Florian Menius and Thorge Bockholt report on a tour to China in August, September and October 2000. Thanks to Till Mosler for his contributions, too. His summary is worth reading, too.
In order to limit filesize, the report is splitted in four parts : Thorge`s first two weeks (Baotou, JiTong), the following 3 weeks in Mandchuria (Part II), 2 weeks in Southern China (Part III) and a fourth file which includes the detailed sightings for parts II and III.

During the 5 weeks (Sept 4th - Oct 8th) when I accompanied Thorge, we could note some 120 steam locomotives under steam. Costs for the five weeks in China (including flight) were some 1800DM (flight : 750DM, on land 1050 DM) or about 900 U$ per person.

Part II : Yebaishou , YiXian , Fuxin , Da`an ,  Changchun , Kaiyuan , Tonghua , Jing-Ha-Line

Sept 3rd, Sunday

I arrived at Beijing Capital Airport on board TAROM flight RO 51 from Bucuresti Otopeni at 13:30. TAROM had offered the cheapest flight (750DM including tax) and so I tried it. TAROM is no bad choice although having a lower standard than "Western" airlines. Planes were Boeing 737 Frankfurt-Bucuresti and A310 Bucuresti-Beijing. Check out was very quick so that I managed to catch the 14:00 airport bus to Beijing Railway station (and did not need to take a taxi to Huairou).
The "foreigners ticket counter" at Beijing refused to sell a YW - ticket for T574 to Chifeng. They only wanted to give me a ticket for the direct overnight express T559, departure 20:39 at Beijing Nan. So, I bought no ticket there and took Bus No.20 to Beijing Nan zhan. It starts at the busstation some 300m east of Beijing railway station, goes via Tian`anmen square and terminates in front of Beijing Nan zhan. Fare is 2Y throughout. The trip will take some 30min if there is no congestion. At the ticketcounter at Beijing Nan, it was no problem to buy a YW ticket for T574 to Chifeng ... (80Y). So, I left Beijing only three hours after landing at the airport again.

Sept 4th, Monday
Arrival at Chifeng was due at 03:36 but between Chengde and Chifeng, T574 managed to "collect" some 90min delay. So it arrived at Chifeng not before 05:00, a few minutes too late to reach T610 ex Chifeng 04:55 to Yebaishou which Thorge had taken. I had to wait for the 07:16 passenger T854 Chifeng-Jinzhou and followed Thorge to Yebaishou (fare 10Y) where I arrived at 10:50. Two QJs (including QJ 6414) could be noted at Pingzhuang Nan, orange livered DF4 2271 at Tianyi.

Yebaishou ,  Sept 4th - 5th 2000

Steam operation
Yebaishou still has got a reasonable number of steam engines. As reported previously all three lines radiating from Yebaishou still offer steam action although frequency can differ very much. On Sept 4th for example, at least 3 QJ hauled + QJ banked trains left Yebaishou towards Lingyuan whilst on Sept 5th, only one single headed train apeared with all other trains DF4 hauled and QJ banked. In general, all three lines offer an unpredictable mix of QJ or DF4 single headed, DF4+DF4, DF4+QJ or QJ+QJ double-headed trains. Anyway, Yebaishou is still worth a visit as obviously each line will have freights "without DF4" on any day.
In addition to Yebaishou based QJs, Fuxin-based QJs still reach Yebaishou from the Chaoyang/ Beipiao direction.

Yebaishou Shed
The shed remains to be closed if you have no prearranged visit. The shed manger demands 500Y per visit !! Due to large rows of dumped QJs it is nearly impossible to have a look inside the shed from outside the walls. An exception is the area around the turntable at the far end of the shed, where you can easily walk on top of the wall and have a look inside.

Locomotives
Steam : Yebaishou is said to have an allocation of 12 QJs plus 2 JS for shunting duties in October 2000 (information by Till Mosler).
All engines of the once common 33xx - series seem to be dumped now. There are two long rows of dumped QJs inside the depot area including QJ 3338-3340, 3344, 3345, 3348, 6678, 6727, 6729, JS 8239 and some 5 further QJs. Though having many dumped QJ, Yebaishou is still getting "new" QJs. At least 3 QJs (QJ 3268, 6086 and 6554) have been cascaded from Da`an Bei to Yebaishou between March and September 2000. Quite remarkable, I think !
The two deflectorless JS 8237 and 8238 are pilots at Yebaishou as it used to be for years.
DF4 : Yebaishou has got both orange and green DF4s but no engine is built later than 1996. A uncommon sight was orange DF4 2271 being employed on freight duties. The orange DF4 haul all fast trains along the Yebaishou-Beipiao-Yi Xian line whilst the all-station-passengers 853 and 854 on this line and all passenger trains towards Chifeng and Lingyuan remain duties of green DF4s.

The following engines could be noted (all QJ, JS Yebaishou based, DF4 : Yebaishou engines, but may include some Fuxin engines, too). Underlined engines were noted by Till Mosler on Oct 11th-12th. :

QJ	3268, 6086, 6409, 6411, 6413, 6414, 6416, 6417, 6554, 6677, 6728
QJ dumped	3338-3340, 3344, 3345, 3348, 6678, 6727, 6729
JS	8237, 8238, 8239(dumped)
DF4	1649, 1695, 2117, 2118, 2122, 2124, 2185, 2262, 2264, 2271, 6193, 7203, 7319, 7321, 7358, 7368, 7427, 7428, 7451, 7454, 7475

Accomodation
In contrast to earlier visits, it is possible now to sleep in other hotels / lüdians than the overpriced "Jianping Binguan". Possibly the best address is the the railway hotel ("tielu lüdian") to the left outside the station. It has been renovated very recently and offers a double at 15Y per person. If you get the right room, you will even have a view on Yebaishou station from the window of your room. Shower is not available.

