Shibangxi - Huangchungjing (Jiayang Power Company)
Shibanxi aka Shixi
Bus from Leshan sth bus station to Shazui (Sajue, side + mouth characters) to cross river to get here.
Bus from Chonqing to Qiangwei (closest town for this system with a hotel) goes via outskirts of
Leshan.
Qiangwei
Hotel Yuquan (on main street), 2 mins from local bus station, less than 10 from main bus station on foot. There is another hotel between the two bus stations.
Restaurant Fengwei between hotel and main bus station is good and cheap.
Hongbitan Mine: this is the weigh bridge. The 300mm gauge line is behind the 2nd miner. Apart from a cable worked incline to the prop store, all work here is hand tramming.
This is a view of Hongbitan Mine on the footpath descent from Shenzhenjiao on the Shibanxi railway line.
Hand tramming in operation at Hongbitan Mine. Note the TV satellite dish over the kitchen/canteen area. The 600mm gauge is on the lower level after grading/washing.
C2 about to enter the tunnel on the climb from Mifeng (reversing station) to Shenzhenjiao on the Shibanxi railway.
Exiting the same tunnel on the only rainy day of the trip.
The line:
Scenic section
Mifeng (reversing station) - Xianrenjaio (5 km, 12 min by train). NB: this is the only section of the c.40km return journey where locos work chimney first uphill!
9:00 out, 14:00 back
Shixi to Mifeng tender first
home made sleds
coal mines closing
8 coaches on pax trains
5:30 dep
9:00 dep
return arrive 11:30
14:00
15:30 return arrive 16:30
17:30 last departure
Description of the line:
Shibanxi, power station, depot->
tunnel->
halt->
Weijin (mine station at end of electrification), also known as Sanjin (name of the town), mine, end of electrification, brick works, end of road->
Mifeng, reversal->
tunnel->
scenic curve->
(village here Zaiziba = tsai-sur-bah connected to Shibanxi by bus, down 8:30, 2, up 12 & 4 but bus takes 2 hours so it is normally quicker to walk in from
Sanjin)->
Shenzhenjiao, summit
(Hongbitan coalmine plus 5 others can be walked to from here, main gauge 500mm, line to road truck loading 600mm and disused slag line from tunnel plus incline 300mm)->
3 tunnels->
Jiaoba, old coal loading point, disused, mine closed->
village->
2 tunnels->
Bago, mine town starts here->
Huangchungjing, terminus, coal mine, head shunt (rapid turn round for chimney first uphill to summit, train does not wait here)
The uphill chimney-first section Huangchungjing to Shenzhenjiao on the return working will be against the light for most of the day and access to this section 15-22 km from Shixi is only practical by the train at the moment hence the initial comment that the train is only photable uphill, chimney first over the 5km from Mifung to
Shenzhenjiao.
The locos:
No. 10 repair
No. 9 in steam for testing
No. 7 working freights and No. 14 on the passenger. The locos have been described as C2, C3 and C4. They are clearly not C4 and they have all the obvious C2 features; equal wheel spacing, high level running boards both sides, sloped back steam pipes to cylinders and combined steam/sand domes. It seems unlikely that a larger, heavier C3 would share all these C2 (not C4) features but we are waiting to hear the weight of these locos. C2 = 20+ tons, C3 = 30+ tons, C4 = 40+ tons.
Gourmet Gricing note:
Try the 'fenzheng yang ro' (steamed lamb with rice dumpling with all the spices, hot as hell but delicious!) from the tall bamboo steamer devices on
Shibanxi station. The best Sichuan dish we had although it was better at the restaurant in
Qiangwei.