main depot and station was in Majdan (a settlement of Cisna). In 1963 limited passenger traffic began (it was the only public railway in Poland beside Polish State Railways at that time). Passenger volume reached some 30,000 a year. From the late 1970s, steam traction was replaced with diesel locomotives PKP class Lyd2. Due to economic crisis, competition from road transport, and then Poland's transition to a market economy in the 1980s and 1990s, the railway, still operated by State Forests, fell into financial difficulties, and ceased operation in 1994. Its infrastructure and part of the rolling stock were preserved thanks to placing the railway in the National Monument Registry in 1992. Restoration as a heritage railway Thanks to efforts of local authorities, community and railroad workers, the Bieszczady Forest Railway Foundation was created in 1996 and it took over the railway operation as a tourist attraction, on a shortened track. It acquired its current name Bieszczadzka Kolejka Leśna (lit. Bieszczady Light Forest Railway), which had been its popular designation before. From 4 July 1997 the trains started to run on an 11-km route from Majdan eastwards to Przysłup. From the following year, the trains also ran westwards to Balnica and further to Wola Michowa (17 km). For some time the trains ran even to Smolnik, but eventually Balnica became the last station, and the westward route was shortened to 9 km. Soon the renewed railway became the major tourist attraction in Bieszczady. It runs several times a day in the summer season starting from May, and occasionally in other months; it is also possible to hire a special train. From 2007 it regularly carried over 50,000 passengers a year, and from 2014 over 100,000 passengers. In 2018 it carried a record 153,000 passengers. References Railway lines in Poland 750 mm gauge railways in Poland