China Steam Tours 2013

'Moments of Magic' Tour

Updated 20 February 2013

The tour is closed for bookings. It will be guided by Chinese steam guide Jun and currently has 3 bookings for Part 1 and 7 for Part 2. Bookings closed following Chinese New Year (which ended about 15 February). Should you be in a position to get your flights and visa very quickly and you would like to join this tour, contact me to see if a late booking is possible.

The 3 people booked on Part 1 (and Jun the guide) have agreed to move the start of the tour forward by one day to suit their flight arrangements. This also means that Tiefa can be visited on a Saturday for the extra steam passenger train to Faku on this day. Anyone else wanting to join should be aware of this change. The new itinerary for Part 1 is below and the whole trip itinerary has also been updated (with corrections 18 January).

23/3 (day minus 1) depart home country to fly to Beijing – for most this will mean a morning arrival on 24/3
(Advice on an optional hotel Beijing Airport or Beijing City for those who wish to be in Beijing prior to the start of the tour 24/3 can be given.)
24/3 (day 1) - arrive Beijing airport – charter transport around mid-day to Pingzhuang – overnight Pingzhuang
25/3 (day 2) Pingzhuang and Yuanbaoshan
26/3 (day 3) morning Pingzhuang or Yuanbaoshan – drive to Fuxin – overnight Fuxin
27/3 (day 4) Fuxin
28/3 (day 5) Fuxin
29/3 Friday (day 6) Fuxin afternoon transfer Diaobingshan
30/3 Saturday (day 7) Diaobingshan (Tiefa line), extra train on Saturday on line to Faku
31/3 Sunday (day 8) Tiefa line (museum, stored locos, steam passenger train)
1/4 (day 9) Tiefa steam passenger then either day train Beijing and overnight Beijing OR overnight train Beijing via Shenyang)
2/4 (day 10) fly home OR free time in Beijing (Part 2 begins on 3 April)

Click for complete itinerary

Update 5 January 2013:

You may wish to research the lines included in the tour. Reports and maps can be found on the SY Country website under Steam Lines where the lines are listed by province. To make your search a bit easier, here are the direct links to the relevant pages:
http://www.sy-country.co.uk/line/neimenggu-pingzhuang.htm
http://www.sy-country.co.uk/line/neimenggu-yuanbaoshan.htm
http://www.sy-country.co.uk/line/liaoning-fuxin.htm
http://www.sy-country.co.uk/line/liaoning-tiefa.htm
http://www.sy-country.co.uk/line/gansu-baiyin.htm
http://www.sy-country.co.uk/line/xinjiang-sandaoling.htm
You can also read about my last two tours to these locations:
http://www.users.waitrose.com/~jraby/china4blog.html
http://www.users.waitrose.com/~jraby/sandaoblog.html

If you know anyone who might enjoy this trip or are able to promote this tour to a group you are a member of, this would be much appreciated. I attach a poster for the tour that you could show or distribute. In return, I would be happy to reciprocate this promotion in the future to my own email group and on my website or Facebook page.'

Click on mini poster to see full-size version

These 'moments of magic' were captured on the October-November trip at Sandaoling, Baiyin and Fuxin. The pictures below come from the 2011 trip.

China Steam Tour 5: Pingzhuang/Yuanbaoshan, Fuxin, Baiyin and Sandaoling
24 March - 14 April 2013

This tour is similar to a tour that I have just completed (12 November 2012). To read about that trip and to see the photographic results achived, see here and here.
Visit the best three remaining, accessible standard-gauge steam sites plus a look at two more lines with steam passenger trains and JS and SY locos in use as a gentle introduction to the trip. See around 40 SY and JS locos in action.
The tour is organised and guided by experienced local guides and an old-China hand (first visit around 1980!). A reasonably priced trip that includes transport, permissions, full-board (3 meals a day including beer) and single rooms.
The trip plans to visit Pingzhuang/Yuanbaoshan and Fuxin (Part 1) and Baiyin and Sandaoling (Part 2). Join either part or both in Beijing and be escorted back to Beijing at the end. Assistance with your China visa application will be provided.
The tour is planned for decent steam effects and the end of the winter steam heat season but to avoid the serious cold of mid-winter and to catch the first signs of spring.
The tour uses long-distance trains and our own bus. No internal flights are used.
This tour will run with as few as 3-4 people (local guide only) or with local and British guide (6 or more people). The tour will ideally be 6-8 people but will expand to 12 maximum if there is sufficient demand.
See below for details.

