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Steam locomotives are probably the most appropriate technology to use. Fuel (coal) for the steam locomotives is right there where they're mining it. Very impressive operation.
This is the absolute best documentary of this operation I've seen. Not only did you go over the main coal operations, but you also showed us some of the maintenance operations. Nice seeing trains in the desert and in places you normally wouldn't be able to get to from a public standpoint.
This is genius. When you're mining coal in a remote region, where there's an abundance of coal and water, you'd rather use steam traction, instead of diesel or electric. These locos are probably designed to use unwashed coal.
Not to mention the cost (in energy or "CO2" terms) of actually making these engines in the first place and making the most of what is already "spent", versus the cost of manufacturing any potential replacement and the supporting infrastructure to go with it. Although I do agree it was more likely a matter of convenience and speed of deployment.
Not going into political and efficiency matters, but just from artistic point; this is greatly edited video with fantastic photography. Sounds of the locomotive and deep tones are fantastic!
Great video. The sights may be dystopian but for a train buff its a wonderful experience , watching an actual commercial operation in process in the 21st century . What is remarkable is that these trains are maintained not for tourist purposes but for actual day to day working ; no worrying about transporting diesel . The product is the fuel itself .Coal will continue to remain a major player in China's economy.
A 50+ year old steam train hauling cars of coal across expanses of remote China so barren & rocky that it might as well be on Mars is such an esoteric vibe. It’s like a post-apocalypse world where modern systems have been wiped out and we have to revert to ancient technology to rebuild civilisation.
Its not an ancient technology? The last steam locomotive in china was produced in 1988, these locomotives are the most efficient steam locomotives ever built with 3300 horsepower, taking into accord their cheap efficient fuel they are way greener then using a 'modern' diesel from the US or the likes.
I'm a retired engineer, and this looks mighty real!!! Their track looks to be in really good shape!!! I'd give my grapes to work on a railroad like this!!!
@@Yacyz They still use steam engines in some places, but usually just one or two as shunters that are hardly ever under steam. Sandaoling sadly closed down in september, so these were probably the last steamers still running on a daily basis...
20:25 A nice contrast between the almost unaltered 19th century steam technology and, to the left, the shadow of a very 21st century drone that's actually doing the filming. It's great to have captured perhaps the last truly working steam trains in the world just a few years before their departure marked the very end of the age of steam transport - apparently in 2022.
Absolutely fascinating beautiful video! My dad who was a C&NW fireman on steam would routinely critique museum engine operations as in... "Doesn't he know how to fire? Is that just for show or what? That fire is way too dirty!" He contended that properly fired, in most but not all cases, a good fireman would be judged by a clean burning locomotive. This is one of the most realistic operations videos I've seen. Thank You!
Vikos, thank you for your beautiful photography and for recording this for all of our history. It looks as though you did a great deal of hiking about for viewpoints.
Great video, could pass as a professionally-produced documentary! Interesting fusion of old and new technology - steam locomotives running on rail on modern concrete ties...
very skilled operators to get them to burn that cleanly. about the only time they dont burn clean is when they are under the heaviest demands. i love how quiet the trains are. great video.
Very interesting to see the combination of concrete railway ties, jointed rail, and steam locomotives working in a modern open pit mine. A contrast of old and new that was probably never seen in the West.
What a brilliant history of this line. In 2018 the coal was still going with steam. A great bit of explanation of the system and how it was worked. A story told brilliantly. Good video and very good editing to make the line live. Thumbs up all round.Amacf
Note that the video is more of a factual documentary. It didn't really praise or condemn anything in the operation, it simply described the way things were done.
That moment when a modern day drone is recording footage of a steam engine from the early 1900s maybe even 1800's. perhaps the engines are not that old but still, its like worlds colliding
I worked for USS in a rail operated pit in Minnesota. So much of this is so familiar, just make the black a deep red and it's 1941 in Hibbing. What a wayback machine.
I don't know how I missed watching this for the last two and a half years. But this is the best thing I have ever watched. It is truly a spectacular show. When I was a kid, I used to watch your Bhopal Shatabdi footplating videos when I had just gotten Internet at home. And your videos continue to amaze so many years later! This is beyond amazing! 🙏
This is an absolutely incredible video and hands down the greatest steam show on earth!!! Really beautiful shots and incredible insight on this operation.
for now but the need and demand for coal even in china is waneing, and getting toward the end of they vein of coal this mine is the last actual use commercial steam in the world and they say it might not make it to the end of the year this year, this area though is also one of the uylgar peoples the ones that are muslum and oppressed by the chinese government that sometimes makes the news or circles when talking of religious oppression, but this is the last place, though you might get the occasional train on union pacific or at strausburg rr in lancaster county pennsylvania but it is not everyday they use it to pull freight. the reason this is still used is it is a coal mine and the fuel is abundant for use , and steam engines are rugged and simple very powerful machines compared to electros or diesle that would be more sensitive to the dust and conditions they work in, though with the steam the shower of sparks is not so good either around the combustable fuel, but its hear prob till the end of the year, then the engines will problably but put on display there isn't talk of scrapping them and the last working steam engines in the world even in china they know the significance of this and will problably put them in a museum
@@manga12 The last working non-heritage ones, anyway. Plenty of heritage railways in the UK running, and one even runs a scheduled service to a main-line station in season.
