Map of Ganzhou Timber Railway from west of Tanjiang to Ganzhou.

The Ganzhou Timber Railway (or Ganzhou Primeval Forest Railway) in neighbouring Jiangxi Province was the furthest I could reach in a weekend and still be in the office first thing on Monday morning. The line brings timber to the Shangyou River on the outskirts of Ganzhou from about 60km to the West beyond Tangjiang. This activity is seasonal but there was a sparse passenger service. The route I took was by train to Shaoguan on the main line North of Guangzhou. Here I stayed in a small modern hotel I had used on previous visits and got up at the crack of dawn the next day to catch a bus to Ganzhou arriving in the afternoon. From here I got a pedicab to the the outskirts of town just in time to incept a light engine at a road crossing. I hitched a ride on the footplate to the works and shed where there eight C2's in various states of repair. One of these was reported working still in 1993 (RP). My pedicab driver picked me up and took my back to a hotel in town. The next day I had to reverse the trip with an early morning bus ride back to Shaoguan. Unfortunately the bus was held up by all kinds of problems along the way and when we did arrive the terminus seemed to be miles from the station. It was only due to the heroic efforts of my pedicab driver that I made it to the station in time for the train which thankfully was late.

Harbin built C2 class locomotive no. 75 arriving at Ganzhou with a mixed passenger/goods train.

Harbin built C2 class locomotive no. 06 out of use in at the yard at Ganzhou.

Harbin built C2 class locomotive no. 65 in for repairs at the Ganzhou shed.