By Rail in China 1986 - A Search for Steam!

A travelog from 1986 from a wander through China in search of Steam Locomotives.

[@LoderryPlaysPVP]

This is genuinely one of the best videos on youtube. Makes me feel nostalgic for a time I didn't live in

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Thanks!!

[@MartinSBrown-tp9ji]

That was a fantastic video and a trip of a life time. Any train lover should see this presentation, it a trip to yesterday. China is much different today.

[@mt-mg7tt]

Nowadays one would be making many of these trips by the amazing high-speed trains!

[@chuanbaoliu3024]

all bullet trains. u would never have chance taking photos from outside of a moving train.

[@tomg.8418]

The "Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad" in Boone Iowa has the last steam locomotive built in China. They run excursions on weekends using the Chinese engine.

[@FallenFlagFoamer]

Boone has the last Chinese mainline steam engine, the last industrial engine, and steam engine overall, is SY1772.

[@balkanleopard9728]

Thank you. This is a great historical record. Now, track down (OK a poor pun) this route today and see the difference - less than 40 years later. The changes are simply beyond belief. Brilliant stuff.

[@gumup]

Great presentation Steven! Amazing adventure.

[@cedarvalleyrail8419]

24:20, It's very interesting to see the variety of color and additions to single types of locomotives, some are dressed up, some aren't. Thank you for making this trip, this is something almost nobody has documented!

[@mabenteng808]

This is definitely one of the best video I have ever seen on youtube. Thank you so much for it. My parents are both the same age of you, they graduated from university in 1985 and just started to work at this time. My dad then went to the US in 1989 to do a research degree in computer science, after he returned to China he worked as a system engineer for telephone and mobile exchanges and travelled to every single province of China for his work. Your photos allows me to see my parents' early age and how it was back then in the country. I'm very grateful to your courage of travelling in a complete foreign country all by yourself, which brings such precious records of what China was like back in the time.

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Thanks!!

[@evanswinford7165]

I was in China in the summer of 1986 too. We rode all over Shandong province pulled by steam locomotives. I went to The Great Wall twice from northern Beijing both times by a steam locomotive. I saw more steam locomotives than diesels. We ride hard sleeper, soft sleeper and hard seating. Soft sleeper was nice and comfy with a/c. Other classes had toilets that dumped right on the tracks 😅. They closed the heads in the stations. A good book an traveling by train in China is Riding the Iron Rooster I forgot the author name right now. I’ll watch the entire video later on my laptop. I’m excited now.

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Paul Therou

[@bonda01]

Fantastic presentation of your adventure. A real adventure in those days! Have been enjoying your pic posts on FB.

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Thanks so much!

[@kwu6456]

Thank you for the wonder video. It brought back a lot of memories. I travelled very extensively in China by train from 1982 to 1986. I re-did some of these train trips 3 years ago. Really working against time before they are replaced by the high speed network

[@IGuessIDoThings]

Chinese railway are interesting to me bc you have the eastern mega cities with massive metros and the high speed lines connecting them all. Then, the more inland you go the fewer big cities there are and the trains become older and older in the poorer areas of the country. Eventually, steam locos are used regularly for everything.

[@sdschen]

Thanks for posting! I was born around the time of your trip and we lived in one of the other "Lincoln's Hat" towns along your route. Every weekend my mother used to take me trackside to watch the trains. Your photos have brought the memories flooding back!

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Wow! Thanks for not ripping on me for my pronunciation of places!!

[@johnmurfett3813]

What Courage! Dropping yourself in the middle of a country that is foreign in so many ways! Inspiring.

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

Wow...As soon as you mentioned Kunming I remembered, Kunming the Chinese home to the AVG,,,American Volunteer Group,,,,,,,,,,"The Flying Tigers." Rangoon was the southern end HQ for the AVG.

[@_Studio346]

This was an absolute joy to watch! Thank you for the wonderful video :) I hope we might get to see and hear about your trips to NZ and Australia soon!

[@JustinTupper-jj5in]

I really enjoyed this. I lived in China through 2011-2019. We travelled mostly by high speed rail but my girlfriend and I would sometimes go out of the way to take a slower diesel K-train and look out the window of the dining car while drinking tea and eating a locally themed meal. Thanks for taking me back to those moments.

