Steam in and
around China 2006/7
by Jan Willem van Dorp
Moscow , Trans-Sib , Huanan , Jixi , Jalainur , Diaobingshan/Tiefa , Fuxin , Weihe
, Nanpiao , Huludao , Shibanxi , High (rail)road to India , Janakpur
Rly. , Steam on 3 gauges ,
DHR/Darjeeling , Nilgiri Rly.(Ooty)
When on 30th September 2004 the appearance of the first
three DF4 on the Jingpeng pass section of the JiTong Railway effectively put an end to the last
great steam show on earth I wrote that the end of times was nigh and the
only thing left for the last gricers remaining was
sorting out our slides and wrapping it up . Well , in the end I somehow managed to knot together
just enough loose ends to one more great Asian steam trip , surely the last one
, although one of course never knows .
Trans-Sib practicalities :
Whereas the obvious way to get to
www.eng.rzd.ru/page.html?nav_id=46
using the "key" if one knows the origin and destination in Cyrillic
script -switch between the English and Russian versions of the invaluable
timetable website www.poezda.net -) so one
is still well advised to buy such tickets through an agency (I used Svezhy Veter , www.sv-agency.udm.ru , which added a bit to the ticket
price , but provided me with the ticket I wanted ; many other agencies are
not interested in handling 3rd class tickets) .
An excellent summary of Trans-Siberian rail travel with many more useful
links can be found on www.seat61.com
So on 4th September I boarded the London-Riga bus at
In Moscow I collected my train ticket to Blagovescensk
and checked into the Sherstone Hostel (EUR 25 dorm!!
, www.sherstone.ru ) for one night to get the required visa
registration stamp and on 8th September I boarded train 350 for the 6 day ,
7984 km. run to Blagovescensk (ticket price : Rbl 2421.20 , i.e. EUR 75) , which turned out to be very
pleasant indeed with 3rd class travel much nicer than 2nd
class , the autumn colours already in full
swing and the search for local food (blini , chicken
and potatoes , pierogi and of course the Lake Baikal omul) sold by the babushkas at the many longer stops
(such as Danilov , Balezino
, Ilanskaia , Slyudianka , Chernysh Zabaikalsk and Shimanovsk) as enjoyable as ever
Upon arrival in Blagovescensk I of course had only
one thing on my mind : shower , shower and shower so although mashrutka 30 would also have brought me there , I
gratefully got in the taxi my caring povodnitsa had
already chartered to take me to the Hotel Druzhba (Rbl. 1050 , www.hoteldruzhba.ru
)
Moscow Rizhskaya (7th
September) :
All the steam engines mentioned in CRJ 142 (Em
740-57 , Er 766-11 , FD21-3125 , L 2342 , LV 0441 , Ov 841 , SO17 2211 , TE 5415 and a 9R , now numbered 17347)
were still present in the museum (admission Rbl. 25)
. New additions were Ed 2450 , P 0001 and P36 0001 .
Modern traction present was not noted exhaustively ,
but electrics VL22 1859 and VL8 1694 were also new .
More interestingly a second TE (number not noted) was in steam with one coach
just outside the museum compound as my train (nr. 4) from Riga rolled in on 7th
September
Steam sightings
on the way (8th-14th September) :
The following plinthed steam engines were seen .
Undoubtedly there are many more
Zuevka
km. 1062 FD 020 2022
Verescagino
1317 FD ?
Ilanskaia
4384 Ex 730-57
Cheremchovo
5062 L/LV?
Belogorsk
7875 P36
0094
Blagovescensk 7984
L/LV?
Some 30 min./km. east of Ulan-Ude a dump/strategic reserve containing several
L/LV was observed as well
CHINA
Amur/Heilongjiang
river crossing :
From Blagovescensk I caught one of the frequent river
ferries to Heihe in China (Rbl.
