This report covers the FarRail Tours September/October 2002 China journey.
This report has two parts:
Quick Finder
More pictures are here.
If I knew how difficult this railway would be, I would never gone to it. Now, as I know how exciting this railway is, I'll do everything to go there again.
Part 1 First Attempts
Thanks to the initial report by Florian Menius I tried to contact the official management of the railway. The work in China was undertaken by Harbin CITS, Mr. Liu Liguo. After plenty of telephone calls he managed to find out the person in charge of the railway. This was in April/May 2002. My questions were on the level of traffic and the kind of normal operation. The result of these investigation I posted to the "Steam in China" newsgroup as well as to Rob's web site. It was said that there are about 5 trains per month, in winter more than in summer.
Part 2 Next Steps
Due to the low level of traffic I asked about the possibility of influencing the timetable. I guessed that it might be possible to re-schedule the regular train to the day of our stay in Yinta and to stop it several times on the gradient to overtaking it by foot.
The offer from Yinta was to hire a railcar to visit the line. So far so good, but we wanted to see the steam train, not the railcar.
Part 3 Problems
After these contacts negotiations ran into a dead end. The reason was not Yinta (actually it was Yinta, but I realised this much later). Due to a re-organisation of the CITS Harbin office the information (about telephone numbers etc) was not handed over to Mrs. Zhao, our guide on the next tour. This was not realised by me until I got a mail in early September, short before the tour start!
Mrs. Zhao was not able to find out the person in charge of the railway in Yinta because of the strong Shanxi province dialect spoken there. So she had to use CITS Taiyuan for doing this. The man there went to Yinta personally to find out the situation. But he could not find the management of the local line, and even could not find the line while staying in Yinta. So I sent an e-mail with a copy of a detailed Chinese map, Florian's report and so on. Then made the next attempt and went there again. Finally, they found the railway and the manager in charge of it! I was relieved and thought all was clear now. But it wasn't.
Part 4 On the Tour
After I met our tour guide, Zhao Yang, I was informed that the manager of the railway had not been reached in the recent days and that he would be back in his office on October 8th. On October 8th, just a few days before the planned arrival, the manager did not appear in his office. Nobody else could say when the railway will operate next time. Next call October 9th. The manager was not in the office again. No progress in finding out his mobile phone number nor his private number. October 10th: The manager appeared in the office. He said there was no traffic at least from October 1st until today. And he did not know when the next train will run. And a railcar is not ready for hire. And he denied us permission to visit his railway. And, and, and. Really bad news.
Part 5 October 11th, The Day of Our Arrival
With Zhao Yang at the side of our group we decided to go there anyway. She's very good at negotiating. We arrived at 9:30 am. Together with the Taiyuan CITS guide she went to the office of the manager. She carried the book "Tales of Asian Steam" and a book about Chinese steam locos, bought in Daban, with her. She could convince the manager that we are not keen in showing the world how under developed China is, how poor the working and living conditions are and so on. It took her more than one hour before the manager agreed to show us his railway. We were allowed to enter the yard and to take photos there and along the line.
We asked all the questions about the railway we normally do. The manager told us the railway was built from 1982 to 1985 and was opened in 1985. There are three QJ's. The main problem is that maintenance is very difficult because CNR do not allow steam locos to be driven over their network. So they cannot reach the next workshop. On October 11th depot men from Datong CNR locomotive depot which are experienced in repairing QJs were in Yinta. We were told that there is one tunnel on the railway. The length of the tunnel is more than two kilometres, the length of the line is 25 km and there is no station between Yinta and Liuyuantou. And, finally, we had luck. October 11th was the first day in October which saw regular trains!
Furthermore according to the manager: normally there are 4 to 5 days per month the railway is running. When it is running, there are about 5 to 9 return trips, depends on how many wagons are to filled with coal in Liuyuantou. There are only two QJs in use, the third one is for spare. The railway operates at a loss at the moment. We asked how far in advance he would know if the day will be one of the rare days with traffic. Al least one hour in advance, he said. We didn't believe this but he confirmed this several times. The decision is made by the central control of the company (head office in Beijing). He is in charge to keep the railway in running order. Two locomotives have to be always on stand by, staffed and able to start within one hour. So it is easy to understand that the railway is a loss for the company.
There is road access. The road is in poor condition and, caused by many coal trucks on the road, there are often traffic jams. We were told that the road meets the line about six km before Liuyuantou. It would take us more than one hour to go there. There is a road to the mine in Liuyuantou too. Due to the road condition it would take our bus some three hours to go there.
Asked about other access we were told that to get to the tunnel means walking nine kilometres. The tunnel itself is longer than 2 km. We added this and the result was either to walk 22 km to reach the other side of the tunnel or to take the bus to the place were the road crosses the line. After we decided to go by bus a truck driver told us the road was blocked by a traffic jam and he returned empty after a three hours wait.