[@chuanbaoliu3024]

best video about 80's China.you have passed my hometown between chengdu and chongqin besides chengdu-chongqin railway before i was born.❤

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Thanks!!

[@user-kg8uu4po1e]

Welcome to China again. It's a wonderful trip. Now these steam engines can only be seen in the exhibition hall

[@chicagolandrailroader]

This is so amazing and incredible... I didn't know steam was still in service in china at this time!

[@ryanzhong8138]

nope, there's no steam loco in most lines nowadays

[@cowza3]

Simply Brilliant!

[@chinesesongssph]

I attended 2 months of University in China in 1989 - May-June- and travelled from Beijing to Xian hard berth and Xian to Chengdu soft berth both on steam powered locomotives. Both trips took about 24 hours. We then flew from Chengdu to Hong Kong several days after the Tiananmen Square Massacre . We were most recently in China again in 2017 and those train rides took less than 4 hours. Much more comfortable but much less of an adventure.

[@philipashbourn1538]

Thank you Steven for this wonderful film...When I went around the world in the early 1960s China was out of bounds - then most trains were steam hauled. It was interesting that you were able to photograph but faced other difficulties. I spent seven months behind steam in India, Nepal, East Pakistan and Ceylon - much easier than China as they were used to foreigners and many spoke English, especially of the railways. I just missed North American steam but managed to record the last of British steam. I would recommend a visit to the old East Germany where steam can still be found, especially around Dresden.

[@NorfKhazad]

Just wanted to let you know I shared most of your videos with my model railroad club and they loved them. This one is my personal favorite. Fantastic work, and a hell of a story.

[@stevenjbrown1697]

That is awesome!

[@oldlaom]

This was really amazing. The nice pictures reminds me of my childhood. I could hardly remember the steams and diesels I saw as a little kid, but my memory suddenly became clear when I saw your pictures. It was so good that you recorded what would never be seen any more. Thank you for sharing the precious history.

[@realjohnboxall]

This is the best show I've seen for weeks. Thank you very much for your efforts in sharing your outstanding experiences.

[@user-lc6lc8mh8k]

Absolutely fantastic! Brought back tons and tons of memories of my years in China and riding the trains (steam !!) throughout the west of Xinjiang, Gansu and Qinghai Provinces. And the steam and smoke coming into our open windows at times. Love trains through and through, especially those older steam ones. Thanks for bringing back fond memories!

[@manheiw]

Thank you for your excellent slides. I was moved by your train travels. 1986 Hong Kong and on. A valuable source of visual information of China's infrastructure and the quirks of being a foreigner surviving in the years before the opening of China to the outside world.

[@iceblade019]

This is so fantastic, I’m a gen z from China and loves railway under my father’s influence, this video brings me back to a time I didn’t live and your narration is awesome

[@user-oy5gi9wz1y]

Many thanks for sharing this You must of had a great deal of courage and self belief to get this record for train and steam lovers to enjoy PB

[@robgrune3284]

A true piece of history. The changes from then to now are incredible.

[@SRenouveau]

Hello Mr.Brown, I'm a railway fan from China. I found your brilliant travel log by chance and was soon attracted by the old-style observation coach appears at 5:00. The coach on the right may be a MNR class TenI 1 which built in mid-1930s, but I can't make sure about that. I just wandering if you can show me any information like the coach number or other details about it?

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Mr He, I enlarged the image and had difficulty reading the car number but it appears to be GW 9738. There may be another digit after the last, perhaps a 1? I would be interested in learning more. Thanks for watching the video!

[@SRenouveau]

@@stevenjbrown1697 Thanks for your information. The car number should be GW 97381 as the CNR use 5 digit to number the most of coaches then. GW is a abbreviation of Gong Wu(公务 in Chinese, means business car but also including some crews car and private car) As for the テンobservation and イ means first classthree-axle truckwww.tbcas.jp/ja/lib/lib5/data/MCJB06514/index.html at page 83. The arch windows may be replaced by standard-style windows during a renovation, which is common after 1949. arch windows then. Maybe the GW 97381 was used as private car for leaders and foreigners in Canton area until scrapped. But the odd observation coach on the left is still a mystery. It has been seen for times in different places, left few photos and we still don't

[@Shadowtiger2564]

Oh how I wish I could travel back in time and do the same for Japanese steam. Luckily some of my favorites are in live steam preservation, but I want to see the everyday stuff

[@Kongman492]

What a Beautiful piece of railroading history! Very cool!

