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The International Steam Pages


North Korea, January 2004

Alexandre Gillieron was on the FarRail tour and has sent this report - see also their own web page www.farrail.com  The pictures are his unless otherwise stated.

Firstly some real steam news :

Manpo - Ji'an (China). This cross-border line was confirmed steam worked during last year (2003) with North Korean Mikas on passenger or mixed trains   (information by Peter Patt, also published in the Steam in China forum). At   Manpo, at least 2 Mikas were in working order. Hopefully they will run again in 2005...

Sinuiju, January 18th. During the 3 hours border stop at this station, Mika 172 was observed very busy shunting the adjacent yards. That engine is one of the 'prestige' engines in Korea as Kim Il Sung rode on its footplate (what is confirmed by a big commemorating plate on the cab side). It is one of the few Mika with big smoke deflectors. Naturally photting it was impossible, trying it would have caused a quick return to Dandong! The line of to-be-scrapped Mikas mentionned in Bernd Seiler report was still there.

Mika 172

Now to the Farrail tour :

Pyongyang - Kujang - Hyangsan, January 20th. A very successful day with everything running well according to the program and lots of snow and sun! From Pyongyang to Kujang our special train got a very strange loco in the form of a mixture of electric locomotive and railcar (it had 6 passenger compartments and observation room at both ends) carrying running number 90002. Apparently the Dear Leader also rode on it. After many supplications to our guides, we finally got 1 photo stop on the line. The train comprised 5 coaches, from them were two ex BLS (Bern - Lötschberg - Simplon) Swiss private railway first class compartment coaches! (Sold second-hand to DPRK in 1997).

At Kujang, Mika 6112 took over for the rest of the journey to Hyangsan. This loco is more or less a rolling wreck but performed well (a small leak in the tender was fixed with a toothpick!). The line to Hyangsan is electrified but quite spectacular with some excellent photo opportunities (tunnel and bridges). 3 runpasts were allowed in the snow-covered valley. At Hyangsan station, we were allowed to phot the Pyongyang - Manpo express with a splendid 'Red Flag' electric in front of it.

Mika 6112

This is Hans Hufnagel's picture of Mika 6112.

Mika 6112

Cholgwang - Nampo, January 22nd. This special running had to be cancelled on the previous day due to awful weather conditions. Koreans made no problems to postpone the trip as long we could pay the 300 Euros for the change. However, on the 22nd. it was sunny but incredibly cold with the sea wind blowing for the whole day. Rather asthmatic Mika 6021 was used from Cholgwang with a nice freight train comprising a primitive and unheated caboose. Naturally the air pump broke out after just 2 kilometres and we had to get an engineer and some spare parts from Cholgwang (using the tour bus!). In the meantime, we chartered the narrow-gauge 2-8-0 505 for some runpasts on the line towards the mine (which is idle for a long time as the rusty hopper wagons confirm). After this and fixing 6021's problems, we could continue towards Nampo. Unfortunately, the West Sea Barrage entrance was closed to let a series of vessels go through the locks. Instead of waiting in front of the gate, we had some runpasts around the station with the frozen sea in background (some of them were real mastershots!)..If we consider the condition of the engines, this was also a very good day with the railway people working incredibly hard in almost impossible conditions to make it a success. Again thanks to them!

Approaching the barrage

This is Hans Hufnagel's picture of ng 2-8-0 505.

Narrow gauge action

Pyongyang locomotive depot, January 23rd. After paying some hard currency fee, we were allowed as the very frist foreigners to enter Pyongyang loco depot. We had requested for a M62 diesel, and indeed there was a shiny blue one posed in front of the roundhouse (railway staff were still cleaning it when we arrived!). The whole depot area was guarded by armed men and further observation was impossible.

Pyongyang railway museum. This is situated near the railway station and consists mainly of items showing places visited by the Great and Dear Leaders (including a model of the already mentioned Mika 172). More interesting is a hall containing 3 real rolling stock items : an 0-6-0 narrow gauge tank engine, presumably British or American built, a Japanese and very primitive-looking electric locomotive built in the 1930's and an impressive electric railcar of the same origin. All three are beautifully restored and in supershine condition!


Rob Dickinson

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