Baiyin

Introduction
This is a tour for those interested in still and video photography of real steam operations especially of hard working steam-hauled trains in attractive or unusual scenery. It is not a tour for those primarily interested in riding behind steam nor for those who like to see re-creations of how things used to be. What we see on this trip will be 100% real, 100% now and not especially arranged for us.

I organise and guide trips within China using experienced local Chinese guides for small groups of individuals who are interested in seeing industrial railways that still operate real steam locomotives daily. China is the last place left in the world where it is possible to see this throughout the year. Should you wish to contact participants on the 2011 or 2012 tours to get their unbiased opinion about the kind of tours I lead, please contact me and I will put you in touch with one or more of them.

Sandaoling has two distinct sides. Here we see 3 trains on the spoil extraction side.

Background

The tour is timed for the end of the winter cold weather with a chance of late snow but after the real cold of winter has abaited. (-1 to -10 is OK but below -20 is no fun! I know, I’ve done it. At anything below -20 especially with a wind chill factor, survival becomes more important than steam locos and cameras and batteries don’t like it either. Reasonable steam effects can be had at +3 or lower so daytime temperatures don’t even need to be below freezing.)

This tour is competitively priced if you take into account the number of days, the travel and the locations involved, and the extras included as standard on my tours such as permissions for access and photography, single rooms, 3 meals a day plus beer with meals.

Believe it or not, this is the workers' passenger train at Sandaoling.

This tour is planned for 25 March - 12 April. These dates are not absolutely fixed yet nor is the itinerary and those who sign up early have the opportunity to suggest changes that will be better for them. Days below are also shown as Day 1, 2, etc. as well to allow a quick count of how many days/nights are involved.

Revised itinerary with 2 days added to Part 1 and start date one day earlier:
23/3 (day minus 1) depart home country to fly to Beijing – for most this will mean a morning arrival on 24/3
(Advice on an optional hotel Beijing Airport or Beijing City for those who wish to be in Beijing prior to the start of the tour 24/3 can be given.)

Part 1
24/3 (day 1) - arrive Beijing airport – charter transport around mid-day to Pingzhuang – overnight Pingzhuang
25/3 (day 2) Pingzhuang and Yuanbaoshan
26/3 (day 3) morning Pingzhuang or Yuanbaoshan – drive to Fuxin – overnight Fuxin
27/3 (day 4) Fuxin
28/3 (day 5) Fuxin
29/3 Friday (day 6) Fuxin afternoon transfer Diaobingshan
30/3 Saturday (day 7) Diaobingshan (Tiefa line), extra train on Saturday on line to Faku
31/3 Sunday (day 8) Tiefa line (museum, stored locos, steam passenger train)
1/4 (day 9) Tiefa steam passenger then either day train Beijing and overnight Beijing OR overnight train Beijing (both via Shenyang)
2/4 (day 10) fly home OR free time in Beijing

Part 2
3/4 (day 1) overnight train Beijing to Lanzhou (departure from Beijing West early afternoon)
4/4 (day 2) arrive Lanzhou – charter bus to Baiyin
5/4 (day 3) Baiyin
6/4 (day 4) Baiyin
7/4 (day 5) Baiyin – Lanzhou – overnight Hami
8/4 (day 6) arrive Hami – charter bus to Sandaoling
9/4 (day 7) Sandaoling
10/4 (day 8) Sandaoling
11/4 (day 9) Sandaoling
12/4 (day 10) Sandaoling
13/4 (day 11) Sandaoling – bus to Hami – overnight to Beijing
(should train tickets be unavailable for this direct train, we may need to leave a day earlier to travel back via Lanzhou)
14/4 (day 12) arrive Beijing – transfer Beijing West Station to Beijing airport hotel (option to leave tour at Beijing West Station)
Tour ends Beijing 14 April – airport hotel 14/4, dinner 14/4, breakfast and transfer to airport 15/4 included in tour costs
15/4 (day 12 plus 1) transfer to Beijing airport – fly home

Contrast of old and new at Fuxin

Tour price and deposits
The tour price is for ground arrangements Beijing - Beijing. Your additional costs will primarily be your return airfare to/from China and your Chinese visa.
The tour is priced in Chinese yuan. You confirm your place with a deposit of £500 in British pounds (£300 for Part Tour only) but final payment will be in yuan either by bank transfer to the Chinese guide before the tour or in cash at the start of tour in China. The exchange rate offered at Beijing Airport is dire so transferring money in advance is the recommended way to pay the balance of the tour costs.