850 for a 10 minute ferry ride , but in retrospect I think it should be
possible to do that cheaper ; there seem to be first and second class ferries -
and on arrival at Heihe , before the bank , I was hit
for another CNY 45 -port tax I guess- , but rubles are accepted) . Immigration
officers on both sides were clearly not used to foreigners coming their way , but quite friendly . Once past the usual horde of taxi
drivers I quickly found a bus (CNY 1) into town and the Bank of China , which even had an ATM accepting foreign cards (as I
think all Bank of China ATMs do these days , and many others as well) .
train N34 Heihe 19.12 - Suihua 4.35 (-Harbin) , hard seat CNY 67
train 2095 (Xiliu-) Suihua
6.41 - Jiamusi 12.25 , hard seat CNY 33 , passing many places of great gricing in the 1980s , such as Bei'an
, Suihua , Langxiang , Nancha and Jiamusi , but now all the QJ , JS , RM and C2
have gone
CNR tickets nowadays show origin and destination in Pinyin as well as in
characters - only two more years to Beijing 2008 .
Anyway the bus station in
Huanan
(16th-22nd September) :
The Bao Li Binguan is in
the north-eastern corner of the main square , near the huge clock , and charges
CNY 120 for a standard room , including an excellent buffet breakfast where you
can stuff yourself for the rest of the day . Coming in on the bus from
The narrow gauge station is quite a long way (some 3-4 km.) out of town to
the north-east . Get there on one of the eastbound
white (with the modern-art patches of red , yellow and blue) town buses just in
front of the Bao Li Binguan ,
which eventually pass through the n.g. station and
then continue a further 500 m. along the line .
After 12 days of travelling , I was not immediately
up to facing Chinese village life , so I contended myself for the first 4 days
on the line with the quite nice street-running section on the first km. out of Huanan . People are extremely friendly here
; time and time again chairs , maize , apples and pieces of melon
were brought out for the waiting gricer . Operations
were as previously described by Rob Dickinson and Bernd Seiler
, with about 2 up and 2 down trains between 8.30 and 16.30 as well as
the daily railcar . Active engines were 011 , 041 and
043.
On 21st September I caught the 9.30 bus to Tuoyaozi
(CNY 7.5) and on arrival there I was quickly directed to a homestay , presumably the
one opened up by Rob Dickinson (very basic indeed , but clean , friendly
and lots of good food -as always in rural China you may want to tell that
you are a vegetarian though , even if you aren't elsewhere- and beer being
provided) . Some very serious
bargaining was needed , but after that , with a clear
blue sky and the autumn colours just about right I
was ready to start a couple of days of great gricing
. Regrettably one quite essential thing was missing :
trains ; coal traffic being suspended 21st-27th September for pw work (but the
railcar still running) . With the 1st October/mid-autumn holiday coming up
after that I guessed that the next coal train wouldn't run before 9th
October , although my host tried to convince me
that something (a pw train?) might run on the 23rd/24th September , so I took
my loss and returned to Huanan the next day with the
pictures from the street-running section (and my 1986 RM pictures) to console
me .
In fact , with the holiday week 28th September-6th October
rather than 1st-8th October as I had thought , traffic had resumed by 7th
October as I later learned from trwo Japanese gricers I met at Weihe , but only
for a few days until conveyor belt problems in Huanan put
another stop to operations as two British parties experienced .
Buses from Huanan bus station to
The Jiamusi-Mudanjiang bus which had picked me up at Huanan dropped
me in the southern outskirts of
Chengzihe :
Engines facing both ways (SY seen 237 , 0590 , 0863 , 1058 , 1351 , 1437 ,and
1544) still congregate at Dongchang at about 8.00
a.m. after taking water at Nanchang and then start a day of hard
working all over the system . Beichang appears to be
busiest in the morning , when some horse carts -among
mainly 3-wheelers- scavenging the discarded whet coal dust povide
an interesting background On the Jixixi line some
fair positions can be found around km. 3-4 , just east of the bridge
. The Dongchang - Beichang
bank isalso interesting
People are very friendly everywhere
Didao :
Most engines (SY seen 0407 , 1205 , 1213 and 1446) , all facing north , can be
found at Didao Hebei at
8.00 a.m.
The Lijing branch line splits at km. 1 into an upper
and a lower line . I only saw the upper line , which
climbs further through a series of switcthbacks ,
used with empties going up and fulls coming down .
