In January 1999 I went to the Ji-Tong Line (also known as the Jing Peng Pass) in Inner Mongolia, PRC. I organized a tour by Mr. Li Weishu . At least it wasn’t as cold at nighttime! I spent 5 days on the pass, with driver Mr. Li (a different Mr. Li) and guide Tina, a.k.a. the ‘Queen of Chifeng’ amongst railfans. During my time here I encountered the coldest temperatures I’ve ever been in, ranging between –20 and –60 degrees centigrade. This place is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to, but it is not the easiest trip to do. The cold alone would be enough to put the average person off, but for photographers I guess the Jing Peng Pass could be called the final frontier. I would love to get the opportunity to travel there again before steam trains disappear from the earth forever (predicted between 3-8 years), although with many commitments, this looks like a goal out of reach at present.

The first few minutes at the pass presented me with a double header QJ class mixed freight train heading towards Jing Peng. The QJ class steam locomotives are massive 2-10-2 coal burners. All of the QJ's that work the Jing Peng pass have 12 wheel tenders. Most of the traffic on the Jing Peng pass serves the coalmines in the area, however a decent amount of the trains are mixed freights also. All of the trains I saw here were steam, no diesels in sight. The closest diesel I saw in fact was a DF4C near Chifeng. I never saw any other steam type in this area apart from QJ's. January 18, 1999 - Inner Mongolia, PRC.

Another Mixed freight headed by QJ 6155 and QJ 6389 January 18, 1999 - Inner Mongolia, PRC.

After 6155 and 6389 went past, the original train started off from the passing loop and we followed it down into Reshui.

After checking into our hotel, I went to a small hill which looks over Reshui viaduct and level crossing and I saw 7143 and 6388 with a mixed freight heading for Jing Peng and beyond...

We chased this train and caught up with it again at the level crossing at San Di. Note the shine on the engines, apparently a rare thing on the Ji-Tong line…

The next and final place we saw this train was at the east side of the Summit where it put on a magnificent show of steam coming up through the cutting. 18th of January 1999.

Here is another train at the Summit heading for Jing Peng. I have somehow got the dates mixed on this one, I believe by memory it was the 18th of January late afternoon. The first loco is 6351, the second I couldn’t make out.

On the morning of the 19th of January after the summit, we headed down to Jing Peng where we saw a double header with a mixed freight pull into the station led by 6639. The atmosphere was brilliant. The trains watered up and many station officials and train staff walked around the train inspecting axle boxes, running gear and other parts I never even knew existed. Tina arranged a cab ride in the lead engine 6639 back to Reshui. This trip was about 40 kilometers/2 hours. When we arrived at Reshui the driver stopped the whole train across the level crossing to let me off while a large queue of traffic patiently waited! This was easily the best 2 hours of the whole trip and words can simply not describe the experience so I’ll let the above photographs do the talking.

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