Classic Hits in Northern China, March/April 2002, Part 2

The Ganhe Forestry Railway (November 2001)

Ganhe is both an easy and a difficult place to go.

Without guide:

Go to Alihe and hire a taxi there. In Ganhe you'll hardly find any reasonable Taxi/Jeep. Hotel Alihe is much better than Ganhe. When you arrive Ganhe you have to turn north to reach the ng railway. Do not make shots in the station area, the police will immediately be aware of you and kick you off. Ganhe is closed to foreigners. You can make visits in the shed and in the yard, but not in the center of the station. The northern end of the station will be OK.

There is a regular passenger service on this line, every day except Thursdays and Sundays. The train leaves about 8.00 and return about 19.00 hrs. You can use this train if you want to see the full line.

If you try to go by taxi you can reach the first station behind Ganhe only (10 km) if you follow the line. But there is a second road a bit more eastwards. Follow this road, and after about 30 km (very approx.!) you'll find a branch to the left with a massive bridge. Following this road you'll see the railway after several hundred metres. This road follows the line till Qilibin, a main station in the system with water facilities.

Nice bridges are about 1.5 km beyond Ganhe and 3.5 km beyond Qilibin northwards. The good road ends in Qilibin, but a new one was under construction (to replace the forestry line). You can reach both bridges by walking. The third bridge beyond Yuanjiang has no good access. The bridges are low arch bridges with several spans.

It is not possible to chase the train before Qilibin and, while the loco takes water in Qilibin, to reach the bridge. You have to walk 3.5 km! Maybe the road is finished till the bridge now, than you have a good chance. Or you organise that the train not leaves Qilibin before you made a telephone call from the house of the bridge-watchman (very friendly, called several times for us to get the information about the next train).

Trains (empties) left in the evening and returned (full) in the morning during our stay. I checked the books at the stations, it was always the same. But this was off season and I do not know how they will operate at the peak of the season. As we saw two full and one empty during daylight I can imagine that you'll get double the trains during daylight.

With guide:

We had Mr. Liu Li Guo from Harbin CITS. He was OK and became better and better by the end of the tour. He never had such "hard working" gricers before, so it needed some time. But he used a local guide in Alihe/Ganhe and this man (his name: Liu Xiao Tian) I can really not recommend: what ever he said about the railway, it was a lie, what ever he said why he was hours too late on the first day, he lied, he is looking for good meals and long rests, that's it. If you go with guide please tell the Harbin bureau of CITS you'll go without any local guide. You do not need them. You need an interpreter and an Aliens Travel Permit, nothing else. You'll see more without a local guide, believe me!

If you like to order a guide, contact the following address: zhaoyang99@hotmail.com and mention that I (Bernd Seiler) gave the e-mail address to you. Then he knows, what he can expect: steam gricers without any interest for ancient ruins or tombs, palaces or museums.

We ordered a special train, consisting of the normal stock and running in the time of the scheduled passenger train on a Thursday. The price was 3.500 Yuan (after a long bargain), too much if you consider that the company earn about 600 Yuan with the scheduled train. Try to order a railcar for 800 Yuan per day! The staff of our train was very friendly and denied not any wish we had. We went as far as Yuanjiang, were the line splits off in two branches west to Ganyuan (72 km), east to Zhongdian (79 km) via Wulite (69 km). Photographic potential was best between Ganhe and Xinfucun (km 20). Behind Qilibin (km 40) the bridge is good and behind Yuanjiang (km 58) on the western branch line to Ganyuan (72 km) you'll find another nice bridge. Good positions around Xinfucun (km 20), but we didn't see any road access. We crossed two loaded freights, one in the first station, Yisishan (km 10, small village there) and another at noon in Qilibin. Both consisted of 162 axles! I've never seen such long logging trains before! Locos working hard although there are only medium grades on the line.

Behind our passenger a crane and half an hour later a short train with empties followed. This train went on to Ganyuan after setting off half of the empties in Yuanjiang for loading.

I rode our special passenger for about 15 km. To keep the speed between 30 - 40 km/h you have to drive hard. The fireman had to do quite a lot to give me sufficient steam that I could drive as I want and listen to the nice sewing machine sound. But I felt the loco driver was even harder to the engine and his fireman, as he never lost speed, even on gradients! Engines are in good technical conditions, but not so the external shape. Impressive for me was the timber yard in Ganhe by night. Nice illuminated and very busy. The locoshed is small and has nothing special compared with other forestry railway depots.

The line is to be closed in May 2002 for logging trains, but should remain open for the passenger. Next winter they're planning to operate the passenger train as far as Qilibin only, but it makes no sense because of the good (unpaved) road.

We saw four steam locos C2's No. 2, 3, 4 and 7. This was still pre-season activity, in the heavy logging season there are seven engines under steam.

May, 1st: The order came from Beijing: the railway will be replaced by road transport. The last scheduled train left Ganhe on May, 1st. Sad, but not unexpected.

Shanhetun Forestry Railway

Shanhetun is a difficult place for taking pictures of trains during daylight, although not impossible. The management does not like steam enthusiasts very much. We wanted to hire a railcar for visiting the line. Negotiations with the management were difficult because of the high price they asked for. Finally we were successful. The discussion with the manager was supported by pictures from my last visit. We had to assure him that we wouldn't take pictures of the poor inhabitants of remote villages and all the other things which could show an underdeveloped China. Travelling on the branch lines by railcars wasn't permitted due to the regulation that only one train can be on the line without a train order system. On the main lines they are running with token rings.

