Beipiaonan and on to Yebaishou - Summer Trip to China 1996?
This video: As we move from Beipiaonan to Yebaishou on a back route from Shenyang to Chengde, it is nice to see steam on passenger trains and back-to-back double heading on freights. The effect of the humidity on visibility is clear to see on these rural sequences.
General notes to this series: This rare summer trip to see mainline Chinese steam was not improved by hot, very humid weather after a period of extreme rainfall with extensive flooding. We started at Beipiao which had a number of coal mines and associated railways but apart from one SY, I don't remember finding anything interesting there and anyway, there were still JS and QJ working the branch from Beipiao to Beipiaonan Junction and in all directions from there. We moved on to Yebaishou where lines radiate in 3 directions to Chifeng, Chengde and Shenyang and then on to Chengde for the steelworks branch. I made the trip with Ted Talbot and a new guiding service introduced to us by Japanese enthusiasts called (I think) Liaoning Business Travel. It was run by Mr Fu and he assigned us guide George who eventually moved to Singapore. Mr Fu's friend Mrs Sun (former Jiling CITS, I believe) was also with us at times along with Mr Fu. The trip include Beipiao, Yebaishou and Chengde so there is more to come.
China Steam, Yebaishou 2
Double headed QJs work tender to tender on the line to Chiefing. March 1997
Yebaishou by Night
Picture this - it was a hot and humid August trip to China around 1994. Ted Talbot and I arrived in China after a period of heavy rain and flooding in June and July and the result was very high humidity and poor air clarity throughout and very trying daytime conditions. Ted’s still cameras stayed mainly in the camera bag. I showed the cook in the restaurant how to cook proper chips and made up a tomato kechup from tomato paste and vinegar. This night shot was my best bit of video of the whole trip! We left Yebaishou around 23:00 and before our steam-hauled overnight train to Chengde arrived, these two back-to-back QJs on an engineers’ train with another QJ on the rear set off along with a shunting JS in parallel. Magic! Oh to have the chance to do this again with a current generation video camera.
Chinese Steam, Nanpiao 1
Viewed from beside a noisy road high on a hillside above the mine, an SY 2-8-2 pushes a rake of three spoil wagons towards the tip. Frequent blasts on the air horn and one with the steam whistle warns anybody near the track of its approach. December 2009
Chinese Steam, Nanpiao 2
After a long wait on a cold hillside, the exhaust steam of an SY becomes visible through the morning mist. It soon becomes apparent that all is not as it should be. The increasing rumble confirms the initial suspicions. As the train passes, the offending diesel loco can be seen assisting at the rear. This indicated that the end of steam activity at this once excellent centre was shortly to take place. One less place to visit, but who would have thought that real steam would still be working at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century? Filmed December2009
Chinese Steam, Fuxin 1
Like many industrial locations, Fuxin in Liaoning Provence, NE China is a shadow of its former self with regard to steam activity. However, in December 2009 it was still possible to see a good line up at the stabling point ready for the morning shift. Soon after assembling, the locos depart for duties between the mine and power plant. During our visit we saw twelve different locos in steam. A pleasant surprise in this industrial city is a clear blue, pollution free sky. At about 5:12 note the flag-man on the last wagon. Despite a temperature of about minus 10 degrees C he has no protection from the elements. The strange repetitive voice that can be heard in the background near the end of the clip is a woman selling sweets intoning her sales pitch into a megaphone. December 2009.
Chinese Steam 8 - Baotou Area (2000)
Filmed in November 2000, features Baotou Steelworks, China Rail depots, and the QJ worked Bao-Shen Line including Dongsheng Depot
Chinese Steam 1 - North East (1994)
Filmed in 1994, location include Jalainur, Harbin, Nancha, Shenyang, Anshan, Sujiatun
Chinese Steam 3 - Yebaishou, Chaoyang, Tonghua (1996)
Filmed in 1996, features Yebaishou via Chaoyang Marshalling Yard to Tonghua in the east, where JS 2-8-2s dominate passenger and freight workings
Vanishing World Steam 4 Steamiest Place on Earth - Telerail
Superb steam action from around china at Yebaishou, Xilin, Mulling, Tumen and the famous Jinpeng Pass . For more details please look at
China - Steam & Vintage Electrics everywhere - Baotou Steelworks, 2003
Having the freedom of the massive steelworks of Baotou in China in 2003 was a mind blowing opportunity. SY class 2-8-0 steam locomotives were shunting up and down everywhere and we had to really keep our eyes open to avoid being run over!
