The wealthy mining town of Banská Štiavnica needed a reliable link to the main railway network in the Hron valley.
In 1873 a narrow-gauge line from Hronská Dúbrava to Banská Štiavnica was therefore opened – the first narrow-gauge steam railway in the whole of the then Kingdom of Hungary. Locals affectionately called the slow, loudly whistling little train Štiavnická Anča.
After the Second World War it was replaced by a standard-gauge railway. Construction began on 5 April 1948 and the line was named Trať mládeže (Youth Railway): over time, 47,162 young volunteers came to work on it, mostly students and young workers from Slovakia and neighbouring countries.
In the difficult terrain of the Štiavnica Mountains, often with only the most basic machinery, they moved more than 628,000 m³ of earth by hand and dug the 1,194-metre Štiavnica Tunnel. The work was finished in a record 18 months – the first ceremonial train ran on 30 October 1949, and the line still carries passengers to Banská Štiavnica today. You can also see its viaducts and bridges from the Štiavnická Anča cycle route.