Tour details Yebaishou :

Sept 4th, Monday
Weather was quite bad : grey sky, very dark and some rain around noon. After my arrival at 10:50 I walked to the big river bridge on the line to Chifeng. Thorge already was there. As the weather got worse and worse, we stopped waiting around 14:00 and walked back to the station to see a QJ+QJ banked freight towards Lingyuan leaving the yard at 14:20 followed by a single headed freight around 15:15. In the morning we had heared/observed 3 further freights towards Lingyuan. At least one of these trains - departing around 11:20 - was DF4+QJ banker. The other 2 trains had at least one QJ, too. Two QJ hauled trains arrived from Lingyuan direction. A list of Detailed Sightings is available, too.
In the afternoon, we had a visit to the shed. Access was denied. So we walked around the depot wall and "looked over the wall" : ex Daïan Bei QJs 6554 and 6086 as well as QJ 6417 were under steam there.

Sept 5th, Tuesday
Stood up at 05:30 to see that the weather hadn`t changed since the day before. But there was blue sky in the west. Indeed, by 10:00 the sun was shining ...
Having seen the amount of steam on the line towards Lingyuan on Monday, we decided to spent the day at Hongshi. We took T 859 Yebaishou 06:35-Hongshi 06:57(-Jinzhou) and waited, waited, waited. Today there much fewer QJs : only one QJ hauled freight in each direction during the whole day. The QJ hauled freight from Yebaishou to Lingyuan did not arrive before 17:10. Although we had waited nearly 10 hours for this train to come, it was really worth it : QJ 3268 appeared in best evening light. Sighthings.
At 18:30, we took T 860 (Jinzhou-) Hongshi 18:30 - Yebaishou 18:50 back to Yebaishou, where QJ 6416 was sitting in the depot area.
After a short recovery in the "tielu lüdian", we stood up at 01:30 in the night again and took T536 (Chengde-) Yebaishou 01:55- Yi Xian 05:00 (-Jinzhou) to Yi Xian. QJ 6677 at Yebaishou, QJ+QJ at Gongyingzi, QJ 6752 and another one a Chaoyang, QJ at Beipiao Nan.

Yi Xian - Beipiao , Sept 6th - 9th 2000
Yi Xian - Fuxin , Sept 10th - 11th

The CNR line Yi Xian - Beipiao is probably one of the best steam locations you still can visit in China. Although both Thorge (March 1998) (https://internationalsteam.co.uk/syc/qjc/mlp/bockholt101.html Link broken by December 2021) and I (March 2000) had been there before, we both were surprised how good this line is. Both our earlier visits had the same conclusion : "very few steam". At least my March 2000-visit had a serious fault : the day was a Saturday ...
Originally, we had planned to stay a total of 4 days around Yi Xian/Fuxin. In the end, we needed 6 days ... and our planned visit to Arxan had to be cancelled...

Steam Operation
Yi Xian - Beipiao Nan : You may expect some 10 freights during daylight hours (06:00-18:00) : 7 QJ hauled + 3 DF4 hauled ones. All freights operate according to a fixed timetable. The following approximate timings are given for the station of Zhoujiatun situated some 19km distance from Yi Xian. Bold times indicate QJ single-headed freights, the rest is DF4.

eastbound (dir.Beipiao-Yi Xian)	07:30	08:15	11:30	13:20	15:00	16:30
westbound (dir.Yi Xian-Beipiao)	09:45	13:20	15:30	16:30	18:30

Around 13:20 and 16:30 QJ hauled freights cross each other either at Zhoujiatun or at Shangyuan. In general, the above given timings are quite accurate : discrepancy of more than +/- 30 mins are very seldom with most trains operating "on the minute". The 09:45 freight towards Beipiao Nan will operate either immediately before or immediately after the (DF4-hauled) T853 passenger Jinzhou-Chifeng, which calls at Zhoujiatun at 09:35.
Each of the above mentioned trains will operate. The engine will run even if there are no goods to be transported. So, the lenght of the trains can vary reasonably : between 0 and 40 waggons are possible ...

YiXian-Fuxin : Most of the QJ hauled trains along the Beipiao-Yi Xian section seem to use the reversing loop at Yi Xian and work on towards Fuxin. We do not know if this is valid for all freights but we guess, that at least the DF4 hauled freights operate to and from Jinzhou as we did not observe "suitable DF4 freights" between Yi Xian and Fuxin.
Between Fuxin and Jinzhou, there is another "sure" QJ hauled freight : Fuxin dep. appr. 16:00, arrival Yi Xian around 18:00, further on towards Jinzhou. As usual in this area, this train has got the same engine every day, too.

West of Beipiao : The 11:30 eastbound freight quite surely comes from Chaoyang, as I had seen this freight on three subsequent days in March 2000. It leaves Choyang immediately after the QJ-hauled passenger to Beipiao (08:05) around 08:20. The "western" destination of the other trains is not known.

Remarks to the "freight timetable":
Attention ! Everything said above and below about "sure train timings" seems to be valid for Monday to Friday only ! On Saturday and Sunday, a lot of trains will not operate ! It may sound amazing, but it seems, that there exists a "weekend-timetable" here. My visit to Zhoujiatun in March 2000 was on a Saturday, too and the trains observed on a Saturday in March and September were exactly the same !
Saturday : some of the "best-lightend trains" will not operate : 07:30(eb), 13:20(eb), 16:30(eb) and 16:30(wb). On the other hand, there seems to be an additional "Saturday only" westbound freight around 09:00, but it works against the light ...
Sunday : Timings are not known by us. But according to our Sunday evening observations at Fuxin (see below), there will hardly be more trains than on Saturday.
On the other hand Till Mosler, who followed us to Zhoujiatun/Shangyuan between Oct 7th- Oct 10th reports about changes concerning the freight timetable. He found a very erratic pattern of freight traffic there with most QJ hauled trains on Saturday ! Be careful ! "Our timetable" may be not as sure as we thought it would be. Read his obserations, too.