On the main line trains to/from Didao CNR , Wangjia and Dianchang were all seen . In the afternoon a good position
for trainsfrom Dianchang
exists drom the Wangjia ramp . Access to the electric narrow gauge system was denied
though
Hengshan : All buses
towards Hengshan appear to start south of the
Most engines (SY seen 0341 , 742 , 0804 , 1095 , 1340 and 1369) , all facing
east can be found at XinHengshan at 8.00 in the
morning , whilst some others still bring in fulls ,
which are then pushed back -with some effort- to Hengshan
CNR . Empties are then collected from Hengshan CNR
and brought to the minesfrom Xin
Hengshan , mostly in short single-headed trains even
over the bank towards Zhongxin (well worth a visit ;
quite steep) ; only once I saw a longer train being banked - but still
single-headed- .
Initial reception at the XinHengshan servicing area
was quite cool , with even someone asking for "money
, money" (why do visitors put them up to that ????) , but everywhere else
everybody was as friendly as ever .
train K412 Jixi 21.15 - Harbin 6.01 (-Changchun) , CNY 66 hard seat
train N 91 (Harbindong-) Harbin 20.00 - Jalainurxi 9.48 (-Manzhouli) , CNY
120 hard seat
Jalainur
(29th September - 4th October) :
Exiting the Jalainurxi railway station , cross the
station square diagonally to the south-west , which will bring you to the
multi-lane RenMin Lu . Follow that about 500 m. to
the south , which will bring you to the Zhalainur Binguan (indicated
ZLNRBG) on the square with the concrete/plastic tree . A standard room is CNY 100 , but hot water comes in thermoss
flasks only .
I did not quite figure out the town bus system (there are destination shields ,
but no route numbers) , but the following worked well : take an eastbound town
bus/van in front of the Zhalainur Binguan
, after 2-3 km. it turns south , shortly afterwards west and then south again .
Get down about 500 m. after it turns south the second time on the corner of the
main shopping street , Busen Dajie
, and start walking east ; from there it is about 1.5 km. to the Daqiao station of the deep mine system (or take another
town bus till where it turns north) and a further 1.5 km. to the opencast pit
(buses going there exist and probably leave from opposite the hospital , but
are not all that frequent and difficult to distinguish from those circling the
town to return west ; if you are heading to east side of the big pit , better
pick one up near the level crossing) .
Steam operations were basically as described by Bernd Seiler and Florian Menius with the following
observations :
Open cast mine
system :
WOW : Apollo 19 confirms : THERE IS STEAM ON THE MOON , AND LOTS OF
IT . The sounds of upto 5 simultaneous
uphill trains reverberating against the pits walls have to be heard to
understand the marvel of this place INCREDIBLE in
2006 (and by train it is only 5 days from
Operations continue as previously reported with the occasional hick-up when a
conveyor belt problem stops the chimney-first coal trains At any moment there
are about 15-20 trains working in the big hole alone , with all engines facing
south ; chimney-to-the-train on spoil trains and tender-to-the-train on coal
trains ; an afternoon spell (good light only after 16.00 and the sun is
behind the rim at 16.45 in early October, so not really for winter visits when
there is less activity anyway) at the opposite (west) face of the pit easily
brings 4-6 trains into the frame . SY noted : 0471 , 0682 ,
0784 , 0794 , 0917/8/9 , 0958 , 1110 , 1192/3 , 1240 , 1256 , 1284/5
, 1303 , 1371/5/6 , 1450 , 1584/7 , 1617 , 1663/4 , 1689
, 1690 and 3005 , many still with a red star in front of the chimney
.
The passenger service also continues unaltered ;
the morning one coach trains from Nanzhan and the pit
return to the 510/control office station often simultaneously around 8.55 . The
Nanzhan train comes to the platform first , followed by the one from the pit . They are then
coupled together and return to Nanzhan empty stock
usually with SY front and rear . The empty stock
reappears at the 510/control office station at about 16.50 ,
at that time with only one SY , where it is put into a siding until the evening
departures .
Deep mine system :
Most engines gather at Daqiao station around 8.00
a.m. where the horse cart ash disposal unit offers some good photo opportunities .
