Wed 03 March 2010
Wed 03 March 2010
31/07/12 17:49
A disappointing start to the day at Didao-Hebei where the wind changed from being wrong for silhouettes to being wrong for conventionally lit shots just as the sun came up. Traffic levels seemed low, although past experience indicates that they do vary a lot from day to day anyway. Four locos were seen in use : SY 0407, 0950, 1205, 1446.
On the way to Chengzihe, via the supposedly improved but still pretty rough road along the north bank of the river, the sight of SY 0804 heading to Dongchang for the shift change came as a bit of a surprise as it was always a Hengshan engine. SY 1437 was photographed on a spoil train climbing from Zhengyang to Xinghua at 09:38, followed by SY 1058 on a short train of coal empties at 10:15. Back at Dongchang, SY 1340 was working the hoppers to Beichang and was seen leaving at 11:54.
We returned to Didao and spent a pleasant couple of hours at the point where the CR line to Linkou runs parallel with the mine railway. SY 0950 and 1205 were photographed heading back to Didao-Hebei with empties at 13:21 and 14:07. On the main line DF4Ds 3033 and 3019 worked trains K7077 and 7078 (Mudanjiang - Dongfanghong and v.v.) while most freights were hauled by new HXN5 diesels (GE design) based at Harbin depot (HXN5 0102, 0120, 0159, 0170) with only DF8 0087 representing the old order. Up till this point the sky had been clear but by the time we left it was clouding up rapidly.
At Chengzihe-Beicheng SY 0863 was shunting the washery and SY 1340 arrived on the hoppers from Dongchang at 15:23. By now the light had virtually gone so we headed over the river to Qiaonan to look at the silhouette on the branch to the new mine. Unfortunately no trains ran at the optimum time, not that it made any difference to me as I’d fallen asleep on the bus. SY 0804 and 1351 were seen at Qiaonan.
On the way to Chengzihe, via the supposedly improved but still pretty rough road along the north bank of the river, the sight of SY 0804 heading to Dongchang for the shift change came as a bit of a surprise as it was always a Hengshan engine. SY 1437 was photographed on a spoil train climbing from Zhengyang to Xinghua at 09:38, followed by SY 1058 on a short train of coal empties at 10:15. Back at Dongchang, SY 1340 was working the hoppers to Beichang and was seen leaving at 11:54.
We returned to Didao and spent a pleasant couple of hours at the point where the CR line to Linkou runs parallel with the mine railway. SY 0950 and 1205 were photographed heading back to Didao-Hebei with empties at 13:21 and 14:07. On the main line DF4Ds 3033 and 3019 worked trains K7077 and 7078 (Mudanjiang - Dongfanghong and v.v.) while most freights were hauled by new HXN5 diesels (GE design) based at Harbin depot (HXN5 0102, 0120, 0159, 0170) with only DF8 0087 representing the old order. Up till this point the sky had been clear but by the time we left it was clouding up rapidly.
At Chengzihe-Beicheng SY 0863 was shunting the washery and SY 1340 arrived on the hoppers from Dongchang at 15:23. By now the light had virtually gone so we headed over the river to Qiaonan to look at the silhouette on the branch to the new mine. Unfortunately no trains ran at the optimum time, not that it made any difference to me as I’d fallen asleep on the bus. SY 0804 and 1351 were seen at Qiaonan.
