trip-report_south-2002

No change. The railway is still working. Due to repairs at the cement factory in Baihe, traffic was stopped in late October and early November. The system has purchased new locomotives numbered 005 and 066. It is not known were they came from. From the old stock only 2816, the Chrzanów built C2 survived. Diesel locos seen were 1503 and 1509.

Jiyuan narrow gauge railway

The railway was built in 1960 according to local people and in 1964 according to the locomotive staff. It runs from the coal fields north of Kejing via Jiyuan and Qinyang to Wenxian. Due to the construction of paved roads in the early 1990s the passenger service ceased in 1994. Also the branch line to Menxian was closed down, although the track is still in place. Traffic levels ran down from more than four pairs of trains per day to only on pair per day. Even this single train sometimes does not run. Around public holidays you should not visit this line, the risk of a failure is too high.

main line		branch line
station	km	station	km
Meikuang (coal mine)	11
Kejing	9
Kongshan	6
Huanzhuang
Bianzhu	0
Jiyuan	0,5
Miaodan	8
Lilin	13	Lilin	13
Boxiang	19	Guangzhuang	17
Shuinichang	24	Yieqiang	21,5
Shibali	(28)	Gudan	27
Zhongwang	26	Tianzhang	32
Qinyang	33	Shuinichang
Miaomen	37	Menxian	37
Mulou	42
Fantian	45
Yanglei	49
Guxian	54
Wenxian	61

In the late 1990s the last part from Kejing to the coal loading point at the coal mine was closed. Nowadays the coal is delivered by truck to Kejing. The former passenger station in Kejing has already disappeared under asphalt, only the three track layout freight station is still in use.

Between Kejing and Kongshan a short branch leads into the cement factories to the east, called Huangzhuang.

Bianzhu is in Jiyuan, here is the shunting yard, the workshop, a triangle to turn the locos and the administration of the railway. The former passenger station at Jiyuan was still visible late in 2000 but had disappeared in 2002.

The landscape is flat and uninteresting. The most interesting photo spots of the railway besides the vegetable market at Kejing is the run through the city of Jiyuan. It is a clean city compared with others in this region. Another nice spot is the turntable in Wenxian.

There is one man on the railway who will kick you out of the yard and shed area. Even a Chinese railway enthusiast from Beijing was refused permission to take pictures in the station. Once you have left the yard area you have no problems although many taxi drivers and even CITS guides want to avoid your taking pictures in the city. However, policemen we found had no objections to making pictures in the city and one we met even went to the station to ask for the schedule of the train. The reason the CITS guide was told was that the timetable is a secret!

It is hard to believe that this system operates profitably. Every visitor in the recent five years found the system running on its last legs. It is impossible to guess how long the railway can stand the competition with the road traffic. There is good road access to all main places, Kejing coalfields, Jiyuan, Qinyang and Wenxian. Minor roads lead to all the villages along the railway track. By Chinese standards the region is developed, has many industries, minerals and a good infrastructure. Considering this, every new day which sees a steam train running through Jiyuan is like a miracle.

Pingdingshan Coal Mine System

You need a good, experienced guide to find out the situation of the freight trains on this system. A good place to ask for trains on the northern line to Shisankuang (mine 13) seems to be Bakuang (mine 8) control desk (not at the platform, use the pedestrian bridge to reach the control box). For asking for trains to the mines 5, 7 and 9 you should go to the big shunting yard Tianzhuang east of the loco shed. The guards at the level crossings are not reliable sources for questions about freight trains.

Access to the loco shed was easier than expected. Our guide was too tired to lead us there. So we arrived by taxi at 10 pm. The gate was closed. We asked the staff whether it was possible to take some night pictures of steam locomotives in their depot. The guard made a short telephone call, opened the door and asked us how long we would stay. Than he said we should be careful while walking in the dark ... We took some interesting shots of a boiler washout in the house. The area in front of the house was too dark to take photos.

In the shed we found: QJ 6650 and 6813 under steam, SY 1209 heavy overhaul, SY 1687 cold, JS 6253 boiler wash out, JS 6429 under steam.

