The Iron Bull

Naming railway locomotives is not a great tradition in China. However, there have been occasions where locomotives have been chosen to be specially decorated and named. In these cases there were no half measures and the locomotives were kept in splendid external condition. Back in 1992 whilst linesiding at Suihua, QJ6800 passed with a heavy coal train. This locomotive was named 'Iron Bull' (Tieniu Hao) and was the favourite of the Suihua depot. It has survived and is now plinthed at Jixi diesel depot

Bob Turner advises that: 'The Iron Bull movement was founded soon after the war and revolution to encourage young workers to restore equipment that had been out of service from damage or lack of parts, etc. At that time the Chinese economy was in very poor shape and reconstructing China's railways was a very high priority of the new Communist government. The Iron Bull movement also focused on improving reliability and maintenance standards of the locomotives.'

According to a posting in the Steam in China mailing list by Robin Gibbons:

'On 15 February 1949, Suihua depot's MK1 No 96 created an unprecedented domestic record in running over 106,000 kms, spanning two [No 1 overhauls], and was named "Tieniu Hao" by the North East Railway Bureau. Not long after, the Tieniu movement spread vigorously throughout the railway network. Afterwards, No 96 was sent to help in the Korean war and remained in Korea as a gift from China. In 1988,
Suihua depot named QJ 6800 to promote the 'Tieniu' spirit in the modern era.

('tieniu' is a nickname for a tractor, i.e something indefatigable.)'