A short trip to two of the best surviving steam operations. We planned to start with a couple of days at Jixi, a coal mining centre employing more than 20 SY class 2-8-2s, and then to move on to the narrow gauge operation at Huanan, potentially the best surviving narrow gauge line in China but notoriously unreliable these days. Things didn't quite go according to plan!

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A trip to photograph diesels on scenic lines in the north-east of China, starting with the Tonghua-Hunjiang area then Fushun, Bei'an, Mudanjiang and finishing on the Beijing-Longhua line. As well as the diesels, there are a few industrial electrics on standard and narrow gauges and a handful of steam locomotives as well.

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Engineering work on ÖBB's Arlberg line for much of August led to the diversion of freights and overnight passengers to one of Germany's most scenic diesel worked lines. The Allgäubahn normally hosts a good number of locomotive hauled trains and the diversions added even more variety. It was just too good to miss!

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The Perpignan to Cerbere line runs along the Cote Vermielle or Vermillion Coast, an area of superb scenery where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean sea. This is one of the two main lines linking France with Spain and sees a variety of passenger and freight trains worked by a number of different classes of locomotive. I visited the area for a few days in early May 2008.

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The main aim of this 20-day trip was to fill in some gaps in my coverage of Czech diesel worked lines. In the event. I couldn't resist revisiting some old favourites as well. My travels took me to the Brno area then on to Ostrava for class 754s, to the Jesenik line for class 749s, 751s and old railcars, more 754s around Trutnov and finally the 753 hauled freights around Liberec.

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After three successful spring trips to North-East China, it seemed time to do something different. This time we travelled west from Beijing to visit three steam operations along the Yellow River. The steelworks at Baotou is largely dieselised but still employs a number of SYs. Further west at Gongwusu, a rarely visited coal mining system uses a couple of JSs. Our final destination was the mine and smelter complex at Baiyin with its active fleet of SYs.

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Winter in the Swiss Alps attracts skiers and snowboarders in huge numbers but what would it be like for a railway photographer? In spite of doubts about the weather, I decided to visit the Rhätischebahn in south-eastern Switzerland from 19 to 23 December to find out. Once again, the RhB exceeded all my expectations.

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This trip turned out very differently to the one we planned. The idea had been to get some shots of Huanan in the snow and have another go at Huludao before the diesels arrived. As we were in the area, it seemed sensible to spend a few days in Jixi as well. In the event, there was no snow and Huanan wasn’t running any trains. Huludao had two brand new diesels and no steam on line work. Fortunately JIxi didn't disappoint and Nanpiao proved to be an acceptable alternative to Huludao.

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The Albacete - Murcia - Cartagena line in south-eastern Spain is still worked by diesel locos including the last dedicated Talgo machines of class 354 and the new class 334s. There's some heavy freight to and from the industries at Escombreras as well. This wasn't the busiest line I've ever visited but splendid scenery and good light contributed to a successful trip.

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The Rhätischebahn operates an extensive meter gauge electified network in the canton of Graubunden in south-eastern Switzerland. Its lines link the regional capital Chur with the alpine resorts of Klosters, Davos and St Moritz, passing through some of the finest alpine scenery en-route. This was my first visit to this splendid railway.

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This report covers a two week photographic trip to the Czech Republic in autumn 2007, visiting four rather different diesel and electric lines across the country. I started with the loco hauled weekend trains on the scenic line from Praha to Cercany before moving on to Olomouc where some old class 141 electrics are enjoying a new lease of life. Next on the agenda was the Jaromer - Trutnov line with its diesel hauled fast passengers. The trip ended with an old favourite, the Karlovy Vary - Chomutov line, my first visit there since electrification.

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Class 753 diesels disappeared from most parts of the Czech system several years ago but Liberec depot has kept a handful in service for working freights on the scenic line to Zawidow in Poland. This report covers a short trip to the area in late summer 2007.

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The Allgäu region of southern Bayern is an excellent place to photograph trains. DB's red class 218 diesels look great working through the beautiful green hills on local and long distance trains and the ALEX class 253s on Oberstdorf trains add a bit of variety. In summer 2007 it was better than usual as three pairs of München - Zürich EuroCity trains were diverted over the Allgäubahn while their usual route via Memmingen was closed for engineering work. This report covers a short trip to the area in early August 2007.

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It had been a couple of years since I’d visited the Tyniste nad Orlici – Mezimesti line in the north of the Czech Republic but an increase in the number of freight trains prompted a return visit in June 2007. There was also the opportunity for a first visit to the nearby Jaromer – Trutnov line, which now has regular loco hauled fast passenger trains and turned out to have a lot of photographic potential.

