Village Vyhoda is situated at the northern border of the Carpathian Mountains 7 km south of city of Dolyna. Two important rivers, Myzunka and Svicha, have their confluence here. Forestry in the southern catchments area of both rivers is being operated from installations in Vyhoda since more than 150 years.

I. Narrow-gauge Railways in Myzunka-valley before 1944. In the time under austrian rulers before 1918 forests in the area of valley Myzunka were owned by state. For floating of wood existed several Klausen (z. B. in Tychy und Hlubokyj). There was only a bad cart road in valley Myzunka.

Before WWI (= First World War) already existed two short narrow-gauge lines south-west of Vyhoda. There was in 1900 one line running from the eastern sawmill in Vyhoda to the "HERMINENSAGE" in Staryj Mizun'. The wood from the mountains was floated into the sawmill via a floating channel. This little ng railway had a length of 3 km and crossed rivers Svicha and Myzunka on big wooden bridges. Both railway and sawmill in Staryj Mi-zun' were closed before 1945. Remainings are to be seen still today.

Apart from this approximately in 1910 the company for regulating the wild river Svicha operated a horse-powered ng railway in Vyhoda of several kilometres length. It also crossed both rivers on big bridges.

First plans of building a forestry railway with steam locomotives along the Myzunka-valley were discussed in 1911. WWI caused some delay. In February 1918 began the commissional walk on the future ng railway's line. West and southwest of standard-gauge railway's station Vyhoda a new saw-mill and all installations (station, depo, works...) for the ng were planned to be located. After a level-crossing with the ng Svicha-regulation-railway followed the bridge across river Svicha (5x10 m clear width) and immediately after-wards the bridge across river Myzunka (6x10 m clear with). Today the area is looking completely different. The confluence of these rivers has moved a few hundred meters southbound and the two old bridges were connected to the (one) actually used with total with of 198 m.

The installations of the further project to the final station "Sobol" (today this is Myndunok Solotvynskyj) are nearly the same as those existing until to-day. A minimal radius of 60 m, a maximum gradient of 22 ‰ and a gauge of 760 mm were determined. The rails to be used should have a length of 7.0 m, height of 8 cm and weight of 12.2 kg / m. Eleven sleepers were to be ar-ranged on the length of one rail.

On March, 2nd the authorities gave their official approval for the con-struction of Myzunka valley railway. The effective construction began during summer 1918 still under austrian rulers and was completed only under polish administration in about 1920.

During the polish period between the wars the main line in Myzunka-valley was made longer to Bukovec' and the branch line to lisnytstvo Sobol' was built. In Vyhoda there was made no connection with Svicha valley railway at this moment. Up to 1936 the lines to Trojan, Hlybokyj and to Jalovyj (the latter one at this time only 3 km) were added to the network.

II. Narrow-gauge Railways in Svicha-valley before 1944 The com-pany "Silvinia Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Wygoda" planned in 1913 the con-struction of a ng forestry railway from the steam-sawmill in Vyhoda south-eastbound along river Svicha. In october 1913 the commissional walk along the future line took place and negotiations for expropriation were undertaken.

In 1913 / 14 the construction of the forestry line with gauge of 760 mm began. It was carried out by german company Orenstein & Koppel. The line 21 km-line from Vyhoda to Ljudvykivka (at this time called by Austrians Leo-poldsdorf and by Polish Ludwikowka) was only partly completed when war broke out. The new line had a lot of big bridges. At km 0.7/8 river Svicha was crossed the first time on a bridge of 5 sections of 10 m clear width each. There were four more interesting bridges across the same river until Ljud-vykivka. The bridges were mixed constructions of wood and stone.

Under polish administration in about 1920 the work was completed and the line opened for traffic. A few years later the forestry railway was made longer upwards the Svicha valley. In 1936 stations Svicha and Beskyd were terminuses of the system. In 1938 / 1939 there was one regular daily passenger train from Vyhoda to Svicha and back, which was even mentioned in the official PKP railway timetable.

