SY 2-8-2 No 1493 outbound from Chengde, north of Beijing, on 8 April 2000. A steady procession of heavy coal trains left the China Rail sidings at Chengde for a steel works up this branchline. Being China, every inch of space is used and where the line ran through suburbia, the back door was roughly at the sleeper end. The average train weighed 2000 tons and the gradient out of town was severe enough to warrant a train engine and two bankers for about six miles. The returning bankers were lethal as they dropped off the train and drifted silently back down to the sidings. See image 32581
Location: Chengde
Original line: China Railways
Photographer: Peter Todd
Contact photographer: Peter Todd
Date: 08/04/2000
Image number: 32569