Shibanxi, October 2025

There's quite a lot I would be quite happy to forget about my China experience, there's a lot wrong with it as a country but this is not the place to discuss that. However, there are two steam experiences there which very much shaped my later life. The first of these was the narrow gauge logging railway at Weihe which was so good that I visited it four times and on the last of these I met Yuehong on the lineside where she armed with a video camera and a big smile. By then I had already been to the other one, Shibanxi, a couple of times and I was to return there several more times once Yuehong and I were an 'item'. It was a magical place in the early days, lost in a Mao era time warp. Nothing lasts for ever and by the time I made my last visit, it was firmly on the local Chinese tourist trail and we kept a low profile, watching the place change before our eyes. When we said our goodbyes, I knew I would never go back.

However, the railway is still there and when Miika Nicholson emailed me offering a short report and a few pictures, I accepted the offer without hesitation. No doubt he was 'careful' in making his selection but it's clear that not all has been lost. Now read on...

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Miika writes "I visited the Shibanxi railway on 10th and 11th October 2025. There appeared to be two daily departures from Yuejin at 10:30 and 14:30, with the return workings from Bagou at 12:00 and 16:00. There were also two shorter trips from Bagou at 13:00 and 14:00 (30 minute round trip). Locomotives 17, 18 and 19 were in steam. The morning run at 10:30 was doubled headed on both days. Between Bagou and the mine, there is a tram in operation. Trains run ECS from Shixi depot to Yuejin. 

There were several other more dubious looking "steam" locomotives around and a few more C2's in varying conditions. 

Coming down the gradient from Jiaoba towards the first tunnel almost nothing has changed or has it? The locomotive is as grubby as it used to be and maybe the lineside houses are a little smarter than before. Certainly no one has fixed the weather!

I'm sure that trains used to use the other running line here but I've seen far less tasteful looking carriages on UK preserved lines. Certainly with the current reported service of two trains a day, the place is not overwhelmed with local tourists as it once was.

20% of pictures would certainly have been average in my time although eventually I did learn which months were drier and sunnier. It's more than 10 years now but this looks like it's the same area as the first picture on a return working.

I'll allow them the famous photo spot...

... and even overdoing it with the morning double header although I find it hard to believe the lines were that greasy.

You won't catch me returning but I would say that this current operation is far less offensive than the current incarnation of the trains on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.