Idea for a layout

[oplholik]

I ran across this tonite. Don't know the particulars like where this is, what the locos are, but I thought it was interesting. Maybe some one would model it.

Paul O.

 

[lmackattack]

that would be china strip mining

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GrLLwxACOw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM2qk5SZDb4&feature=related

 

[Trouble]

wow, that's just so cool! did they finally stop running steam in china and mogolia yet?

 

[lmackattack]

I think they still run steam deep in China. I know they want to improve there image to the world and many say the last steam engine was said to be built in 1999? However I still see new vids popping up that have dates as late as nov 2008??? It would be cool just to go there to see them run!!! you know its only time untill they pull the plug on there steam program...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQNn0HVBlQI&feature=related

 

[UP2CSX]

I think that's actually a Chinese copper mine. I forget the exact name but it's near Mongolia. It's very similar to the way Kennecot Copper pit mined in Arizona and Nevada. The locomotives are exact copies of Baldwin 2-8-2's and 2-8-0's that were supplied to Chine during WWII. The Chinese have been building these since 1947 and I think the last ones rolled off the production line in about 2000. The Chinese have supplied two steam locomotives to American tourist roads in the 90's that I can think of off hand.

I was in China in 2005, during the runup for the 2008 Olympics. Steam was gone from the major cities like Beijing and Shanghai and they were rapidly building up a modern system of electric railways and subways, including a MagLev transit system in Beijing. Things changed rapidly as I traveled north to Harbin. It's the center of the Chinese coal and mineral region. Most of the yard work was being done by copies of Russian diesels but about 70% of the mainline traffic was still steam, and big time steam, like the QJ class 2-10-2's. The traffic was almost all coal. I managed to get a few quick pictures but, without a special permit from the Chinese government, taking photographs of Chinese railroads was considered spying and you could get tossed in jail for a good long while. From what I saw in China, the last thing I'd want to see is the inside of Chinese prision cell.