carriages pulled out amidst the boom of howitzers celebrating the event. It covered eight kilometres in fourteen minutes. After this trial run only a few administrative fonnalities and safety measures were required before the Pest- Vac railway line was put into service. The Town Council requested district priests to warn people from the pulpit "not to walk on the rails, nor put anything on or beside the tracks". The priests duly complied and no further obstacles remained. The Budapesti Híradó (Budapest Courier) reported the event: "At three in the afternoon, on July 15,1846 there was an unusual stir in Pest. Thousands pressed towards the railway station. The aristocracy arrived in ornate coaches, the dandies in speeding tilburies, as the inauguration of the first Hungarian enginedrawn train was fixed for four o'clock. Hardly had they inspected the neat and very comfortable wagons and the luxuriously furnished state carriage, when His Highness the Palatine and the archducal family arrived. The invited guests took their seats in the seven splendid coaches. The two steam engines, the “Buda” and the “Pesth”, wreathed and beflagged, gave forth a shrill sound and to the amazement of the crowds the royal train rolled out of the station. It stopped after a twenty five minute journey to have the tenders loaded with wood and the boiler filled with water; then in another twenty-four minutes it arrived in Vac to the pounding of salvos." The Pesti Hírlap (Pest Journal) began by exclaiming: "It's done at last!" The paper then went on to report that the first train covered the thirty-three kilometres between Pest and Vac in 49 minutes; only a day before three hours were not enough for the same journey. One can understand, therefore, that the two sister towns were feverishly excited and "everybody talked of the railway." People felt that an extraordinary event had taken place and that its impact opened up a new world. Nor did the celebrated poet, Petőfi, husband his praise when he once travelled on the train. "One travels admirably on that railway," he wrote after his first journey. "I should like to put the whole Hungarian nation on it; perhaps in a few years' time it would make up for what it has failed to achieve in the way of progress during the past few centuries." The first two steam engines produced by a Belgian factory were fairly primitive in structure. They had a low, short body with a disproportionately large and unshapely chimney. The driver's and stoker's place was open to the sky, surrounded simply by an iron rail. But the colors of the engines left nothing to be desired. When the railway company began, it had sixteen steam engines. They were soon being manufactured by the Pest Iron and Machinery Factory on the Belgian pattern. The first passenger trains reached an One of the first Hungarian steam engines Page 6
