The Greatest Steam Show on Earth - Spoil Trains

By and large the big pit at Jalainur is being exploited by removing spoil from the east side. Train sets of ten tipper wagons are filled by the same electrically powered orange cranes / excavators that load coal but in this case it is the smokebox of the steam locomotive which is coupled to the tipper wagons and all are filled:

When full, the trains zig-zag their way upwards, here empty and full trains 'cross', with a steam crane train on the left:

The final reversal is at Dongfanghong at the north end of the pit, here two trains cross above there just before sunset.

Eventually the trains leave the pit in the south-east corner - this area is effectively 'public' and is the most easily photographed, albeit the roads leading there are unsealed:

The various spoil tips are found in an arc from east through south to west of the pit and their operation is covered on a separate page, here an empty train from a tip in the far south runs into the yard at Nanzhan.

At Nanzhan water and coal are available and most trains stop here, even some whose tip lines split off earlier, these are mainly empty trains. More pictures of Nanzhan are shown on the steam crane page. 

• Introduction to Jalainur

• Coal trains

• Tipping the spoil

• Unsung heroes - the steam cranes

• Shed and works

• The people thing