Vias ferreas - China: libros - historia y material móvil

Chinese Steam - The Last Years

China fue el último bastión del ferrocarril de vapor, y la construcción de nuevas locomotoras de vapor para uso industrial continuó hasta finales de 1999. Incluso ahora, algunas locomotoras siguen funcionando en minas de carbón y otras instalaciones industriales, pero es probable que esto termine muy pronto, ya que las revisiones de las calderas son prácticamente imposibles de conseguir a un precio económico.
A medida que la era del vapor llegaba a su fin en China, los entusiastas de esta máquina visitaban las instalaciones que aún seguían en funcionamiento en un intento cada vez más desesperado por documentar lo que estaba sucediendo antes de que fuera demasiado tarde.

Aunque los chinos solían mostrarse perplejos ante el interés de los aficionados extranjeros, en general se mostraron acogedores y permitieron el acceso a instalaciones industriales y vías férreas en todo el vasto país. Los lugares visitados abarcaban desde los desiertos del extremo oeste de Xinjiang hasta el corazón industrial de Manchuria, con incursiones en el centro de China y la Región Autónoma de Mongolia. Destacaban las acerías y las minas de carbón, junto con algunos ferrocarriles de vía estrecha que aún se conservan.

Este libro muestra las fotografías obtenidas por un aficionado a lo largo de diez visitas a China entre 1992 y 2017.

Detalle del libro

The World's Last Steam Trains: China

The last steam locomotives were withdrawn from China Rail in 2003. After that, some continued to operate heavy freight trains on local railways for a short while, but most were deployed for use on the country's industrial railways, mainly at coal mines and steel works.
This trend continued into the first decade of the 21st century, but subsequently, the number of steam engines in service declined substantially and were confined to just a handful of industrial locations. Steam rail operations in China are now facing extinction.
The modernisation of the railways with the switch from steam to diesel, the closure of unsafe and loss-making collieries and China's drive to reduce pollution and combat climate change from burning coal, have all conspired towards the demise of the industrial lines operating steam in China.

This book looks at the last of the standard-gauge steam operations in China, including Sandaoling, the last steam-worked opencast coal mine in the world; Fuxin, a coal-mining city in Liaoning Province, which until recently, operated the largest surviving fleet of SY locomotives; Baiyin, in Gansu Province, which operated some of the last steam-hauled passenger trains in the world; and Wu Jiu, a remote coal-mining outpost in Inner Mongolia.
Beautifully illustrated with over 120 colour photographs and a description of the operations, this is a striking portrait of the last of the world's operating steam trains.

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Chinas letzte Dampfloks - Unterwegs im Reich der Mitte

Edward Broekhuizen not only hunted the steam locomotives of the East-German Reichsbahn, but was also one of the first steam locomotive enthusiasts to set off for China at the end of the 1980s: when others were still mourning the loss of the East German steam locomotives, the busy Dutchman was already travelling through China with a small English tour group.

Páginas del libro "Chinas letzte Dampfloks - Unterwegs im Reich der Mitte"

This makes him one of the pioneers who experienced the use of steam locomotives at their peak; almost ten thousand locomotives were in service on the approximately 55 000 kilometer long route network. Unique, previously unpublished images provide fascinating insights.

Detalle del libro