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The Lötschberg main line is a busy freight and passenger route across the Swiss Alps. As well as being a major trunk route, it’s a scenic delight and a real engineering marvel. Seven years had passed since my last visit and the imminent opening of the 35.6 km Base Tunnel provided the impetus for a return in May 2007 while the original route was still busy. The Base Tunnel will bypass the most scenic section of the old line and is expected to take increasing volumes of freight traffic after its official opening on 16 June 2007.

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A final visit to the scenic Letohrad - Lichkov line before electrification work started. This was one of the few routes left with diesel hauled heavy freight traffic and recent vegetation clearance had made it a real photographic treat. Four days were also spent on the splendid Hanusovice - Jesenik line, which has seen a resurgence of loco haulage this year.

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This visit to China started with a few days photographing modern traction around Beijing, including SS4Gs on the busy Datong - Qinhuangdao coal line and 8Ks on the Fengtai - Shacheng route. The remainder of the trip was spent in the North-East visiting three of the surviving steam-worked colliery systems at Jixi, Hegang and Zhalainuoer.

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This report describes a short spur-of-the-moment trip to the Czech Republic. The intention was to spend 3 days on the Brno - Jihlava line, a route with a reasonable level of locomotive haulage, nice scenery and plenty of open locations suitable for low winter sunshine. In the event there was no sun so most of the time was spent travelling around, checking out photo opportunities and covering new track.

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A short holiday on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca included a couple of days photographing the vintage electrics on the Soller Railway.



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Shibanxi had been near the top of my "must visit" list for some time but it was difficult to combine with the best of the remaining steam locations in northern China. There was also a problem deciding when to visit. There just didn’t seem to be a good time of year to go to Shibanxi. The opportunity for a short trip arose in January 2007 so we took the plunge and set off for Sichuan to see what all the fuss was about. On the way, there was time to investigate some rarely reported SYs around Chengdu as well.

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A winter visit to photograph steam worked coal railways in the north-east of China. We visited Jixi, where SYs work on 5 separate colliery systems, Huanan, a superbly scenic narrow gauge operation and Fuxin, where steam operation continues despite the decline of mining in the area.

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An Autumn trip to one of Germany's busiest freight lines, running through attractive countryside from Würzburg in northwestern Bavaria towards the cities and ports of the north. As well as a good variety of DB and Railion classes, Swiss and Austrian locos and those of a number of independent operators were seen on trains of all types.

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With no QJs on the Jitong Railway this autumn, my thoughts turned to photographing China's diesels and electrics. Steam is now confined to industrial operations and I was beginning to miss the excitement of photographing big trains on scenic main lines. China has a remarkably varied modern traction scene and those used to seeing nothing but QJs, JSs and SYs might be surprised at the plethora of different diesel and electric classes in use.

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The Hanusovice - Jesenik line in Northern Moravia was always a top priority for a return visit after my first trip there in April this year. It's a superb piece of railway with good scenery, a variety of traction including vintage class 831 and 851 railcars, a few class 749 hauled passengers and freights worked by unsilenced class 751s, several of which carry a glorious red and blue livery.

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In spite of a huge DMU building programme, there are still a fair number of diesel hauled passenger trains in some parts of Germany. The network of secondary lines in the Allgäu area of south-western Bayern sees more diesel haulage than most these days. This report covers a short photographic trip to the Oberallgäu, the scenic area around Kempten, Immenstadt and Oberstdorf, in July 2006.

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Praha is the hub of the Czech rail system and sees a variety of classes working heavy freight and passenger traffic on the electrified main lines radiating from the city. A few less heavily trafficked lines are still diesel worked and see some loco haulage. This report describes a photographic trip to the city in late June 2006.

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A short trip to Ceska Trebova on the busy electrified main line from Praha to Ostrava and Brno. Lots of electric action from an impressive variety of classes on freight, local and long distance passenger trains.



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A two-week trip concentrating on the scenic Hanusovice - Jesenik and Letohrad - Lichkov lines in the hills of the north-eastern Czech Republic where class 749s and 751 locos mix with old class 831 and 851 railcars.

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Turkey was on the path of the 29 March total solar eclipse and that was the main reason for my visit. The trains weren't ignored though and I spent 3 days by the lineside on the Ankara - Kayseri and Kayseri - Ulukisla lines.

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A return visit to the best of the Manchurian industrial lines. Most of the trip was devoted to visiting the steam worked colliery systems at Meihekou, Jixi and Zhalainuoer. A day exploring in the area east of Harbin turned up a new steam location but three months too late. Although the emphasis was on steam, diesels working on the main lines weren't ignored.

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A trip to photograph diesels and electrics in the snow around Ceska Trebova during the January 2006 big freeze when temperatures plummeted well below -20°C.



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A visit to several recently discovered steam worked industrial systems in Xinjiang and Gansu provinces in the north west of China, including the massive opencast coal mine at Sandaoling where over 30 steam locos were in daily use.