III. Railway history after 1945 After WWII the two railway systems were connected and from this moment operated together. All lines were re-gauged to 750 mm. With this change the old austrian and polish steam locos were taken out of service and replaced by new ones from reparation deliver-ies. Ten locos series PT4, Kp-4, VP-4 and two series Gr are reported to have worked in Vyhoda. In 1946 Myzunka valley railway was made longer via Slo-boda to Senechiv. Also branch lines around Skopercak were build at this time. On the climax of forestry railway Vyhoda's time in the 1960ties the net-work included 180km of lines and 160 bridges. For only one year there was a railway connection via Luhy with the forestry ng network of Broshnev-Osada. Both systems together included more than 450 km ng lines.

In the area of Myzunka-valley in the 60ties a special form of forestry railway, so called inclined planes [russian: kanatno-relsovaja zh-d] were built in Hlubokyj, from Sobolycja to Chernaja Sichla and in Menchelyk. All three cable sections were single-track and went steep upwards. Their length was between 800 m and 1 km. The system of self-running cable locomotives of B. I Dobromyslov was applied. Inclined plane Menchelyk was in 1971 the last one to be closed.

In the mid-60ties the steam locos were subsequently replaced be the early diesel locos. The final change of systems in traction took place in 1968/69 with upcoming of series TU4. In the 80ties there were three dislo-cated operational centres on Vyhoda forestry railway: Myndunok Solotvyn-skyj, Sloboda (Slobids'kyj Lisopunkt) and Myndunok Beskydskyj. At these stations were centres of track maintainance and there were stationed special locomotives. On Mondays workers' trains went to the mountains, on Fridays they came back to Vyhoda. Besides there was daily passenger traffic from Vyhoda to the hotels of Novyj Mizun' consisting of two couples of trains. A lot of different new series of dieselhydraulic and dieselmecanic locomotives were delivered over the years from Kambarka works in Russia. In 1991/92 six new standard passenger coaches type PV51 were bought additionally.

At the beginning of summer 1998 the technical stage of all lines and especially of the wooden bridges was reaching a critical point, due to lack of maintenance because of financial shortage. Another problem was that the sleepers of pine-tree used since 1945 have a very short durability only. Heavy flooding in June 1998 caused severe damages on the ng railway systems both in Svicha and Myzunka valleys. The line Vyhoda-Ljudvykivka was closed in autumn 1998 because of the bad state of the big bridges there. The con-nection from Ljudvykivka to Beskyd kept on running for the moment. Wood brought by the ng railway was transferred on lorries in Ljudvykivka. Since this closure forestry railway Vyhoda is again divided into two systems without a rail connection.

A. Isolated network Myndunok Beskydskyj In spring 1999 new in-undations caused closures of the line from Ljudvykivka to Myndunok Besky-dskyj and of all lines around Beskyd. In summer of this year only in the upper Svicha-valley from Myndunok (km 33.9) onwards a few branches survived. These were the lines via Svicha to Velyka Svicha and from Svicha to Chorny Horb and Novyj Us, but even these only partly. Wood transport was effectu-ated with the only existing locomotive TU8-0267. At the rail-triangle in Myndunok Beskydskyj wood is taken over by lorries since then. In spring 2000 the very active staff made a lot of repairs along their track and many hundred sleepers were professionally changed. A few sections damaged by flooding were built new. In august 2000 operations on the repaired line from Svicha to Chornyj Horb began again. Unfortunately in summer 2000 the closed track in the Svicha-valley was mostly lifted from the first bridge in Vy-hoda until km 28.

In Myndunok Beskydskyj in May 2001 repairing of the line to Beskyd began. The big bridge across river Svicha in Myndunok was made usable again. A new, little privately owned sawmill was built. Railway station Myndunok Beskydskyj is used again. The rest of tracks from Vyhoda to Myndunok was lifted during spring 2001. Also wooden bridge Nr. 3 in Svicha-valley was destroyed, whilst the others still exist until now. A private owner took over the forestry railway. In august 2001 services were resumed from Myndunok via Beskyd to Hranycja Prava Prava (7 km). On this line all de-stroyed five bigger bridges have been replaced but new wooden ones.

Even in winter in february 2002 the remote little railway was active. In spite of much snow (more than 1 m) the traffic from Myndunok via Svicha to Novyj Us could be maintained with help of the small snowplough, which has been repaired.

