Cseri Miklós (szerk.): A Skanzen vonat. A BCMOT 422-es története. Skanzen füzetek 4. (Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 2011)

The earlier representative role of a railway station has gradually lost its importance. Society considers other events as outstanding moments, on the other hand, the shift of focus in the traffic branches does not require the use of stations - otherwise overcrowded and overused - for such purposes. The change of social habits, the motorization on the roads, the more, the air transport changed (emptied) the scope of functions of the railway stations, so important in the 19th century. However, there is talk about a renaissance in railway stations in Western Europe: stations provided with new functions, with their versatility and role of modern "agora" may represent a new mentality by encouraging the inhabitants to make use of them in their daily life. In 2009 the Hungarian Open Air Museum Szentendre chose the building of the railway station of Mezőhegyes to function as a model for its new entrance. The building has been extended following the design of the architect Bálint Nagy to become a modern museum reception hall meeting 21st century needs. This is how the Skanzen's railway station - at the same time visitors' centre and entrance building - has become a new kind of collective space, the Museum's agora. The building carries the message of the Museum thought: serving as a link between the culture of the countryside, presented in the Skanzen and the 21st century - materializing the symbolic space for a journey in time. 38