Diagrams
Each train is hauled by the same engine every day (1-day-diagrams). That means, that you are able to identify "trains" when knowing the number of the locomotive. Sometimes it may appear, that the "right" engine for a particular trains works as light engine earlier than "booked". Given this situation, the "booked freight" may appear, too but with another, "new" engine of course.
The following (pairs of) trains are hauled by the same engine during a day : 07:30(eb) and 16:30(wb), 08:15(eb) and 15:30(wb), 11:30(eb) and 18:30(wb). This means for example, that the engine of the 07:30 eastbound-freight comes back at 16:30.
Any other "freight engines" appear only once a day.

The Line
Yi Xian-Beipiao : During our visit we "fotographed" on the section Lijiagou-Shangyuan exclusively. The station of Lijiagou is situated some 9km from Yi Xian at km-post 57. About 1 km west of Lijiagou (km58), the tar road to Beipiao crosses the line. At km 61.5, you will find the first of three scenic bridges, a irony one. The section between km 63-65 offers some nice possibility as the line is winding through hilly landscape next to the large river valley. At km 65, there is the 8-arch-stone-viaduct (best after 12:00 for eb trains) immediately next to Zhoujiatun station (km65.5). The section between Zhoujiatun and Shangyuan has got some cuttings and dams although the landscape is quite flat. But nearly everywhere, you will have a line of high, ragged mountains as bachdrop. Highlight is the third bridge at km 71 : a irony bridge, too. The surroundings and the bridge itself could be in Romania as well : a very idyllic place. Shangyuan station is situated at km 76 and quite scenic, too. At its eastern end, it leads directly into a tunnel on whose other side the line immediately crosses a river. The section west of Shangyuan is less interessting.
Fuxin-Yi Xian : About two kilometers north of Y Xian station, there is a large riverbridge crossing the "Dalinghe River" with mountains as backdrop. Although it is guarded my military, taking photos is possible because there is a kind of "riverwalk" along the river, which is freely accessible. A motuche from the station to the "river" (taxi drivers know this) was 3Y.
Some 2.5km north of Qinghemen there is a photogenic riverbridge, too (best after 16:00). To the north of Qinghemen a branch line extends to the east which is served by a (unidentified) SY several times a day. About one kilometer north of the riverbridge is Aiyouying station, where a quite old SY (SY 0035) can be found. It serves a coalmine next to the station.
The rest of the line towards Fuxin is not very scenic, but the southern end of Fuxin freight yard is still worth a visit as the SYs from "Fuxin Coal Railway" can be seen here, too. Remarklable is, that only loaded coal waggons are tripped along the "southern link" to the Fuxin CNR yard whereas empties to the local railway normally use the connection at the northern end. Fuxin CNR yard still has up to 3 pilots (both JS and QJ) which serve some factories, too.

Linesiding (Yi Xian-Beipiao)
Access by public transport : Neither Zhoujiatun nor Shangyuan have a bus link to Yi Xian. The only "public transport" is by train : passenger trains T853 and T854. T853 leaves Yi Xian very late (in fact too late) at 09:10 and T854 returns quite early (arr.15:50),too. Between Shangyuan and Beipiao there are two links by bus. One uses the dirt road via Beipiao Nan, the other one the tar via Sanbao.
Access by road : Major problem is, that there is no good road between Zhoujiatun and Shangyuan. Zhoujiatun is easily reached by Taxi or 3-wheel-taxi "Motuche". But anyway, it is possible to go to Shangyuan by Taxi as a dirt "road" parallels the railway between Zhoujiatun and Shangyuan. At least you will be able to reach the bridge at km71 where the "road" crosses the river, too. Given only few water there, you may be able to go on to Shangyuan. A taxi to Zhoujiatun may cost 50Y/30min, to Shangyuan 70Y/60min (one way each), a motuche 30Y/60min and 50Y/90min respectively (Motuche to Shangyuan is not recommanded !). A cheap option is to go to the crossing at km 58 and walk along the track. Motuche should cost some 10Y. If you need a taxi early in the morning, it will be necessary to arrange this the evening before as only motuche were available at Yi Xian station around 05:00.

Locomotives :
Fuxin CNR depot is situated some 2km south of Fuxin. Access was denied but at least a dozen dumped QJs (including QJ 6754) could be seen awaiting their fate there. Fuxin still has got more than 20 QJs which contrasts to information provided in CRJ 123. The following CNR locomotives could be noted around Yi Xian/Fuxin during our visit (Fuxin based if not stated different, underlined = noted by Till Mosler) :

JS	8235(nd), 8236(nd)
QJ	2801, 3185, 6095, 6172, 6226, 6410, 6480, 6489, 6655, 6672, 6707, 6725(nd), 6750, 6752, 6754(oou), 6776, 6925(Daban/JiTong), 6943, 6990, 6991, 7116
DF4	1525, 1618, 1652, 1684, 6196, 7322, 7457, 7460, 7465

Accomodation :
Yi Xian : There is a quite good hotel outside the station at Yi Xian. Double is 80Y. The hotel itself provides no hot water for shower, but you will get a coupon for the "public bath and shower" - institution next door in the same building. Just go out of the hotel, turn left and walk around the building. You may have a massage there, too (50Y extra). This "bath and shower" - institution can be used by "Non-Hotel-Residents", too. Costs for a shower are 15Y (men) and 5Y (women) respectively.
Fuxin : There is a good "lüdian" near the station. Walk along the road right angel to the tracks. After some 100m, you will find it to the right. A double is 50Y. Behind the building in a separate one, you will find the showers, available 17:00-22:00. As there is only one "shower room", there will be alternating "shower times" for men and women.

Catering :
In the evening, there are a lot of people selling delicious "meat sticks" in front of the station at Yi Xian.

Fuxin Coal Railway , Sept 10th - 11th

There is only little to say about the "Fuxin Coal Railway" as there have been numerous earlier reports about it (e.g. Rob Dickinson`s report. Although the system is very busy, we were dissapointed : The central area, where most SYs are employed is quite unphotogenic, a few hours are enough here...

