Steam Tours

China Tours

Tours

The next China tours are in December 2018 and March-April 2019. The December tour is primarily to have one last go at Sandaoling in cold weather. Snow is possible but can't be guaranteed. This tour is in the planning stage but dates are know (arrive Beijing 8 December and return from Beijing 17 December) and the all-Sandaoling, fly in and out itinerary is already clear. Email me if you are interested (click this box). The March-April 2019 tour will be a narrow gauge tour visiting multiple locations from Chengdu to Nanjing primarily non-steam. Details are still being worked out. Shibanxi during the flower season is likely to be a pre-tour option. Coal mine railways will make up the bulk of the lines in the main tour, This tour will use traditional sleeper trains and modern high-speed trains to travel between the provinces of Chingqing, Hunan, Henan and Jiagsu. Email for details.

I'm in discussion with an Indonesian enthusiast and guide about a Sumatra and Java Industrial Tour in the June - August period 2019. While I wait for reports of the 2018 Java sugar season most of the planning is about Sumatra where palm oil, rubber and gold railways exist and I suspect there must be some ng coal lines as well. I'm investigating the use of the state railway to travel some of the legs between centres to avoid long road journeys. It's not yet clear how much of the tour will be in Sumatra but - being rarely visited - it's worth doing it well. I'm even thinking about the ferry from Sumatra to Java at the end with a train both sides of the ferry. The Java portion will focus on sugar mills with diesel field lines and those with real working steam. If the Sumatra portion gets to be the whole main tour, I may offer a post-tour unwind in Situbondo and Lumajang from where mills with active field trains can easily be accessed rather than a full East-Java mill tour.

Indonesia Industrial Tour

Bosnia Tours

There is a real and charter steam tour to the Tuzla area 8-14 October 2018. This will feature real sg and ng shunting at Dubrave, Oskova and Sikulje as well as charters at Banovici. Only one place remains on this tour and if you are interested, please let me know without delay as our local guide would like to apply for permission for named individuals shortly. Your name could be on his list! This is possibly the last Bosnia tour I will organise so don't hold off to wait for the next one if you could go on this one.

email me - john@rabylee.uk if you are interested in any of these tours or tour ideas

Linesiding with John

Updated 8 July 2018

Would you enjoy a trip to China and would you enjoy it more or less if you signed up for one of my tours? I offer trips to China to see real working steam but not just that, a chance to interact with the Chinese people, enjoy the scenery, eat the food . . . One way, I thought, to give you an idea of whether you would enjoy China with me, is to put together a collection of what would today be called 'selfies' but which were photos shot by friends, local guides and fellow travellers of me in China. Please see the YouTube slide show below. Can you put yourself in my place and imagine yourself enjoying China? If think you would enjoy a trip with me, I have trips in 2018 and 2019. Email me jraby@waitrose.com for more details.