The harsh mountains take on unreal hues under an impossibly azure sky. A pair of decorated QJs with 6638 piloting, drift lazily (and economically) downhill on the sharp curved approach to the famo... (more)

All was absolutely still and overnight mists still lingered. At 0700 the sun was yet to rise in Jingpeng valley. A rising crescendo of sound from an unseen source was building until - finally, th... (more)

The romance of steam is not quite so rose-tinted when you're working in half a gale at minus 15 degrees Centigrade and your 'career' is to shovel grit, char and ash all day long. Neither eye prote... (more)

Could I (should I?) get up to the 2nd level before the train? I actually jogged up the hillside and I have never been so utterly drained. I had just seconds to change the film, grab my camera, com... (more)

This is the unforgettable sight that made me return to the warmth of the hotel that evening a very happy mortal! Of such stuff I still dream.

By the end of the day there had been just enough warmth to melt most of the snow in the fields alongside the small town of Reshui. It had been unbelievably cold all day and all in the group had go... (more)

The last of the evening sun had slipped behind the horizon and such colours as remained were rapidly draining away. Only my friend Ian and I remained, all the others in our party had (probably wis... (more)

The exhaust clings to the cutting wall as a westbound freight blasts the last few hundred yards toward the tiny (and hopelessly under-used) Galadesitai station. Passing loops here allowed the pass... (more)

This is the eastern portal of the summit tunnel. Snow still threatens as QJ 6998 pilots sister 6828 out of the tunnel to begin the long and winding eastbound downgrade drift to Galadesitai and bey... (more)

It had been sunny on the eastern side of the pass, but on the western side a snowstorm had barely passed by as this pair of QJs struggled the final kilometre to the summit. The pale sun was equall... (more)

As locomotives continue around the sharp curve at SanDi, they cross the manned road crossing that leads from Reshui (about a mile behind the loco) and follows the railway across the summit to Jing... (more)

In a perfect Christmas card scene, alas now consigned to history, QJs 7040 & 6838 struggle westwards in the teeth of a howling gale. The contrast in their exhausts adds to the sense of drama at th... (more)