Steam operation :
Very busy freight tripping and shunting activity at the "central area" between "Wulong" and "Taiping". About every 30 minutes, a SY will trip some 10-12 loaded coal waggons along the "southern link" to the CNR freight yard (southern end) and returns light engine immediately.
The Passenger Timetable by RD has changed a bit : trains No. 108 and 110 (dep. Xinqiu 05:48 and 06:04 respectively) have changed their destinations. Train No.108 works to Wangying mine while 110 goes to Dongliang now. The trains to Wangying consist of 10 coaches whilst other trains are shorter : 3-5 coaches only. The engine which hauls passenger No.108 to Wangying immediately returns light engine to Wulong, takes water there and works back to Wangying, light engine of course, too.

Depot :Some 300m south of Taiping station, you will find a stabling point for steam locomtives. SY 0541 and YJ 0403 are dumped there.

Linesiding : Minzhu : You may reach Minzhu and its obligatory "Church Shot" very easy. Just take one of the frequent minibuses towards Qinghemen. Fare is 1Y only.

The OpenCast Pit : If you are fed up to watch tender first SYs, you may visit the large open cast, too. At Taiping, a public road extends eastwards to the rim of the opencast, where you can walk down to the "first level" and watch the busy train operation there. Most trains are electric (either LEW, Skoda or Chinese ones) but if you are lucky, you may see SYs hauling construction trains there, too. At least this "uppest level" is freely accessible.

Electric passengers : Very archaic trains consisting of a electric locomotive and 11 very short "passenger-coaches", which resemble more to a freight waggon than to a passenger one. They leave at Taiping station (read Rob Dickinson`s description, too) but we couldn`t find a timetable. It seemed that the electric trains only operate at the beginning and end of a shaft. That means then when the steam passengers operate, too.

Locomotives :
The following "Non-CNR" locomotives were noted around Fuxin (all "Fuxin Coal Railway" if not indicated different) :

YJ	0403(dumped)
SY	0035(Aiyouying Coal Mine), 0126, 0205, 0391, 0540, 0541(dumped), 0770. 0785, 0849, 0911, 0912, 0940, 0941, 0988, 1210, 1395, 1397, 1818

Tour details Yi Xian / Fuxin :

Sept 6th, Wednesday
After our early arrival at Yi Xian at 05:00, we checked in at the hotel and hired a motuche to Zhoujiatun. During the day, we walked back to the crossing at km58 near Lijiagou where we arrived around 17:15. The ride back to Yi Xian by (shared) motuche was 8Y only ! A "urban"-motuche from the central place at Yi Xian where we had to leave the motuche to the station costed another 2Y. With the exception of the evening of Sept 8th, we had 100% sunshine during our 4 days at Yi Xian.
Sightings on Sept 6th.

Sept 7th, Thursday
Stood up at 04:30 and went to Shangyuan by Motuche (50Y). The driver didn`t take the road paralell to the railway but another one along a river valley. So it happened, that we had to cross the river several times, but once it didn`t work : the motuche stopped in the middel of the river. As the engine didn`t start again, we had to take off our shoes and walk through the river whilst the driver pushed the motuche through the water. Only a few minutes later, the vehicle nearly fell on his side when the bank of the river was to steep and the driver tried to turn right at the same time ... A trip we won`t forget ! Once arrived at Shangyuan after a 1 3/4 h horrifying ride, we walked to the railway bridge at km71. Sadly, the 13:30 westbound freight had a total of 0 waggons (=light engine). As the shot had not been taken yet, we had to come back the next day again. Around 15:00, we left this place and walked back all the way to the crossing at km58, where we took a motuche back to Yi Xian (10Y). Detailed Sightings

Sept 8th, Friday
The day began at 04:30 again. The evening before, we had asked a taxi driver ("never again motuche") for a ride to Zhoujiatun. During the day, we walked the 10kms to Shangyuan (and got our 13:30 shot at the bridge). Due to a lack of alternatives (and as we did not want to walk the 13kms back to Lijiagou) we took passenger train T854, Shangyuan dep. 15:10, Yi Xian arr.15:50. In the evening we visited the Dalinghe Bridge north of Yi Xian. Detailed Sightings

Sept 9th, Saturday
Today, we wanted to check the area west of Shangyuan. We took a taxi to Shangyuan (via Zhoujiatun this time). In the afternoon we took passenger T854 back to Yi Xian. As it was Saturday, the day became quite frustating : Detailed Sightings. After our arrival at Yi Xian, we waited for the two afternoon freights : both didn`t work. A few minutes after sunset when we already sat on board T620, dep. 18:04 to Fuxin (arr.19:31), QJ6707 arrived with its Fuxin to Jinzhou freight ... At Fuxin, we went to the above mentioned "lüdian".

Sept 10th, Sunday
Sunshine all the day. In the morning we visited Wulong, watched the Coal Railway`s morning passengers there and started walking towards Taiping. At Taiping we visited both the stabling point and the Open Cast Mine (see above), but didn`t succed to ride an electric train. As early as 10:00, we thought to have seen everything what could be seen there and took a motuche back to the lüdian. Later, we went to the CNR crossing north of the Fuxin station again. Then we walked southwards along Fuxin freight yard as far as to the shed. QJ 6655 and deflectorless, 1-headlight-only and in worst-condition being QJ 6725 were pilots at the northern end, whilst JS 8235 did the same job at the southern end. SY 1397 came along with some loaded waggons, too. Quite surprising was the sight of a freight hauled by DF4 7460+QJ 6925 (JiTong engine, Daban based) arriving from the north. As acess to the shed was denied, we took a minibus to Minzhu, where we did the compulsory "Church Shot". CNR freights passed at 13:00(sb), 14:00(sb), 14:30(nb); all QJ hauled. We went back to Fuxin by minibus and spent the rest of the day around the CNR yard : Sightings

