She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes,
She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes,
Jiayang Stream Train will be coming round the mountain,
Coming round the mountain,
Coming round the mountain when she comes.
Our day trip to Jiayang Steam Train, the last running passenger service coal fired steam powered train in the world, was one of the highlights of my 5 day tour of Sichuan, China.
Jiayang Steam Train is located in Qianwei County near Minjiang River 岷江 south of Leshan City (which is south of Chengdu in Sichuan, China).
Jiayang Steam Train rides on narrow gauge (762mm wide) railways which are about half as wide as standard railways. Narrow gauge railroads are usually built for transporting goods or people in hilly and less populated areas.
In Jiayang, the narrow steam train's original purpose was to transport coal from the mines to the port on 岷江 Minjiang River.
Known as the Bashi Line, it links Bajiaogou 芭蕉沟 and Shixi 石溪 over a total distance of 19.4 km. Opened in 1959, the Bashi Line has 108 bends, one bridge, 6 tunnels, and 5 stops.
Shixi is a port on Minjiang River 岷江. The coal from Jiayang was shipped out from here. With the mines closed in the 1980s, Jiayang Steam Train carried passengers and goods (mostly vegetables and livestock).
The crew consists of a driver and an engineer.
It is mighty hard work feeding the hungry steam engine which must be fed coal by hand. The engine burns 1 ton of coal per round trip - the engineer has to keep shovelling coal into the furnace throughout the journey.
I like the choo choo sound of steam pipes. They are music to my ears 😄
That bellowing plume comes down like a quite heavy shower.
We boarded the train at Yuejin Station.
Inside the "tourist" cabin, it was rather narrow. We sat on wooden benches.
In the regular passenger cabin (I got no pictures of it), the long benches are against the walls and passengers sit face-to-face. There are also no glass windows i.e. open windows. Passengers have to put up with ash and water from the steam engine. Fare was 1 Yuan per stop. Maximum fare was 5 Yuan.
The tourist cabin is quite comfortable, if a little crammed inside. The train trudged along at 20 kph, which was good as it gave us time to catch the scenery and take pictures. Glass windows keep ash and water out. (In the end, we slide out the windows to get clearer pictures.)
The train passed several villages, some with no road connecting them, so villagers rely on the steam train for their daily commute.
We passed several rapeseed flower fields. It was either villages, yellow fields of rapeseed flowers or tunnels. There are 6 tunnels long and short along the 20km route.
We were here in March, so not all the rapeseed flowers have bloomed yet (as we were still in winter). We also missed the rainbow as it was a cloudy day. When the sun is out, the steam makes a rainbow when it passes. When you come, I hope you get the chance to catch a rainbow and the yellow rapeseed fields in its full glory.
Fields everywhere covered with bright cheery yellow rapeseed flower 油菜花. I am told there will be more in the spring.
We got off the steam train at 芭蕉沟 Bajiaogou Station.
Bajiaogou town square.
Coal was mined in this area since the Qing Dynasty. Jiayang Coal Mine was a Chinese - British joint venture established in 1938.
The mined coal was shipped out via 岷江 Minjiang River. When the river was dammed in the 1950s, the steam train line was built to send the coal past the dam down river so that it can be sent to out of the area.
Jiayang has 3 mines, 2 already exhausted. The mine closed in the 1980s.
The once prosperous Bajiaogou town quieten with the mine closures. One can imagine the wide tree lined boulevards filled with miners and their families (living in these quarters) enjoying their cool evening stroll.
Walking around rustic Bajiaogou town 芭蕉沟, we see remnants of its heydays during the 1950s to 1970s. Recently, Bajiaogou town is enjoying a revival due to local and overseas tourists, thanks to its rustic charm (and the Jiayang Steam Train).
Red brick homes may remind you of Newcastle (England) as afterall Jiayang Coal Mine has Anglo Chinese roots.
We had lunch at 矿工食堂 Miners' Dining Hall at Bajiaogou - it turned out to be one of my favourite meals during this entire Sichuan trip.
We had pork belly, trotter, duck, chicken, tofu, vegetables etc. The flavours were mostly savoury sweet - sauces and seasonings were mild, which let the natural flavours of the fresh ingredients shine. It felt homely and wholesome which was what miner food was about. It was a nice break from that ubiquitous numbing spicy mala taste - this is Sichuan, remember? 😄
Some of the dishes like this stewed pork were on the fatty side - miners need a lot of energy for their hard work. But, I enjoyed it as the meat was very fresh, tender, juicy, clean tasting, and sweet savoury.
Fresh crunchy juicy leafy greens, simply stir fried with a bit of grease and served on a spade. I shouldn't be surprised - this is a miners' dining hall afterall.
One of Miners' Dining Hall's signatures is their black tofu which is made with black soya beans. It is sweetish savoury like regular white tofu but in a slightly different way. When eaten together, black and white tofu have a layered kind of sweet savouriness which is really nice.
Most young people from Bajiaogou have moved to the bigger cities leaving mostly older folks and retirees in the hometown. Bajiaogou townsfolk are friendly and welcoming of visitors to their beautiful, charming hometown.
Another dining option which looks interesting (but we didn't try) is to eat at one of the village homes that offer home cooking service.
The local orange is big, juicy, very sweet with just a bit of citrusy zest. Must try when you are here. 20 Yuan for a kilo from the street side vendor.
Proud to flash my matching set of pearly whites with comrades 😁
👍 Jiayang's coal fired steam train is a live, working artefact of the Industrial Revolution. The last handful in the world but Jiayang Steam Train is the only steam train in the world still running regular passenger services today. Come and see it when you are in Sichuan.
Date visited: 25 Feb 2019
Johor Kaki's China Trips 👈 click
Canola oil comes from rapeseeds, so do they use canola oil for their cooking?
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteSad to see the last days of steam trains. I grew up with them in Australia.
Great tour of beautiful countryside and town. Locals seem friendly and authentic.
I need to go!
And the food looks most enticing!
From California.