News from Shibanxi

Yellow locos - bad, green locos - awful

Brown tourist coaches bad, blue tourist coaches - hideous

Wilson Lythgoe has sent me thes photos (© Wilson Lythgoe, 2012) to show why you wouldn't want to got to Shibanxi now.

Yuk! Loco No. 10.

New museum at Mifeng. Where did the incomplete C2 in the museum come from? Have they abandoned their attempts to repair the second Pengzhou loco?

Aren't those new coaches really offensive? Loco No. 7 is still in 'black'.

Yellow loco No. 8 (mercifully filthy) and bright new tourist coaches at Caiziba.

Awful new 'chocolate box' station at Bagou. The old structures have been razed to the ground.

The above photos summarize why my March 2013 tour to Shibanxi is cancelled. I'm not sure if I will ever go back.

Strange Moves - September 2012

Zebedee has sent me 5 pictures taken by a friend of the SY being moved from Sanjin to Mifeng on 9 September 2012. Two more pictures now added.

The firebox is a bit of a tight fit under the wires. I hope they were turned off.

Great view through the boiler barrel looking at the C2 which hauled it up to Mifeng.

Loading gauge comparison - an SY boiler on a flat wagon is taller than a C2!

The journey up to Mifeng

Additional photo of the move to Mifeng.

By now the loco should be reassembled at Mifeng. I haven't been sent any photos of the chassis or tender being moved.

The SY is reported to be SY 0516 from the Emei Iron Alloy Factory where it previously worked.

Zebedee has now sent 2 additional pictures (added 27 September 2012)

The loco boiler and firebox reunited with the chassis and the tender. Behind and on the right, it looks like a rail-mounted crane is also being reassembled.

The two diesels which had previously been dragged up to Mifeng are now back at Shibanxi and have been smartened up. They will be returned to Mifeng shortly.

Please note that these photos are the copyright of Zebedee's friend not mine. If you would like to reprint them, please contact me and I'll ask for permission.

Zebedee and I plan a visit to Shibanxi as well as other steam and narrow gauge systems in Sichuan and Chongqing next March-April. Please click for details.