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

The Hungarian railways' history - without considering the time spent for founding, designing and constructing - starts on the 15th July 1846, when the Hungarian Central Railway Company, a private railway company, has opened the railway line between Pest and Vác. The Hungarian State Railway was established in 1868 following the nationalization of the line between Pest-Fülek-Losonc, called Northern Railway. This latter was inaugurated in the previous year but soon after it went bankrupt. 4100 km new railroad - Hungary's main railroads to connect the bigger towns - had been built between 1867 and 1873. Local railways called "vicinális" - from the Latin word for neighbour - represented the branchlines. Local railways were clearly distinguished from the main lines. Their construction and operation was under special consideration. A law was passed in 1880 (article XXX of 1880) to regulate the construction of branch-lines. An average of 400 km new railroad was built every year between 1880 and 1900. Almost 200 local railway companies constructed about 13 000 km local railway lines before the outbreak of World War I. These local lines played a determining role in Hungary's economic prosperity, in the development of the countryside and in the modernisation of daily life. 8