One SY then takes the 8.20 passenger (often running as a mixed) south at
about 8.30 This passenger service is now once daily only ; it does not return
until after 16.30 and star engine SL-look-a-like 1416 (which in fact proved
rather elusive) is no longer assigned to it either. The rest of the SY (0924 , 1126 , 1416 , 1424 , 1448 , 1618 , 1688 noted , all
facing west) is kept quite busy on freights , as in previous reports to no
obvious pattern . There is a quite steep bank between Dongfanghong
and Daqiao
Train 1302 (Manzhouli-) Jalainurxi
13.16 - Tieling 7.52 (-Beijing) , CNY 129 hard seat
Diaobingshan/Tiefa
(6/7th October) :
The Tieling bus station is being rebuit
and the Diaobingshan buses (CNY 8) now depart
opposite the station from the middle of station square . The Tiefashi Zhanqian Binguan on station square in Diaobingshan
still takes CNY 100 and they have now equipped the showers with boilers and got
them working .
The passenger timetable on show in Diaobingshan
station is out of date , but that reported by Bernd Seiler in January 2006
would appear to be still correct (the main differences are on the Daqing line where these days there is only one CNR
passenger to connect with left) . No Faku passengers
were observed , but all other passenger trains seen
were SY , with 1751 , 1769 , 1770 and 1772 performing . Indeed the most
significant change (apart from the dieselization of the freight service) was
the disappearance of the shelter at Diaobingshannan .
The bus station (straight ahead from the railway station ,
right at the traffic circle and on the left hand side 200 m. further on , just
around the corner) and the recently discovered 8.00
The Railway Hotel (Zhanqian Binguan)
opposite the CNR station provided the usual CNY 80 room , breakfast included .
For the rest the whole outline of
On this trip I did not investigate the electric services
around and into the big pit .
Steam freight service remains as yet unaltered , but
newly delivered DF5D 0066 was a sign of things to come .
There have been major changes to the passenger service though :
- a Xinqiu-Wulong passenger was seen arriving Wulong at 7.08 , believed to be the former 9.55 arrival
- the former 8.59 Wangying-Xinqiu passenger was
at Wulong 9.45/55 instead of 9.23/32
- the former 13.39 Xinqiu-wangying passenger was at Wulong 14.00/02 instead of 14.25/30
and other trains are probably retimed as well
In Diaobingshan I had already learned from Florian Menius' website that I no
longer need to go to the DaGu line (so a QJ-less
visit to China , a first...) as well as of the steam revival in Weihe , so instead of taking a bus to Nanpiao
(two advertised at the bus station , 200 m. straight ahead from the railway
station , at 6.40 and 14.40) as intended the first possible (end of
holiday...) train to Weihe :
train L707 Fuxin 8.11 - Shenyangbei 12.28 , CNY
22 hard seat
city bus 602 (CNY 1) to the main(south) station
train 2017 Shenyang 18.37 - Weihe 4.59 (- Mudanjiang)
, CNY 49 hard seat (at many CNR stations it is now possible to buy tickets for
some , specifically advertised , connecting trains against a small -CNY 5-
surcharge)
Weihe (11-16th
October) :
It may be a bit silly backtracking to Heilongjiang from Liaoning , but I was
quite happy to do so when I learned about the steam revival here . The (single)
Binguan remains outrageously overpriced at CNY
130/180 for rooms without/with shower .
Steamwise
, C2 nr. (210)54 was indeed working four times per day to Baliwan ,
10 km. away . In fact the real lay-over at the end of the line was the level
crossing 300 m. below Baliwan ; the up train would
blast through there (bank) , quickly run round at the new Baliwan
station and then immediately return to that level crossing for the passengers
to get down/be picked up for/from buses further up the road .
Chasing by motorbike was easy , but -partially because
of the digging of some sort of pipeline just next to the line- the really good
positions were only on the last 4 km. of the line , from Zhenzhu
onwards
The timetable was amended as from 11th October , but closure was expected even
before 28th October , perhaps on the 25th or 26th so this is probably only
of historical interest now :
251
253
255 257
km. 252
254
256 258
6.20
9.00 12.30
15.10 Weihe
o 8.19
10.54 15.24
17.05
6.27/8 9.07/8
12.37/8 15.17/8 (Weihenan?) 1
8.11/2 10.46/7 15.16/7 16.57/8
4
2
2
2
stops
2
2
2
4
6.58/7.05 9.38/9 13.08/9
15.48/9 Zhenzhu 6
7.40/1 10.15/6
13.45/6 16.25/7
7.20
9.54 13.24
16.04 Baliwan 10
7.25 10.00
13.30 16.10
train 1452 (Mudanjiang-) Weihe 17.59 - Jinzhounan 6.33 (-Jinan) , CNY 96 hard seat
Nanpiao
(17-18th October) :
Arriving Jinzhounan I caught city bus 208 (209 would
do as well ; CNY 2/paybox) to the main station and the bus station some 500 m.
