New Years Eve: Jingpeng December 2004/January 2005

Dahuichang

Unchanged situation, always worth to drop by.

JiTong Railway

The day when there will be not a single steam train over the Jingpeng Pass will come soon! In the last days of December 2004 and the first days of January 2005 there were only one to four steam trains over the pass during daylight hours.

Until the end of December two of the 14 diesels were being given an overhaul. Now they are back in service and have reduced the number of steam hauled trains over the pass some 50 %. The percentage of trains that are steam hauled dropped down to only 15 to 35 %. On average (I checked over ten days), I can give the following figures for traction over the pass:

• Diesel 50 %
• Diesel and steam 30 %
• Steam 20 %

Anyhow, Jingpeng is still worth a visit. According to official sources in Daban, steam on the section Daban – Haoluku should last until April.

What can you do with only two steam trains over the pass? At the same time? You have to decide which side you want to go to. January 1st, 2005: Here is the result:

QJ 6986 and QJ 7143 (this loco returend from Baiqi to Daban recently) near Wenwu (beyond Wendeheshuo).

The same train 33522 beyond Yuzhoudi.

The gate keeper near Reshui smokes a pipe.

An ordinary shot: the train beyond Sandi at level two.

In the backdrop train 33522 with QJ 6986 and 7143 heads for Haoluku while QJ 7009 was separated from train 83077 wich will continue to Daban single headed with QJ 7040. QJ 7009 will go back to Jingpeng to assist another train uphill. This train already left Haoluku with a single QJ only.

Is it worth to go there for a single steam hauled train a day? Yes, it is!

In December 2004 I got a wrong information about the type of the new diesels. Now I reconfirmed several times the type of the new diesel locomotives that are already ordered. At least four of the ordered diesel locos are DF4Ds. These four DF4Ds will be delivered to Baiqi by the end of January. Baiqi will give the remaining DF4Bs (9516, 9517 and 9518) to Daban. In Daban they expect the arrival of four DF4Bs from Baiqi, but they have only three. With three/four additional diesels, the use of steam over the pass will not come to its final end, but there might be days without any steam trains during daylight. The other six diesels should be delivered in February and March 2005. These six units will go to Daban directly. I couldn't find out which type they are. I was told that these locomotives "should" be DF4Bs because Daban has only this class of locomotive.

The recently deliverd lot of diesels was DF4D 4171 to 4180 (all Baiqi).

From Baiqi I got the information that it was decided to dieselise the pass first. So Baiqi will remain a steam depot for some additional months. If you have read all my previous reports you should be able to imagine how long this decision will last before a new one will come out.

Daban still has no permanent facility for diesel fuelling. They are using ordinary tank wagons and an electric powered fuel pump. The tank wagons are in the loco house. They have no problems getting sufficient diesel fuel. It's interesting that diesel (for minus 35 degrees Centigrade) is now more expensive than petrol (3,91 to 3,43 Yuan for 90 Octane). I also asked them why they are using this rubbish of coal. They did not know exactly. They told me that this fine grain coal is easier to use when fired by hand than bigger pieces. When I was a student I fired steam locomotives in Eastern Germany to finance my travels. From my point of view, and I know this was shared by all the other firemen and drivers I met before, bigger pieces are much better for hand fired steam locomotives. I always saved the best pieces of coal for the most difficult parts of the line. In my opinion they still order coal that is good for the mechanical stoker. I also asked them why they do not use the stoker. Two points: first it's too expensive to repair the stoker; second the mechanical firing system needs more coal compared to a hand-fired engine. Whow! What a great answer. So why did they introduce diesels? It's more expensive but will make work more comfortable. The same as a stoker used to do.

If you haven't time to explore new locations: the snow near Gonzhugeng shows no foot prints of the crowds, still. Here is the how to do. The first shot shows the left star, the second the right one:

There is some positive news as well. At a meeting it was said that the next ten diesels will be the last ones for this year. So steam in Baiqi and on the section between Daban and Chabuga will be used until 2006. But, before you say "superb", wait for the next decision, which may alter the current one. JiTong is still sending steam locomotives for overhaul, which means nothing more than they'll scrap engines that are serviceable as they do already.

On the last days of our visit we found some 100 steam enthusiasts along the line. Sometimes the scenery reminds me more to be a Plandampf event in Germany than the last regular steam service on the JiTong line. However, there are still many silent places where you can enjoy steam on your own because most of the groups are only going to the well known master shot positions, and positions where the road is giving easy access. Even if some people will not love me for doing this, I'll continue to publish pictures of places that are still unspoiled by the crowds. Everybody should get a chance at great shots, even if their tour operator is neither very familiar with the line nor able to read the maps and the comments I put on my page, and many others have published on the Internet. Here is a more detailed map of the section Daban - Chabuga:

The water holes for steam enthusiasts are getting fewer, so you should expect to meet other enthusiasts at the places you decide to go to. Be polite and take care of each other. Everybody wants to take his personal master shot.

As far as I can say, from my own experience, it has always been possible to respect the wishes of other photographers and video filmmakers without missing a single good shot. On my recent seven tours in 2004, there was only one time when a gricer, who happened to be British, made me feel bad. The train was sill on level one as my group was going to a spot beyond Sandi, which is on level two. We still had some minutes time to find our positions when one of the two waiting photographers jumped on the track and cried out "Shut up ..." The three dots are saying something very unfriendly. None of us could have known that he was recording the sound as well as taking a picture. Putting a finger on his lips would have done the same, and we would have felt much better. Hopefully he enjoyed this cry out on his recording. If anybody wants to make sound records these days, perhaps he should go to places, which are not as interesting for taking pictures, or use the night hours, or make a "Quiet Please!" sign. But to try to make both perfect, sound recordings and photographs may not be successful. You should decide what you want to get perfect and accept that you are not alone during these last and final days.

I always make more mistakes while taking pictures by myself than I have pictures spoiled by others. While the latter is far below five percent, the former sometimes exceeds 15 %. And, really good shots are very rare; so do not fight with stones from the ballast for a picture, which will never be the front cover picture. Be friendly and keep cool. Enjoy the experience too.