A dream of several decades came true when in May 2016 the rebuilt section Márianosztra – Nagyirtás was opened for passenger traffic, and thus the Szob – Nagybörzsöny narrow-gauge railway got completed. Although it was planned in 1975 to launch passenger transport on this intermediate section, also the freight traffic was discontinued in the same year, and the tracks got abandoned. Over time both adjoining sections got closed, but the movement to their revival that started in the late 90s finally succeeded: albeit with transfers the continuous journey from Szob to Nagybörzsöny is possible now.

Like in Disentis, Switzerland. Trains of two separate narrow-gauge railway companies meet at Márianosztra station. The train to Nagyirtás waits for that arriving from Szob. In the background the Basilica stands with the former Pauline monastery (today a prison).

The baroque church of Márianosztra received the title of basilica in 2012.

Márianosztra, Maria Nostra, Our Lady... When the Hungarian king Louis the Great established in 1352 the monastery and the church dedicated to Our Lady of Hungary, he donated land and building material from his own property to the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit. “In nostre”, from our own – was written in the deed of donation, and this could be also the origin of the village’s name (known for a long time as “Nostre”).
Thirty years later in 1382 monks from Márianosztra left for the Polish Częstochowa, where Louis the Great – who had been already king of Poland for 12 years that time - founded a new monastery for them. The Jasna Góra monastery received an ancient and miraculous icon of Virgin Mary: the Black Madonna, which was painted by Luke the Evangelist, according to the legend.
The monastery and the church of Márianosztra were destroyed by the Turks in 1535 and had to wait almost 200 years for reconstruction. The church was rebuilt in baroque style by 1729, preserving the original gothic choir – the monastery was rebuilt only in 1735. A copy of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa arrived for the consecration and has been associated with numerous miracles ever since – like the original. The holy image is still part of the main altar. Thus became Márianosztra a pilgrimage site of Virgin Mary.
However the second blossom lasted only half a century. Emperor Joseph II dissolved the Pauline order in 1786 and the monastery stood empty for 72 years. In 1858 the monastery became state property and functioned afterwards as a women's prison, managed by the Catholic Church. The communist dictatorship turned it to a men’s prison in 1948 and preferred to hold there churchmen captive. The former monastery is still nowadays a prison.
Although the Pauline order was reestablished in 1930, they got back the church of Márianosztra only in 1989. In 2012 the church was awarded the title of Basilica Minor.

The train arrives from Nagyirtás and rolls back empty to the switch. The loco waits parked on the siding while the car rolls down the slope. Now the loco can be coupled again to the other side of the car, and they run backwards to the platform.

By the time the type L-60 locomotive arrives with her train from Szob, the train of the middle section is ready. Most of the passengers travel along the whole line to Nagybörzsöny, undertaking both transfers.

"Vehicle parade" in Márianosztra. While the locomotive 3756 waits with her car on the siding, the motor car meets the loco 3737 at the station.

Rattling through woods and meadows

When the peace dictate of Trianon separated Ipolypásztó (today Pastovce, Slovakia) from Hungary in 1920, the 600-mm-gauge forest railway network around Nagybörzsöny lost his only standard-gauge connection. So this railway – which was built for timber transport from 1908 on –was no longer able to fulfill its purpose. There was still another option: a 760-mm-gauge railway not far to the south linked the quarry of Márianosztra to the Hungarian standard-gauge rail network at Szob since 1912. The obvious solution was to build a connection between the two narrow-gauge railways. New tracks with 760 mm gauge were laid between Nagybörzsöny and Kisirtás, and until 1924 a new connecting section was built in 3 stages to Márianosztra, via Nagyirtás and Bezina-valley. The timber transport trains ran between Nagybörzsöny and Szob until 1975. There had never been a passenger service on the entire line, only between Nagybörzsöny and Nagyirtás from 1969 on. There was a plan in 1975 to extend passenger transport to Szob (it was the time when they decided to convert the Királyrét Forest Railway into a pioneer railway as well) but eventually also the neglected connecting section Márianosztra – Nagyirtás got closed. On the remaining Nagybörzsöny line the freight traffic stopped first, then by 1984 also the passenger service was shut down. The line was reopened in 1987, in vain, because it had to be closed again in 1992, due to financial reasons. Likewise in 1992 the line from Szob to Márianosztra was discontinued too, because the new owners of the privatized quarry preferred road transport.
Still the narrow-gauge railway enthusiasts did not let defeat themselves. A collaboration of individuals, MPs and the affected municipalities established the Foundation for the Szob-Nagybörzsöny Forest Railway (Nagybörzsöny-Szob Erdei Kisvasútért Közalapítvány) in 1996. Two years later, the municipality of Nagybörzsöny acquired the right to operate the section Nagybörzsöny - Nagyirtás: the traffic could be resumed here in 2002. As a second stage, the section Szob – Márianosztra could be reopened in 2009, this time as a tourist railway. Finally, the missing link between Márianosztra and Nagyirtáspuszta was rebuilt from 2015 to 2016. The public test operations began on May 21 2016, the official inauguration took place on 2 June. This section fights an altitude difference of 202 m in 6.5 km, the highest inclination is 46 per thousand. The smallest radius on the line is 40 m.
Although – thanks to this gap closure – the entire narrow-gauge railway line Szob – Nagybörzsöny is in operation now, passengers have to change trains twice, because of the confusing legal situation of different owners and operators. The section Márianosztra – Nagyirtás is operated by Börzsöny 2020 Ltd. (similarly to the subsequent section Nagyirtás - Nagybörzsöny and the Királyrét Forest Railway) with vehicles of different owners. Together with the rolling stock of the Nagybörzsöny Forest Railway two new vehicles have been in service on this section since summer 2016: a diesel railcar with a matching passenger car were built at Börzsöny 2020 Ltd’s workshop Paphegy.
Currently the trains run only on weekends, and in the summer on Fridays as well:
according to the current timetable (see link below)
- between Szob and Márianosztra from March 15 to November 4 on Saturday and Sunday, from June 1 to August 31 also on Friday,
- Between Márianosztra and Nagybörzsöny from April 1 to 30 October on Saturday and Sunday, from June 1 to August 31 also on Friday.

Approximately 1 km above Márianosztra, the first train in the morning, the brand new motor car 8444 001 is descending from Nagyirtás.

The first train runs doubled from Nagybörzsöny. The motor car was followed by a loco-hauled train within 3 minutes.

A summer shower moves above the Börzsöny Mountains, as the train to Márianosztra crosses the Bezina stream's rebuilt bridge.

After Füstös-forrás stop climbs the train steeply uphill to Nagyirtáspuszta.

The sun shines bright at Nagyirtás, nothing reminds us to the rain of the hour before.
Passengers have to change here again. The trains to Nagybörzsöny and Márianosztra are waiting side-by-side.

The Szent Orbán Wellness Hotel is just a few minutes walk from the station.
In summer they make wonderful barbecue plates on the outdoor stove.

Apart fom the train it is worthwile to take an excursion on foot as well, because walking carefully you can see not only beautiful flowers, but a lot of deer too.
Despite holding the camera ready, I managed to photograph only one particularly patient doe.