Two C2 0-8-0 steam locomotives prepare to depart Lixin with an eight-car coal train on the morning of September 27, 2005.
On the narrow gauge (30 in.) Huanan Forestry Railway, two 0-8-0 C2-class steam locomotives push and pull an eight-car coal train up the two percent grade out of Lixin on a beautiful autumn morning. The Huanan Railway was located in Heilongjiang in far northeastern China. It closed in 2011 when a new road opened.
Narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 locomotive 04 eases downgrade with an eight-car loaded coal train, having just crested the summit between Lixin and Tuoyaozi on the morning of September 27, 2005.
After the morning coal train passed, the section gang in Tuoyaozi got to work, loading a piece of rail onto a rail cart. September 27, 2005.
After the morning coal train passed through the village of Tuoyaozi, the section gang headed out on the main line to replace a rail. They travel in what appears to be a home-built speeder, pulling a cart with the rail. In the foreground are two of the bikers that had carried my photography group (www.farrail.com) over the summit of the railway earlier in the morning.
In the village of Xiahua, an engineer on the Huanan Forestry Railway looks out from the cab of his narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 locomotive on the foggy morning of September 27, 2005.
Pumpkin seeds dry in the village of Xiahua as narrow-gauge C2 0-8-0 steam locomotive 04 leads a work train on the foggy morning of September 27, 2005.
The station agent in the village of Xiahua inspects a work train on the foggy morning of September 27, 2005. Couplers on the narrow-gauge Huanan Forestry Railway consisted of a buffer and two chains.
Fireman in the cab of narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive 04 in the village of Xiahua on September 27, 2005.
A woman in the village of Xiahua carries a wicker basket for pumpkin seeds as a short train on the narrow-gauge Huanan Forestry Railway passes in the background on September 27, 2005.
Farmers in the valley east of Tuoyaozi use a tractor to harvest pumpkin seeds as an empty coal train passes in the background on the narrow-gauge Huanan Forestry Railway. September 27, 2005.
As the sun sets over the village of Tuoyaozi, workers on the narrow-gauge Huanan Forestry Railway prepare for dinner on September 27, 2005.
Geese cross the tracks in Xiahua on the morning of September 28, 2005. An eight-car loaded coal train has just arrived behind 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive 168, which is heading for the water tower.
A worker of the Huanan Forestry Railway uses a shovel to position the water spout in Xiahua to replenish the tender of 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive 168. The engine carries the well-worn tender of locomotive 043.
A worker of the Huanan Forestry Railway services 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive 168 during a water stop in Xiahua on September 28, 2005.
Sunlight filters through dirty air inside the enginehouse of the narrow-gauge Huanan Forestry Railway on September 28, 2005. Steam locomotive 21043, an 0-8-0 C2, rests just inside the door.
Autumn colors glow in the afternoon sun in the hills east of Tuoyaozi, where an empty coal train of the Huanan Forestry Railway climbs the grade toward the summit on September 28, 2005.
Near the summit of the grade on the Huanan Forestry Railway, 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive 044 pulls an eight-car empty coal train through golden autumn trees on September 28, 2005.
On the afternoon of September 28, 2005, two 0-8-0 C2 locomotives pull and push an eight-car coal train up the grade just west of Lixin.
Just after sunset on September 28, 2005, 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive 044 leads a loaded coal train from the mines at Hongguang into Lixin.
Narrow-Gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive 044 waits in the small yard at Lixin on the evening of September 28, 2005.
An 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive of the Huanan Forestry Railway waits in Lixin long before sunrise on September 29, 2005.
A fireman trims coal in the tender of an 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive of the Huanan Forestry Railway at the helper station of Lixin before sunrise on September 29, 2005.
Smoke curls around a crescent moon in the predawn sky above Lixin, Heilongjiang, China, as a narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive of the Huanan Forestry Railway waits to take a loaded coal train west.
Narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive 04 of the Huanan Forestry Railway prepares to take a loaded coal train west out of Lixin, Heilongjiang, China, early in the morning of September 29, 2005.
The tiny driving wheels of thirty-inch-gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive of the Huanan Forestry Railway spinning at Lixin on the morning of September 29, 2005.
Two narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotives pull and push an eight-car loaded coal train up the steep grade out of Lixin, Heilongjiang, China, just before dawn on September 29, 2005.
