In the Eastern Bloc there was an interesting tradition: narrow-gauge railways were built for the amusement of children. They were operated by the youth organizations of the local communist parties following the procedures and standards of normal railways. In the GDR they were all located within parks and typically had round courses. They were called ‘Pioniereisenbahn‘ – as the mass organisation for children in the GDR was the ‘Pionierorganisation Ernst Thälmann‘ (a copy of the Soviet ‘Komsomol‘). In 1990 the railways were renamed to ‘Parkeisenbahn‘ to remove the political touch.
The Parkeisenbahn of Chemnitz is 600 mm wide (less than half of the normal 1435 mm) and has a round course of 2.3 kilometers length. It is located in the large Küchwald park and the main railway station is called Küchwaldwiese. There you can buy tickets and also get something to eat and drink. Two other stops exist where you can leave or get onto the train: ‘Tennisplätze‘ (tennis courts) and ‘Kosmonautenzentrum‘ (cosmonaut centre). It is a pleasant round trip the lasts maybe 15 minutes with trains running every half an hour on weekends. Check the timetable online in advance.
Parkeisenbahn
Küchwaldring 24
09113 Chemnitz
Germany
https://www.parkeisenbahn-chemnitz.de
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