Ferrovie - Cina: libri illustrati di storia e guide

Chinese Steam - The Last Years

La Cina è stata l'ultimo baluardo delle ferrovie a vapore, con la costruzione di nuove locomotive a vapore per uso industriale che è proseguita fino alla fine del 1999. Ancora oggi alcune locomotive continuano a funzionare a fatica nelle miniere di carbone e in altri stabilimenti industriali, ma è probabile che questa situazione si concluda presto, dato che le revisioni delle caldaie sono ormai quasi impossibili da ottenere a un prezzo economicamente vantaggioso.
Mentre l'era del vapore volgeva al termine in Cina, gli appassionati visitavano le centrali a vapore ancora operative, in un tentativo sempre più disperato di documentare ciò che stava accadendo prima che fosse troppo tardi.

I cinesi, pur essendo spesso perplessi dall'interesse dimostrato dagli appassionati stranieri, si dimostrarono generalmente accoglienti e permisero l'accesso a stabilimenti industriali e linee ferroviarie in tutto il vasto paese. Le località spaziavano dai deserti più occidentali dello Xinjiang ai centri industriali della Manciuria, con escursioni nella Cina centrale e nella Regione Autonoma della Mongolia. Erano presenti acciaierie e miniere di carbone, insieme a qualche rara linea ferroviaria a scartamento ridotto ancora esistente.

Questo libro presenta le fotografie scattate da un appassionato nel corso di dieci viaggi in Cina tra il 1992 e il 2017.

Dettagli 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The last steam locomotives were withdrawn from China Rail in 2003.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.

Pagine 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.

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