south and a bus to Nanpiao (CNY 8.5) . The hotel next
to the Hungjia station has been renovated and the old
CNY 62 rooms with wahbasin are no more
; the choice is now between a CNY 158 standard room with or a CNY 80
common/CNY 68 single room without facilities .
Steamwise the summer revaporisation
appeared to be just temporally and diesels 3241/8 were once again spoiling
the fun A morning visit to Zaojiatun found little
activity , not even on the electric narrow gauge line ; perhaps a breakdown at
the mine ? , otherwise no changes to my June 2004 report .
SY noted : 0366 , 0973 , 1092 , 1299 .
And then there was SY 1386 , newly ex-works at Xiaomaozi
CNR , apparently on its way back from Jinzhou 701 works to the Chaoyang steelworks ; see Barry Buckfield
et al.'s October 2006 report for more details (and thanks for the ride) .
Buses to/from Huludao (CNY 9) and Jinzhou now stop in
front of Hungjia station and the hotel
, but for the Fuxin (2 daily) and Beijing (1 daily) buses one would have
to go to the bus station , 200 m. straight ahead from Hungjia
station and then 300 m. further north on the left handside
Huludao
(19th-21st October)
There are lots of hotels around Huludao station
square , including two in the station itself . This time I chose the Huludao Jijiudian/Hotel (above
the Agricultural Bank of
The spectacular and in its upper reaches quite scenic Huludao-Yangjiazhangzi
line , which sees surprisingly few visiting gricers
, is still going strong with JS chimney-first both ways and most trains -both
west- and eastbound- stalling on the banks leading to the km. 23.8
summit . Indeed the schedule seems to have been altered to suit
photographers better with a train of empties leaving Huludao
about 12.00 and fulls leaving Yangjiazhangzi
at about 9.00 and 14.00 , at least this was observed on both 19th and 21st
October and the CNR gatekeeper near the summit told me the first day of
the expected earlier eastbound afternoon train . I admit though that on 20th
October between 9.30 and 16.15 I only saw one train ,
about 11.30 ex Yangjiazhangzi . JS noted
: 6243 and 6307 .
To get to the summit and other scenic spots around catch a Yangzhangzi bus from station square , in front of both the
CNR and bus stations , to Yejiatun (CNY 4) . For the
summit itself , get down just after the km. 35 road marker , cross the CNR
line and walk back a few hundred meters on the old road , but the better
positions are a bit furter down -either side- from
there . See also my June 2004 report .
Train K388/385 (Shenyangbei -) Huludao
22.57 - Chengdu 13.40 (+2) , CNY 466 hard sleeper (l.b.)
Even I am not foolish enough to contemplate doing a 39 hour journey hard seat ,
and Huludao has healthy hard sleeper quotas for a
number of long-distance trains .
Shibanxi
(26th October - 1st November) :
After a brief stay in
For the rest , Ameling Algra has in
his August 2006 report provided a map showing the hotels and bus stations
in Qianwei ; let me just add that most Shibanxi buses (CNY 4) do not continue to Sanjin , but connect at their terminus ( some 500 m. beyond
the railway station) with minivans for Sanjin
(CNY 2) ; the main exception being the first bus of the day (6.20 from Qianwei) , which does indeed continue to Sanjin (CNY 5) . With the freight now running at least once
daily it is strongly recommended to catch this bus out and get on the first up
train to Mifeng or beyond if staying in Qianwei .
The last bus back from Shibanxi to Qianwei is locally advertised to leave at 18.15 (this is to
be checked)
In Qianwei wangbas
can be found on Bei Jie , parallel to the main
road between the bus stations , but a bit further towards the river
If I ever come back I will probably stay at least part of the time at Mifeng though , where the friendly and hospitable
doctor/pharmacist (see my autumn 2004 report) apart from selling beer (CNY
2.5-3) and egg noodle soup (CNY 3) also offers excellent rooms for CNY 25 per
head ; just head for the yellow tiles .
