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STEAM STALLION

As it hisses and judders and jangles along the subtropical mountain ridges of southern Sichuan, the little steam locomotive continues to make history more than fifty years after it was launched. It’s the last steam train that runs commercially in China – it is the only way out of the mountains to the outside for the inhabitants along the track – and the area itself is something of a time-warp: the town at the end of the line, once a mining town, holds old gritty early-Industrialisation buildings and tenements that have long disappeared elsewhere in China. Chairman Mao’s revolutionary slogans survive on the facades of some buildings. There are no cars in the town, making it strangely tranquil; occasional sounds are the rumble and whistles of the train (local people can tell the time by the passage of the train) and the clanging at the blacksmith’s workshop in the station.

Everything related to the train is still manually operated. Flags remain in use instead of signal lights, tracks are switched by manual levering, and every night starting at 3am an inspector sets out to walk along the entire length of track to ensure all is in order before releasing the first train to run at 6am. The train has not had a single accident for more than thirty years, and each day over that same period it has run its four scheduled trips without fail.

Yet the allure of the area is far wider than the train itself – the entire town has a historical fabric. It feels like a fifty-year-old time warp. The evocative early-industrial-era tenements where the inhabitants live are interspersed with some buildings displaying British architectural trimmings (the attic-windows high up on the slanting roofs built by British technicians who worked at the mine during the war) and some splashes of Russian architecture (the neo-Classical facades of the former administration buildings). Town life remains quaint even by Sichuan standards. The market is a mélange of stalls, including herbalists, dentists, and barbers. And in the evenings, the inhabitants dance or play mahjong in the town square that is ringed by the phantom buildings of another era: the auditorium and previous hospital.

Start & Finish: Chengdu

Trip Details: We organise two-day (one-night) or three-day (two-nights) tours of the train starting and finishing in Chengdu. Two days will be enough to experience the train and see the area in a breezy manner; three days will give you sufficient time to absorb the unique atmosphere of the area. During the tour, you will ride on the train two or three times, hike to the summit of a hill for a panoramic view of the old industrial town, visit the old defunct mine and the blacksmith (who makes spare parts for the train, also working with traditional tools), explore the old buildings of the town as well as the exotic market, and learn about the mechanical marvels that make the train run so reliably.

Accommodation: Accommodation is in a local guesthouse extended from a family home; rooms have attached bathroom.

Prices: Price will depend on length of stay and optional use of vehicle during your stay. The use of vehicle to travel to the area is included in the standard tour and price, but you can make a choice in this case – you can opt to go to the area by public transport from Chengdu, accompanied by a tour leader who doubles as a guide, or you can have the full service of private vehicle and driver and tour leader. The tour leader is a train aficiando, and an expert on locomotive technology, and he will be able to explain all the machinations of the steam train.

Tour Participants: This short tour is run on request only; there is no restrictions on number of travellers – it can be for just one traveller or for a busload or more. 

Weddings & Events: We can arrange weddings or other special events on the train; in these cases a train will be chartered specifically for your group.

Detailed Info: To discuss more details about the different choices available for this tour, including weddings or parties on the train, please write to us.

Terms & Conditions: For general terms and conditions that govern our tours and operation, and for Frequently Asked Questions, please see Nitty Gritty (FAQs).