Chinese Railways
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Updated: April 2008
You are looking at Hans Schaefer's web site.
Contact me by
clicking here.
Updated: April 2008
This page is about the railways in China. There are these main areas
of information:
Following the dates for the last CNR steam locos:
increases traffic enormously. The New Year's Day
for the next years are listed below. The weeks starting May 1 and
October 1, Chinas national day, are also very busy.
Click here for the overview and links
page
with Jitong line information.
There is a coal mining area with some 23 JS plus a few SY near Liushuquan, km 1390 at the Lanzhou - Urumqi line). This is also known as the Sandaoling Coal Railway or "Hami Coal Mine. Large mountains provide a scenic background for pictures of the line. The description of the line is as follows:
The connection with the CNR is at Lishuquan. From Lishuquan there is a 36 km "main line" to Nanquan which works on a 24 hour per day basis using 4 of the JS.
From Nanquan lines go to 5 mines. The line from Nanquan to the
Nanquan Open Coal Mine is 13km, the line to Beiquan Coal Mine goes 5 km
to the north of Nanquan, the line to No. 1 Coal Mine goes 8km northeast
of Nanquan, and the line to the South Station and Coal Yard mines goes
7 km southeast from Nanquan. (This would make total length of lines
about 70km.)
The area is closed for tourists, therefore guide assistance is
necessary. A good guide, used by Japanese in Dec 2004 is Mr Wang
GuaJun, who speaks Japanese and English. wanggj0306@hotmail.com, phone
(as characters) PRPXSRUTVWU.
Link to a trip
report with pictures, from january 2008.
The steelworks used a fleet
of SYs in its operation until 2003.
There are two coal mine railway systems around Chifeng. Pingzhuang system: 11 SY + 3 JS including JS 1001 in steam plus KD6 487 dumped. Trip report in January 2008. In addition an electric system in an open cast mine. No access problem. Plenty of action. Steam on track laying trains, to China Rail and to deep mines. More info about this.
Yuanbaoshan. 20 to 60 mins drive from Chifeng, depending
on traffic levels. Up to 2 active JS, most with full deflectors, one
with
high, one with none. Mixed passenger train with 6 coaches twice a day.
Typically 5 engines in steam. The line serves 3 deep mines, a cement
factory
and two CNR connections at both ends of line. One of the western
branches is very
steeply graded. Steam traction was mostly replaced by diesel in
2006.
Steam is still very active in this large open pit mine in 2006, with
lots of SY both down in the pit and above. Access is granted easily if
you report to the mine office first. Steam is important as the low
winter temperatures mean trouble with freezing diesel.
Here is a report with many pictures from end of 2005, in Dutch. Trip
report form January 2008.
Here
is a trip report from spring 2008.
More trip reports at QJ-Country
This is far west in Inner Mongolia! 387 km west of Baotou. This branch line was served by the last China Rail QJs from Linhe depot until June 2003, and a few JS were shunting at collieries and the stations of Wuhai Xi and Jilantai until end of 2002 (the colliery lines at Wuyhai Xi being a local railway). Schedules were unpredictable. In the best case 3-4 train per day. The line is spectacular, even with diesel traction, with 17 per thousand inclines, and going through some real desert with sand dunes.
The pages about this railway have been removed from the web. If you need info, send me a mail.
This line was opened in the early 1990s and was then completely QJ operated. It belongs to the private Shenhua company. Its main purpose is transport of coal from the coalfields near Shenmu to Baotou. The depot is at Dongsheng. They used to have about 22 QJ, bought second hand from China Railways, most of them from the Linfen area. This railway seemed to just use up their engines and scrap them. New engines came all the time. However, in 2000 the first diesel locomotives arrived and in June 2002 steam was finished.
Baotou Xi had about 40 steam engines in autumn 1996, and Baotou Dong some 20. The Baotou Xi based QJ hauled freight towards Huhehaote until early 1997 and towards Linhe and Shizuishan until 1996. Baotou Dong kept about 20 JS and 5 QJ in service until early 2001. Their service was the Baotou ring line passenger trains, some trip freights, shunting at different stations in the Baotou area, and passenger and freight towards Shiguai. The passenger trains and the Shiguai line gave some hard work. The QJ were mostly used for shunting.
Baotou steelworks also has a large fleet of steam locomotives (types YJ, SY, JS), but the first diesel engines arrived in already in 1996. Some other factories around Baotou, as well as the mines at Shiguai, also have either SY or JS. Steam is still in use in 2006!
The Baotou suburban trains have been DF4 hauled since the end of 2000! The Baotou to Shiguai Traffic was taken over by DF5 in April 2001. This means: the only steam left after 2001 is Baotou steelworks and a few other factories.