Pengzhou narrow gauge railway

The line was built in 1962. Main reason of the construction were the coal mines north-west of Pengzhou and the lime stone around Baishuihe. Both, coal and limestone was delivered to the cement factories in Tongji, near Guankou, in Pengzhou.

A branch line from Guangkou to Miaoping coal mine was opened in 1978. Due to the bankruptcy of the coal mine in 1998 this very scenic line was closed in 1998. One still can find the remains of the line as cuttings, embankments and bridges.

In 1997 a flood destroyed major parts of the line to Baishuihe. Because the road was not improved at that time (nowadays there is a new toll road all the way from Pengzhou to Baishuihe, opened in 2001), the line was rebuilt. The competition between the trucks and the railway is a good reason to visit this line as soon as possible. Although there are plans for introducing a tourist train for several years, no efforts were made until now to set up a train integrated tourist program. In 2002 the only remaining service is the twice a day mixed passenger train and a single pair of freight trains. In 2000 there were still three pairs of freights a day.

According to the management of the railway it is far cheaper to use steam locomotives instead of diesel. However, a diesel can haul more load than a C2-steam loco, so diesels are often used for heavier trains.

Normally the mixed is steam, shunting in Pengzhou and the freight train are diesel.

Forecasts for the future of this system are very difficult. Judging from other systems it's only a question of time before the railway will lose the competition with the road.

Mojiang (Caoba) narrow gauge railway

beware of this man - he's not your friend

The Mojiang Coal Mine operates an electrified 762 mm gauge railway. It is situated near the city of Shawan, about 30 km south-west of Leshan in the Sichuan province.

The line starts in Caoba. Here are the shunting yard, the loco shed and the passenger station. Only about 100 metres from the station, the tunnel Jiedankou has to be passed. The station behind the tunnel is called Suidaokou. Here the line splits off in two branches. The right hand line is 6 km in total and leads to Laokuang, the left hand line is 15 km long and terminates in Guashan.

There are many passenger trains beside the usual coal trains. The passengers leave Caoba at 6.00, 7.00, 9.00, 10.30, 12.10, 13.10, 15.30, 16.00, 17.00, 20.10, 20.30 and 23.20 hrs. There are other goods than coal to transport, too. We saw several wagons loaded with brick stones, produced in Caoba.

They have five 0-4-0 locomotives class ZL14-3, numbered 1 - 5 and two railcars, numbered 6 and 7. The passenger stock is well worth mentioning. They have two kinds of passenger carriages. Both are 4 wheel cars without any seats! Most of the wagons do not even have a handrail or handle to hold on during the journey. The more "comfortable" type has a roof and a floor side walls, the basic ones have only girders as side walls. Doors or windows are unknown. It would be great to go with these little trains, unfortunately the local police, once aware of you, will kick you off immediately and prohibit taking pictures at the station. So the only way to make lineside shots is to go through the tunnel and enter the train at the station there. In 2001 it was possible to get an official permit for visiting the railway on a FarRail group journey. However, in 2002 the railway agreed to visit their line again, but the police denied access to the station and a train ride.

Jiayang (Shibanxi) narrow gauge railway

In line with my recent reports we found no significant change. Some of the passenger carriages have been equipped recently with a stand for mounting overhead wires. Doesn't looks so good ...

Nice railway, but with a racist price system. Every foreigner (i. e. every body with another religion???) has to pay 30 Yuan instead of the normal ticket price of some 2.50 Yuan.

I will publish a summery of this railway with some (unpublished) historical dates later.

Weiyuan Coal Mine Railway (Huangjinggou)

Huangjinggou is located about 50 north-west of Zigong in the Sichuan province. The local police as well as the railway management prohibit any access to the station, the loading point and the loco shed. Very little is known about the line.

The line starts at Huangjinggou, where the mine, the administration, the yard and the depot can be found. First the line passes the main street of Huangjinggou just after leaving the fenced yard. Then it decends to the first unloading point at a factory in Shuanghekou. Beyond Shuanghekou a nice curved viaduct is crossed. About five kilometres further the terminate in Gaoshi is reached. This place is called Jihe too. Here is a second unloading point. Thanks to the self-discharging wagons, the unloading process takes less then ten minutes. The coal goes into an underground bunker and is then transported by belts to the power station nearby.

