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Pingingshan Coal Railway was home to one of the last great steam
depots. By the time we made it there, diesels were almost
everywhere, but there was still plenty of atmosphere. We hung
around the depot for most of our brief visit. |
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air was surprisingly clear - must be all those nice clean shiny
diesels |
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View from the sanding tower |
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Water squiggly thing |
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JS locos lining up for sand and water |
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In the shops, locos were still being overhauled |
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The Pingdingshan Kid |
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The hot seat |
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This loco, 8057, had it's trailing truck dropped for work. It also has all its
wheels marked, so I wonder if it's about to have them refreshed. Another loco
was 'up on blocks' without wheels - undergoing a fairly thorough overhaul |
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Back outside, we catch up with the Ash Hill Gang |
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A few silly pan shots |
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...just to inject a little excitement as 6253 and 8421 trundle past |
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Simmering in the shed |
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| 6253
again |
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They were installing a second track at the junction just outside the depot, and
this was playing havoc with the wheeled commuter traffic, which had an
additional elevated, unballasted track to cross. Tricky enough if you're
walking, more so if you're on wheels, and then if you have a load to
carry... |
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The Optimist |
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8338 on the move by the junction |
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Strong am I with the Force |
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And so began a lucrative pole dancing career |
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| I
am Master of Shovels |
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Bloody trains |
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8122 on the passenger. |
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evening, we try some night shots with the little flashes. This
is 8065 on another passenger train (you'll just have to believe
me on this one) |
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8031 brings a tender-first coal working in. There were plenty of diesel hauled
movements as well, but you didn't come all this way to see pictures of them now
did you... |
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So we took our stuff back to the depot and let rip. JS 5644 |
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JS 8338 night roster |
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6225 under the sanding tower. Aaron taking some shots from up high |
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We bumped into Wolfgang Klein at this stage, who we would meet again in a
few days time on the Farrail tour, as we tried not to trip over each other |
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Deflectorless QJ 6786 - in from Yuzhou for an overhaul |
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| 8421
in hover mode |
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This was an incredibly busy spot day and night |
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The atmospheric depot entrance |
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The mighty QJ |
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Trainspotter is spotted (lolz) |
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| One
last Pingdingshan train |
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Vast volume of velocipedes |
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