B. Vyhoda-Myzunka valley Railway Along the entire valley Myzunka in June 1998 occured severe damages by inundations. In Vyhoda the big bridge was partly washed away. The branch line from Devjatka to Hlybokyj was closed because of bad state of the high bridge across river Myzunka. Another bridge across this river in Bukovec' was completely destroyed by the floods. During the snowy winter 1998/99 railway traffic was completely closed.

In summer 1999 traffic was reopened from station Dubovyj Kut (km 13) upwards via Myndunok Solotvynskyj until km 30 in valley Myzunka. Lines from Myndunok to Sobol' and farther were partly repaired and afterwards op-erational again, but nevertheless in very bad state of maintainance. Wood trains and trains for repairing tracks were pulled by the only operational loco-motive, TU8-0364. In Dubovyj Kut the wood was transferred from train onto lorries. Draisins ran already from railway-km 4, but they had to be drawn on the road at a damaged section of track near km 11.4. Construction of a new road from Sloboda downwards to Vyhoda was stopped at railway-km 30 in Bukovec'. With locomotive TU8G-0017 there was still some shunting between the two sawmills in Vyhoda.

Until summer 2000 a few changes took place again. The traffic be-tween the two woodplants in Vyhoda was totally closed down. Its locomotive, TU8G-0017, was guided over the hardly usable big bridge in Vyhoda and helped now the other locomotive TU8-0364 pulling the workers' train starting at railway stop Staryj Mizun' and wood trains starting at the new wood trans-fer place at Noyj Mizun'. The destroyed section at km 11.4 was renewed. Many sleepers were changed on the line to Myndunok Solotvynskyj, but re-pairs were made without accuracy and so generally the railway's technical state was still very bad. Its reason may be that staff was reduced too much and the remaining staff is badly and rarely paid.

After its takeover by a company from Charkiv, in autumn 2000 on Myzunka-valley-railway a lot of repairs were carried out. A wooden bridge at km 1.8 was renewed. The big bridge in Vyhoda was at least made usable.

On dec. 19th 2000 after two "difficult" years with reduced operations the normal traffic from Vyhoda along valley Myzunka was resumed. The depo, repair works and the branches to the sawmills in Vyhoda were also re-opened. In spring 2001 there was a new workers' train running from Vyhoda to Myndunok Solotvynskyj running upwards on mondays and downwards on fridays, but still without coach. Twice a week was going the regular freight train with mostly considerable length.

Situation even improved up to May 2001. Both old locomotives TU4?1693 and TU4-1695 were repaired and operational again. On the main line many sleepers were renewed. Like in best times ng trains were running frequently, even during the night and sometimes during the weekend.

Beginning with august 2001 the workers' train on Mondays and Fri-days also has the repaired passenger coach PV 51 Nr. 5991 in its composi-tion. During the week this coach is stored in station Myndunok Solovynskyj. With TU4-1693 for the first time since many years a locomotive got a new paint. In January 2002 the destroyed big bridge across river Myzunka in Bukovec' was replaced by a new construction. Afterwards began reconstruc-tion of the branch lines to Jalovyj und Studenyj, which were unusable since 1998. Workers' trains on Mondays and Fridays are again an institution for population in the Myzunka valley.

A lot of repairs would still be necessary in order to ensure the exis-tence of the forestry railway for the nearest future. At the moment any middle-size-flooding immediately may bring its end.

IV. Schedule of Lines

The oldest railways:
(1) Vyhoda-Staryj Mizun' ("Herminensage") (3 km) *vor 1900, † vor 1945
(2) Horse powered railway of Svicha- regulation (in Vy-hoda)
(3) Main line Myzunka-valley: Vyhoda-Novyj Mizun'-Solotvyno-Myndunok Solotvynskyj (km 24)-Bukovec' (km 29/30?) *1918/3x Bukovec'-Sloboda-Senechiv *1946, †1998

Branch lines (area Myzunka-valley):
(1) Dubovyj Kut-P'janka-Trojan (4.5 km) †1989
(2) Solotvyno-Sokoliv †
(3) Devjatka-Hlybokyj, since 1998 out of service
(4) Bukovec'-Jalovy/Studenyj, 1998-2001 out of service, now being repaired
(5) Sloboda-Skoperchak †
(6) Senechiv (second branch) †
(7) Myndunok S.-Sobol'-Livyj Tychyj
(8) Stichstrecke Livyj Tychyj-Chamyn
(9) Sobol' (branch at km 2)-Sobolycja
(10) Sobol'-Mahura (2 km)
(11) Sobol' (branch at km 7.15)-Pravyj Tychyj

