Lishan Iron Ore Mine Railway (762mm)
Map showing route of Lishan Iron Ore Mine railway (pink) from the dock at Shuishendao to Yangcun on the main Longchuan - Guangzhou road and finally to the mine at Lishan. |
At
Longchuan we
stayed in a small hotel and early the next morning we returned in the
direction of Guangzhou by bus. On my previous bus trip I had noticed
that there was a level crossing at Yangcun some two hours drive
south of
Longchuan and about 140 km NE of Guangzhou. This I later discovered
was the Lishan Iron Ore Mine railway. As soon as we spotted the crossing
we asked
the driver
to stop.
He was rather
surprised
by our request to be dropped in the middle of nowhere but a few
minutes later we were standing in the middle of the track trying to decide
which way to
go! We headed southwards and after a very long walk in the sun
we
arrived
at a terminus by the river at Shuishendao. From some workers in
a hut we learned that the line was still active and that there would be
a train
along
later.
We
hung
around
and drank local beer in the unremitting heat for a few hours and
then eventually the arrival of a train was announced by the sound of a
whistle and a very
loud clanking noise. Eventually a very delapidated SY class locomotive
with a modified dump car for a tender appeared pulling a full load
of iron ore.
We watched the loco discharge its load, being coaled by hand barrows
and took the return trip of about 35km back to the mine in a caboose
that was barely high
enough
to stand up in. At the mine was a small shed where we found three
other SY's in various states of repair. A visit a few months later found
all
the steam
engines out of order or being cannibalised and services being run
by diesel locos.
After several hours of waiting Chinese built SY class 0-8-0TT no. 2 from 1960 arrives at Shuishendao. Colleague Peter in background! |
Chinese
built SY class locomotive discharging iron ore at Shuishendao.
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Coaled
and watered and ready for the return trip to Yishun
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Coaling
the engine at the river terminus is done by two women!
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Preparing
to hitch the passenger carriage (!) to the train
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Return
train with empty wagons to the Lishan mines hauled tender first by
SY class locomotive no.1
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Three
SY class locomotives in for repair at the Lishan shed 1986
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A
recently painted but out of use SY class locomotive outside the Lishan
shed on a visit early in 1987.
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