Changing China
Giant on the move
A living, working relic leaves locals unenthusiastic
Deep in mountainous Sichuan province, locals are relying on one of the world’s last passenger steam trains as their only form of transport.
This living relic has never been updated since 1959, when it was rolled out to transport coal from a local mine. It runs along narrow gauge tracks roughly half the width of modern train tracks.
It’s passengers are less pleased with the noise, its once every 3 hours departure, the dust, and its slow trundle to its destination at 20 kilometres an hour.
The locals want a road and a bus service. If they have their way the locomotive may chug its last sometime in the near future.