As I said, this railway isn't easy ... We asked the manager to allow us to travel in a coal wagon as it was the only way to avoid a long, long walk. After ten minutes without decision we decided finally to go by bus on the main road to the first bridge at railway km 1,9 and walk from there. Said - done. Some of us followed the track till the tunnel came in sight - after 4,3 kilometres only! The manager added the way because we had to go the way to the tunnel and back, i.e. 9 km! Florian's information was correct! The manager's information too ...
Part 6 We Got It, Finally
We took the first picture with the empty train to Liuyuantou with QJ 2651 at 11.15 am. The second train followed with QJ 6220 one hour later. At 13.50 the first train came back. We took the picture with the summit tunnel. The loco left the tunnel with open throttle. So we found the summit some 200 metres outside the tunnel at the Yinta side. After this train passed the tunnel five of us followed it. Florian said in his report that the other end of the tunnel was visible. But in our case we couldn't see anything but total darkness. After about 5 minutes walk along the sleepers we noticed a small dark-red light in the distance and guessed we either could see the reflection of an orange warning jacket of a worker or the light of a signal. After about 10 minutes walk we realised that this is the other side of the tunnel. The light was dimmed by the smoke in the tunnel! It took us nearly 30 minutes to pass through the tunnel. About 5.000 sleepers ... On the other side we found a fantastic view over a small gorge, the village, Florian mentioned, and coloured trees. We climbed up the loess mountain at the tunnel's northern side. We did not have to wait very long. The sound of a very hard working QJ became audible at 14.35. Some ten minutes later the train appeared, the QJ hammered uphill with its seven loaded coal wagons. In regular intervals the exhaust became black. It was a real film consumer! Absolutely superb!
After this shot both locos were back in Yinta so we went back through the tunnel. Before we asked some villagers about another way. They recommended using the tunnel because the other way goes over the mountain to Yinta and it would take us far more time using the way. After five minutes walk we had to make a brake. The air in the tunnel was polluted by the steam train. We could not see the northern nor the southern exit of the tunnel! It became better after ten minutes and we walked on. But we had to walk another ten minutes before first the northern and then the southern exit became visible again.
 |
|
Tunnel walkers in the smoke of a QJ. 11.10.2002
|
We were close to the exit when the next train to Liuyuantou passed it. The horn was incredibly loud. With switched-on running gear light the loco passed by and rapidly disappeared. When we reached the exit, the Yinta end of the tunnel was already in shadow. The loaded train returned at 17.30, just after sunset.
Although we got the operation we hoped for, most of the group members were not happy with the line. One day travel from Daban to Yinta and a traffic level much below Jingpeng - this was not the thing they wanted to see.
As it was for sure that there will be no train at the next day we asked for rent a train with seven wagons (the maximum load for a QJ). After a long bargain the manager agreed. But the price: 10.000 Yuan. Unbelievable at a place were a loco driver earns 9.600 Yuan per annum! So we did not reach agreement as any attempt at bargaining about the price failed.
We went off to Ningwu, the last known place with an adequate hotel. It takes you about three hours from Yinta to Ningwu. The road is in places very, very poor. The distance is about 105 km. Unfortunately, the shower of the hotel was broken, no water except the water from the thermos flasks was available.
Part 7 The Special
Thinking about a solution for the next day half the night I decided finally to pay the impertinent price for an extra train. Taiyuan steelworks was no solution because of the long taking permission procedure and the limited time we had.
Zhao Yang called the manager at 6 in the morning. He agreed to operate the train. So we set off for Yinta again. As we arrived, the yard was empty. Only both QJs were shunting without wagons. The manager told us that he did not have coal wagons for our train, a flat wagon only could be offered. I was totally down after this information was given. How to make customers happy who were unlucky with the day before with four trains during daylight? It was a very hard decision for me to hire a "train" with one flat wagon only. We paid 5.000 Yuan and set off at 11.00 am.
