Two mutually independent forest railways were the predecessors of Kysuce-Orava forest headland railway:
– Orava forest railway from the village of Lokca to Erdútka, (today Oravská Lesná), began to operate on July 27, 1918. It was 22.6 km long but without a direct connection to the public railway network.
– Kysuce forest railway ran from Krásno nad Kysucou to Chmúra valley, it was 29 km long. It began to operate on October 15, 1918, with a direct connection to the strategically important railway on the Košice – Bohumín line.
Both tracks were only 8 km apart, but a high mountain ridge separated them.
Economy of operation on both lines showed the need to connect them. The connecting line was 10.5 km long and was built in 1925-26 between the Erdútka station in Orava region (today: Oravská Lesná) and the Chmúra station in Kysuce region. To overcome an elevation of 217 m in a short distance (1.5 km as the crow flies), a unique transport system was built using five headlands. At dead ends, the train changed direction: the locomotive alternately pushed and pulled the set – the locomotive was usually located in the middle of the train. The terrain is so steep that in one section there are three tracks underneath each other. It is the only preserved headland system on the railway in Europe.
The completed connecting section adjusted the length of the main line to 61 km. The entire system including branches, was 110 km long at the time of its greatest boom in the late 1920s.
The railway served exclusively for the transport of wood. The driving medium was steam: steam locomotives made by MÁV, Henschel, Orenstein und Kopel, ČKD, Kraus and others ensured year-round operation. Engine locomotives of the manufacturers Deutz, Stavostroj and Rába Győr replaced them in the early 1960s. Wrapped chassis for the transport of long wood were used the most.
A big blow to the railway was the flood in 1965. Problems with the repair and maintenance of the track led in 1967 to the decision to terminate the operation of the railway. The larger part was gradually dismantled between 1969 and 1972, some of the rolling stock was scrapped. State authorities approved a decision to preserve the technically and historically most interesting section with headlands as a monument (1972). Kysucké museum in Čadca took over the Kysuce part of the forest railway in 1974. Orava Museum of P. O. Hviezdoslav in Dolny Kubín took over the Orava part of the railway in 1988.
Slovak monument authorities declared both parts of the track a national cultural monument in 1991.
Museum P.O.Hviezdoslav reconstructed the Orava part of the railway in the years 2005 – 2007. On May 31, 2008, it began serve for tourist operations. On the Kysuce section, historic trains run from the Skanzen to the first headland, the V 760/2004 motor locomotive runs on order from the Skanzen to the Beskyd saddle and enables passage through all headlands
