Updated 22 June 2011 to include details of DVD
I've produced a DVD of this trip and also of the many other trips I've made to China from the 1990s to date. Click here to see the list of all my China DVDs.
The double DVD of
my February-March visit to Shibanxi is now available for £18 plus postage. Click to send me an email to order this DVD.
Click here to see the list of all my China DVDs.
Here are the accompanying notes for this DVD.
Here is a YouTube clip from the beginning of the Early & Late section of the DVD.
Below is the original blog of the trip written while I was there.
8 March
Early morning coal train ahead of the first train and then 4 tourist (mainly 4 coach) special trains between the 2nd and 4th train. It was International Women's Day was the explanation. Locos 7, 9, 10 handled all these trains. We had rain in the evening last night and that gave us an excellent sunny day to start our trip. It's rained again this evening so we have high hopes for tomorrow. Today we transferred from Sanjing to Bagou and spend the rest of the day lineside between Bagou and Huangcunjing. Tomorrow, we take the first train to Mifeng (or Caiziba if there is a coal train to phot) and will slowly walk back to Bagou. The group are happy with the first day's results. Let's hope we can keep this up.
10 March
The rain hardly stopped yesterday and today is cloudy and cold. Another day of this is forecast. Yesterday, we had 7, 9 & 10 at work with 2 coal trains and 1 tourist train. Today we visited the loco depot/works at Shibanxi and 10 was there with its rods off for a quick repair with No. 8 behind in light steam (this is a former Pengzhou loco with roller bearings and still with its extended front buffer beam). No. 14 came out to replace No. 10 (a new loco on this trip) and worked the 3rd passenger train. The other loco ex-Pengzhou is a longer term restoration project - work is going on slowly on ZM16-4 No. 72. When complete, it will be renumbered in the Jiayang number sequence possibly with one of the lower numbers not being used. There were 4 coal trains today and no tourist trains.
11 March
Today we took the first train from Bagou to Caiziba and got a combined tourist/coal train with a run past arranged for local tourists.
Later we walked back to Bagou and saw two other tourist trains as well as the regular passengers trains. Weather improving but still not brilliant.
12 March
We move down to Sanjing today and I probably won't be able to update this blog until the end of the trip as the hotel there offers no way to connect to the internet. Being a Saturday in the flower season, we expect perhaps 4 tourist trains today in addition to the passenger trains but any coal trains are likely to be limited to before the first passenger (virtually all in the dark). The railway normally uses 3 steam and 1 electric on the line on a busy day. We have seen C2 Nos. 7, 9, 10 and 14 in action so far but I am still hoping that ex-Pengzhou loco No. 8 which was in steam on shed will make some trips before we leave. It retains its extended buffer beam and is also distinctive because it has roller bearings on its con rods.
13 - 15 March
The railway ran 6 tourist trains on Sunday including our first sight of No. 8. The first trip it ran, we heard it (it has a distinctive higher pitched whistle) but it was on a short tourist shuttle to Mifeng only. As we were standing above Mifeng, we missed it as it slipped back down the hill. In the afternoon, we were ready for it and waited at Mifeng to see it make its second trip. Since then, it has been used on coal trains along the full length of the line.
No. 8 takes coal at Sanjing on 16 March just before we left for Shawan.
15 - 16 March
Some of the group went to Mojiang. They reported success without being hassled by security staff but tried to stay inconspicuous (not easy for a westerner in China). On the 16th, I took the rest of the group over to Shawan and they also managed a quick visit to Mojiang without problems. Various members of the group had to leave early to get their flights on from Chengdu. The remnants of the group had a last night in Shawan before heading for the airport and home.
Zebedee and I were kept busy on the trip so this report is fairly minimal but the group got on well together and the trip was voted a success. I'll try for a repeat trip next March.
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