The unusual feature of Baotou, though, was its variety of elderly electrics, ranging from what can only be described as powered wagons (or cars for our US friends), through to a class of Bo-Bo's and a larger class of articulated Bo-Bo-Bo's.
Altogether, it was a fascinating day's visit to be remembered for many years.
Recorded (on tape) in March 2003.
China Steam, Baotou area 6
A pair of QJs emerge from the smog near Aobaogou on the Shenmu to Dongsheng line. November 2000.
Jitong Railway 2001 Part 2: Daban
This video documents my one and only visit to the Jitong Railway, Inner Mongolia, China in 2001. It will be launched in several parts over Christmas 2021 - twenty years on from when I originally filmed it! The original footage has been enhanced and upscaled to 4K from 720 SD footage. Look out for further parts as we move from East to West towards the Jingpeng Pass which will be the highlight of this series of videos.
QJ Flood Relief Excursion Oct 19, 2008
On Sunday Oct 19, 2008 the Chinese QJ's pulled a passenger excursion from Rock Island, Il to Iowa City, Iowa to help raise money for flood victims.
Chinese Steam 2009 Baiyin 9
The combination of hazy atmosphere and difficult light causes the camcorder's autofocus to have difficulty locking onto the loco as it negotiates the curves through the bleak landscape of the Loess Mountains on its way to the mine. I hope the sound of the loco working hard makes up for the poor video quality.
Shot from the roadside, the same train the following day races tender first up the valley.
Amid the clutter of an industrial landscape a SY class loco waits at the head of a mine workers' train. After briefly opening the regulator to get the train on the move, the driver lets it drift downhill towards Baiyin.
After a brief station stop, the passenger proceeds on its way whilst an SY backs onto a rake of wagons. After coupling up this train also departs on its way. December 2009
464 202 'Rosnicka' in action in 2006
464.202 was the last steam loco delivered to CSD. It was one of only two prototypes for a batch that was then cancelled. It was preserved as it was in better condition than sister 464.201. They were known as the 464.2 class of locos and were a development of the 464.0 and 464.1 classes of 4-8-4T.
They were also 4-8-4T locos approved for 90 kph running and were tested at up to 105 kph
They were used on express trains on lightweight track. Nicknamed ‘Rosnicka’ meaning tree frog.
464.202 was restored to working order and ran from 1993 - 2009 and was recommissioned again in 2014.
This footage was taken in the Czech Republic in 2006 but I do not have details of exactly where this charter ran nor who organised it. If anyone can supply that information, I’d be pleased to add it.
Sandaoling - From the Pit
Sandaoling Open Cast Pit Coal Railway - views from Kengkouzhan and Baerzhan in the afternoon.
China 2005 Ji Tong line Film 2
Film by J. Martin Warr of two weeks in China on a Rail tour in 2005 organised by the Railway Touring Co.
This third film is the second of two films which visit the iconic Ji Tong line, home to the giant 'QJ' class 2-10-2 locomotives. In addition we visit Daban shed and the locomotive scrap lines and then move to Beijing and the Forbidden City.
Approaching tunnel 6... (HD)
DF8B 0240 approaches tunnel 6 with an empty ballast train... These ballast trains probably now run because the JiTong line is being double-tracked! In a way this sounds like very good news, but it isn't always as positive as you might think, as the modernisation of the line will include a base tunnel under the Jingpeng Pass, and we all know what that means... :-( (Reshui, Inner Mongolia, China, 28/09/2010)
Steam in China 2003 Ji Tong Railway Part 3 Daban Shed
Daban loco depot was probably the very last main line standard gauge steam shed active in the world. A full range of maintenance operations were carried out including refurbishment of QJ class locomotives bought second hand from China National Railway (CNR)