Ben Kletzer reports from Yunann in China: I have just arrivged in Kaiyuan to photograph the remnants of the Yunnan meter gauge. I spent half of a day in Hekou before taking a bus here and found some disturbing sights there. First the tracks to the border were covered in rust. The railroad yard was [...]

Hallo!       Der letzte Teil meines Reiseberichts aus Indien, plus eine Galerie mit über 700 hochauflösenden Bildern: Indien 2012 – 14: Thums Up für Ankai Killa! (50 B.) Indien 2012 – 15: Pune – Deccan Queen (50 B.) Indien 2012 – 16: Pune – I have been to Monkey Hill! (50 B.) Indien [...]

by James Waite The 3ft 6ins (1067mm) gauge Mount Lyell Abt Railway opened in 1898 to provide transport from the copper mines rapidly being developed at Mount Lyell, near Queenstown in western Tasmania.  The use of an Abt rack section provided the only feasible means for the railway to reach Strahan, a port on McQuarie [...]

Better than expected: two to three pairs of trains every day, good weather and hard contrasts between iPhone and rusty passenger coaches. They plan to re-open the closed branch line. So far a permit is still compulsory, but I think it will be a free area in a couple of months. The police came once to [...]

… and we are there (as expected). C2 218 with a westbound coaltrain (19 March 2013). C2 218 with an eastbound empty train (19 March 2013). Greetings from China, Olaf

From Hans Schaefer, 15.3.2013 They have two engines: Ol49-59 and 69. Pt 47-65 is in Chabowka for major boiler repair. It will be back this autumn. Both Ol49 used to be reliable, but 59 went to Lesno on Monday for repairs an inspector required to be done. Ol49-69 got a leak out of the right [...]

Still Alive: Bangladesh’s oldies The class MEG 11 (General Motors 1953 – 1956) is still in use. We saw three different locos so far. They run the daily container train from Dhaka to Chittagong and back. According to the timetable it should leave Dhaka at 11, but today they told us 13.00 hrs. And so [...]

Jeremy Browne’s Eritrea report part 2 This is the second part of the Eritrea Trip ( Part 3 to come ). We joined  ten others for a “Pre-trip” which was very interesting. Keren is the second city of Eritrea, about 100km from Asmara and still in the high country. The railway originally went past Keren, [...]

Report by Jeremy Browne from the recent trip to the Eritrean Railways Ever since I read “Far Wheels” back in 1962 I have wanted to visit Eritrea to see the amazing Italian Mountain Railway. Alas, Eritrea has been involved in more than 30 years of war since then and the railway was all but destroyed [...]

Hallo! Diesen Herbst wurde die slowenische 06-018 (Borsig 12207 / 1930) wieder fahrtüchtig aufgearbeitet, im November verkehrte sie ein erstes Mal auf der Wocheinerbahn, am 12. 12. 12 als zweite Sonderfahrt von Maribor auf der alten Südbahnstrecke nach Ljubljana und Koper. Was für ein Glück, dass es gleichzeitig ein bombastischer Wintertag war… Zur Reportage mit 50 [...]

No service between Ajing and Xinqiu any more. All passenger trains are cancelled. Nine SY in use plus one more for the other company with their decorated SY 1395. The rest is unchanged except that you need a permit for the stabling point now. Costs 300 RMB per person per day and includes a visit [...]

Diaobingshan (formerly Tiefa) will continue to use two steam locomotives in the next two or three years. They even may add a third locomotive to the current roster. One steam loco is used for the passenger trains to Daqing while the other is for shunting. If they add a third one it’s also for shunting [...]

Some changes in using steam in Sandaoling: There might be a locomotive among the coal train shuttles which is facing south-east tender first – i.e. coming uphill from the pit tender first. In addition, trains from Nanzhan to the deep mines are pushed now. They’re also using one of their diesels on this line. Otherwise [...]

by John West You might enjoy these two pix, the first taken in September 1960, the second last week.  Thanks again. The trees in the first picture were a casualty of the new paved highway built in the late 1960′s.  And the telegraph line has disappeared.  But a lot remains the same.  Great trip! John

Report by James Waite The 60cm gauge EF Perus-Pirapora is situated just north of Sao Paulo. This used to be a busy line whose main function was to transport limestone from quarries at Cajamar to the old cement factory near Perus, around 15kms away. I called in there during my 1977 visit to the country [...]

We tried our luck an a third afternoon again. Meanwhile they had 3,000 tons of cane in the yard. Anyhow the cut cane needed to be brought to the mill. Initially they wanted to serve two fields, but they cancelled one field and only went to the field where they started cutting the day before. [...]

Die Mühle arbeitete normal, der Zugverkehr war unverändert und die Lokomotiven gehören weiterhin zu den schönsten auf Java. Vormittags sahen wir vier Dieselloks (11, 12, 13, 14) und zwei Dampflokomotiven (1 und10) im Einsatz, nachmittags zwei Dieselloks und drei Dampfloks (1, 2 und 10). Nr. 9 stand kalt vor dem Schuppen, alle anderen Maschinen im [...]

Die Mühle hatte große technische Probleme und lief nicht mit voller Leistung. Dadurch fuhren auch weniger Züge, als geplant. Vier Maschinen sind für die Feldarbeiten vorgesehen, dazu noch drei Dieselloks, die zu den weiter entfernten Punkten im Netz fahren sollten. Unter Dampf waren die Lokomotiven 3, 6, 7, 9, 10 und 11. ***** The mill [...]

Sragi bleibt ein verlässlicher Posten in Sachen Dampf. Sieben Maschinen standen unter Dampf, sechs davon mühten sich mit Leerzügen und dem Schieben beladener Züge. Nr. 17 hat man eine himmelblaue Rauchkammertür verpasst. Mit 100 Jahren darf man sich so eine Punkerfrisur durchaus noch erlauben … ***** Sragi is still a highlight of a Java visit. [...]

Das Museum Ambarawa ist bis zum Ende der Renovierung im Oktober 2013 geschlossen. Glücklicherweise ist aber die Strecke nach Bedono befahrbar. Man hat derzeit nur eine betriebsfähige Lokomotive: B25 03. B25 02 erwartet kleinere Reparaturen, und B51 12 war bei weitem nicht fertig gestellt. Diese Maschine sollte ihre erste Probefahrt im Januar 2012 absolvieren … Aber [...]