Pictures by Robert Krone and Bernd Seiler
Survey
Although we missed what was probably the last regular steam train over the pass by only one day, the tour was successful. We got all five remaining types of steam locomotives in China, we had only half a day of not so good weather and got lots of reasonably good or very good shots. To summarise you can say that China is running out of steam. Everywhere they could give us the dates of planned dieselisation.
On the way from Beijing to Dahuichang (no change, no. 1 and 3 were working) you can easily drop by the February 7th Wagon Works. To enter all you need to do is to pay the official visitors fee of 200 Yuan which is far much too much for a shunting operation with some ordinary SYs. Even after you have paid for the permit you are not permitted to look around, only a small part of the works is open to foreign visitors. This is at the depot. If you want to avoid to pay this amount of money you may take some shots at one of the level crossings. It's possible for a while – until one of the security guards kicks you out.
The works owns three steam locomotives:
The JF seems to be one of the oldest working standard gauge locomotives of China. It was built in December 1956. Last overhaul was November 2003. They will not send it to the repair shop (Sujiatun near Shenyang) again. Their plan is to take the loco out of service in November 2005. In spring 2006 they will buy their first diesel locomotive. Dieselisation should be finished by 2007.
The system was very busy, in service we found:
The passenger timetable is as follows (mixed trains):
|
Station
|
||||||
| 07.00 | 14.00 | 22.30 |
Yuanbaoshan
|
11.00 | 18.00 | 02.30 |
| 07.30 | 14.30 | 23.00 |
Fengshuigou
|
10.30 | 17.30 | 02.00 |
The 17.30-train is scheduled at 17.40, but we saw its departure at 17.30.
The management have decided to purchase the first diesel at the beginning of 2006. They'll complete the dieselisation by 2007.
Regular steam operation on the section Daban – Haoluku and Baiqi – Haoluku came to an end March 15th. After this date they still used to use steam as spare. As four of Daban's diesels failed in the middle of March 2005 they used steam for some of the trains over the pass until March 27th. Also Baiqi had to send their steam locos sometimes to Haoluku. But by the end of March 2005, there were no steam trains any more on both sections. Until mid-April there is still a chance to see steam, but this is not very likely.
Once again, I improved my map of the (90 %) steam section Daban - Chabuga:
Daban per March 31st: 36 QJ left.
To get the railway back into the profit zone after dieselisation they changed the operating system. In the future they'll run the diesels through from Daban to Baiqi. Only the second locomotive will return from Haoluku. The second engine is necessary on the sections Linxi – Shangdian, Jingpeng – Haoluku (westbound) and Jingpeng – Shangdian (eastbound). So Haoluku will lose its function as a sub-shed of Daban.
By March 30th, five diesels were running through Daban - Baiqi:
Baiqi based:
Daban based
From April 1st a sixth diesel loco was scheduled to run through Daban - Baiqi.
Mr. Wang is the General Manager of the JiTong line. He replaced Mr. Bai in the General Manager's chair one and a half years ago. All the decisions, regarding the dieselisation of the line are basically made by him. He'll dieselise the full line as soon as possible. However, the money for new diesels is not available at the moment, bank credits are not in sight. This is the only reason why we have a last chance to see steam.
While trying to get a Plandampf over the pass we also called Mr. Wang. He said steam on the section Daban - Chabuga will last at least until end of 2005 (he didn't mention the month November). According to Mr. Wang the last steam trains after March 15th only caused by lack of diesels. Four DF4 failed, so they had to use steam. The last steam train was said to be on March 27th. After "mid April" no steam loco should run on the section Daban - Haoluku - Baiqi any more. The service staff of Linxi, Jingpeng and Yalagaitu will be dismissed by then.
After mid April, 2005, Baiqi should send all remaining stand-by QJs to Daban.
Another source reported that they will construct a new line south of Sanggendalai. This line will be opened end of 2005 or beginning of 2006 and should be served by steam!
The new line will be some 50m km long and heads south from Sanggendalai to Lanqi (= Blue Banner; full name Zhenglanqi, Chinese name = Xulun Hoh). The line connects a coal mine with a power plant. It is not clear whether the coal mine or the power plant is near Lanqi. Nelles shows some mountains in this area. The line seems to be finished very soon. They will start to run trains in September/October 2005. The power plant is not finished yet, that's why this line doesn't see any traffic at the moment.
The kind of motive power is uncertain yet. The management said the power plant will buy ten used QJ which seems to be unlikely because the line will be operated by JiTong (with rolling stock from the coal mine/power plant?). Local sources in Baiqi told us the line will be opened with diesel. There are no facilities for steam in Lanqi and no additional service staff is planned for this line. On the other hand, if the line will be opened to public transport, the JiTong line has to give some Baiqi based diesels to this line. For sure, no new diesels will arrive before October 2005. This will cause a shortage in motive power, so Baiqi will use steam between Baiqi and Haoluku in September and October 2005 again.
Whatsoever will happen, it will be interesting and steam will be involved. The upcoming FarRail trip in September/October will be changed and extended to get a last Chance for Baiqi - Haoluku steam or the first chance to see steam on the section Sanggendalai - Lanqi.
Daban depot changed a lot. Once a prospering steam shed it looks like a big scrap yard now. The lines of dumped QJs on the northern side of the depot have shortened. Only six QJ remained March 31st, with one (QJ 6632) of them will be cut into pieces by beginning of April.
These are the six from the scrap tracks (in order):
Beside these locos for scrap, there are many additional locos dumped in the southern part of the depot now. This part was always used for the locomotives under steam. Now it seems that the remaining space for the locos under steam is insufficient, sometimes.
Dumped in the southern part of the depot we found:
(all QJ):
The latest arrivals of diesel locomotives are DF4D 4240, 4141 and 4242.
The only positive sign was QJ 6988 with the last overhaul February 2005. The rest of the depot gave a very depressing impression to me. The glory of the old days is over, the last days have already started. If you want to capture the final impression of a great steam line in a great countryside you should not loose a single day!
The end ...
DF4B 9517 (Daban) and DF4D 4177 (Baiqi) leaving the nacked yard Daban - 70 % of all visible locos are cold!
Last sunset for QJ 6639, Daban September 30th, 2005
An new day with hope: QJ 7119 and 7163
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