Loose_Grip/Pete's favorite photos

This morning we were out and ready for the morning empties coming back uphill to Sandaoling from the exchange sidings at Liushuguan. As it happened the loaded train was running later than usual and this shot against the sunrise shows the train topped and tailed by a pair of JS class 2-8-2s running backwards. They returned some 40 minutes later with a long train, but the sky was rather brighter by then.

Pushing the spoil into the sunset on the high tip at the Sandaoling opencast coal mine.

Having arrived at the Yaojie system just before the diesels took over on the up from Haishiwan it was a case of seeing what photos could be obtained even if it was murky and misty. Here SY 0362 is on the empties up from from Haishiwan on a grim winter's afternoon.

The vast desert spaces around the Sandaoling opencast coal mine stretch away into the distance as a locomotive pushing spoil tippers onto the high tip catches some evening glint. The other locomotive is pushing spoil onto one of the other tips.

A reminder of happy days spent watching the trains on the Sandaoling Coal Railway. Two JS class locomotives bring the empty coal wagons across the icy desert shortly after leaving the China Rail exchange sidings.

SY 1487 and SY 1052 undergo repairs in the workshops of the Pingzhuang mining railway. This is still a stronghold of steam in China being entirely operated by SYs outside the opencast pit.

To a backdrop of the Tian Shan range, SY 1729 heads for the deep mines on the Sandaoling Coal Railway.

The station at Jinpeng was often very busy with trains taking water and cleaning fires. This afternoon view shows an eastbound freight arriving with a westbound service ready to depart as soon as the section is clear. This line was not really designed to serve many intermediate places and it is clear how far from the town the station is located.

Sometimes you get double value in a photograph and this shot from the Jalainur opencast coal mine in the Mongolian Autonomous Region demonstrates a two tier approach.