Chinese Steam at Work

Steam locomotives doing what they were designed to do… in regular service! First we visit the Fengshuigue Coal Mine Railway, with a JS 2-8-2 on a passenger train at a very crisp dawn, then JS’s shuffling cars. Next we visit the Benxi steel mill with SY 2-8-2’s shuffling hot metal cars and slag cars, continuous action often with several trains moving at once. We even got a peek into a section of the mill where they were pouring molten steel and slag. Next, it’s off to the charming Weihe Forestry Railway with delightful, tiny 0-8-0s hard at work hauling logs. We caught a passenger train chartered by a Japanese group, and several trains with helpers, the workshops, and generally marveled that something so small, with such tiny drivers could sound so good. Then we visit the huge Anshan steel mill for more SY’s, and lastly the Puhe mine railway with SY’s. 2 hours of hard working steam in China.