In spring 2002, there was still at least one JS in use at the steel works, as well as several SY. In spring 2004, the following locomotives were seen in the works:
Dieselisation is going step by step and will be finished in about 2008.
There is open access to the slag tip which is near Baotou Xi station and depot. The SY work freights into the steel works from Baotou Xi freight yard, and the incline towards the steel works from here is very hard.
Baotou has been a closed Area until the mid 90s, probably because
nuclear and other strategic research activities are located here.
Steam finished in this area at the end of year 2001. Yebaishou based QJ served long distance passenger trains until mid 1997, the local passenger service from Chaoyang to Beipiao until 2001, and freight trains until the end, on the lines towards Fuxin, Lingyuan and Chifeng. JS used to shunt at Yebaishou and Pingzhuang Nan. The link for descriptions of this area as well information about the last year of steam operation is: http://www.nordling.nu/schaefer/yebaishou/index.html
China rail steam finished in this area at the end of year 2001. Fuxin based QJ served the line to Shenyang until 1998, later they still served freight trains on the lines to Jinzhou, Beipiao and Yebaishou. Especially the line towards Yebaishou contained spectacular uplopes. JS engines used to shunt at Fuxin. The link for descriptions of this area as well information about the last year of steam operation is: http://www.qj-country.de. Some steam operation in the coal mines at and near Fuxin remains with locomotives class SY. Fuxin depot overhauls QJ engines for Jitong railways, even in 2004.
Steam finished in this area at the end of 2001. QJ used to
haul freight here. The first DF4 in freight service came in 1998. Link for descriptions of this area as
well information about the last year of steam operation.
Building projects, new technology, new lines etc.
China Rail normally updates the timetable twice a year. A major update is typically on October 21, a minor one in April. Major new services and train accelerations are from that date on.
Bachmann has models of several QJ, SY, DF4B, DF4D, DF8B, DF11, SS1, as well as cars and bridges and is constantly issuing more. http://www.bachmanntrains.com
http://www.modelrailway.com.hk/china_trains.htm
Bachmann China (in Chinese).
The model shop in Beijing:
Yinke Model Shop or ECHO model shop, e-mail address yktdmx@263.net, Telephone 010 - 82612930, 010 - 82616577, 010 - 82616569
To get there, go to Xizhimen Subway station in northwest of Beijing. Go out "D" exit. Turn right, walk for 350 meters, go down into pedestrian underpass, come up other side of street, continue in same direction you were going before (west) for 200 meters, you will come to 732 bus stop. Take this bus, it is about 25 minutes in midday traffic. Sit on the right side and you will see two shops side-by-side, the Leishen Model and Toy shop with blue sign, and Echo Train shop in smaller lettering on a red sign.
If taking a car, it is quite close to a place called Bao Fu Si Nan. The bus crawls, the car could probably do it in half the time.
Apparently they have a new service there. For Y750, you can bring in photographs of your favorite Chinese locomotive and they will detail one for you to look like the original. This service takes about two weeks.
Besides Chinese locomotives, they have an extensive German locomotive and rolling stock collection, many British pieces, and a lot of American models in HO. They also have some very large scale models.
There are also shops in the shopping centers called YAN SHA, SAI TE, NEW CHINA.
The probably simplest way to purchase Bachmann and Lilliput products is to go the department store of the Lufthansa centre, in Chaoyang district, and to go to the toy department. They have the whole range of products of US, British, German, Swiss and of course Chinese railways produced in China under the Bachmann or Lilliput brands. Most of these are HO scale, they also have some N gauge. The staff is quite helpful, and you can pay with a credit card or Chinese bank cards.
The address of the Lufthansa center:
Beijing Lufthansa Center , 50 Liangmaqiao Rd., Chaoyang District,
100016
Beijing. (Actually, it is the junction of that road with the 3rd ring
road, in
the NE part of the town, 500 meters before the highway to the airport).
It is a big commercial centre quite well known in Beijing where, in
addition
to Lufthansa (and other airlines) offices, there is a Kempinski Hotel,
a New Friendship store (it is called Yansha Shangdian in Chinese), and
the Hard Rock Cafe. There is no metro in that part of the town, but
several bus lines. Taxi 10 Yuan from Dongzhimen.
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He has a website entitled A Gricer's Guide to China's Railways. The idea is to provide information on the Chinese railway scene which isn't easily accessible elsewhere. There are two articles covering the Chinese Locomotive Numbering system and Chinese Steam Locomotive Classes.
Number of visitors since Dec 19, 2000:
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