China 2014

An unidentified JS 2-8-2 shunting the yard at Nanzhan.

JS 2-8-2 6209 sets off from Xibolizhan at the west end of the a Sandaoling open cast coal pit with with an extra working to pick up a variety of items from the control office behind.

SY 2-8-2 1581 about to depart from Baiyin Town station with the Baiyin Non-ferrous Metals Company Railway 18.15 workers' train up the valley. The Shizi Street level crossing in the foreground is always very busy with foot and bike traffic.

Looking like a black & white negative in the morning mist these are the Qilian Shan mountains in Qinghai Province from 30,000 feet up. The city of Xining is just visible by the plume of steam centre left. The snow covered Amne Machin mountain range in the distance is on the Tibetan Plateau and are the eastern extent of the Kunlun Mountains. The river in view is the Huanshi River but the mist in the half distance outlines the horshoe curve of the Huang He, Yellow River, valley We were on KLM flight KL891, Amsterdam to Chengdu.

Fighting against the fierce gradient and the curvature JS 2-8-2 8167 pulls its load of side-tippler coal trucks out of the deep open cast pit at Sandaoling.

It's the early morning shift change at Dongbolizhan. With the sun slowly rising two Sandaoling Coal Railway JS 2-8-2s wait in the sidings. 8190 on the left and 8173 on the right both head empty coal wagons and will soon reverse back into the open cast pit to reload.

Ex-Chinese Railways JS 2-8-2 8173 curves out of the open cast pit at Sandaoling with its 13 wagon train of coal. I learnt recently that the last great steam show in the world is no more and all the coal from the pit is now transported to the washeries by truck. The end of an era

On the edge of the Gobi desert. JS 2-8-2 8366, on the eastern mines branch, brings its 20 empty China Rail coal wagons back to Nanzhan yard with the beautiful snow-capped mountains of the Tian Shan behind.

Lunchtime at a local Uyghur restaurant in Sandaoling. The main course was lamb, carrots & rice with lamb dumplings on the side. The chef is hard at it and the dumplings are steaming in the container to the right. The Autonomous Region of Xinjiang in Western China borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan & Afghanistan to the west and south so in many ways is very "un-Chinese". The largest ethnic group in the region are the Uyghur and the main religion is Islam. I recently read that it is actually the 8th biggest country subdivision in the world.