Cseri Miklós (szerk.): A Resti. Skanzen füzetek 5. (Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 2011)

As the rail transport became faster, the trains spent Less time in the stations. Still, there was a need of catering for passengers. The idea was to serve meals in the trains. The first trains with sleeping and eating were produced in America. The first Pullmann sleepers started running in 1858 and in 1863 the first dining car was put on the track. The first sleeper company „Compagnie Internationale des Waggons Lits" has been founded in Europe by a Belgian merchant George Nagelmackers in 1872. The Hungarian Royal State Railways signed a contract with the Waggons Lits company in 1885. From 1889 15 sleepers and 9 diners cared for the passengers on the lines Budapest-Vienna, Budapest-Brasso, Budapest-Beograd, Budapest-Fiume, Budapest-Kassa and Budapest-Ruttka. A description of the diners in the MÁV's trains from 1909: "The diners are furnished as follows: at the end of the carriage a door opens from the entrance into the kitchen-section, and a short side corridor leads to the serving room next to the kitchen, and from here a door opens into the restaurant. A glass wall divides the restaurant into two parts." Snacks, cooked food and drinks were served in the diners. The MÁV checked on the permanent good quality. The nationalization did not spare the railways: sleepers, diners and railway restaurants were taken over and run by the National Enterprise for Passengers Catering. 37