Location:
Vyhoda village, Vyhoda UTC (United Territorial Community), Dolyna district
GPS coordinates: 48.93343 23.91077
"Carpathian Tram" is a unique narrow-gauge tourist route in the Carpathians, Ivano-Frankivsk region. It is the oldest of the existing narrow-gauge tracks in Ukraine, which runs through the picturesque valleys of the Mizunka and Svicha rivers.
Vyhoda narrow gauge railway - is a network of mountain gauge railways in Ukrainian Carpathians near Vyhoda village in Dolyna district, Ivano-Frankivsk region. Built by Austrian businessman Baron Leopold Popper von Podgari in the 19th century for timber export from the mountains.
Today, only the Mizun line, used by tourists, is preserved. A steam locomotive and several wagons are plying between Vyhoda and Gorgany, transporting loggers to work. Meanwhile, tourists are using the narrow gauge. The program "Carpathian Tram", which had started in 2003 during the preparation and holding of an International Boiko Festival was developed purposing to attract tourists to use this track for transportation.
Since 2004, the Carpathian tram is an excursion route through the picturesque terrain of the Carpathian Mountains. The narrow-gauge route runs from Vyhoda village to Senechiv village down the Mizunka River valley, and then crosses the old bridge across Svicha River. Along the narrow gauge route there are: a hydrological monument of national importance the swamp "Shirkovets", a source of mineral water "Horianka" ("Naftusia"), a mountain spring "Dziurkach", Mizun waterfalls, a chapel in the Solotvynskyi forest area located on the place of the first salt deposit (beginning of the 11th century), an old industrial premises and foresters little houses (Mindunok stop), etc.
Traveling by rail can be combined with hiking to the Menchul (1450 m) and Yaiko-Ilemske (1679 m) peaks, national-liberation competitions roots to Vyshkivskyi mountain pass (930 m) and the Lysa mountain - a place of the former pagan sanctuary, the peaks of the Mahura, Shchavna mountains, as well as to the "Sobol" forestry.
In 2016, the "Carpathian Tram" route was organically supplemented by an interactive museum the Vyhoda Narrow Gauge Railway Heritage Center. The historic building of the Heritage Center is directly related to the narrow-gauge railway. Built in 1855, it is the second oldest building in the village, after the village Church that served as the residence of Leopold Popper von Podgari - the founder of the Narrow Track. The museum offers to view an interactive exposition that tells about the local nature and forest ecosystem of the Carpathians, local history - the development of forestry and woodworking industry around the Vyhoda, the emergence of narrow gauge, its ethnography, folk crafts etc.