@@Skorpychan yes but it is the last use of somthing that has been used on railroads for roughly 200 years, and the coal mine is the last stop, which is unfortunate, sure coal causes pollution, but there are other cleaner things steam can use heat the water, there is still soo much we could get out of the tech, if you dont belive me read up on the writtings of livio dante porta, and those that carry on his research, like david wardale, and those working on the coalition for sustainable railroading, there are still things used in stationary boilers that have not yet been applied or widely tried in locomotive boilers, and the harder the strain you put on the fire of a steamer the better she runs, makes a hotter fire, and the steam expand more as you get it going you can cutoff flow and let the heat in the steam fully expand before exausting from the cylender. on the other hand though in positive news many restorations are comming along great this year, and the t1 trust almost has the boiler finished save for maybe the throat sheets and connections, almost time to start on the all important frame of the locomotive
This is so awesome! Thank you so much for making this, the time and effort put into this is astonishing and very apparent. I don't think most appreciate the effort so on behalf of those interested in the topic, i thank you! The steam loco's of Sandaoling will soon be a relic of the distant past. This doc will forever cement its place in history.
Awesome video. Watching this seemed like going to back to late 19th century in Time Machine to witness cargo haulage using the mighty steam engines back then
@@dr.andresalval3915 Or electrified trains run from a coal-fired steam power plant. China's cheap labor costs have kept steam locomotives running, but they are maintenance intensive... At this location out in the desert, the driver for getting away from steam locomotives will probably come down to the water supply.
Amazing footage! Really great work on the camera and documenting all of this. I almost feelt like I was standing beside you when you were filming this. Its really mind blowing for me to see all this industry in a desert environment, its both beatiful and eerie in a dystopian way. I wish I also couldve visited Sandaoling during this time, its something special to see for sure. But thanks for making all this effort for us to see!
I am 54 YO and only seen a steam engine once at a narrow guage engine in Colorado. And i grew up in LA Orange county area in the 70's. This is a great video.
GO SEE ONE! You still have time. There are plenty of restored Steam Loco's being used for tours. It is a must see, the power and inginuity displayed in these relics of the late 1800's early 1900's is absolutely astonishing! Just think every piece of those machines were made by hand with slide rules, no machines.
Bhai, when i loaded this video, i didnt think i would watch it all through. being a half hour long, i thought i would skip through it or just watch short of full but it had me hooked. i did n ot miss any music either. ur narration was spot on as much as needed... and such cinematic shots allof them. !! very very awesome.
First of all, I'm not a steam train fan. But immediately I must add this is a fántástic video. Filming, editing, sound, all in all a excellent document !
Wow, watched the whole thing, very interesting and sad movie. I had intentions to visit this railroad, but it appears that someone already wholesomely documented this lovely operation, thank you, and great video! Would love to see more documented real steam operations.
If you look on Google Earth for Urumqi, from what I could see, Sandaoling is a couple of hundred kilometers east from it. Urumqi is the worlds' most inland city.
There are only 4 of them alive now :( As the locomotives production line has been closed for over 30 years, its very hard to get the replacement parts to repair these babies now
They are so inefficient (about 10%), that it's more efficient to transport coal 200km to the power plant, run the electricity along the track, and then put an electric loco to work. But because labor is so extremely cheap for domestic products in a communist economy, it doesn't matter if they just gotta assign 50 more miners to produce coal for the locomotives and 10 in the maintenance shop doing overhauls every few weeks. Finally, inefficient work is a genuine strategy to keep unemployment low.
i will try to find it. This was the kind of this midget engine with big boiler and tiny wheels. The engines look like been to hell and back because they are really overused and the demand is huge. They dont paint them after they are assembled so they got surface rust quickly and got covered in dirt so they look "aged".
@@morderca95 I think the newest one’s made in 2017, numbered 19. By the way, the locomotives are ZM16-4s, which is a variant of C2 with a 4-axle tender. For operational C2s, there are a few in Heilongjiang for tourism uses.
Great documentary. Thanks for all your work in creating it. It shows your dedication in preserving the memory of all of these engines and their trains for future generations. Eventually the sound and light show of these steamers eventually 'runs out of steam'. (And thank you for now including background music.)
Fantastic! This is what Oliver Iron Mining in Minnesota must have looked like 60+ years ago. Thank you for also including scenes of the spreader and track gang. The signal system on the owl cars was ingenious. We used hand signals before remote control came in. Those hard hats on the guys in the shop looked pretty clean compared to everything else, like they were just handed out. Just sayin....,
The latest train here was manufactured in 1982. There is no factory producing new parts. If any parts are damaged, they can only be obtained from a spare train. It is said that these trains will all be retired by the end of 2020. If you are a photographer, I recommend going in winter. My guess is that the workers here are paid very high. Because the environment here is very bad, if the salary is not high enough, no one will work here. The approximate salary is 1170USD/mounth.
Do you have a source for that salary? I have heard that you get paid next to nothing and the accident rate means that you're paying for medical supplies for most of your life.
@@fndjfgsdk Sorry the previous data is wrong. I'm conjecturing about salary. My home is hundreds of kilometers away from this place . I estimated it based on the wages of the same workers. What can be determined now is that the salary of the train driver is only 416USD/mounth. The driver needs to work 12 hours and then rest for 24 hours. Regarding medical care, I only know that they have insurance. If possible, I will go to that coal mine next year. I would also like to know more information. They are people who have been forgotten by the times.
Well the last standard gauge locomotive made in China is SY-1772 made in 1999, and the youngest steam locomotive in China is a C2 narrow gauge locomotive made in 2017 (for tourism, of course)