The rolling stock consists of self-discharging four wheelers (hand braked) and about four steam locos of the well known C2 class. It seems that only two C2 are in use at one time.

Traffic has declined to the lowest possible level. Normally one can expect one train leaving Huangjinggou at 7.30 am, reaching Gaoshi at about 8.00 am. After ten minutes, the empty train starts to climb up to Huangjinggou, arriving at 8.40 am. If you are lucky, a second train will leave Huangjinggou at about 9.00 am and return around 10.10 am. Sometimes no train will run.

The mine in Huangjinggou seems to be one of the older ones. I was told that the line was opened in 1940 under British control. This has not yet been confirmed. By the late 1990s the old mine had nearly run out of coal, so a new mine nearby was opened up, for which a new road was built, so today, most of the coal for the power plant comes from the new mine by trucks. However, the Shibanxi management asked to buy two locomotives from Huangjinggou but was denied. This was in 2001 and so gives a little hope for the survival of the line at Huangjinggou.

The line has good photographic potential. First, the bridge near Shuanghekou has to be mentioned. But there are several more good spots with mountains in the background, rocks beside the line and, last but least, the run along the main road in Huangjinggou. There you will normally find a colourful market place. The train staff is kind as ever in southern China, but please remember that the local police are not your friends (especially here). The area is not restricted to foreigners. However, no official likes the idea of letting you see an underdeveloped part of China. What you do not photograph does not exist ... in their mind.

Datong Coal Railway

depot in Ginjiyan The official name of the group who works the railway to Ginjiyan and Baiyan is "Song Zao Huangwuyü Yunxiaochu". Please forgive me if I remain by the wrong name Datong Coal Railway, this is much easier for me.

According to my initial report in 1999, my second 2001 report and Rob Dickinson's amendments there is not much to add about the system. It is still a 100 % SY-worked railway with a management which warmly welcomes foreign visitors. The line is as spectacular as before. However, there are some facts I didn't mention in my former reports. In addition, there are still some unclear comments of the local people about the history of this railway. This time I again asked all possible people who are related with the railway. According to a reliable source I can report some new facts.

The line was planned as a narrow gauge line. This narrow gauge project was a child of the "Great Leap Forward" The narrow gauge track were intended to reach an ore mine south of Datong in the mountains. The line was planned as a spectacular mountain railway. Construction started probably in 1957/1958. You have to look twice, if you want to find some signs of this narrow gauge line. However, it is possible. Firstly there are some good maps who show the layout of the planned line. Even in the railway station of Ganshui you can find the planned narrow gauge railway on the map on the wall of the waiting room.

In Ganshui, the narrow gauge track should lead through the main road. It is not for sure, but there is an iron girder bridge just beside the actual railway bridge. This bridge was said to be an old road bridge. However, the old road bridge, an old man told me, is the still-used stone bridge about 100 further to the east. The iron bridge seems to be large for a narrow gauge railway but too small for a road. Maybe, after the cancellation of the narrow gauge project, the bridge was used by pedestrians and light road vehicles. Today, the iron girder bridge ends in a house. At the northern end of the bridge a concrete wall blocks access. In the rocks ahead the bridge you'll find the broken works to give space for a curve to the railway. This is not certain but it seems likely.

Further on you find a dirt road of the probably former narrow gauge embankment between the river and the standard gauge railway. The tunnels, crossed by the railway today, weren't in place in 1957/58. The narrow gauge railway was planned to curve around the hills. You can see clearly the way around the tunnels. This especially because the first standard gauge railway didn't have these tunnel too. Behind Maliutan there are both tracks in use, the new with tunnels and the old one without so many tunnels. However, the narrow gauge project didn't use the trackbed of the old standard gauge railway to Xiaoyütuo because it had to ascend very steeply. Behind Maliutan, the planned narrow gauge became a real mountain railway which was without doubt more exciting than the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway or other projects of this style. If you watch the area carefully, you may find a tunnel from the narrow gauge project. This tunnel is visible about 100 metres above the tunnel No. 9 of the standard gauge railway. The line had to come out of the tunnel at right angles to the rock wall on a spectacular, very high bridge to curve back to the rock and go along the gorge about 200 metres above the river. It was planned to lead the narrow gauge railway through the streets of Datong, some 100 metres above the described spectacular tunnel. The tunnel was confirmed to be one of the several tunnels of the narrow gauge railway. However, the line was never finished. Before they began to lay the track engineers from Chongqing found out that the line had gradients which were too steep. So the project was put on ice and cancelled later. What a lot of work for nothing!