Sept 11th, Monday
The morning was spent at the Coal Railway again. As it was overcast this day, we left the place around 10:00, went back to the lüdian and had a cup of coffee there. At 13:23, we took overcrowded T608 from Fuxin to Qinghemen (arr.13:57) : we prefered QJ-hauled mainline freights. In the evening, we took T620 from Qinghemen(dep.18:42) to Xinlitun (arr.20:47). Xinlitun is a great place. It is not only the wonderful old style station with its footbridge but you can get fantastic food there, too. Behind the low buildings / barracks in front of the station, a road extends. The left building at the corner with the lightened advertisements houses a great and cheap restaurant : we voted it to be one of our "Top5-Restaurants" during the trip. The restaurant offers some berths, too. (If you have nothing else to do : visit Xinlitun! It will be worth it!) Later, we took express train 343, dep. 22:20 , upgraded to YW (AC : 128Y/Person !) and went to Da`an Bei. Sightings

Da`an Bei , Sept 12th - 14th

Surprisingly few changes here compared with Peter Patt`s May 2000 report. Even the Qianguo-Baicheng tourist train is still steam hauled. Da`an Bei is still a very good steam location. Originally, we had planned to stay only 1 day at Da`an Bei : I wanted to take a morning picture at Haituozi. In the end, we stood 3 days ... and Tiefa had to be cancelled, too ... Read Till Mosler`s Report, too.

General News :
Da`an Bei Station : The old-style station building of Da`an Bei has been pulled down. A new building is under construction. The entry to the platforms is now either some 100m north of the old building (ticket counter is here) or 150m southwards.
"Da`an Bei Goods Trains" become longer and longer! In March 2000 an average goods train had 40-45 waggons. Now, the trains had up to 60 (!) waggons.

Steam Operation :
Da`an Bei - Ranghulu : All passenger trains are DF4 now. Freight haulage has not changed reasonably since my first visit in March 2000 : 15-25 freights a day with some 70-90% out of them QJ hauled.
As reported earlier, the "best" section for photography is around Lizhi. Northbound freights often stop there for up to 1.5 hours - nobody knows why. They do not take water and capacity of the line would allow much shorter stops. It happens quite often, that two nb freights are waiting at Lizhi at the same time. Due to the fact that there is no road bridge across the Songhua River north of Da`an, you should go to Taiyangshen / Lizhi by train.
Da`an Bei-Qianguo : Our observations showed still 100% steam haulage of freights. At Qianguo, two JS (JS 6236, 6238) are pilots, Changshantun has another JS (JS 6096 or 6237) as pilot. The Changshantun pilot is used on line work between Changshantun and Da`an Bei, too. At least 2 return trips are done during daylight but the engine is not turned at Changshantun and works tender first in direction to Da`an Bei. Anyway, the sight of a JS hauled 50-wagon-tank-train is still possible here. There may be a "freight timetable" here, too as our  morning observations at Changshantun were nearly identical to those in March .
The Qianguo-Da`an Bei-Baicheng tourist train Y267/268 is still steam hauled. Sadly, the "Bautzen"-style coaches have been replaced by ordinar YZ22-coaches. Sometimes, there will be some goods wagons attached to the top of the train. So, the "tourist train" can become a "mixed", too. Both Y267 and 268 were observed on two subsequent days. It was the same engine every day : Baicheng-based QJ 6848. Furthermore, both Y 267 and Y 268 have been retimed :
Y 267 : Qianguo - Da`an Bei 07:40 / 08:10 - Baicheng
Y 268 : Baicheng - Da`an Bei 18:10 / 18:40 - Qianguo
Best photospot is a bridge west of Changshantun, easily accessible by train and by minibus along the paralell road. The minibuses from Da`an to "Changshan" start at the central crossing in Da`an Bei city. Alternatively, you may take urban Bus No.3 from Da`an Bei to its eastern terminus. It is situated at the road towards Changshantun and Jianguo and catch a bus to Changshantun there.
Da`an Bei-Baicheng : This line is entirely worked by Baicheng based DF4, QJ and JS and by Changchun based DFH3 which haul the through trains from Changchun (predominantly double-headed). Freight duties are dominated by DF4 now. During our 3-day-visit, we observed only one QJ hauled freight. It was the only steam hauled train except of the daily tourist train Y267/268 we saw on this line.
Da`an Bei-Taipingchuan : Obviously, this line will be the first to be dieselised. According to railway staff, 8 DF4 and 12 QJ are booked for this line. But with lower freight levels than in March 2000 this meant about 50% diesel haulage. The mixed T952/953 Da`an Bei 06:05-11:48 Taipingchuan 14:12-20:19 Da`an Bei is still steam worked. Best spot is the bridge north of Haituozi, which is best reached by train, too.
Da`an Bei Yard : Two JS (JS 6239, 6481) are still used as pilots. The northern end pilot serves some factories including the wagon repair shop some 2km south of Da`an Bei whilst the second JS acts as hump yard shunter all day.

Locomotives :
The current Da`an Bei roster includes 37 QJ, 6 JS and 20 DF4 (according to railway staff). The locomotive list is (1 QJ, 2 DF4 unknown, underlined=noted by Till Mosler) :

JS	6096(hd), 6236, 6237(hd), 6238, 6239, 6481
QJ	3179, 3230, 3251, 3287, 6112, 6143, 6156, 6280, 6281, 6361, 6367, 6368, 6379, 6435, 6484, 6571, 6586, 6773, 6809, 6825, 6847, 6851, 6852, 6882, 6886, 6887, 6889, 6891, 6924, 6926, 7081, 7086, 7104, 7113, 7119, 7173
DF4	1098, 1472, 1543, 1549, 3281, 3282, 3283, 3284, 3287, 3315, 3316, 3317, 3985, 3986, 3987, 3988, 3989, 6075

Bold letters indicate engines noted during our visit.

