Retro Weekends at Lake Balaton in Hungary

Retro locomotives become increasingly popular with Eastern European railways. A retro locomotive is not a historic vehicle: it is still in operation, even if not in everyday but departmental use, but it is painted in a livery resembling a previous era of the railway, in many cases the livery in which the locomotive had been delivered by the factory.
MÁV has only recently jumped on the bandwaggon but now taking part fiercely: this year two, so-called retro weekends are organised, during which the regular, usually more reliable and modern locomotives are swapped for some retro units on the scenic line running on the Northern side of Lake Balaton. The lake is extremely popular among Hungarians as a beach but has a strong culture and lots of vineyards, meaning that tourists soar in the summer season, making sure the trains will have an impressive length and the diesel locomotives will be forced to emit nice smoke and an easy to distinguish roar.
The first such weekend started only yesterday, with MÁV-START 408 224 (ex M40,224) hauling a fast train to the end of the railway, Tapolca, which is about ten kilometres from the shores of the lake and is situated in a basin surrounded by remnants of volcanoes, which is good for the wine and also creates a remarkable scenery. If you are interested in taking part, either by taking photos or videos of the spectacular consists or would like to travel on one of the trains, you are not late in any way: August 2nd to 4th is the next occasion. Before any details, let's see what yesterdays train looked like on photo...

...and on video!

Other locomotives that appear on the weekend include the class M61:

It is here seen in the volcano range.

Two class M62 locomotives also appear, one of them is going to be the retro-painted M62-194 (second locomotive in the picture):

On the second weekend, the 408 224 is going to be replaced by the green M40,119.

Further information on the weekend

• Locomotive roster with consists and train numbers
• The timetable of the railway
• Additional photos of the railway for ideas on where to catch the trains

Why visit Balaton?

• For a swim and tan: Balaton is extremely popular among Hungarians but its unique atmosphere, the complexity of what it can offer to tourists and its relative cheapness should appeal to everyone. Balaton is not your typical resort: it has really could transportation and lots of things to do apart from what the lake may offer, from castles, museums, hiking trails, wine cellars to sightseeing with a plane.

• For its gastronomy: apart from standard waterside food Balaton has some of the best restaurants in Hungary, like the Bib Gourmand-achiever Kistücsök. For lower prices, Neked Főztem can be a good choice for quality comfort food.
• For the two wine regions around it (Badacsony - Szent György-hegy in the North and Balatonboglár to the South).