Part 8 The Real Information
Even while standing on the platform wagon and be angry about to have no real train I was really impressed by this line (and I've seen quite a lot). About 500 metres beyond Yinta (main station) the Yinta branch line station is situated. This station is located on a 1 ‰ gradient. The first bridge is at km 1,9 and crosses the new road to Baode. After the bridge the line follows the loess valley on the eastern side and changes the side on a bridge at km 3,9. The steepest gradient on this section is 19,6 ‰. The summit is reached at km 4,1, at km 4,3 the tunnel starts. The tunnel is about 2.5 km long. The next bridge at km 8,9 is very scenic and the light is good for the whole day. Here the line changes from the eastern to the western side of the valley. At km 10.0 and 10.1 two other bridges follow before the second, short tunnel is reached. At this tunnel you can clearly read 1990 as construction year. More about this later. Further bridges are at km 12.0, 12.5 and 13.9. Then the two track siding Goushiya is reached at km 14.5 (the station has a gradient of 2.5 ‰). At km 16 the road comes in sight on the eastern side of the valley. It is impossible to walk through the valley from the road to the railway. However, there are side roads. The one and only level crossing here (a dirt track) crosses the railway at km 16.3 (there is another level crossing near Yinta). A large bridge can be found at km 16.9, another large bridge follows at km 19 before smaller bridges are crossed at km 21.4, 22.6 and 23.7. Under the bridge at km 22.6 a paved road passes which branches off the road Yinta - Liuyuantou. At km 25.6 the line terminates in Liuyuantou. The station has three tracks. Beyond this station another viaduct is visible. The track falls from the summit at km 4.1 up to Liuyuantou in gradients between 14 and 20 ‰.
The history of this line (and the explanation of the tunnel building year 1990). It is not totally clear but the main facts are: Yinta - Heqü is part of a large project to exploit the coal resources in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. The first coal line was built between 1982 and 1985 from Zhuangershan to Sancha, the second part of the investment was the line Sancha - Yinta (- Baode), opened around 1986/87. The third part is the line Yinta - Heqü. First trains ran in 1990 or 1991.
The line Zhuangershan - Heqü was one project as it was started in the 1980ies. Several years later (in the mid 1990ies?) the huge Shenhua Group Company bought the main line Zhuangershan - Sancha - Yinta (- Baode) and the coal mine(s). The line Yinta - Heqü was not purchased by the group. Shenhua Group Company only reserved the right to use the Yinta branch. The line still belongs to a local railway office, the staff too.
The line is designed to deliver coal to a power plant in Heqü which is under construction at present. The power plant should be opened in 2005, so the line has to be finished by 2005. Behind Liuyuantou the next station is in Huoshan, about km 35, Heqü is about km 65. The line to Houshan is nearly finished but not in service yet. The purpose of the line is not to bring coal up to Yinta nor to serve the coal mines around Liuyuantou. So it is understandable that the tunnel is in a gradient for loaded trains at the moment, after they finished the line the loaded trains can roll through.
Yinta had an allocation of ten QJs. These QJs ran on the mainline to Sancha until the line was electrified in 1996/97. There were no other types of locomotives in use before the QJs. Yinta has no locoshed nor any reasonable facilities for repairs. It cannot be an easy job to be a craftsmen in the winter ...
All locomotives face south, so the empty trains are pulled tender first, the loaded trains chimney first. So chimney first workings are to the south.
It is not planned to replace the steam locos by diesel. However, after the line is finished it is hard to believe that they will still use steam. They need to purchase additional locomotives once the railway has to serve the power plant. Where would new steam locos come from? On the other hand the steam loco infrastructure, especially the repair facilities are disappearing very rapidly.
Part 9 The End of the Special
We reached Liuyuantou with one stop for photographing the train. As we arrived we asked for rush back to Yinta to stop the train several times on the line for taking pictures. No sign of coupling the wagon on the other end of the loco. Why? The wagon does not have a brake pipe on the other side. In addition the coupling was damaged on the other side. So it was impossible to put the wagon at the rear of the locomotive! Can you imagine what I was thinking? However, the loco crew told us that they use the flat wagon with the two water tanks on it for supplying water to the end of the line for the workers. And since this wagon exists in Yinta it will always stay at the southern end of the locomotive. So we did hire a real train, a construction train! We went back with our pushed wagon and took some nice shots of runpasts. The crew was very good and understood quite quickly what we wanted.
Conclusions
For individual travellers: If you have sufficient time and the patience to wait for a day with operation several days you should definitely not miss this railway. For all the others: forget this line. Although it has outstanding photographic potential and it is a rare experience to see a QJ nearly stalled with seven wagons, you cannot compare it with JiTong for example.
For tour operators: We tried to convince the manager that he should try his best for offering a real train for charter. He told us that he asked in May 2002 (after my initial request) for operate a special train at the head office and was denied to receive foreigners on his railway. Then he tried to involve the local travel agency but he was refused another time. So he was not pleased to see us on his railway. After the first special was a success (you can think about whatever you want, but even the fact that we were allowed to visit the line (after we arrived) is remarkable) it might be easier to organise a train.
You can contact the manager via Mrs. Zhao Yang, e-mail zhaoyang99@hotmail.com.
Although it is known that steam disappeared after the electrification of their line we could see a steam train in the station! There are still two lines without overhead wires. Further investigation is welcome!