Surprising was the existance of JS 6096 and its use on line work towards Changshantun. Its condition was (March 2000) and still is very bad : no chance to accelerate this engine without wheelspin !
On the other hand, the other JS and most of the QJs are in very good condition. QJ 6435 for example looks as if it left Datong Locomotive Works in the year 2000 : blinkering and in excellent technical condition ! Just stand next to QJ 6435 when it rolls past : you will hear absolutely nothing!
Although steam is said to come to an end by August 2001 (told by staff), three QJs were at Changchun for overhaul : QJ 6156, the "sqare-headlight-QJ" QJ 6891 and "decorated" QJ 6924. All three engines had returned to Da`an Bei by the end of October (information by Till Mosler). QJ 6891 had lost its sqare headlights at Changchun. Another "special engine" is lost. At the same time QJ 6571 and QJ 6809 were sent to Changchun for overhaul. A brand-new DF5 acted as substitute for them ...
As mentioned above, Baicheng shed still has got a number both of QJ and JS , too. Baicheng engines seen at Da`an Bei were : JS 8045, QJ 6284, 6848, 6888 and DF4 1699, 1701.
Furthermore, Tongliao-based orange liveried DF4 2162 and 2178 and Changchun based DFH3 0010, 0072, 0085, 0224, 0246 were noted, too.

Accomodation :
The (big, grey) lüdian outside Da`an Bei station is cheap but offers low standard : no shower, not even hot water. You have to ask for any bottle of hot water separately. Price is 15Y per person in 2-bed-room. The small, white lüdian opposite is better value for the same price (see March 2000 report for reference).

Catering :
A very good restaurant is situated at the place in front of Da`an Bei station. It can be found about in the middel of the northern side of the sqare, has got a turquoise sign above the door and a TV set opposite the entrance door. It became member of our "Top-5-Restaurant-Score", too.

Tour details Da`an Bei :

Sept 12th, Tuesday
After our arrival at Da`an Bei at 05:12 in the morning, we immediately headed back to Haituozi. We took mixed T 952 (dep. Da`an Bei 06:05; arr. Haituozi 07:01) which was hauled by QJ 6571. The morning at Haituozi was quite frustrating : it took 3.5 hours until the first QJ hauled freight arrived. The bridge north of Haituozi is difficult to photograph in summer because the "summer lake" is much larger than winter`s ice. Fortunately, there was a fisherman at the bridge who lent us his "spare boat". So, we could row some meters on the lake and could take pictures with the fishermen`s nets (eel-bucks ?) as foreground.
At noon, we went back to Da`an Bei by T 703 (Haituozi 12:31, Da`an Bei arr.13:15), hauled by DF4 2178. The afternoon was spent on the roadbridge at Da`an Bei. It is a very nice for having a cup of coffee while watching the trains. We arrived there at 14:15, a few minutes after a QJ hauled had left the station. It was even more frustrating there than at Haituozi: no further QJ hauled freight until sunset. After sunset, T Y268 was hauled by QJ 6848. Sunshine from sunrise until 17:20, later cloudy. We took a 30Y - double in the big lüdian opposite the former Da`an Bei station building. Sightings on Sept 12th

Sept 13th, Wednesday
The morning was still cloudy. But by 07:30, the sun had won the fight. After a morning session around Da`an Bei yard, we took T212 dep. 08:19 to Changshantun (arr.08:50), where JS 6096 was shunting. At 12:00, the light at the riverbridge got worse and worse. So we left Changshantun and took a minibus back to Da`an (5Y / person), then Bus.No.3 to Da`an Bei (1Y). We immediately went to the roadbridge again and were lucky as it took "only" 1.5 hours until the first (and only) afternoon QJ hauled freight towards Taipingchuan left the station. Afterwards, we went to the crossing near Da`an Bei shed north of the station. Sightings

Sept 14th, Thursday
Another morning spent at Da`an Bei yard. This time, we had sunshine (sun shone all the day). We took T 581 , Da`an Bei dep. 09:13 to Taiyangshen (arr.10:13). Then we walked the 6km to Lizhi where we took the evening passenger T706 return to Da`an Bei (Lizhi 19:13 - Da`an Bei 20:45). 18 freights between 11:00 and 19:00 !Sightings. After a few hours sleep, we got up at 00:30 again and left Da`an by fast train T582 Da`an Bei 00:56-Changchun 04:39.

Changchun Tramway , Sept 15th, Friday

There is only one tramway line in Changchun. It is Line No.54 which commutes between "Hongqi Road" and "Hepingda Street" in the south-western suburbs of Changchun.

Access : "Hongqi Road" can be reached by taking bus No. 25 or 62. Both of which provide a direct link between the CNR station and "Hongqi Road". From the Renmin-Square in the city center you can take Bus No.17, too. It crosses the tramway some 200m north of the depot near Hepingda Street.

Operation : Due to the fact, that the bridge, where the tramway crosses the Bei-Ha-Line is being rebuilt at the moment, line No.54 was worked by buses along the whole length of the line. According to staff, the tramway service has been suspended since May 1st 2000 and is due to reopen on Dec 15th 2000. During this "closure time" not only the railway overbridge is to be reconstructed but the whole tramway line throughout. Nearly everywhere along the line, new tracks, new poles and wires were under construction. But, given the progress of work, it seemed to be a very optimistic target to reopen the line in December. The most likely section to be ready by December is that one between "Hepingda Street" and the railway overbridge.

Rolling Stock : According to staff, 30 vehicles out of three "classes" of electric motor units are present at the moment (numbered 201 ff.). There are at least 8 (16 according to staff) units with wooden body built in Japan in the 1930s. One of this "old" EMUs has been rebuilt and modernisised in the 1960s by the Changchun tramway company. The third type is a series of 10 Dalian-built tramway cars, built in the 1970s and numbered 701-710.
On Sept 15th, the tramway depot ("dianche sushe", literally "tramway residential home") situated about 1.5 - 2 km south of "Hepingda Street", contained 8 "old" railcars, the reconstructed one and all 10 Dalian-built ones with most of them dumped outside the workshop. Condition of most cars was quite bad. Nerverthless, some of the Japan-built units were under serious reconstruction inside the workshop which included new wooden bodies, too.
A visit to the "dianche sushe" is no problem. You may walk in without having asked as there is no fence but a "Hello, I am here" at the gate-keeper`s office, no doubt, will be better.

