After a couple of cloudy days, it was good to find a clear sky at dawn but the strong north-westerly wind severely limited our choice of locations. We started with a visit to Didao where all five locos were in use. Despite this, it still seemed very quiet around Hebei washery during the early morning. SY 0407, 0950, 1205,1213 and 1446 were all seen.

Over at Chengzihe, SY 1437 did its usual morning trip up the hill to Xinghua with the spoil train, followed by SY 1351 on a long train of empties, the first occasion in four days that a long train had run in this slot. A couple of hours at the river bridge west of Chengzihe yielded nothing worthwhile but the afternoon was good at Beichang with SY 0804, 1058 and 1369 all in action. A late visit to Spoil Tip Junction for a silhouette produced only SY 1351 tender first light engine.

All in all a good day despite the wind.