Steam on the main line

Coal from the Donghaikuang Colliery, one of the Jixi area mines, was carried for a few kilometres along the China Rail main line to reach the exchange sidings in Jidong. The route included this long viaduct on which SY 0639 is seen hurrying a heavy loaded train towards Jidong in December 2009.

I learned today that this part of the run has been dieselised and one of few (perhaps the last) remaining regular main line steam trips has gone for ever. I am so glad that we made the effort to get this shot, it involved a long walk in along the line from the nearest level crossing. There was a serious wind chill on top of the already very low temperature and a wait of about one and a half hours involved a lot of keeping moving and consumption of pot noodles using water from the flask we carried with us.