Hortobágy Fishery Railway

A 760mm narrow-gauge railway that runs through the fish pond system west of the village, built to carry supplies and fish across the waterlogged terrain that ordinary vehicles could not navigate. Today it runs tourist services during the summer season, trundling at walking pace through reedbeds, past fishponds, and across open grassland — one of the slower and more charming ways to see the puszta.

The fish pond complex beside the railway is a major stopover for migratory waders and waterfowl. In October, it is one of the best places in Europe to watch common cranes gathering before their southward migration: on peak evenings, hundreds of thousands of birds roost on the ponds, and the noise — a continuous bugling that carries for miles — is one of the great wildlife spectacles of the European autumn.

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A story
The narrow-gauge railway was built in 1912 to service the vast fish pond system created when the puszta was partially drained and converted to aquaculture in the early 20th century. At its peak, the ponds covered over 2,000 hectares and produced tens of thousands of tonnes of carp annually. The railway is now a tourist attraction, but the ponds remain one of the most important wetland habitats for migratory birds in Central Europe.

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