[@MontysTrains]

I don't normally care for videos made up of still images, but this video came highly recommended and WOW! You must have some strong nerve to hop random trains in a country where foreigners weren't always welcome. Alas, I was born a little too late to make the trek to see the last great steam show on earth, but your video really made the story come to life. Thank you for sharing!

[@Mr.RailYard-LJLRailYard]

I grow up watching DVDs of Steam Railways in China. This video brought back so many memories. By far the best video you have made. Thanks LJL

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Thanks!

[@paulw.woodring7304]

Very good. I did an escorted tour of steam in China just about exactly one year after you did. Started in Hong Kong as well, but we flew into the interior. The tour operator had been to China a couple of times before and things were more efficient in terms of maximizing use of time for finding working steam. We visited Datong as well (they were up to JS #8101 when we were there in early July '87). They told us we couldn't take photos on the shop floor, but I managed to sneak a few anyway. We weren't forced to buy anything, but I bought a tea set and managed to get it home unbroken. The most steam and most variety was definitely in the North and Northeast. Harbin was great, we saw a triple-header leaving the yard (probably a power move). By the time we were there the trolley system had quit operating. You really should not have skipped Changchun, that was the best steam action of the entire trip, not just in quantity but also variety - SLs, RMs, JSs, and QJs. All told, in three weeks we estimated that we saw/photographed something like 600 different steam locomotives, standard and narrow gauge, and I shot something like 40 rolls of K-64 and K-200, without a motor drive either. I have around 800 slides in my first quality collection from that trip.

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Wow - sounds like a great trip! I am surprised they would not let you take pics in Datong. Steam locomotives weren’t exactly a threat to national security or corporate espionage!

[@steventurner820]

I loved the pictures at Guangzhou, we flew in there a few years ago as a layover and you could see all off the tracks coming in

[@supericeman1]

what a beautiful video showing steam trains in China, when I was a little kid growing up in china, I saw a steam passenger train in the year 1999 or 2000 this was somewhere in Yunnan province, as a railfan cool to see, and bless your mom too

[@Stickycarp28284]

RM 1092 was scrapped 😢 along with many other steam locomotives in this video by now

[@50B114D]

I really enjoyed the photos and commentary and am looking forward to checking out your other videos. As a fellow railfan I have been seeing your photos online and in publications for many years and greatly respect your work. Cheers!

[@mt-mg7tt]

An excellent video! Great music. Amazing to think steam locos were built as late as December 1986!

[@Nderak]

im surprised to see so much cement sleepers/ties thanks for sharing your time machine with us

[@nivlick]

Thank you for sharing your experience.

[@thomaslusk7621]

I was surprised it was not all Steam in 1986!

[@stevenjbrown1697]

It was the beginning of the end.

[@modeltrainsandtracks]

Thank you Steven, this was excellent. You have a good style, a great eye for your photography and clearly some good stories to tell. I look forward to watching the rest.

[@monrailvid]

Very interesting photos! Thank you!

[@steamsearcher]

SUPERB. AND YES MY WIFE IS CHINESE. David and Lily.

[@MBTrains1205]

That looks like it was an amazing journey you had!! Thanks for sharing all of this!

[@peterbeesley8904]

Greetings from an English railfan. Just discovered your channel, what an excellent record of a wonderful trip of a lifetime. How adventurous you were. Also love the Chicago photos as well.

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Thank you very much!

[@felixonrails]

What a wonderful show!

[@minecraftertracey01]

28:58 and to think they would build there last JS class a few years later for one of the last ones to be sent to the states, since it was cheaper then rebuilding even with shipping.

[@GTRailFanProductions]

Amazing video! I love the commentary and the stories you explain of your journeys for the search of Steam in China.

[@Willysmb44]

Steven, I never get tired of your shows.

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Thanks!

[@owenthetrainman7219]

This is a really great video. Watched it in its entirety. Very cool to see that the QJs and other steamers still running so late into the 20th century. Really, really nice video

[@ThumperKJFK]

I truly think that all the hard ships you had to go through, was well worth to get the tour of the steam factory up close that was worth it. wow.

[@08trader]

Wow! What a treasure in the mirade of useless videos on KZbin. A real time machine!

[@stevenjbrown1697]

High praise! Thanks!

