Chinese Railways

Shifting slag ladles deep in the furnace line at the Baotou steelworks.

A sunday afternoon spent at Huan He Junction on the outskirts of Shenyang was a feast of steam with a succession of heavy freights passing by.

A late afternoon trip to the west end of the opencast mine at Sandaoling is a must if you want to catch the sunset silhouette of the spoil trains as they slog up the bank onto the tips.

The track gang stands aside as the afternoon passenger service to the Shenbutong Mine hurries past on the Baiyin Mining Railway.

It may have been a bright day on the Chengzihe section of the Jixi Coal Railway, but it was also very cold and very windy. We had withdrawn to a cafe for some reviving noodle soup after nearly contracting hypothermia and frostbite whilst waiting at the lineside. Thinking we had the inside information on when this train would run we lingered in the slightly less cold cafe rather too long and when we returned it was almost too late. Running up the lineside in deep snow whilst the sound of the train came nearer was not much fun, but it did warm me up. In the end the train won the race and I had to stop and grab a shot. With the wind whipping the exhaust away, the morning train of spoil tippers heads up from Zhengyang mine to the tip at Xinghua where it will back up onto the mound. These days the poles for the pending electrification are either in situ here or will be very soon.

An eastbound freight pops out of the first tunnel on the Jinpeng section of the Jitong Railway just after the Er-di brickworks.

Sandaoling power plant peeks over the rise with the Tianshan range in the background. I have been unable to find any information about this plant.

QJ 7036 in the deserts of Ningxia with empty coal wagons for the Yangchangwan Mine on the Daba-Guyaozi Coal Railway.

Sulphuric acids tanks arriving at Baiyin Gongsi yard from one of the many smelting works in the area. This train had two attempts to surmount the gradient before this successful run. In the background is a lead smelter with (I believe) a shot tower on the left.

Eastbound freight headed by a pair of QJs just leaving the Simingyi viaduct on the Jinpeng section of the Jitong Railway. This railway was only completed in December 1995 and was entirely steam operated over this section until October 2004 when the first diesels appeared over Jinpeng. Steam was gone from the whole line by the end of 2005.

Golden reeds right in the middle of the smelter complex at Baiyin with an SY shunting coal wagons.

The Modaoshi horseshoe curve was a favourite photgraphic spot in the days of steam with plenty of trains heading for Suifenhe and the Russian border. You could watch trains for twenty minutes from when they first appeared to when they finally topped the summit. A short uphill freight is seen here making steady progress up the hill. In the fields in front of the train are racks of timber which were used by the locals for growing edible fungi on the wood.

I had tried to make this shot when I visited Baiyin in 2006, but a combination of bad light, bad timing, and operator error, made for a complete failure. This time I was in position early and did not have to run along the lineside as the train approached. The morning passenger service to Shenbutong Mine runs before sunrise in midwinter but still offers plenty of scenic opportunity. This line up into the mountains always makes me think of the wild west when I see my shots from here.

A pair of QJs with yet another eastbound freight steadily slogging up the hill past the brickworks at Er Di on the Jinpeng section of the Jitong Railway.

Fumes rise around the blast furnace as slag is tapped off. Baotou steelworks, Mongolian Autonomous Region.

SY1556 undergoing a steam test at the Sujiatun repair workshops. There were no cylinder ends on the locomotive and this was the result when the regulator was opened.

When I first visited theJalainur opencast mine in 1992 the coal was brought right out of the pit and up to the washery in the background. By 2006 it only came to the level that the train is on and then transferred to an underground conveyor to take it up to the washery. This empty coal train is just leaving the transfer station and is heading back into the workings.

Track maintenance is pending as the the gang have hitched ride on an empty coal train on the Huanan Coal Railway. They have to sit amidst the new sleepers and their own bicycles upon which they will head home once the job is done.