The weather was dull but the trees were colorful in the hills east of Lixin on September 29, 2005, where a loaded coal train is returning from the Hongguang mines.
A fleeting sun break on an otherwise gloomy day illuminates an eight-car loaded coal of the Huanan Forestry Railway returning to Lixin from the mines at Hongguang on September 29, 2005. The valley here bears scars from gold mining activities.
An eight-car loaded coal arrives at the summit of the Huanan Forestry Railway after the short but steep climb from Lixin on September 29, 2005. Locomotive 168 will take the train west to Huanan, while the helper on the rear will return to Lixin empty cars to the mines at Hongguang.
An engineer of the Huanan Forestry Railway poses with his 0-8-0 C2 locomotive at the summit just west of Lixin on September 29, 2005.
A worker of the Huanan Forestry Railway cranks down handbrakes of loaded coal cars at the summit for the steep descent into Tuoyaozi.
An eight-car empty coal train of the Huanan Forestry Railway steams through the village of Tuoyaozi, Heilongjiang, China, on September 29, 2005.
A coal train of the Huanan Forestry Railway steams through snow-dusted fields east of Huanan, Heilongjiang, China, on November 26, 2005.
An eight-car loaded coal train approaches the summit of the Huanan Forestry Railway between Lixin and Tuoyaozi in China's Heilongjiang province on November 26, 2005.
In the long shadows and warm light of a cold November afternoon, an empty coal train steams through the village of Tuoyaozi, Heilongjiang, China, on the Huanan Forestry Railway.
The morning sun silhouettes a narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive of the Huanan Forestry Railway leaving the village of Xiahua on a cold November morning in 2005.
A coal train passes a dilapidated brick house in the village Tuoyaozi on the Huanan narrow gauge railway on November 27, 2005.
The Huanan Forestry Railway ended in the city of Huanan, where workers shoveled coal by hand from the narrow-gauge gondola cars into piles for transfer into standard-gauge trains. November 27, 2005
A fireman of the narrow-gauge Huanan Forestry Railway trims coal in the tender of an 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive on a cold November night in Xiahua, Heilongjiang, China, in 2005.
A work train steams east on the narrow-gauge Huanan Forestry Railway, en route to a derailed coal train near the summit on November 29, 2005. An 0-8-0 locomotive leads a flat car and caboose through the fields east of Huanan.
Ducks in the village of Xiahua watch a work train steaming into town on November 29, 2005. The train is taking workers and equipment to the aid of a derailed coal train near the railway's summit in the hills to the east.
Two narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotives pull and push an eight-car loaded coal train up the steep grade west of Lixin, Heilongjiang, China, on November 30, 2005.
Two narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotives pull and push an eight-car loaded coal train up the steep grade west of Lixin, Heilongjiang, China, on November 30, 2005.
Two narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotives pull and push an eight-car loaded coal train up the steep grade west of Lixin, Heilongjiang, China, on November 30, 2005.
A narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 locomotive steams through the village of Tuoyaozi, Heilongjiang, China, with an eight-car loaded coal train on the hazy morning of December 1, 2005.
As the sun sets over the hills east of Lixin, Heilongjiang, China, a narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive leads another eight-car loaded coal train back from the mines at Hongguang on December 1, 2005.
Icicles cling to the rods and handles of the whistle and steam dome of an 0-8-0 C2 locomotive of the Huanan Forestry Railway in Lixin, Heilongjiang, China, on December 2, 2005.
A trainman of the Huanan Forestry Railway rides the pilot of a narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotive while preparing a loaded coal train for departure out of Lixin in the predawn darkness of December 2, 2005.
Two narrow-gauge 0-8-0 C2 steam locomotives pull and push an eight-car loaded coal train out of Lixin in the predawn darkness of December 2, 2005.
The station agent at Xiahua, Heilongjiang, China, on the Huanan Forestry Railroad on November 27, 2005, with a remarkable collection of telephones on his desk and a steam-powered coal train out the window.
Huanan Forestry Railway C2-class 0-8-0 steam locomotive at Xiahua on November 27, 2005.
A worker on the Huanan Forestry Railway delivers a message to the crew of a loaded coal train heading west out of Xiahua at twilight on November 28, 2005.