tarboat's photos with the keyword: daban

QJ 7040 is the lead locomotive with a heavy freight train at a road crossing at Bayantala to the east of Daban on the Jitong Railway. QJ 7040 is the lead locomotive with a heavy freight train at a road crossing at Bayantala to the east of Daban on the Jitong Railway. I have been advised that the message on the gantry is advertising alcohol. 套吗杆 ("Taomagan") a Chifeng-made baijiu / firewater.

Steam grab crane at Daban depot on the Jitong Railway. Coal is being unloaded to the stockpile for the large fleet of locomotives then in use on the line. There were several of these cranes here and the jib of another, that is busy filling tenders, can be seen on the right.

QJ 6981 sits on the ash pits at the Daban depot of the Jitong Railway. This was a really busy depot and took me back 40 years to when I last saw such intensity of steam working in the UK.

QJ 6778 being prepared for action at the Daban depot on the Jitong Railway. Three months later this locomotive was seen dumped and never to work again.

Three QJ class locomotives under the sand towers at Daban depot on the Jitong Railway.

In 2005 the depot at Daban was the point where the newly introduced diesels that were working the Jinpeng section of the Jitong Railway handed over their trains to steam locomotives for the run eastwards to Chabuga. On this very windy morning a pair of QJ class locomotives prepare to set back onto their train. The water tower supplied the last fully operating main line steam depot in the world which saw out the steam services on the line at the end of that year.

Three QJ class locomotives under the sand towers at the Daban depot on the Jitong Railway. This was the largest surviving steam depot at the time with so many locomotives coming on and off trains on an entirely steam worked section of the line.

Daban was the location of a major locomotive depot and the workshops for the Jitong Railway. Locomotives were changed here and a fresh pair of QJs is departing the yard heading east. This was a bitterly cold day with a biting wind which is taking the exhaust southwards. Whilst waiting for this departure we were approached by a man on a motorbike who offered to sell us the brass injector that was strapped to the seat. It had not occurred to him that it was both bulky and very heavy and not something you can take on a plane home as hand luggage.

Sand towers at the Daban depot of the Jitong railway. In October 2004 the shed was still almost entirely steam locomotives and very busy at all hours.

In China most villages seem to have their own brickworks to supply local demand. In this area between Daban and Chifeng in the Mongolian Autonomous Region was the valley of the brickworks with many kilns making pipes, tiles and bricks. The straw covering is essential to protect the green pipes from night time frosts.