Tour details Changchun Tramway, Changchun-Kaiyuan, Sept 15th

After a breakfast at Changchun station, we took Bus. No. 62 to Hongqi Road, where we had to take the bus No.54 instead of the expected tramway. We left the bus at the tramway depot, explored it and went back to Changchun city by Bus.No.17 as it was obvious, that no tramway would work on this day. From "Renmin Square" we walked back to station where we catched T510 (Harbin-Shenyang), dep. 11:46 and went as fas as Kaiyuan (arr.14:39). After a short visit to the local railway`s depot, we took T685 to Xifeng which was hauled by JS 8242. Having arrived in Xifeng we checked in at the lüdian next to the station. At Xifeng Xi, JS 8044 was crossed hauling the freight towards Kaiyuan (details see below). Nearly the whole day was overcast. Sun didn`t come out before 17:30 some 20min before sunset.

Kaiyuan-Xifeng (-Anmintun) , Sept 15th - 17th

Thanks to L.Bell/P.Odell for their May 2000-report which proofed to be very useful. The line is 100% JS worked, but diesels are expected to arrive in October 2000 ...

Steam operation :
As reported there is only one pair of passenger trains left. The second one was still noted on the board at Xifeng station but did not operate. Compared to May 2000, the timetable has changed a bit : T685 Kaiyuan-Xifeng leaves an hour earlier now. September 2000 timings are :

T686		T685
06:25	Xifeng	17:25
08:08	Kaiyuan	15:40

After its arrival, the engine of T685 runs round at Xifeng and works back to Xifeng Xi. The same procedure is expected to appear in the morning in the other direction. The passenger trains consist of 6 YZ22-coaches.
In addition to the passenger, there is a daily pair of freights, too. The eastbound freight leaves Kaiyuan after the arrival of T686 around 08:30-09:00. On its way to Xifeng Xi, it stops at different intermediate stations to collect and distribute its waggons. Arrival at Xifeng Xi is around 11:00-11:30. During the two days, we observed this train, it didn`t go further east towards Anmintun. The track here is very rusty, too. So, freight traffic to Anmintun may have been suspended.
Being at Xifeng Xi, the JS serves some factories around Xifeng Xi and east of Xifeng station.
In the afternoon the westbound freight leaves Xifeng Xi immediately after the arrival of T 685 around 17:30. Due to its late departure, it is hardly possible to photograph it.
Summary : The two morning trains (T686 and the eb freight) can be phtographed quite well. Between 11:00 and 15:30, there is no train on the line. T685 works against the light at nearly any location. The only exception is the bridge near Xifeng/ Daqingyang.

The Line :
The line is not spectacular but offers a typical shortline-atmosphere, which is contributed by the appearance of a real pick-up freight which stopps nearly everywhere to collect goods - a very unfamiliar sight in most countries in WesternEurope nowadays.
As reported before, the tracks are nailed throughout the whole line and laid on sand. Though this "low standard-infrastructure", the speeds are quite high : we rated the top speed of the passenger to be some 50-60km/h or even higher.
Quails Map is not completety accurate concerning this line. The passenger`s stops along the line are :
Kaiyuan(km0), Laocheng(km8), LaochengDong(km15), Weiyuanpu(km25), Songshucun(km35), Gaojiadian(km46), Gangouzi(km51), Daqingyang(km56), XifengXi(km64) and Xifeng(km66).
All stations with the exception of Daqingyang have sidings, facilities for goods transport, (ligth) signals and local staff. The shed is at Kaiyuan some 500m north of the station. At Xifeng Xi, there is a wye where the engines are turned. So, all trains are funnel first. The section between Xifeng and Anmintun probably is out of use now : very rusty track here.

Most of the line follows a very recently built "highway-like" road, that limits the possible photo spots tremendously. Beyond Laocheng Dong, hills appear on both sides. But the valley is still more than 1km wide at every point. The railway line is situated at the southern rim of the valley close to the hills - but immediately next to the highway ! The line features 4 larger bridges which are the best photospots : the first bridge is about 1km before Laocheng (km7), the next one follows after Laocheng Dong (km18). Both are concrete one and you have to care about poles here. The smallest of the bridges is situated just west of Weiyuanpu (km25) but the road is quite far away here (some 300m). The forth bridge, the line`s top-spot, is situated between Daqingyang and Xifeng Xi at km58. It is a very unusual bridge for China as it features a very interssting irony structure and a line of hills as backdrops (best for the evening passenger T685). Another photo-spot may be the view on a village between Daqingyang and Gangouzi (for the eb freight). Furthermore, nearly all stations can be used as a photo-spot.

Qinghe Power Plant :
CRJ once reported about a power plant at Qinghe some 9km distance from Kaiyuan which is said to have both SYs and QJs. This powerplant can be seen from Laocheng, but there is no rail connection in between. As there are two lines leaving Kaiyuan to the north-east (the Xifeng one is more northerly one) we guess, that the power plant is linked to Kaiyuan by this direct line.

Linesiding :
Given the few trains, the best solution is to hire a taxi for a half day and to chase the morning passenger and the eb freight. Due to the new highway, you will get the train at least 4-5 times each direction. Costs will be some 150Y.
The afternoon passenger will be not worth chasing (bad light). As said above, the only acceptable spot for this train is the bridge near Daqingyang.
Along the highway, there are buses between Xifeng and Kaiyuan about every hour. Additional buses work between Xifeng and Tieling or Shenyang, but they can be used only as far as Laocheng : they do not go to Kaiyuan. Fare Xifeng-Weiyuanpu is 5Y, for example.
At Xifeng bus station which is some 200m distance from the railway station, you may catch these buses. There is also a very frequent service to Liaoyuan (departures every 30minutes, traveltime 90min).