The closure of the system is still undecided. It will be neither made by the Shanhetun Forestry Railway nor by the Harbin Forestry Bureau. They both can only offer suggestions to the central planning commission in Beijing. And it seems that the decision depends on many other facts and persons. The railway officials are interested in operating their railway as long as possible. Two years ago they got the order to run down the railway with a closure date in 2001. Therefore they stopped all maintenance work on the track and took only the absolute necessary measures to keep the public railcars running. These railcars (4-4) are privatised and run with a small additional wagon for heavy luggage, motorbikes, pigs and so on.

The decision to have another logging season came too late in 2001 to repair the tracks and prepare the locos for the next season. Because of the lack of maintenance the track condition is very poor today and derailments often happen. The speed for steam trains is limited to 15 km/h on the main line and 5 km/h on most of the branches. The railcars can run faster. Finally there is a project to build up a dam behind Shengjiaying (km 61). Harbin is running out of drinking water and therefore they like to establish a new water reservoir. The water reservoir will affect both lines, the line to Baishila and to Dongsheng. The water reservoir will be funded by the province Heilongjiang and by the central government in Beijing. All affected inhabitants and corporations will get compensation. So Shanhetun Forestry Railway will also get money but only in the case that the track is still in place and in use when the dam project will harm the railway. Therefore the chances are not too bad that the Shanhetun management will do everything to maintain their railway for at least one more year. But, as I wrote before, the final decision is not made in Shanhetun. With the compensation money there are plans to introduce a tourist train to Dongsheng on a new line, north of the old line. Perhaps, this is rather wishful thinking. They planned to start with the maintenance works for the track in May 2002, although the decision of the further existence of the railway is not expected till Summer 2002. The manager said that they have to fulfil the contract with the private operator of the railcars and so they have to start with track repairs anyway.

Shahezi by night, telegraph poles similar to main line ones, an odd water crane and a single lamp - how long will this idyll last? The crew of C2 506 had disappeared into the station's restaurant, April 2nd, 2002

In my opinion the chance for a further logging season is about 50/50. The wood we saw was mostly not worth to cut the young trees for. Sometimes they load only branches of the trees.

As expected, once we reached the free line, we had free hand to organise our tour and to say which line we like to see. We could stop wherever we want and take pictures of the railcars. We had to tip the drivers and the man from the railway office who was sent with us, in advance. The man from the railway office was very helpful as he was allowed to give train control advice.

On the first day, there were two loaded trains on the southern branch to Baishila and one loaded train on the Dongsheng branch. The next empty train left Shanhetun. All trains were scheduled to reach at least Shahezi (km 53) during daylight. To cut things short: not a single train met the schedule. The first train derailed beyond Sanrenban, the second in the loading area and the train from the Dongsheng branch arrived in Shahezi 15 minutes after sunset.

The trains carry no equipment for re-railing. After a derailment the loco crew has to ask for help from the next station. We saw a special railcar with some re-railing equipment. On Romanian forestry railways the procedure took between a few minutes to two hours for heavier derailments because they were always carrying the necessary equipment on the loco, here in Shanhetun it can take ages. The first derailed train arrived Shahezi around 23.00, the second around midnight.

New day new hope. Three trains were on the line, two left Shanhetun one after another around 5 am, the other was the train from the previous afternoon. The first empty train arrived in Shahezi at 07.30, the second around 08.10 (and of course we got our shots). The latter one was scheduled for Hongwei. We decided to follow this train with our railcars just as the order from Shanhetun reached us for to return the railcars.On this day the wages for the recent month arrived in Shanhetun and had to be delivered to the staff along the line immediately. Because of the two lines they needed both railcars and we had to cancel further train chasing by railcar. However, we managed to go up to Shiliu ("Kilometre 16", 69 km - this is the place to where the Japanese built up the railway), just a station in the woods, far from any village. We got a nice shot about 1 km before Shiliu. For loaded trains the departure from here to Shahezi is very hard, a scenic incline in a wide cutting has to be climbed. We went back to Shahezi and took our bus. We went to Hongwei, but there were no trains visible. So we took another road and found the train in the middle of a field, waiting for loading. On both sides of the track the timber was stored. Workers loaded the timber, mostly only branches of trees, by hand. The loco was waiting with the train, until it was loaded. This wasn't planned to end before dusk. So we left for Weihe.

The logging season in Shanhetun will end on April 14th, 2002. Locos in use, all class C2: 004, 005, 006, 506; in the shed: 007 under repair and 008 dumped. Another boiler plus frame was found in the depot.

Weihe Forestry Railway

Similar to Shanhetun: no date for the closure is known yet. But one important difference could be seen: the track maintenance never stopped and repairs were seen everywhere with quite a lot of new sleepers. Chances for survival are no better than in Shanhetun.

According to the staff the logging season in Weihe should end in mid April. The passenger train will run till May 1st, afterwards it will be replaced by a railcar. From the beginning of the next logging season the steam train will run again. But only if there is a next season ...

The average number of trains was three timber trains per 24 hours plus the two passenger return trips. Two trains we saw needed about 2 hours for the way from Dongfeng to Pinglin and were banked (once by the loco by the passenger trains, once by loco of an empty train). Timekeeping of the passenger was not as good as earlier in this season. The road conditions were better than expected, no mud on the roads along the railway. The unpaved roads following the line at least up to Yülin. It is possible to chase the train all the way up to Yülin, except the part between Dongfeng and km 58 (before Chonghe). However, in this part you'll find about 10 km without any photographic potential (approx. km 41 to km 51). Even at the very end of the logging season there was much to do and it was difficult to find any time for a lunch break.

Zhanhe Forestry Railway

Zhanhe is situated about 50 km north of Bei'an.