Thu 04 Mar 2010
Thu 04 March 2010
31/07/12 17:49
We started the day at the river bridge west of Chengzihe with a train of loads heading to Jixi Xi at 06:45 hauled by SY 1369 and a train of empties in the other direction at 07:10 with SY 1058. The sunrise had been a feeble affair and the sun struggled, and ultimately failed, to break through the low cloud all day.
SY 0863, 1058, 1340, 1351, 1369, 1437 and 1545 were all at Dongchang for shift change at 08:00. Also there was a mine policeman who informed us that after a visiting gricer had broken his leg there a few days earlier, the management had decided that no visitors would be permitted at Dongchang without an official permit and everyone would have to be accompanied by a mine official. Totally impractical for most gricers and yet another example of how one person’s moment of misfortune or carelessness can spoil it for everyone else.
At the tip west of Xinghua, SY 1437 came up with the spoil empties at 09:20 followed by SY 1351 light engine at 10:02. This was a big disappointment as a long train of empties had gone from Dongcheng to Zhengyang earlier with a loco at each end, usually a reliable indication that there would be a train up the hill to Xinghua, not just a light engine.
With no sign of the weather clearing, we took a trip to Hengshan to see what was happening there. SY 1344 was stabled at Xinhengshan and GKD1A 0106 was also shunting around there. One of the DF10Ds came down the hill from Zhongxin with loads during the early afternoon. The line to Erkuang had obviously seen some use recently but no loco was seen, either at Hengshan or the mine. A pair of DF8s were in the CR yard, a class that rarely visited Hengshan in the past and a consequence, no doubt, of the influx of HXN5s displacing the DF8s to replace DF4Bs from local work around the Jixi area.
Back at Chengzihe-Beichang, SY 0863 was washery pilot and SY 1545 left with a spoil train at 16:00, taking the eastern leg of the triangle to Dongchang. We set off in hot pursuit and found that the train went through Dongchang and on to the spoil tips north of the line halfway between Dongchang and Zengyang, the trains usual destination until just over a year ago when they were diverted to the new mine near Qiaonan. Now, it seems, everything is back to normal again.
SY 0863, 1058, 1340, 1351, 1369, 1437 and 1545 were all at Dongchang for shift change at 08:00. Also there was a mine policeman who informed us that after a visiting gricer had broken his leg there a few days earlier, the management had decided that no visitors would be permitted at Dongchang without an official permit and everyone would have to be accompanied by a mine official. Totally impractical for most gricers and yet another example of how one person’s moment of misfortune or carelessness can spoil it for everyone else.
At the tip west of Xinghua, SY 1437 came up with the spoil empties at 09:20 followed by SY 1351 light engine at 10:02. This was a big disappointment as a long train of empties had gone from Dongcheng to Zhengyang earlier with a loco at each end, usually a reliable indication that there would be a train up the hill to Xinghua, not just a light engine.
With no sign of the weather clearing, we took a trip to Hengshan to see what was happening there. SY 1344 was stabled at Xinhengshan and GKD1A 0106 was also shunting around there. One of the DF10Ds came down the hill from Zhongxin with loads during the early afternoon. The line to Erkuang had obviously seen some use recently but no loco was seen, either at Hengshan or the mine. A pair of DF8s were in the CR yard, a class that rarely visited Hengshan in the past and a consequence, no doubt, of the influx of HXN5s displacing the DF8s to replace DF4Bs from local work around the Jixi area.
Back at Chengzihe-Beichang, SY 0863 was washery pilot and SY 1545 left with a spoil train at 16:00, taking the eastern leg of the triangle to Dongchang. We set off in hot pursuit and found that the train went through Dongchang and on to the spoil tips north of the line halfway between Dongchang and Zengyang, the trains usual destination until just over a year ago when they were diverted to the new mine near Qiaonan. Now, it seems, everything is back to normal again.
