I've never been back to Tiefa since that visit in 2005. Shame - it's a nice railway.
Tiefa is a short distance from the city of Tieling which is approximately 500 miles north of Beijing on the Cha-Dang line from Shenyang to Harbin.
The railway's main purpose is to carry coal from the eight mines in the area to the nearby power stations and to Tieling where it is transferred onto China Rail.
There is also a steam-hauled passenger service with three periods of intense activity around Diaobingshan station in the morning and evening commuter times and at lunchtime. The freight is now almost universally diesel hauled.
The line is worked by a fleet of SY Class 2-8-2s. Amongst the fleet is SY1772 which was the last steam locomotive to be built in China in October 1999.
In addition to the main line that runs from Tieling to Diaobingshan station, there are a number of other lines which serve the various quarries and mines that are to be found in the area.
One line runs north to mines at Daming, another goes west to Dongguantun via Faku and a third line runs south to Wangqian with a short branch off to Xiaonan. A 'diamond' in the middle of the system allows access from one line to another and provides an ideal spot at which to see trains on all four lines.
The railway workshops and main stabling point are at Daqing which is about 15km from the main town of Tiefa.
Amazing that in 2008 you can still travel on scheduled steam services hauled by massive 2-8-2s.
Go to the Tiefa Coal Railway album.