[@Zoomer3989]

Great video, and great shots! Don't know if you already knew this, but at 8:44, the engine in the shot is very rare - a JF11, a pre-war Japanese built Mikado from 1937 that were nearly off the roster entirely except very specific areas.

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Thanks! Yes, I knew if might be but it is very hard to tell those mikes apart.

[@cinderpath]

Fantastic Steven! Its amazing how much has changed there!

[@davehaggland9604]

Great program. Thanks for the journey 😁

[@truthful3777]

Thank you for sharing with us your experience. It was Amazing. Nevertheless I heard the QJ and the YS Mikado are in USA.....However I got to know the YS 2-8-2 last production was 1999. I am sure this factory is the last compare the QJ

[@ajstevenson4181]

that was magical...thank you.

[@truthful3777]

Alas how I wish you carry a video camera. That will be more exciting!.. Nevertheless you go great camera shot!.

[@JosipRadnik1]

Fantastic. Not only did you do the trip I would always want to do but you also took me back in time to my youth when I was travelling to yugoslavia by train and had the chance to have a ride on an old german 52 type steam locomotive there. Certainly not the same yourney you made, but one with a very lasting impression on me for sure.

[@igorslocks]

Great story. Truly the adventure of a lifetime

[@petrolekh]

Superb capture of a period of time and region not exposed to most the world.

[@rockguitarist931]

I love these documentaries you make about your rail fanning trips. I subscribed to your channel because of this one and the Australia video.

[@swedishlevelcrossingchanne2745]

Amazing work!! Loved every second!

[@minnesotarailfan12]

Great video. If you're ever in Boone, IA, check out the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad. They have a Chinese Railways JS class currently under restoration, it's undergoing a 1472 day inspection

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

Amazing Video

[@WaltANelsonPHD]

If you go back to China, visit Dalian and the loco works in nearby Lushun. Your narrated slides are great.

[@azjakeza]

Incredible

[@michaelbozzini900]

Thank-you for the video.

[@Daniellokm]

Thank you for posting this, I truly enjoyed it!!!

[@hemihead68]

Love your work, great use of music too,

[@qpr543]

Interesting format - combined picture book & audio book. Background music is loud.

[@martinadams7949]

Thanks Steve great story

[@sigurdjohnson6617]

That was excellent Thanks for sharing your adventure,

[@williamou417]

China Railways KD55 is the Japanese Class 9600

[@joefoley1480]

Great photos!!

[@stevieb931]

You were truly blessed

[@zacliu7974]

Thanks for sharing.

[@matthewgustafson5225]

Probably one of my favorite videos you shared with us on February 27th In the IRM Zoom Call.

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Thanks Matthew!

[@mikebiehn9073]

Thoroughly enjoyed this

[@47nodoubt]

woww amazing real history you documented here :)

[@murph.v2413]

At 26:19 I'm afraid it is not a BJ-Beijing model Diesel Loco. But DFH (Dong Fang Hong) Mk.III . BTW Dong Fang Hong means "red in the east(...Sun about to rise)“.

[@Snowlep337]

This was amazing!

[@MySteamChannel]

Fantastic stuff - thank you.

[@darkadmiral106]

Wow. I am really impressed.

[@Justin.87]

Looking forward to the New Zealand and (earlier) Australia slideshow!

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Hmmmm.

[@sammao1208]

26:18 that’s not BJ. That’s DFH(Eastern in Red) 3. 27:15 is BJ

[@dwkcamman611]

Awesome work as always!

[@burroaks7]

this is incredible

[@thomasw74]

Amazing video

[@erikjohnpotvin]

Wow what a trip!

[@cwlong9667]

Awesome! Enjoyed!

[@BeauMinnick]

Wow just WOW!

[@Hootwaffles]

Awesome video, did you end up keeping that builder’s plate to this day?

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Yup!

[@andrewrussack8647]

Great video! I suspect any westerner would struggle to do that trip today, regardless of finances or time.

[@webersteve1547]

Thank you for sharing your wonderful trip! Almost history now! I was surprised by the quality of your photos. Can you please elaborate what camera, lens(es) and film you used on this trip?

[@stevenjbrown1697]

Pentax K1000, Kodachrome 64 mostly.

[@webersteve1547]

@@stevenjbrown1697 thank you sir

[@AnhNguyen-gk8hu]

i love your video