railway branch from Wulong Yard up to Wulong Mine and the Spoil Tip. Wulong Mine is one of the biggest mines in Fuxin and loads three mainline-size trains every day. The associated switching and moving of these 20-30 car trains keep one or two 2-8-2 locomotives busy all day. Wulong Mine is also on a grade, so loaded trains must be pulled uphill for a half-mile before coasting down to the CNR interchange. Coal mining produces a huge amount of spoil, rock that does not contain coal. After almost a century of coal mining at Fuxin, the spoil heaps have grown into mountains. At Wulong Mine, the spoil tip line diverges from the mainline and heads up a stiff 4 percent grade to the top of the spoil tip. Here the spoil rock and power station ash is dumped, building the mountain higher
and higher by the trainload. The grade up the spoil tip line is steep and with sharp curves, so the trains are pushed uphill by the 2-8-2s. Even though the locomotives
are modern and well-
maintained, only four or five side dump cars can be handled in each train, so the trains are very frequent. Usually, there are two trains up the spoil tip every
hour, creating a daily parade of hard- working and photogenic steam. South of Wulong Yard, there is another mine which is only served by diesel. However, the diesels handle just the traffic to this mine, so the spoil from this mine is interchanged with the steam locomotives at Wulong Yard before going up the spoil tip, creating much more
RIGHT: A steam crane on a steam-powered railway in 2016? This scene is such that you have to pinch yourself to believe it! Deep in the massive opencast pit at Sandaoling, a 60- ton steam crane is hard at work delivering a piece of mine equipment to the mining face in January 2016. BELOW: Double-headed steam in January 2016 is a rare sight indeed. The 60- ton steam crane is hauled upgrade by JS 8081 after completing its day’s work at bottom of the opencast coal mine.
42 SEPTEMBER 2016 •
RAILFAN.COM
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