In his May 2006 report -the latest of many highlighting this magnificent line-
Rob Dickinson depicted the current timetable . For
those less familiar with the line and/or Chinese characters here my
transcription , with (aproximate)
distances added according to the markers turned up now some of
the undergrowth near the line has been cleared :
1 3 5 7
km.
2 4
6 8
7.00
10.30 14.00
17.30 Shibanxi
19.84 9.30
13.00 16.30 20.00
7.15
10.45 14.15
17.45 Yuejin
16
9.15 12.45
16.15 19.45
7.32 11.02
14.32 18.02 Mifeng
10.3
8.58 12.28
15.58 19.28
7.47
11.17 14.47
18.17 Caiziba
7.0
8.48 12.18
15.48 19.18
7.57
11.27 14.57
18.27 Xianrenjiao
5.3
8.38 12.08
15.38 19.08
8.05
11.35 15.05
18.35 Jiaoba
3.0 8.30
12.00 15.30 19.00
8.10
11.40
15.10 18.40 Bagou 1.7 8.25
11.55 15.25 18.55
8.15
11.45 15.15 18.45
Huangchunjing 0
8.15 11.45
15.15 18.45
The freight (coal) train was running daily in the morning , at about
8.00 from Shibanxi , crossing train nr. 2 (numbers
assigned by me) usually at Mifeng (8.58) or
sometimes at Yuejin and the return crossing train nr.
3 usually at Yuejin , but sometimes at Mifeng
. Most days there was a second freight , but its
timings were much more erratic ; a one hour lay-over between the two
freights in Shibanxi is about the minimum and
then there are the crossings with the passengers to be taken into
account . Once , on 31st October , there was
even a third freight : LE up to Xianrenjiao to
collect two wagons with logs . Engines noted : 07
, 10 and 14
The summit is at km. 5.8 ; there are 6 tunnels : nrs.
1 and 2 in quick succession between Bagou and Jiaoba , nrs. 3 and 4 also in quick succession between Jiaoba and Xianrenjiao , nr. 5 - the best known- at km.
8.9-9.0 between Caiziba and Mifeng
and nr. 6 on the electrified section between Yuejin
and Shibanxi . The poster picture with the lake in the background is at
km. 3.5 .
Fares for foreigners are CNY 3 per section (o/w) ;
section limits are : Shibanxi , Yuejin
, Mifeng , Xianrenjiao , Jiaoba and Huangchunjing .
Unusually for foggy
The high
(rail)road to India (2nd-12th November) :
The Golmud-Lhasa railway over the 5078 m. high Tanggu La pass opened on 1st July 2006 (see www.chinatibettrain.com) . As all rumours
about abolishment of the Tibet (T.T.B.) permit have so far proved to be just rumours foreigners still can not buy tickets to
When passing through
So , on 2nd November train T 22/3 Chengdu 18.18 - Lhasa 18.28 (+2) , CNY 692
hard sleeper m.b.
Whereas it was convenient to have accomodation lined
up when arriving late in Lhasa (at 3700 m.) the Pentoc
Guesthouse provided proved , after a recent change of ownership , to
be about the worst in Lhasa , so I moved to the Dongcuo
Hostel (CNY 20 dorm) the next morning .
Apart from the Lhasa-Shigatse (and possibly the new
once or twice weekly Lhasa-Kathmandu) bus service , foreigners can not buy bus tickets for travel
in
In early November it is low season (and cold) in Tibet and rates for landcruiser hire for the journey from Lhasa to Zhangmu on the Nepali border varied between CNY 2500
and CNY 4000 , depending on route/duration of the trip , age of the vehicle and
the F.I.T. outlet used . High season rates are upto
50% higher
With three other travellers I hired a new landcruiser from the Kirey 108
F.I.T. outlet for a 5-day trip to Zhangmu via Rongbuk Monastery/Everest Base Camp for CNY 3900 (i.e.
CNY 975 per head) including all permits except the Everest/Qomoloongma
Conservation Area entry fee of CNY 405 per vehicle and CNY 65 per head .