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Diesel hauled freight trains are becoming increasingly difficult to find in the Czech Republic but two lines to Poland still carry fairly heavy traffic hauled by double headed diesels. This report details a two week photographic trip to the Letohrad - Miedzylesie line and the Liberec area in early autumn.

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The Daban to Chabuga section of the JiTong Railway was still steam worked in September 2005 but the diesels started to take over at the beginning of October. This report covers my last trip to see steam on this wonderful line, the last steam worked main line on the planet. We also spent a few days on the excellent Huanan narrow gauge railway in north-eastern Manchuria.

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The Brno - Jihlava line is notable for its frequent loco hauled passenger trains and excellent scenery. Brno's colourful fleet of class 754s share passenger duties with class 742s and a selection of railcars, some more acceptable than others.

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Sometimes the weather stays dull and wet for days on end and there's nothing to do but travel around, exploring new lines and seeking out new photo locations, while waiting for the clouds to clear. This was such a trip.


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Plzen's blue, white and yellow class 754 diesels can be found working passenger trains on the line to Domazlice. The line's north-south orientation and the concentration of traffic early and late in the day make it an ideal candidate for a midsummer trip.

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A wet weekend attempting to photograph trains in Praha. In spite of the poor weather, a few breaks in the cloud did permit a number of reasonable photos, particularly around Praha hlavni nadrazi (main station) with its superb overall roof. In total, more than ten classes of diesel and electric were seen in and around the city, varying from the latest pendolino EMUs to the ageing class 141s.

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A return visit to the Liberec area to see the last concentration of class 753s at work on freights to Zawidow in Poland.




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A longer trip to three different, scenic, diesel worked lines in the Czech Republic, starting in the north with the last class 753s working freights in the Liberec area. Then came a visit to see the class 714 and 742 hauled passengers on the Nachod to Mezimesti line, further east, and finally the colourful class 754 worked passengers on the Brno - Veseli nad Moravou main line in the far south.

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A short trip to the Tisnov area west of Brno, covering the diesel worked line from Tisnov to Zdar nad Sazavou via Bystrice nad Pernstejnem and the electrified Brno to Havlickuv Brod main line.


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This report covers a short trip to some of the best steam worked industrial railways in the North East of China during early March 2005. We visited Meihekou, Jixi, Dayan and Jalainur. Winter in the North East can be unbearably cold but spring tends to be warm and wet. For a brief period in between it's not too cold but still bright and sunny. Fortunately, our trip coincided with this transition and we enjoyed virtually unbroken sunshine for the duration.

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Bryan Acford reports from his 20th Anniversary trip to China, visiting Pingdingshan, Yuzhou, Xingyang, Tiefa, Lindong, Yuanbaoshan and Pingzhuang.



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This was a short trip to Central China where several of the operations in the Xuzhou area sounded interesting. We were attracted partly by the presence of high deflector QJs as well as locos from the final batch of 20 built in 1988. There were risks of course, not least from creeping dieselisation. However, the situation was far worse than we had anticipated.

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With the diesels rapidly taking over at Jingpeng we made one last visit there to bid farewell to what had been the greatest steam show on earth before moving on to Lindong for some more big steam action.


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A very successful trip to JIngpeng Pass in perfect late summer weather with blue skies, green hills, cold mornings and clear light. A real glint and silhouette spectacular. Unbeknown to us at the time, diesels started to work over the pass within a couple of weeks of our visit. We also visited Lindong in poor weather and then trekked north to the excellent Huanan narrow gauge operation.

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Bryan Acford's report of his visits to Dahuichang, Lindong and Jingpeng in late winter 2004.





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An all industrial bash covering Tongchuan and its celebrated JFs, Pingdingshan, Nanpiao, Huludao and Tiefa plus visits to the Beijing and Shenyang museums.



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A winter visit to the industrial railway at Nanpiao followed by the inevitable trip to JIngpeng and Lindong.




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Bryan Acford's report from JIngpeng following our visit to Lindong and Chabuga.





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A return visit to the JiTong line in late Summer when the hills were green and Jingpeng Pass was deserted. After a week or so I teamed up with Bryan Acford to visit Lindong and Chabuga.


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A late winter trip to Jingpeng Pass followed by the industrial railways at Yuanbaoshan, Pingzhuang and Tiefa. The trip finished off with a last visit to the superb Weihe Forestry Railway less than two weeks before its closure.

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The usual November trip to the JIngpeng Pass and Lindong / Chabuga areas on the JiTong line with a short visit to Pingzhuang and Yuanbaoshan mine railways as well.


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Our first Autumn trip to China and our first visit to the industrial railways at Pingdingshan, in Henan province, and Yuanbaoshan and Pingzhuang, south of Chifeng. We also spent some time on Jingpeng Pass and around Lindong and Chabuga on the JiTong Railway and paid a brief visit to the Dahuichang narrow gauge line in Beijing.

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