Telerail crew meet in Schipol for KLM 897 to Beijing

Arrive and meet our excellent guide (Li Weishu). He has arranged a room for us to snooze and relax in the International Hotel before taking train 177 to Baotou at 16.47. Leaving Beijing Bei we spot a couple of SYs at a permanent way depot 1km out of the station, one of which is in steam.

Arrive Baotou at 06.00. Todays temperature is –6 at dawn to +5 at noon to –2 at dusk.

Drive to Houba along the notorious river bed

10.00 passenger to Baotou JS8322

11.00 freight to Shemnui JS8009

12.45 freight to Baotou JS8009, banked by JS8325

13.45 freight to Shemnui JS8006

Drive the rest of the river bed to Baotou Dong

Depot visit – 6 JS in steam and one QJ. One dumped JF in derelict shed

Dong station throat

15.00 to 16.30

QJ6519 to Linhe passenger

JS8001 loop passenger

8 DF4s on freights, 2 DF4s on passenger, DF5 on local trip freight

Temperature –10 at dawn to +2 at noon and –8 at dusk

Day spent on Singing Sands viaduct on Dongsheng line.

45. n.bound QJ

20. s.bound QJ1969 (high deflectors)

20. s.bound QJ

20. n.bound QJ 1891

5. s.bound QJ 6249

50. n.bound QJ6247

20. n.bound QJ6947

5. s.bound QJ1891

Then a 2 hour very bumpy ride to Dongsheng – I don’t care if I never see another coal lorry in my life! Stayed in the Tian Jiao Hotel, which was excellent.

Temperature –15 at dawn to +5 at noon and –5 at dusk

Spent day around Aoubagou station

08.47 QJ6711 & QJ6017 northbound coal

09.48 QJ6473 northbound coal

10.28 QJ3068 southbound light engine (banker)

10.45 QJ6014 southbound passenger

11.30 QJ6246, 6289 & 3068 train of the day, 3000 tonnes of coal thrashing up the grade (northbound) with three QJs, two on the front and one banking!

5 QJs on shed, 4 QJs in maintenance shed (a bit like the Daban shed, must be a standard design). Two QJ shunting sidings at Dongsheng station, one of which was 3068, the banker.

15.40 QJ7044 northbound passenger

Temperature –15 at dawn to 0 at noon to –8 at dusk.

Incidentally all four days around Baotou were in glorious sun.

Again time spent around Aoubagou

07.55 QJ6389 northbound coal hoppers (new wagons)

08.55 QJ1969 northbound coal

09.07 QJ6247 & 6473 southbound coal

09.42 QJ6711 northbound coal

10.49 QJ6948 southbound passenger

11.40 QJ7044, 1891 &3068 northbound coal (3000 tonnes)

13.15 QJ2586 & 6014 northbound coal

14.15 QJ6247 & 3068 northbound coal

15.39 QJ6473 northbound passenger

Then a 3hr 20 minutes suicide drive along the coal, road back to Baotou – not for the faint hearted!

Flight from Baotou to Beijing and then Beijing to Harbin, then overnight train to Jixi, where we arrived at 6am on Saturday 5^th December – knackered!

Sunny, temperature –22 at dawn to –8 at noon.

Sixteen working QJs and 6 DF4s arrived this autumn. QJs seem to be limited to short workings, especially on local coal branches. All through passenger to Dongsheng and Mundanjiang are now diesel.

Saw seven QJs in steam on the depot as well as 5 dumped QJs.

Lixin mine – QJ simmering in pit which acts as the mine pilot tripping once a day to Hangshen.

Hangshen

A sizeable yard for collecting coal from local pits, of which there are several. At least 5 SYs handle this traffic which is then dispatched six or seven times a day from Hangshen to Jixi.

11.30 QJ3243 banked by QJ6118 2000 tonnes of coal storming steep bank out of Hengshan (reminiscent of Nancha bank I’m told)

5. QJ 6147 trip freight Jixi to Hangshen with containers

15.00 SY0804,0038 shunting Hangshen colliery

16.00 QJ6147 shunting Hangshen yard

Very quiet day

09,00 Didao – SY1231 local colliery trip

11,00 Hengshan yard, QJ3243 and SY1369

15. QJ3243 banked by QJ6118 coal to Jixi

30. QJ6147 Jixi to Hengshan

Took 18.18 Jixi to Mundajiang passenger, which arrived in Jixi behind QJ6608 which had brought it from Mishan, but was removed at Jixi and DF4 took us through to Mundanjiang. Passed absolutely no steam on the way but did see a single QJ simmering at Muling. The shed here is supposed to have 6 remaining QJs but we saw no evidence of this as we passed.

Bad day – we were assured by our local guide that an 08.05 arrival at Mundajiang was a QJ turn – we duly set up by the line side to be greeted by a DF4 in its stead – we were then informed that the DF4s had taken over from 1^st December. Worse was to follow. Our visit to the shed at Mundajiang was blocked by the shed manager who said there was no longer any steam to be seen there! Some you win and some you definitely lose – we would say Mundanjiang and Muling are effectively now dead for steam and we therefore moved on earlier than expected to Yabuli for the forestry line.

Weather snowy with weak sun, -20 at dawn to –8 at noon

The forestry railway was waking up for one last season. Deforestation means that logging is limited to a three month period this year. We found three 0-8-0s in steam with seven more in the shed, five of which were steamable. The newest of these was recently overhauled at Caihe workshops and may steam up later in the season.

