Vintage Jilin Pictures
December 1984
All photographs © Copyright Duncan Cotterill 2002. All rights reserved.
In 1984, Jilin was Pacific City. Virtually every passenger service in or out was hauled by RM or SL pacifics. Jilin was famous for being the last stamping ground of the SLs but less was known of the RM workings. Those we saw were on Tumen line services so they may have been Xinzhan based engines. Unfortunately we didn't get any decent RM shots and even struggled with the SLs. Here, SL681 is seen leaving Jiangbei, across the river from Jilin, on a train from the Harbin line.
Longtanshan yard served the chemical works on the east side of the Songhua river. Here we found QJ1571 newly arrived on a freight from the north while JS5038 departed on a trip across the river. The JS was one of the first built and dated from the mid 1950s.
The yard's two JF pilots were even older. JF207 was built in Japan in the mid 1930's and was still in good condition almost 50 years later. These early JF wouldn't last much longer and by the end of the decade only a few 1950s built locos would remain in traffic.
Both pilot engines, JF1068 and JF207, combine to shift a rake of oil tankers. One loco would have been enough but in the mid 1980s foreign visitors were rare and the local management wanted to put on a show for us.
And finally ...... We were allowed onto the platform for a while before our departure for Fushun. Several pacific hauled trains arrived or departed during this time but few locos remained still for long enough to get a time exposure. The exception was SL670 which posed on it's train for around 10 minutes before departing into the night. The lighting effect was obtained purely by chance. I was almost at the end of the exposure when the headlight was switched on. It took about a second to grab the cable release and close the shutter before the image was burned out. Full marks to TEFS for arranging the night photting session. No marks for arranging for us to arrive and depart such a steamy place behind diesels!