The Historical Forest Ferry Railway (HLÚŽ) forms an organic part of the Museum of the Kysuce Village in Nová Bystrica - Vychylovka. It is a preserved and functionally restored part of the former Kysuce-Orava Forest Railway (KOLŽ). The former Kysuce-Orava Forest Railway (KOLŽ) was established in 1926 by connecting the forest railways built in 1915-1918, the Kysuce railway from Oščadnica to Chmura (Nová Bystrica, part of Vychylovka) and the Orava railway from Lokca to Erdútka (present-day Orava Forest).
- Latitude: 49º 23' 18,383'' N
- Longitude: 19º 6' 46,427'' E
Historical steam and diesel locomotives, wagons, etc. are part of the HLÚŽ inventory. The Kysuce Museum is in charge of complex documentation of forest railways in Slovakia.
The connection of the two railways was made by building a connecting line from Erdútka to Chmura. After the connection, the total length of the KOLŽ reached more than 110 km, of which 61 km were the main line, the rest consisted of branch lines, which were built, cancelled, extended or shortened according to the need to transport harvested timber. The operation of the KOLŽ was terminated at the end of 1971 due to its cancellation and except for the 8 km long section Chmúra - Tanečník, which contained a valuable winding system, the rest of the line was dismantled. The system was used to overcome a greater elevation (217.69 m) over a relatively short section (air distance 1500 m).
The HLÚŽ cableway system is one of only two that have survived in Europe to the present day. In 1974, the preserved part of the cancelled KOLŽ, including the rolling stock, was taken over by the Kysucká Museum in Čadca with the intention of its functional restoration and new social use in the form of a museum railway in the ethnographic exposition. In addition to the reconstruction of the 2.7 km long part of the line in the section Chmúra - Kubátkovia, which partly passed through the area of the exposition in nature, the museum also focused on the addition of a fleet of rolling stock. After the opening of the Museum of the Kysuce Village, demonstration rides of historical trains were held on the preserved part of the railway. The railway runs during seasonal operation in the months of May - October.
