grew they became popular with heavy industrial railways. All of Sandaoling’s JS 2-8-2s date from 1981-1987 and were built for CNR. In the late 1990s, these locomotives were sold into industrial service as CNR dieselized. Sandaoling boasts an impressive roster, having used more than 40 JS 2-8-2s over the years. Now, ten remain serviceable with eight of those under steam 24 hours a day.
How to Visit Sandaoling
When looking at a map of China, Sandaoling appears to be a city in the middle of nowhere, but it is actually quite easy to get to from Beijing. Sandaoling is a two-hour drive from Hami, a populous and important city in China’s westernmost region, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. There are daily flights between Hami and Beijing, and Hami is reachable via rail from Beijing
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to Urumqi. I usually get to Sandaoling by direct flight from Beijing to Hami, which takes three hours, and then by taxi to Sandaoling. This method gets me from Beijing to lineside in Sandaoling in less than seven hours! Sandaoling has two hotels that serve foreign tourists and several good restaurants around the hotels, making it a comfortable place to spend a few days railfanning. Many railfans visit Sandaoling using local Chinese guides or foreign tourist groups, both of which make travel easy and worry-free. Adventuresome railfans can visit Sandaoling independently, since flights can be booked online, the hotels rarely fill up, and most importantly, the mine railway is very easy to find. All taxi drivers know the mine railway station names and locations, and the opencast pit is just down the main road from the hotels.
The Future for Sandaoling The future for steam at Sandaoling is
in jeopardy due to the unstable nature of the coal market in China. All of the latest information suggests that steam could end as early as May 2017 or could remain for a few more years. The opencast pit mine is the reason steam has stayed in service at Sandaoling, and once this is mined out, or if the coal mining company loses coal orders, then the steam railway will be finished. The railroad shops have stopped overhauling locomotives, and have stripped out the heavy repair equipment, but light locomotive repairs are still possible and the railroad has an ample supply of spare parts since 31 retired 2-8-2s are parked behind the locomotive shop. Thus the locomotives will be able to remain under steam and in running order for at least another year. Despite
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