Then came the next bad news, trains were no due to run until 10^th December! A well chosen incentive to the railway management led to the first train running on 9^th December with it top and tailed to the first summit, 7km out of Yabuli. We were then treated to the banker shunting wood at an intermediate station and doing a few runpasts – all expertly choregraphed by our invaluable guide Li Weishu who stayed on the footplate and gave up his chance to photograph the train (he is a very accomplished railway photographer himself).

We then departed at lunchtime for an in terminable ride from Yabuli to Changchun on the train. We passed freight after freight hauled by DF4s. I counted 26 between Yabuli and Harbin alone! Absolutely no mainline steam seen between Yabuli and Changchun.

One note to mention was the QJ dumping ground seen from the road at Hengdaohezi, between Mundanjiang and Yabuli, here a roundhouse shed has been used to dump over 50 QJs – must have been great when it was all live steam.

3 QJs from the Jinpeng line in for heavy overhaul. One new SY being steam tested (for pit at Hegang, north of Jiamusi). Various dumped JS and QJs and the SY pilot pottering about. In summary, quite simply a shadow of its former self with only 1000 of 6000 employees still in a job and quite likely to close within "2 years".

2 QJ in steam having come in from Baicheng direction

Then 13.05 express to Shenyang – observations en-route were as follows:

Passed no steam as far as Siping where there was a battered old QJ on the depot QJ3103 and another in the northbound yard. Both on freights from Tongliao direction we were told. Siping is itself very busy with large hump yards on both sides of the track south of the station.

Kaiyuan – JS5700, JS8210, JS8203 plus 2 x QJs, presumably used on local branches

Tieling – JS8241, SY1634, another SY, again presumably on local branches

Xinchezi – SY1246, another SY & JS

Shenyang yard – unidentified JS (just outside Shenyang Bei)

Again our ever resourceful guide Li had the help of his mother who met an employee of the Jilin division of China Rail on a train journey and promptly quizzed him about where steam engines were still to be found, "because her son loved trains!" Apparently there are still steam locos allocated to Baicheng, Daian bei and the Jilin – Yangtongshen line.

Morning train from Shenyang Bei to Fuxin

2 QJ in steam in Yuguo yard (massive hump yard about 15km out from Shenyang)

1 QJ on freight on line near Yuguo

Xilintun – QJ6184, QJ3115, JS-unidentified

Changtu – QJ6940 on freight

Xinxou – QJ2240 on freight

Anji – QJ on freight

Met at Fuxin by Gu Manchun, who is a local guide but also a fanatical gricer – he was like a pig in the preverbial upon meeting the three of us and Li. Better was to follow however, as we discovered that we had been invited to a formal dinner with the head of the local tourist buearuea and the Vice President of the People’s government of Fuxin County. Why you may ask ? Well, we were the first western group to be allowed into Fuxin roundhouse because the tourist agency and the local mining company have decided to start running steam gala’s!

More of this later. We were whisked off the station and off to a location to phot QJ7116 on the afternoon express from Jinzhou. It hammered past at 60 mph and was a magnificent sight. Then a specially laid on top and tail of SYs on a colliery train to Dongling pit. Then rushed off to the shed for a cornucopia of steam. Fuxin has 46QJs, 7JSs and 16 DF4s allocated. The DF4s are new arrivals, but steam is still the mainstay here. Then dinner and a formal meeting with the government and colliery owners – their system runs separate to China rail and covers 147kms and owns 30 SYs and 6QJs. Not only does it serve the local collieries but also runs a suburban passenger service.

For those who wish to obtain details of the various activities in Fuxin, I would suggest Li Weishu as the first port of call. Gu can be reached directly at:

45 Zhonghua Road,

Fuxin,

Liaoning, PC123000

– sadly he speaks only Chinese and Japanese though so it is probably best to go through Li Weishu.

Dongling branch junction (08.00 – 08.30)

SY1210 – Dongling colliery branch

QJ – express freight mainline

West end Fuxin yard (09.00 – 10.00)

8235 – local colliery trip near Fuxin yard

QJ6382 – shunting Fuxin yard

QJ – freight from Fuxin yard

QJ2240 – Fuxin to Xinxou

QJ6489 – departure from Fuxin yard

Bridge 30km west of Fuxin (11.00 – 12.00)

QJ7116 Fuxin-Jinzhou

QJ6479 light

QJ6655, eastbound coal empties (48 bogies)

Xinxou (13.30 – 14.30)

SY passenger

SY coal from opencast

SY passenger

At the moment there is steam everywhere in the area! The scenery may not equal Jinpeng or even Dongsheng, but Fuxin makes a great 2-3 day add on for those already planning a visit to Jinpeng or Baotou. Contact Li Weishu before the next batch of DFs arrive at Fuxin depot.

The afternoon ended with a four and a half hour drive to Shenyang airport, complicated by ice on the road and horrendous traffic near Shenyang. After a quick flight to Beijing we cleaned up in the International Hotel before returning to the UK with KLM. All in all 30 rolls of 35mm exposed, and a most excellent trip. Mundanjiang was the biggest disappointment but Baotou, Dongsheng, Jixi, Yabuli and Fuxin were all great. I think there will be enough for just one more trip next year!