The burning tip

At the Sandaoling opencast coal mine there are a number of spoil tips, but only one for receiving the waste material from areas that have suffered spontaneous combustion of the coal and other carbonaceous material. Trains can arrive with the wagon contents well alight and this is quickly tipped adjacent to the track before the special plough wagon is brought up to push the material over the edge of the tip. Here JS 6430 is completing unloading of its train as the core of the bank continues to smoulder.