Back from China!

Well I'm back from two weeks over in China, fulfilling various work commitments.  Those that know me have probably seen my 'bright' project on a model train Facebook page.  

Anyway, I managed to get a couple of hours on Sunday and Tuesday afternoon at a pedestrian bridge at Qiqihar Railway Station.  The scene looked somewhat familiar to LaTrobe St in Melbourne, which overlooks Spencer Street Station (Southern Cross Station).

The timetable seems to be pretty much identical for every day of the week, with 3 arrivals and 5 departures occurring in a 90 minute period.

Harbin is a common destination as it is the closest and largest city near Qiqihar, but services originate at Qiqihar for long journeys to Chengdu (55hr trip) and Hangzhou (42hr trip).

The variety of passenger car paint schemes and locomotives kept it quite interesting.  Below are just a few photos.  I'll post more as time permits. 

DF4D 3297 on some green coaches (mainly YZ25B hard seat type), departs at 1508hrs on Train 6255 to Woniuhe (Mongolia).

With a front from Star Wars, DF11G pairing 0055/0056 lead the 1537 departure of train K548/545 to Chengdu, some 55 hours away.  The train was about 20 cars in length.

DF4D 3321 departs at 1555 with a regular service to Harbin, as train K7256.  The train comprised of mainly hard seats and hard sleeper cars.

Shunt unit DF5 2048 positions a blue and white rake of cars between different platforms.  The 16 cars would most likely be a long distance service as it had a dining car and baggage car.  Looking at the schedule, it may have been a Beijing or Tianjin arriving service.

DF11 0444 departs Qiqihar at 1607 with train 1344/1341 to Hangzhou.  This is a 42 hour service and the train was about 15 cars long.  

On both days, the same type of locomotive was allocated to the same train service.  

Enjoy!