The standard gauge railway was built after the narrow gauge project was cancelled. But it was not built as you see the railway now. The line used the first kilometre of the already existing standard gauge railway to Guiyang and branched off to cross the river over one of these standard concrete bridges. Behind the bridge, which is used as a pedestrian bridge today, a tunnel followed to reach the river branch. Further to Maliutan, the line curves around every hill along the river. Maliutan was at kilometre 10.5. Behind, the old line is still existent. It always stays near the river bed and reached the ore and coal mine in Xiaoyütuo 4.5 km further.

tunnel inscription with two different km marks: old: 17,567 km; new: 14,770 km

This line was built with the help of Chongqing's General Steelworks. First commercial trains ran in 1960. Because this line is almost flat, it might be possible that here the narrow gauge was in use for some months before this. It would have made sense to use the narrow gauge railway for construction works as well as to transport ore. Although this guess was denied by one person, I'm still not sure about the situation in the late 1950s. Maybe later visitors can clarify it. The railway to Xiaoyütuo is owned by Chongqing General Steelworks.

However, the newly built standard gauge railway was not the end of railway construction south of Ganshui. In 1969/1970 the line was extended to exploit the coal fields around Ginjiyan which is situated about 300 to 400 metres below Datong in the valley. To reach Ginjiyan severe civil engineering work was necessary. Ten years after the failure with the narrow gauge railway nobody wanted to take responsibility for another failure in this difficult mountain area. In case of it, the line consequently follows the river. The river is crossed behind Maliutan near Tutai. Shortly after, the first long tunnel follows (see tunnel list). Ginjiyan is reached at km 17.7 (new kilometres - see below).

After the line was put into service, there was competition between the Chongqing Steelworks owned Xiaoyütuo line and the Datong coal mine owned line. The reason is not clear, but two years later, in 1972, they began to rebuild the lower section of the line. So the new line branches off in Ganshui passenger station, not one kilometre behind. The relatively new bridge over the river (some 12 years old) and the tunnel behind were replaced by a new, larger bridge and a first, 713 metres long tunnel. Behind this tunnel another big bridge was necessary before the new line reached the old one. Now, the mine railways no longer had to use the government railways. Only the part between the passenger station and the freight station in Ganshui remains in use for both, the government owned and the industry owned railways.

A year later, in 1973, the line lost its curves by opening another four new tunnels. Because of the realignment, the line became 2.797 kilometres shorter. Maliutan is now at kilometre 8 and the line got new kilometre stones.

It is not certain when the extension Ginjiyan - Baiyan was opened. It seems, that the line to Baiyan, which follows up the river, was built without tunnels in 1970. In 1982 the line was probably reconstructed using a new tunnel. This would make clear why there are two kilometre stones in Baiyan: 23 and 25.5.

tunnel number/ station/bridge	length	built in	km
Ganshui freight terminal			0.0
Ganshui passenger station
bridge
1	713 m	1972
bridge			2.5
2	470 m	1973
3	100 m	1973
4	375 m	1972
5	263 m	1973
Maliutan			8.3
6	547 m	1970
7	340 m	1970
bridge
8	1,197 m	1970
9	2,047 m	1970	14.77 (southern end)
bridge
bridge
10	1,382 m	1970
Ginjiyan			18
11	680 m	1982
Baiyan			23

The tunnels are the reason why all locomotives face north. So on the uphill run the chimney is always behind the cab.

Permitted loads are 400 tons uphill and 2,400 tons downhill. Due to the lack of free tracks in Ganshui sometimes double-sized trains will run. If you're lucky, you can see a banking locomotive in this case.

		Station
07.00	11.41	Pengzhou	14.20	18.21
09.29	10.00	Baishuihe	15.59	16.40

Central & Southern China, November 2002

Tang Xian narrow gauge railway