| BENXI STEELWORKS The current state of steam operations at Benxi is unknown. The last report I have been able to find was of a visit made in March 2005. Although there have been no further reports to suggest that steam operation have ceased they have clearly been been reduced since the visit I made in 2002 together with a subsequent increase in the use of diesels. The maintenance shed has been demolished and the PL2, XK and a fireless locomotive are now on display as 'stuffed and mounted' exhibits. The report below is as I found Benxi on my visit in 2002. Benxi is a large industrial city about 60 miles to the south-east of Shenyang. Its main claim to 'fame' is that it is said to be the most polluted city in China, a title which is not easily won in view of the stiff competition! There are a number of steelmaking plants in and around the city and these use a fleet of SY class locomotives to bring raw materials into the steel works and to shunt the cauldron wagons full of molten iron around the huge site. When making plans to visit Benxi it was difficult to come across much in the way of information or illustration - however one internet report detailed how two recent visitors had been arrested and had all their films confiscated by the local police whilst yet another report described the area as 'desperately unphotogenic' with all locomotives working tender first. To avoid problems with the police I engaged the services of the so called Liaoning Steam Locomotive Photographic Association (also known more accurately as the Shenyang International Merchants Travel Company!) Mrs Sun Xiaolan arranged all the necessary permissions for a two day visit, provided an English speaking guide and also sleeper ticket from Shenyang to Beijing for a very reasonable US$100 plus hotel and travel costs of the guide (another US$35) Unfortunately my visit to Benxi took place at the end of a four day dust storm which affected much of Northern China, lending a sepia tone to many of the photographs. Given the pollution levels it is hard to know how much difference the dust storm actually made. In the event my guide was happy to accompany me into the steelworks and then make herself comfortable in one of the many workers cabins while I was given almost total freedom to roam! |
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| SY721 stands at the head of a train of cauldron wagons at the north end of the blast furnaces |
| SY723 with smokebox inscription reading 'Work Harder For Communism' stands at the north end |
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| SY721 causes a brief traffic jam as it shunts across the busy main road into the steelworks |
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| SY724 waits for its next duty in the central area between the two sets of blast furnaces |
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| SY731 shunts a rake of cauldron wagons loaded with molten iron in the area between the furnaces |
| ... as does SY734 a few moments later. Engines appear and disappear through a series of 'rat runs' |
| Most of the locomotives to be found at Benxi are SY's. However they are numbered in a local series from SY701 to SY735 and determining their original identity is not always easy, often requiring a detailed examination of connecting rods and motion parts. The original numbers of most of these engines is now known though a few remain 'anonymous'. Almost all retain their builders plates indicating that most were built at Tangshan. At the northern depot there are also three fireless 0-4-0T engines believed to have been used in the chemical plant plus an out-of-use 0-6-0 USA tank (XK28) and also PL250. During my visit it was not possible to find out whether these are still used or are permanently withdrawn. The photograph towards the bottom of the page just about captures three of these engines. |
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| SY705 pulls away with loaded wagons with the sky above clearly illustrating the level of atmospheric pollution at the plant (above) A general view of the south end of the blast furnace complex with SY's shunting wagons. (right) |
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| SY734 pulls away from one of the loading bays having delivered a rake of cauldron wagons (above) |
| SY731 with the legend 'Maintain the Communist Way' brings a short train of slag from the south of the site |
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| SY 721 passes SY725 at the south end of the blast furnace area as the murk gathers again! |
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| Fireless locomotive No.5, USA tank XK28 and PL250 in the repair shop at the northern stabling point |
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| In the less polluted environs of the reclamation area, SY720 basks in some afternoon sunshine! |
| It was almost inevitable that as my train pulled out of Benxi station the sky was gradually clearing and the shadows were becoming stronger and stronger. Such is life when you are a railway photographer. I certainly hope to return to Benxi in better weather since by the end of my visit there was no way that I would describe this industrial plant as 'desperately unphotogenic'. Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder and so ultimately I shall leave others to make up their own minds based in part on the above evidence! I subsequently returned to Benxi in January 2003 with a view to improving on my previous results. In the event the whole Shenyang area was enveloped in freezing fog which rendered visibility to less than 50 yards at Benxi. Photography was just about out of the question and so I revised my plans and went to Beitai Steelworks instead. In doing so I became one of no more than five or six Westerners ever to be granted access into this plant and this forms a separate page on this site. |
| Click on locations below for more Chinese steam (systems shown in yellow no longer have steam) ANSHAN STEELWORKS BAOTOU BEITAI STEELWORKS BENXI STEELWORKS CHENGDE HANDAN STEELWORKS FUXIN COAL RAILWAY NANPIAO MEIHEKOU JIXI MINING RAILWAYS JINGPENG TIEFA MINING RAILWAY WEIHE FORESTRY RAILWAY XINGZANG BRICKWORKS XUANHAU STEELWORKS YUANBAOSHAN |