Two 762mm gauge railways in China
First, the cold, the very cold. At the turn of 1991-92 we spent nine days in northeastern China photographing trains hauled by JS class 2-8-2s on the Tonghua-Baihe railway. As was typical of China at the time, the passengers and frequent freight workings on this singie-tracked secondary main line were smartly operated. The line undulated and the locos worked hard through scenery which, if not spectacular, was very decent. It was, all in all, a very good way to spend Christmas and New Year.
It was also the coldest I have ever been in my life. One morning, at Daoqing, we recorded a low of-28°C, and that was one of the few times we actually bothered to look at the thermometer. These sort of temperatures could be coped with as long as you kept moving, so between photo spots things were more or less tolerable, but at some point you had to stop and wait for the next train to pass.
Just how miserable an experience this could be we found out when we first visited the 762mm gauge Banshigou Iron Mine Railway (often known to enthusiasts at the time as the Hunjiang Ironstone Railway). We decided to try our luck on its eastern branch, which Steam suggested was steeply graded as
