Narrow gauge railways as unique gates to nature and cultural heritage

Europe's specific cultural heritage includes historic narrow-gauge railways, such as Košice Children's Historical Railway and Forest Railway in Nagybörzsöny. Both railways are important tourist destinations and gateways to nature and attract domestic and foreign visitors. It is a total of 90 000 tourists a year. Because railways were not given sufficient attention in the past and also suffered from poor maintenance, financial and technical problems became their present reality. Today, both railways face the same challenges and obstacles to further development.
The main objective of the project is to preserve this cultural and technical heritage for future generations by increasing its attractiveness, thereby ensuring its long-term operation and sustainability.
Tangible results of beneficiaries:
In Slovakia, Košice it is restoration of the oldest steam locomotive in Central Europe (Katka,1884) and improving safety by repairing the worst parts of the track. At the end station there will be exposed and illuminated a renovated historic Swiss electric locomotive. The most attractive result will be the production of two summer wagons, one of which will be named "Nagybörzsöny". Very important result will be the launch of own eShop for ticket sales and the production of an attractive marketing film. In Hungary, in addition to the presentation film, Nagybörzsöny will invite tourists to visit its historical sites with unique 2D and 3D advertisements. The most significant investment of the project is the modernization of the stage of the open air amphitheatre, elecrification and the installation of lighting of the rare historic Church of St. Stephen (West Gate). On the narrow gauge railway it will be a general repair of the historic narrow gauge diesel locomotive named "Košice" and a complete reconstruction of the historical wagon (East Gate). Other outputs of the project include a trilingual application – audioguide, which will present the historical monuments of the village.