In the industrial smog at Pingdingshan, 4 steam locos are seen at work in November 2003.

JS 2-8-2 No 8338 was one of 8 steam locos being prepared for their day`s duties at Pingdingshan in November 2003. They all departed within 25 minutes of each other. Not bad for the 21st century! ... (more)

SY (left) and QJ (unusually without smoke deflectors) locos are prepared for duty at Pingdingshan in 2003.

A welcome feature of the Pingdingshan coal railway was steam hauled passenger trains. Here SY1687 is seen at Zhongxin station in November 2003.

This railcar looks a bit strange as power for a short ballast train. Seen at Pingdingshan in 2003.

A tractor waits for SY 0758 to pass over a level crossing at Pingdingshan. This mining system also used QJ and JS steam locos. The SYs generally hauled the passenger trains, and a few coal trains,... (more)

This engine (still in steam) is getting its boiler washed down and some light repair before getting a freash fire. Illumination is by a welding opperation shaded in the foreground. Behind me four ... (more)

This QJ class 2-10-2 is backing out of the shed area. It has had its smoke deflectors removed and has only one headlight. You can see the American influnce in its design. It was built in the late... (more)

A wonderful moment in the shed area. We have all three major classes of Chinese steam engines in this picture. The people you see picking in the ashes live right there in the engine shed yard in s... (more)

This just in from China; This QJ class engine is heading into the shed to clean out the firebox and go right back out. In two hours we saw twenty steam engines in three classes moving constantly.... (more)