The weather was pretty gloomy and being mid-week there weren't many other visitors, which made the large complex feel a bit lonely, despite the extensive exhibits. There was something going on, however, with an MAV TV bus all set up to record something, which also seemed to be the catalyst for lots of goings-on with the Heritage fleet of trains. I never did discover exactly what it was all about though!
The park is nicely maintained, with lots of grass, trees and gardens, and would make a very pleasant place indeed for a family picnic/outing. There were various rides available, including a miniature railway, turntable (!), handcars and full size loco.
I arrived to find this ALCO-built loco raising steam within the roundhouse, which was incredibly atmospheric! Although there are many preserved locos etc here, this is still a very active heritage fleet and the impression of it being a real railway was very strong.
The freedom to wander around was unexpected, and very welcome. There was plenty of activity, the feeling being that it was like an oversize train-set with many locos and vehicles starting up and moving around the yard, although for what purpose I'm not sure. Maybe it was just to have fun!! These cool rail inspection cars were driving around.
An interesting aspect of my visit was that the wind was blowing from the 'right' direction in that the coal smoke from the Alco loco was blowing all over the site creating just the right steam-railway atmosphere!! It was so satisfying to be able to be so close to this loco in full steam, which was swirling everywhere on this cool day.
I enjoyed seeing the many static locos, numbering about 20, all of which were quite unusual to 'western' eyes. Most of the locos had steps up into the cabs, certainly no 'don't touch' signs in this museum!! One loco I was in had a really unusual arrangement of what I guess was the steam dome, in the cab. Never seen this before anywhere.
When I had just about had my fill of steam (never thought I'd say that) a beautifully restored diesel arrived in the museum's yard, and eventually coupled up to the heritage carriages in the low platform.
This is one of the highly acclaimed NOHAB-built diesels, only 16 of which made it to Hungary before the Soviets required MAV to order only Russian-built diesels. This loco was absolutely superbly restored, and a great example of a heritage diesel.
I took lots more photos of course, but these give a general idea of how good this museum is. I caught a local bus (30, 30A) to the museum, although there are no signs from the bus stop towards the museum. It is pretty obvious though, the railway line is to the east of the bus route. Highly recommended!!
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