Locomotives :
The local railway owns 6 workable JS. All of them were built in Datong in 1986 or 1988. Out of them, two engines are used for line work only. At the depot in Kaiyuan, three further JS were present : JS 5268, 5700 and 8241. JS 5268 and 5700 were in the progress of being cut up during our visit on Sept 15th with 1988-built JS 8241 awaiting the same fate.
According to staff, diesel locomotives are expected to arrive in October 2000 and will replace the JS. It is not known what class the diesels will be.
The following engines were seen :

JS	8044, 8046 (both 1986), 8242 (1988)
JS for scrap	5268, 5700, 8241 (1988)

Accomodation :
Xifeng : Xifeng has got both a lüdian and a binguan. The lüdian is situated halfway between the railway and the bus station, each of them being some 100m distance. It costs 10Y per person but as there are no smaller rooms than 4-bed-ones, you will have to pay 40Y if you do not want to get some chinese people in your room. Standard is very bad : dirty, without shower and "tasteful". The binguan is some 300m further north-east. Price for a double is 150Y, negotiating didn`t result in a price lower than 120Y. Near the bus station, there had been another binguan but it has been closed down.

Catering :
Another restaurant of our "Top-5" - Score is situated half way between the lüdian at Xifeng and the bus station. In direction to the bus station, it is on the right side of the street.

Tour details Kaiyuan-Xifeng , Sept 16 th - Sept 17th

Sept 16th, Saturday
As the weather proofed to be quite bad (very dark, grey clouds and plenty of haze), we decided to hire no taxi but to try linesiding by bus. Our first "step" was a "private car", who brought us to the bridge near Daqingyang. The 15Y were overpriced. After T686 (06:35/ JS8242) had passed, we took a minibus to Weiyuanpu(4Y), where we watched JS 8044 hauling its freight to Xifeng Xi (09:30). We returned to Xifeng by bus and visited Xifeng Xi station, where JS 8044 was shunting (11:30). After lunch at "our restaurant" (see above) around 15:00, JS 8044 started shunting again and served the factory east of Xifeng station before doing the same around Xifeng Xi. We took a bus and went to the Daqingyang bridge again (2Y) to watch eb the passenger T685 (JS8046/17:20). Back to Xifeng by private car and dinner at the restaurant.

Sept 17th, Sunday
When we stood up, weather had not changed yet. But in the far west, blue sky was visible. So we hired a taxi for a half day (150Y, 06:00-12:00) in order to chase trains. Indeed, this proofed to be the right decision as the weather improved and even sunshine could be noted (though the haze didn`t disappear completely). Both T686 (JS 8046) and the freight (JS8044 again) were photographed 5 times between Xifeng and Laocheng. The freight was some 30min later than the day before. By 11:30, we had arrived back to Xifeng Xi station. At 13:30, we took the bus to Liaoyuan, where we arrived at 15:00. Then, tourist train Y257 was taken to Tonghua (Liaoyuan dep.17:14- Tonghua 20:39). We stood at the "Railway Hotel".

Hunjiang-Tonghua , Sept 18th , Sept 23rd
Hunjiang-Songshuzhen , Sept 19th- Sept 22nd

Surprising : No changes here since March 2000 concerning steam-hauled freights. A new timetable has been introduced for the passengers which limits the possibility of steam usage to a handful of trains. A unique experience is the lüdian at Songshuzhen. Tonghua`s steam roster has to be rewritten ... Read Till Mosler`s report, too.

New timetable :
If you get hold of a copy of the April 2000 timetable, you should forget it when being in Tonghua. Although "valid" since April 2000, a different timetable has been introduced on March 31st with further changes since July 11th. As no printed version of the current timetable was available, we copied the departues boards of Tonghua, Guyuan, Hunjiang, Dayangcha and Songshuzhen. Based on this data, the timetable as shown below could be constructed.
The most remarkable change is, that nearly all trains which work between Tonghua and Linjiang/ Baihe have a shorter stop at Hunjiang now. So a loco-change is no longer possible there what means DF4 or DF5 haulage all the way. This limits the possibilty of JS hauled passengers to a handful of trains...
A pair of all-station passengers between Tonghua and Songshuzhen has been cancelled whilst some fast trains now stop at "smaller stops", too (Guyuan for example).

Northbound (Tonghua-Baihe) :

	807	805	651	645	955	801	655	791	665	653	Y257
Tonghua	06:12	07:36	08:34	10:19		15:33	16:16	16:56	17:30	18:35	21:09
Guyuan	07:03/07:05		|	11:00/11:06		16:23/16:25			|	|	|
Hunjiang	08:08/08:19	to	09:44/09:49	11:45/11:51	15:48	17:12/17:17	to	to	18:35/18:39	19:40	22:19/22:24
Dayangcha		Ji`an		|	16:39/16:41	18:05/18:07	Ji`an	Guosong	|		|
Songshuzhen	to		to	13:41/13:50	18:16	19:22/19:34			20:13/20:19		00:15/00:20
Baihe	Linjiang		Linjiang	17:10		22:39			23:19		04:22

Southbound (Tonghua-Baihe) :

	792	Y258	656	808	956	666	646	806	652	802	220
Baihe		01:17		from		05:27	08:18		from	11:12
Songshuzhen		05:01/05:07		Linjiang	05:40	08:40/08:44	11:49/11:55		Linjiang	13:46/13:58
Dayangcha	from	|	from		07:57/07:59	|	|	from		15:45/15:46
Hunjiang	Guosong	06:58/07:04	Ji`an	07:36/07:45	08:51	10:31/10:35	13:43/13:48	Ji`an	14:48/14:52	16:26/16:32	20:17
Guyuan		07:42/07:44		08:42/08:44		|	|		|	17:16/17:19	|
Tonghua	07:05	08:31	09:18	09:35		11:35	14:48	15:21	15:57	18:14	21:32

The extra passenger Tonghua-Hunjiqang 601/602 reported by L.Bell/P.Odell no longer operates.

Steam operation :
Passenger trains : The following passengers are JS-hauled :

• T 808 : Hunjiang 07:36 - Tonghua 09:35    (JS or DF5, Linjiang-Hunjiang DF5 hauled)
• T 955 : Hunjiang 15:48 - Songshuzhen 18:16   (JS, sometimes DF5)
• (T 792) : Guosong 05:40 - Tonghua 07:05    was not observed but JS is quite likely)