AZ OROSHÁZI VASÚTÁLLOMÁS ÁRUFORGALMA (1895)

Absztrakt

The building of the railway system in Hungary already started before 1848. The main goals were to reach the borders of the country and to increase the central role of Budapest. After the civil rebellion and war of freedom was brought to an end by the Austrians, the developing of the railways in the Habsburg Empire were formed according to the interests of Vienna. In the first period of this era (between 1849 and 1855), they intended to continue funding the constructions from government money, but the investments were too much for the treasury, and soon further development were handed over to private companies. In the second period, much of the new railways were built simultaneously by private companies, and the Hungarian National Railways (MÁV), which was established in 1868. Tax contributions made by the increasingly successful hungarian economy have enabled the purchase of the private railway companies by the treasury in the second half of the XIX century. This happened to the line of the Alföld-Fiume Vasút (Great Plain-Fiume Railway) which passed through the city of Orosháza: from 1884 it was operated in the within the framework of the MÁV. By the end of the century the majority of the railways were in the hands of the MÁV. Grand festivities were organized to commemorate the millenial jubilee of the Hungarians arriving in the Carpathoan Basin. In the line of preparations all railway data were recorded for a whole year in 1895, and were published in two volumes four month later. The geographical traits along the railways, the mother language of the population, the specific numbers of agriculture, stock-raising, forestry, industrial companies, mines and trade centres were also recorded besides the traffic data. After the comprehensive summary of the railway lines, the traffic of each train station was described as well. Such a series of data was produced concerning the train station of Orosháza too, and this paper deals with that data in detail. Orosháza, located in Békés county in the eastern reaches of the hungarian Great Plains, had expansive administrative boundaries despite not having city status. Cargo was delivered to its train station from three more nearby villages. The six large estates residing in the boundaries of the settlement dealt mainly in traditional grain production, while among the neighboring small and medium sized peasant farms some have begun modernization This is clearly shown in the traffic data of the train station of Orosháza: mostly grain was transported to German and Swiss consumers. Eggs also went abroad, which were gathered weekly, and their collecting and transporting meant a serious challenge. Great amounts of swine, lots of live and dead chicken and other products of animal origin (bacon, bone, wool and egg) was transported to Austria by train. It is interesting to note, that the cargo transported within the country was the smaller amount, but with the greater diversity of goods. (The numbers can be seen in the tables) The incoming goods show that Orosháza had only taken few steps towards modernization: for example residents still brought in commodity for thatch roofs, not tiled ones, and barely any coal or other fuel was transported. There is no trace of buying those kinds of furniture, clothes or store-bought provisions that commonly arrived by train in these years to the western parts of the country. In Orosháza at the end of the century the railway traffic shows the continuity of traditional production, along with signs of intensive husbanding (eggs, poultry). The settlement certainly had the opportunity to join in to the economic circulation, but according to the data collected at the train station, this only just started by the end of the XIXth century.