China - Jan 2007

The Diary
Pics page 1 : Baiyin
Pics page 2 : Baotou
Pics page 3 : Huludao
Pics page 4 : Factory 701
Pics page 5 : Jixi and Tiefa *****
Pics page 6 : JalaiNur
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Ice skating on the Tiefa system
Grand departure
The birds scatter in the misty coolness
There is a neat coaling and watering area opposite the main station at Tiefa for the remaining locos
Dragon ladies block the gates at Tiefa
Steam action at Tiefa - SY departing at left, preserved YJ at right
Tickets please!
Preserved american KD6 running an excursion on the Faku line, which has been dieselised for a while
And again
And again! bursting from the tunnel on the line
Back at the main station, the locos refresh
Departure from Tiefa
Out at the mines, diesels now handle all the coal trains, leaving the substantial number of passenger trains to the handful of active SYs
Out by the Church
Night shooting with Ron Olsen's flashes
The YJ gets a headlight bulb replaced
Serenity
Next morning we're out by the church again watching the YJ on a special run
While the SYs continue to toil on the regular passengers
1999 build plate on SY 1771, which is stored with many, many, many SYs in covered storage at Tiefa workshops
The YJ again out for a run
Nicely attired SY 1770  on one of the passenger trains
Jean-Philippe makes a minor technical adjustment to his video camera with a sledgehammer
And lastly, SY1772, the last SY assembled, heads out on the Faku line

Jixi


After arrival at the Jixi system, 
Coal mines are painted pink, not that there's anything wrong with that, and the motorbikes have built in hand warmers
A well decorated SY
Shunting at the main yard
A tough life 
The sun goes down at Jixi
Wheelspin
Next morning we catch a crewmember making some adjustments on the air pump of his steed
Big power with a pair of SYs thumping empties out to the mines
Another train of empties with an SY at either end
The same train again
Crossings
Another train banked at the rear slogs up to another mine on the system
the pusher on the above train
Whoops. DB too slow to catch the loco running by on the line behind 
View out from above somewhere
I really can't remember the names of any of these lines, can I...
Running back past the cornfields
The dentist at the Didao mine (ha remembered a place!)
Didao has this interesting narrow gauge electric tramway for shuffling spoil and coal around
Playing with the pantograph
Loading at the bin
Next morning, we wait by the Chengzihe washery complex for shots but DB screws everything up by being in the right place at the wrong time and vice versa. 
Out of the sun towards the washery in the shot I'd waited a couple of hours for but now the sun is a bit high
With an interesting church in the background
Up the hill at the Didao spoil dump, strings of empties are rope hauled up the incline and run down into a curved unloading spur. After running through the tippler, they congregate on the lower curved track for a run back downhill 
The loaded rake is swarmed by locals in search of coal remnants. Avast, landlubbers, arrrr!
Searching for goodies
The tippler complex and two further inclines up to the spoil dumps
The tippler building. After tipping, the coal truck runs toward the camera down a slope, across spring loaded points and up a grade, it then swings downhill and takes the points to the left where it joins the other empty bins
After a long wait up the incline we finally glimpse a train arriving at the coal dump
The Diary
Pics page 1 : Baiyin
Pics page 2 : Baotou
Pics page 3 : Huludao
Pics page 4 : Factory 701
Pics page 5 : Jixi and Tiefa *****
Pics page 6 : JalaiNur
Home