Steam in China, February 2015

by Ben Kletzer

Sandaoling, Pingzhuang

Sandaoling:

• East Pit: 3-4 locomotives running per day, with very frequent trains. The locomotives at this point are 6209, 8167, 8173,8190. In addition, the passenger train now runs down to Baerzhan (just short of the blue loader). This train runs every morning, leaving Dongbolizhan at 8:40, and returning around 9:05-9:15.

• South Station and Erjing: not very busy at this time, I only saw one train in the mornings, and heard a few more in the distance. Passenger train between Dongbolizhan and Baerzhan: JS8173

• Xibolizhan: Everyday a steam train with support train travels from Dongbolizhan to Xibolizhan to remove the yard there. When I was there this was with JS 8081 (an East Pit locomotive).

• Workshop: One locomotive is said to be under overhaul but the workers went on vacation before I could get access to the works.

Pingzhuang:

In addition, I spent February 4-6 in Pingzhuang. Two SYs are in use at the moment along with one DF4. However since the company owns 3 DF4s this could change at anytime. While I was there, the DF4 was rarely used, only to get two trains (over 3 days) from Pingzhuang Nan. More importantly, the majority of traffic to/from Pingzhuang Nan was hauled by SY1441. The crews/management seem to prefer the SY's over the DF4, as the SY's were in constant use while the DF4 stayed stabled at Zhuangmei.

{Previously only two DF4s have been reported at Pingzhuang. Can anyone offer more information about the 3rd? MR}

© 2015 Ben Kletzer