tarboat's photos with the keyword: hailar

Quite a lot of the coal in the eight-wheel tender of QJ 2885 has been used bringing a heavy freight to Hailar from Manzhouli. It is now off to the shed for servicing whilst another QJ will take over for the run towards Harbin.

QJ 2885 is just arriving in Hailar station with a freight from the Russian border beyond Manzhouli. The loco will now head for servicing at the nearby depot and will be replaced by QJ 2758 for the next stage of the journey towards Harbin.

An hour on the road bridge at Hailar produced plenty of steam action. JF 5741, acting as east end station pilot, shunts an interesting variety of loads. In the background is the old power station.

Hailar in October 1992 and QJ 1664 has just arrived with a heavy westbound freight train. The locomotive has just passed over the busy crossing at the end of the station and is heading to the nearby depot for servicing. A fresh locomotive will soon back down ready to take the train on to Manzhouli.

QJ 2884 is flagged off the turntable outside the roundhouse at Hailar having just arrived on a freight from the Harbin direction. This depot was very busy all the time with the turntable in almost constant use.

I suppose this is one way to get a better view when running tender first. JS 5741, shunting pilot for the day, is heading down a branch serving one of the industrial areas of Hailar from where it will remove wagons for despatch towards Harbin. The shunter appears to be sitting on the front buffer beam.

QJ 2758 has just backed on to a westbound freight in Hailar station. Another QJ has brought the train in from the Russian border beyond Manzhouli and has departed for servicing at the nearby depot.

QJ 3405 undergoes repair in the semi-roundhouse at Hailar. In 1992 this was a very busy depot with locomotives being changed on most trains arriving in the town.

Back in 1992 the majority of services on the line from Harbin to the Russian border close to Manzhouli were steam hauled. Hailar was an important point for changing locomotives and there was so much traffic that the station required the services of at least two pilots. Here the empty coaching stock from a Harbin train is removed by JS 5741 whilst a QJ sets off towards Manzhouli with a train of coal empties which may be for loading at the Jalainur washery. In the background is the wooden clad water tower at the Hailar loco depot which comprises a semi-roundhouse in the German tradition and still stands albeit in a derelict state.

Even in 1992 the long distance passenger services from Harbin to Hailar and on to Manzhouli were dieselised. However, the freight and local passenger train were all steam operated. Having arrived in Hailar in the morning, the afternoon was spent watching the traffic to the south of the town. As the sun fell low in the sky this stopping service headed by QJ 2852 caught a nice glint as it crossed the main road out of town.

QJ 2758 moves off the turntable at Hailar locomotive shed. There was a constant stream of locomotives coming onto the depot for servicing and leaving to head the vast number of freight and coal trains on the line from the Russian border to Harbin.

QJ 2758 brings the overnight stopping train (Train T682) from Harbin into the outskirts of Hailar. The concrete building is a crossing keeper's cabin. Back in 1992 I had little idea of how to compose photographs and would generally just point and shoot. In this case all would have been well if I had allowed for the lineside bushes which have nicely masked the loco wheels. Oh well, I still do that today when I get excited!

JS 5173 leaves the turntable at Hailar semi-roundhouse and heads for its duties as one of station pilots.

Typical steam age conditions as QJ 3405 undergoes maintenance in the semi-roundhouse at Hailar on the line from Harbin to the Russian border at Manzhouli. The end was nigh for steam on this line within the following two years and today the shed building stands derelict.

Inspired by a train window shot I saw recently, I decided to dig out some of my own travelling pics. This is a large cement works seen from the overnight train from Manzhouli to Beijing shortly after departing from the stop at Hailar. It was almost dark and I had to bump up the ISO setting but the result isn't too bad.

Another shot through a train window. Following on from my previous image , the cement works near Hailar appears to be served by a narrow gauge railway that brings in the limestone from quarries several miles away. The last shot I took before it became too dark for photography was this view of a diesel locomotive hauling a long train of loaded bogie wagons heading for the works.

The third of the train window shots features the coal fired power station at Hailar in the Mongolian Autonomous Region of China as the sun sets on a bitterly cold day.