Central and South China

1.11. - 16.11.2002

Central China Quicky

1.11. - 11.11.2002

The autumn is a wonderful time for visiting China. Cold mornings with beautiful steam exhaust, mild temperatures all day, clear skies and colourful trees are just right for unique, perfect shots of steam locos. On several lines it might be the last fall ... China is going to retire its last steam locos before the Olympic Games in 2008 at the latest. However, by 2005 (if not sooner) most of the interesting steam locations will have become history. So you had better go now before its too late. In two years time, China might be not worth a visit for steam any more!

Itinerary

Line descriptions:

Tang Xian is the centre of a lovely narrow gauge railway. The almost uninteresting, flat line to Wangdu is served by tiny 0-6-0 rod-diesel locos, the scenic western part in the mountains is exclusively C₂. The line starts with a steep climb short beyond Tang Xian and gains altitude in a deep cutting, passing several quarries and a small village with stone bridges over the railway. Hereafter follows an almost flat plateau before the mountains come close to the railway again. After the summit tunnel there is a huge arch viaduct shortly before the cement factory is reached. One to two pairs of trains run most days during daylight, always with the locomotive smokebox first. We will also visit the loco depot.

Jiyuan is one of those narrow gauge railways that makes you wonder why it still exists. This once important line has lost almost all traffic and now has just the daily train with coal and lime to Wen Xian, which serves several villages without a good road connection. The line passes through absolutely flat countryside but, its unique highlight is that the line runs straight through the city of Jiyuan along the main road. The contrast between an apparently ancient steam railway and the new buildings with blue and green windows is fascinating.

Pingdingshan is a very busy coal mine system, served by SY 2-8-2s. Many pictures with impressive industrial backgrounds are possible with large coal loading facilities crossing over the railway.

The 762 mm gauge Pengzhou - Baishuihe railway has two pairs of passenger and one or two pairs of freight trains. Normally one C2 and one TH52-diesel handle all the traffic. The line starts in a flat countryside, reaches the hills at Guangkou while passing a recently rebuilt monastery and a several hundred year old pagoda, crosses the river over an impressive girder bridge and then follows the valley upwards. Near Baishuihe you can get nice pictures with high mountains, lime stone quarries and villages. We will follow the railway with our charter bus but, not all the interesting photo spots have road access. It's possible to overtake the train about three to five times.

Mojiang is "only" an electric system (762 mm gauge). However, the passenger stock alone is worth a visit! Self-made small two-axle cars, sometimes even without side walls and always without any seats, yes, even without a handle to hold on makes a journey a must. They have two lines, one of 6, the other of 15 km length. The lines separate one km from the terminal after a tunnel. The countryside is hilly to mountain-like without any road access. The traffic level is very high, someone can expect a train movement every 20 to 45 minutes.

Shixi, also called Shixizhen and Shibanxi is situated north of Qianwei. The 762 mm gauge line is isolated from other railways in a typical South Chinese, very rural mountain area. Four pairs of passenger trains run with steam (C2) every day. Sometimes a freight will be added. Normally freights go only the first three km. This part now has overhead electrification and is worked by mid-2000 built electric locos. The line further on (all together 20 km long) has much photographic potential. Several tunnels, a hair pin bend, rice paddies and the reverse in Mifengyan provide many possibilities for impressive pictures. Because of the low number of steam trains and the long distances we have to walk to reach the best positions we will stay some time on this system.

The management of the Huangjinggou narrow gauge railway do not like visitors. An invitation was never been made and all attempts to get a permit here have failed. They even told me that they have closed the line in 2000, what was definitely wrong as I got the information in Shixi in November 2001 that they still repair parts of their locomotives in Shixi. However, we will try our best to visit the railway anyway, even without a permit. The line is short but has such exciting photo spots that it has to appear on our itinerary. Normally there is only one train per day in the morning, due to the coal mine in Huangjinggou nearly running out of coal. Recently they opened up a new mine, of course without any railway connection. The line passes first through the "town" of Huangjinggou and heads down to the power plant, passing a impressive gorge and a fantastic stone- and iron-bridge. It terminates near the power plant. Wagons are unloaded automatically, the loco uses the loop to run round the train and returns immediately with the empties uphill. A second mine in the middle of the line seems to be closed. A narrow road follows the line all the way.

From Ganshui a spectacular coal mine and ore railway runs into the mountains. Several very long tunnels, nice concrete arch bridges, a steel bridge and the gorge which the railway passes through, and a very welcoming management, all together making this a perfect railway for a stay. Uphill trains run tender first because of the long tunnels. Several position are possible from the side, so it is not that important. Uphill trains are limited to 400 tons only, while downhill trains can carry 2.400 tons. The departure out of the stations in the level are impressive, too. There is a second railway, owned by the General Steelworks, Chongqing, also served by 2-8-2 SY locos with very few trains. On the "main line" you can experience about three to four uphill trains per day. The use of the company owned railcar is possible to get access to the gorge part of the line. The road winds up the hills far away.

The Guangxi Local Railway Limited Co. still has some exclusively JS-worked lines. We will visit three of their best lines: Laibin - Heshan with about one pair of freight trains per day during daylight, Sancha - Luohe with the daily mixed train and Hechi (Jingchengjiang) - Pingzhai/Shangchao. All these lines pass impressive karst mountain areas. The photographic potential is enough for a stay of many weeks! Karst rock mountains, rice paddies, arch bridges, rivers and wide valleys offer quite a lot of opportunities. Unfortunately the traffic level is not very great on two of the lines. Only Hechi can offer between two and five pairs of freight trains beside the daily mixed train. However, from Heshan it's possible to chase the train by bus, so we will get at least two pictures of the train.

Notes:

Central and southern China are not colourful. Here the weather conditions are rarely as good as in northern China. The sky can be overcast for weeks on end and it rain frequently. Nevertheless, the last two tours I ran to southern China were mostly sunny. So it seems that November is one of the better months for a chance of reasonable weather conditions in this area. However, do not forget to carry your umbrella with you!

The tour is planned with the dedicated photographer and video filmmaker in mind. The itinerary is designed for those who think it more important to get the perfect shot in the morning sun than a substantial breakfast. Lunch will mostly be a packed lunch. However, the dinners are mainly delicious and will make a great end to the day. The hotels used will be mainly middle class, in remote areas sometimes basic. The train rides are soft sleeper if available, else hard sleeper. Day-trains are booked hard seater.

The chartered buses offer a local standard which, sometimes, will not come up to European standards. China is often not as clean as you may like it, so please be prepared. Carrying a bar of soap in your photo bag is not a bad idea.

Price:

Please let me know whether you are willing to join a group with less than nine/six participants or not. Maximum number of participants: 16.

The price includes:

• Flight from Frankfurt/Main (please ask for fares from other places, almost the same as from Frankfurt)
• All transfers in China
• All hotels and guesthouses
• Full board without drinks and, sometimes, without meals on train rides (instant noodle soup will be our usual meal there)
• Chinese and European guide (European guide from Zurich to Hechi, the return flight is unguided, on the way Hechi - Guilin you can enjoy an English speaking guide, the "Karst-Quicky" is unguided on the flights and on the train Beijing - Chenzhou, in Beijing an English speaking guide is available)
• European airport taxes
• Visa (German resident)
• Airport tax (non-German resident)

Not included are:

• Personal expenses like telephone, bar services, laundry service)
• Tips for locals (bus driver, guides, please expect between 60 and 100 Euro for this)
• Visa (non-German resident)
• Airport tax (German resident)

Prices are fixed for a special booking class of the airline, which is limited.