After 5 very worthwhile days this duly brought us to the frantic border
town of
NEPAL
From the Kodari border post both buses and shared
taxis go to Kathmandu , from where , after a short
rest to regain breath , I took an early morning bus for the 11 hour ride to Janakpur . With the good old Hotel Welcome full , I bargained an excellent room at the Hotel Manaki International down to NRs
500 .
Janakpur Rly. (16th
November) :
In fact it is probably the Nepal Railway these days , at least that is the name
the diesels and carriages show these days
Janakpur is online (www.janakpur.com.np) , but the railway timetable given there
is out of date with the Bizalpura line well and truly
closed .
The service on the Jaynagar line is now : Janakpurdham dep. : 6.45 , 11.30 , 15.20 and arr. 10.30 ,
14.15 , 17.45 as on page 316 of the 2006 edition of the Nepal Lonely Planet
guide , in which this line features prominently
Two engines are required to work this service and exactly two diesels are
serviceable , ZDM5 524 and 533 . The frames and cabs of their two
sisters 535 and 536 are at Janakpurdham shed , with the former possibly a long-term overhaul project
but the latter clearly dumped as is a 4wD shunter .
The 6th diesel , an (originally) about 600 mm Jung 4wD
is dumped at Khajuri works .
All remaining steam engines are at Khajuri works . 0-6-2T nr. 7 (Avonside 2016/1928) appears to be serviceable and is indeed
the only reserve in case one of the diesels brakes down , but both its bunker
and ashpan were empty , so I would say it hadn't been
used recently and there are no spare carriages to draft a third train into
service on festival days such as 25th November 2006 .
Of the other engines both Garratts , two modern Hunslet 0-6-2Ts
, and one older Hunslet (probably the 4-6-0T)
could be described as stored , although most of their fittings had been removed
(hopefully for safekeeping) . The DuCroo&Brauns
0-10-0 and O&K 2-6-2T SEETA were clearly dumped and O&K 2-6-2T RAMA is
an incomplete building kit like one more small engine .
Finally there are 2 boilers of unknown origin . Having
seen them working twenty years ago the fate of the two Orensteiners
and one of the modern Hunslets particularly touches me .
One is wellcome to look around in the works , but photography requires a permit from the Janakpur office
Morning bus to Kakarbhitta border .
After walking across the border I was first greeted by the big ledger at Raniganj immigration post and 500 m. further by 5 bus conductors , each trying to drag me to his (private) bus .
Back in
Indian Railways now has an excellent website www.indianrail.gov.in
, which offers timetables and occupancy information (go to : "trains
between important stations" at the top of the page and if your
station is not important enough , then go to "trains between
stations" at the bottom of the page)
Steam on 3 gauges
(19th November) :
On the evening of 18th November I checked with the Siliguri Jcn. ASM whether this
steam event (advertised to involve a WP broad gauge special to Chalsa , a MAWD (MacArthur) metre
gauge special to Bagdogra and a n.g.
special to Tindharia , all leaving
simultaneously at 10.30 about once a month , see the DHR website) would go
through the next day and I was told that the event would start at 8.00 .
Arriving at 7.45 the next morning I found only WP 7161 at the head of its special
and that indeed left at 8.00 with the clearly enthusiastic crew providing
magnificent clag (is this engine oil-fired now?) for this lone gricer . On board
were some staff and about three westerners , but
no Indian passengers as far as could be seen . Further enquiries learned me
that the schedule had been changed on request of a visiting group and that the metre gauge special would probably run on the 21st instead
of on the the 19th , timings yet to be
determined (rather inconvenient for the single visitor , but of course
sensible enough for them ; see Rob Dickinsons website
www.internationalsteam.co.uk
for their report)
DHR/Darjeeling
(19th-28th November) :
Heading to Darjeeling I -of course- took train 1D , despite
it being diesel hauled these days . On 19th November this train reached Kurseong about 4 hours late at 17.15 after a sloppy track
gang had caused a near-derailment and I duly retreated to the good old Tourist
Lodge in Kurseong , still as great a place to stay as
ever , but regrettably the room rate of INR 100 is no more ; these days it
is INR 900/800 for the old/new wing , minus 25% for single occupancy and/or 30%
in the 15th January-28th February off-season and plus 5% service charge , so I
-with regret- soon moved on to Darjeeling where the Hotel Aliment (high up on
the ridge) provided me a less luxurious but quite nice room for INR 250
Steamwise the daily school train , now leaving Kurseong at 6.00 , remains the only normal steam service ,
but with the 10.00 and 12.50 joy trains Darjeeling-Ghoom
v.v. also running daily and quite a few specials and LE workings around there
is enough steam activity to keep one occupied
At least on the DHR website www.dhr.in the
only stops advertised for the school train are now the main stations Tung , Sonada and Ghoom . Certainly it
was noted running through at Churchgate Halt opposite
the Kurseong Tourist Bungalow .