Inclined planes (area Myzunka-valley)
(1) Hlybokyj †
(2) Sobolycja-Chorna Sychla †
(3) Chamyn-Menchelyk (800 m, †1971)

Main line Svicha-valley:

Vyhoda-Ljudvykivka-Lysak (km 30.5)-Myndunok Beskydskyj (km 34)-Svica (km 38)

(built beginning with 1913, section Vyhoda-M. Beskydskyj †1998/99)

Branch lines (area Svicha-valley):
(1) Ljudvykivka (0.8 km)†
(2) Bahinka †
(3) Lysak (from main line's km 29.5)-branch westbound †
(4) Svicha-Velyka Svicha (1.5 km); Verlangerung Velyka Svicha-Malen'ka Svicha (1.5 km) †
(5) Stichstrecke Wlk. Solotwinka (only polish name known) †
(6) Svicha-Chorny Horb (2.5 km)
(7) Svicha-Tysovyj Us (ca. 500m) †
(8) Svicha-Novyj Us (1.2 km)
(9) Myndunok Beskydskyj-Beskyd ( 3 km)
(10) Beskyd-Drabyna Liva (ca. 5km), out of service
(11) Stichstrecke Drabyna Prava (2 km), dout of service
(12) Beskyd-Hranycja (mind. 3.7 km), dout of service
(13) Stichlinie Hranycja Liva (2.5 km), out of service
(14) Stichlinie Hranycja Prava (mind. 2.2 km)
(15) Stichlinie Hranycja Prava Prava (x km+1km †)
(16) Beskyd-Bukowinka (ca. 3.5 km) †
Note: There are some more short branch lines in the area Beskyd-Hranycja

VI. Schedule of Rolling Stock
Steam locomotives: (1) KrMu 3574/1897 (Ct) "CHARLOTTE"
(2) KrMu 7017/1915 (Ct), 1916 kkHB
(3) ?/? (Ct), Nr. "N-015", Aufschrift "ĖÆÄ" (MZHD), about 1949 in Vyhoda
Post-war-period: ca. 10 locomotives Reihe PT-4, VP-4 , Kp-4 (u.a. VP-4-1974, Kp-4-558),
2 locomotives series Gr, 1 locomotive series OP-2 (OP-2-054)
Diesel locomotives:Series TU2: 2 †
Series TU3: 1 †
Series TU4: TU4-1470 †, TU4-1693, TU4-1695, TU4-1893 (numbered as TU6-3001) †
Series TU6: TU6-1867 †
Series TU6A: TU6A-0418 †, TU6A-2084 †, TU6A-1786(?) †, TU6A-3454 †
Series TU6D: TU6D-0171 (1985 in Vygoda working), †
Series TU6P: TU6P-0036 †, TU6P-0039 (dumped), TU6P-0042 (dumped)
Series TU7: TU7-1667 †, TU7-1936 †, TU7-2551 (abg.1999-2002), TU7-2995 †
Series TU7A: TU7A-2867 (dumped 2000-2002)
Series TU8: TU8-0267, TU8-0364
Series TU8G: TU8G-0017
Special vehicles: ŨŅĶ-2A-0700 (ESU-2A), maintainance vehicle (dumped)
ŅŲŅ (SSCS) 208, for snow-clearing [Schneekehrfahrzeug, kein Schneepflug/frase] (dumped)
SMD-1 sanitary railbus †, freight motordraisin GMD-2
two vehicles for snowclearing (active!)
Passenger coaches: PV51 (old): 495, 496, 497, 478 (874?) (all still dumped in 2002)
PV51 (new): 5859 (Aufschrift: VYHODA-LIVYJ TYCHYJ), 5901 (VYHODA-BESKYD),
5995 (ohne Aufschrift), 6051 (VYHODA-SLOBODA) (all still dumped in 2002),
5991 (again active in 2001/02)
Notes: KrMu= loco works KRAUSS-MUNCHEN
†= (line: ) closed / (vehicle: ) scrapped