The price for the full tour (now 22 days) is Yuan 28,600 (including the £500 deposit)

The price for Part 1 (9 days) (Beijing - Beijing) is Yuan 12,600 (including the £300 deposit)
The price for Part 2 (12 days) (Beijing - Beijing) is Yuan 16,800 (including the £300 deposit)

Full tour customers save Yuan 800 (over combined cost of Parts 1 and 2) but also have an additional 'paid for' day between Part 1 and Part 2 in Beijing (hotel and food and assistance from the guide).

I use oanda.com to check exchange rates. You can also check the Bank of China rates.

We can assist you leaving the tour with train or bus tickets at cost if you sign up for a part tour.

At Fuxin, coal empties head east.

Included in the tour price
Advice and assistance to obtain your Chinese visa and on other matters before the trip starts.
All permissions for access and photography.
Three meals a day (but breakfast and lunch may be snacks if necessary to increase the time beside the steam lines)
Beer (or soft drinks) with meals (reasonable limits will apply)
Single rooms (small refund if not available) - requests by friends to share are acceptable and will reduce your tour costs - ask for a quote)
Service of Chinese guide and British tour manager (with local guides as required)
Travel by train or private bus.

Minimum and maximum numbers
Minimum 3-4 people (local guide only), 6 people for the tour to run with local and UK guide.

To keep everything manageable, this tour is limited to an absolute maximum of 12 people. I know that small-group tours are more attractive than large-group tours and 6 - 8 is an ideal number.

The Baiyin passenger train is hanging on a thread. Will it still be steam when we visit?

Small print

We will be visiting real steam operations. There are no charters or special trains, it's all real. However, as with any real operation, we could experience days when things don't operate as we would like. There is also the chance that these lines could reduce the amount of steam they use by the time of this trip. If joining this tour, you accept this reality.

We could also find hotels that have promised single rooms do not have enough rooms for the group or that hard rather than soft class sleepers on overnight trains are all that are available for some or all of the group. We will do what we can to ensure that frustrations and minor discomforts such as these do not happen but we depend on the cooperation of others to ensure that everything goes totally to plan. You sign up for these tours in full knowledge that things don't always go right all the time and accepting that flexibility and compromise may be required by you at times.

If single rooms are not available then the decision on sharing arrangements will be made by the organiser. You agree to accept my decision on this. A refund equal to half the price of a single room per night will be paid to anyone who has to share.

Although we plan overnight journeys travelling in soft class sleepers on trains this is not always possible and sometimes hard class sleepers may be used. Hard sleepers are a comfortable and pleasant way to travel and are preferred by at least one of my previous participants. In both soft and hard class, people normally prefer lower berths. You agree to accept that class and berth allocation will be at my discretion.

Your deposit is fully refundable but only until the tour is declared 'go' and the organisers start to incur costs. Once we incur costs (most likely my airfare and visa fee), you accept that these costs will be split between all those who have signed up and you will receive back your deposit less your share of this. If you cancel two weeks (14 days) prior to the tour start, no refund will be made. In the event that the organisers have to cancel the tour, your deposit will be fully refundable.

Should you transfer money to our local guide in China to pay the balance of the tour cost, you accept that returning money from China is not an easy matter and I may have to collect the money in person during the tour to make a repayment should you cancel.

In the unlikely event that we need to cancel the tour for whatever reason, the limit of our liability will be the full refund of all monies already paid.

Contact me if you are interested in this tour. A go/no go decision will (ideally) be made before Christmas 2012 but the final booking deadline is 11 February 2013 (6 weeks prior to the tour start).

For those interested in the Shibanxi narrow gauge steam line
I’ve dropped the Shibanxi visit from the spring 2013 tour plans. However, if one or more people would like a Shibanxi visit (along with other steam and narrow gauge lines in Sichuan and Chongqing, perhaps), I would be happy to co-ordinate this with local guide Zebedee. Please see chinatour3.html for details of the sort of tour can can be offered. Let me know if you are interested and I will try to put a small group together and agree the itinerary and the price with you and Zebedee. I can’t promise to be on this tour but I do promise to supervise it to make sure it is designed to meet everyone’s expectations.