Regrettably , the earlier departure time of 6.00 from Kurseong
also means that at this time of the year the school train does not catch the
sun until reaching Rangbull siding , even if it is
normally late (i.e. at about 9.00 in Ghum) . P.w. work and other things may delay it further though ( even the diesel-hauled NJP-Darjeeling trains rarely get to
Darj before 18.00)
Road traffic on the Hill Cart Road has also increased tremendously , especially
north of Sonada , since my last visit 10 years
ago to the extent of seriously hampering photography and the jeep
syndicates clearly have won the battle with the bus syndicate , which makes
chasing by public transport much more difficult .
B class noted working : 780 , 782 , 786 , 788 , 791 , 792 , 795 , 802 ,
805 .
Only the through NJP-Darjeeling trains 1/2D are diesel ;
regrettably the timetable change on 1st December seems not (yet?) to have
brought the expected reinstatement of the second NJP-Darjeeling service (after
some 20 years) .
Calcutta (1st
December) :
Whereas China has changed tremendously -to the extent of ,
in my humble opinion , being an entirely new country , with new people ,
over the now twenty years since I first visited it , preciously little has
changed in India , apart from some inflation and the proliferation of ATMs (all
linked up) and internet cafes . Indeed
Trams (at least from Raja Bazaar depot) were running though ,
empty and through empty streets , which offered excellent photographic
opportunities .
Nilgiri Rly.(Ooty)
(11th January) :
The Mettupalaiyam-Coonoor steam service was still
suspended because of landslides caused by the East monsoon (which hits Tamil
Nadu in October/November) , but X 37386 was in steam at Coonoor
for work trains to the blockage point . The diesel service beteen
Coonoor and Ooty was
running normally (using biodiesel fuel) . In Ooty the shed has gone
and so has most of the yard , with just a loop
line and one siding remaining . X 37390 is plinthed
at Coonoor
.
Here and there :
Pune
: F class 724 (ex Barsi Light Railway) is plinthed at the Engineering College in front of Pune Jcn. station
Margao
: Reminiscing over Castle Rocks YDs ( Kingfishers are
still cold and cheap and the sunsets over the Arabian Sea haven't changed
either) I found an interesting white elephant in Margao
: A "Skybus" system (based on the "Schwebebahn" idea) running from nothing to nowhere for
about 1-1.5 kms. in front of
the new broad gauge Margao (Madgaon)
station . Two carriages were around ; one on one of
the double tracks of that system and one separately on display at the Margao railway station . The old metre
gauge station is totally gone
Home :
Although I also considered the new Hong Kong based airline Oasis with its cheap
flights to Gatwick (www.oasis-air.com) ; a combination
of JetStar (www.jetstarasia.com)
and AirAsia (www.airasia.com)
would have brought me to Macao from Bangalore with the nice train
ride from Singapore to Bangkok in between , I in the end decided on
the Air Arabia flights from Kochi(Cochin) via Sharjah
to Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen (www.airarabia.com , EUR 160 o/w) and Easyjet
Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen - Luton - Amsterdam (www.easyjet.com
, EUR 89 o/w)
Postscript :
Once again it was very nice to meet some old friends and make many new ones .
At present it seems likely that this , my 8th sice
1986 , steam trip to China was the last one , as it is most unlikely that
in a couple of years any serious steam operation will be left there ; but then
again forecasting is difficult , especially if it concerns the future .
In the mean time , I may be able to sort out some more
old slides , and perhaps I may here refer to the book "Dampf
zu Honeckers Zeiten" (www.geramond.de) ,
which not only -in my obviously biased opinion- catches the atmosphere of
East German steam in its last decades very nicely , but also contains quite a
bit of (early) photographic work by yours truly.