Travel Photographers Network

What we go through to get our shots

Text and Photos by Ian Lawrence - All rights reserved.

For the better known types of travel photography, like wildlife or landscape photography we all know what it takes to get the shots. You need a little patience. You need to get up early for the best light. You need to know where to go and often you’ll have to hike there (and back). You may even need to visit a certain site several times until you succeed.

Isn’t life a lot simpler for us railway photographers. Simply follow the track and wait for a train to come. Well sometimes it’s not quite that easy. Huanan in China boasts the last remaining narrow gauge steam operated coal railways in China. It has only survived because the road ends halfway between Huanan and the coalmine. The only way to the most interesting and scenic part of the line is either by riding the train or by hiking.

As part of a two week hardcore tour we planned to visit this line for two days and to be there in best light we would stay a night in Lixin, where the bankers are added to the trains. (Bankers are extra engines added to the rear of a train to help it negotiate a steep gradient). Only snag being that there is nothing resembling a hotel in Lixin.

We arrived in Huanan by train and enjoyed a rare night in a hotel bed as we spent most nights on this tour on nighttrains to use our time in the most economic way. The group at this point in time consisted of four guys (inluding the tour leader) and a female chinese guide.

We had planned to take the daily public railbus to Lixin. It turned out that it had been chartered by a group of Japanese railfans. Bad luck for the locals who had to postpone their trip to another day as there was no other means of public transport to Lixin. What about us? Well we’d have to walk. How far did you say it was, only something like 10 km uphill, we could manage that. We left our chinese guide behind in the hotel. The “accommodation” in Lixin wasn’t deemed suitable for a city girl, and after a short discussion we convinced her we could manage without her. We recommended she go shopping or something… We also left surplus photographic equipment behind. I took only one body and a 50mm prime and 70-200 zoom lens. I also took my goretex coat and trousers, water and sufficient musli bars to see me through two days. We didn’t except any culinary highlights in Lixin.
 
We got up early and searched for the narrow gauge railway station in Huanan. It was still so dark that at first we didn’t think there were any steamengines present in the depot. It soon got lighter. We found locals scavenging coal.When suddenly the sun appeared and the engine left for the station amidst a cloud of steam and smoke, we had to run and waste a fair amount of film to try and capture this in a meaningful manner.

It soon became clear that there would be quite some shunting needed before the first freight of the day could get underway. We decided to have our bus drive towards Lixin as far as the roads were passable or present. Our progress was slow on the dirttrack called road, made worse by the drivers reluctance to get mud on his tyres. We heard the train approaching long before we were anywhere near a suitable photo spot. We left the bus, where the road ended and ran through freshly harvested fields, finally found a suitable spot to cross the small stream and clamboured up to the track. We could see a tell tale smokeplume in the not so far distance and we still had some way to go. We used our last energy reserves to move (it couldn’t be called running anymore) along the track, when we noticed a horse and cart. That would be a picture. The train was already in plain sight. We only had to overtake the horse and cart and then keep a suitable distance between us and them and the picture would be ours. It worked, helped by the fact that the farmer stopped his horse to better control it as the train passed.

We then started the long hike towards Lixin. This hiking came to an end in a matter of minutes as a small worktrain came along in close persuit of the coaltrain. The worktrain consisted of a 2 axle trolley powered by a motorbike engine and a 2 axle trailer. It seemed the locals who would have used the diesel railcar were instead using this contraption to get to Lixin. We hitched a ride, and somehow they managed to find space for 4 more people. No comfort, sitting on pieces of rail, but it was certainly better than walking. In the bend near Lazifang we jumped off. The railway makes a large loop round the mountain here and even the speed of an empty coaltrain drops to walking pace. There was a steep shortcut up the hill which our tour leader knew would give us a second chance to photograph the train. We ran, walked, crawled and somehow made it in time and got our second shot, albeit not in a great location and in poor light.

We spent the rest of the day heading towards Lixin on foot, photographing a few up and downhill trains in the process in some of the most fantastic autumn colours we’d seen. These even impressed our Canadian companion. Just before sunset we reached Lixin just as the japanese party left for Huanan (and the luxury of their hotel) in the railcar.

We had been told to expect no comfort in Lixin. There was no comfort! There was no running water. There were no toilets. There was no bedding. There were no chairs. There was a bare undecorated room, with broken windows in a small brick building. Well it was a roof over our heads and in one of the other rooms, inhabited by railway staff, there was even an old television set. This set somehow managed to pick up a weak signal, showing the modern, fast commercial China, which seemed a world away from the simple life in these parts. Our presence however entertained the railwaystaff more than television. They all wanted their photo taken, and like the simple people anywhere in rural China were all very friendly, even if communication was somewhat limited.

The room we stayed in was normally used by railway staff between shifts. Part of the concrete floor was raised and formed a bedstead, with a possibility to light a fire underneath. This area is used as seat, table and bed. We shared this room with enormous numbers of creapy crawlies. Some had wings, others hadn’t, but instead were equipped with six, eight or even more legs. We only took our boots off, applied large quantities of bug repellant and laid down for the night. It had been t-shirt weather during the day, but during the night the temperature dropped to around freezing point. I was glad I’d brought the goretex gear along, if only to sleep in.

We woke up before 5:00, due to the cold, the first light in the sky and the hardness of our concrete bed. Surprisingly the bugs had all gone when we woke up; they must have moved to warmer places. The tourleader sped away to find out if there were any trains due. He came back, grabbed his camera bag and shouted that we should follow him. There was a train due shortly before sunrise. Ooh I do hate this early morning stress. Even without the sun, which was still hidden behind the hills, it was a spectacle to see this little engine creeping along with a heavy, loaded train, envelopped in huge clouds of steam. We watched the train slip and grid to a halt. The fireman had to apply sand by hand to the wet slippery rails before the train finally could reach the station. It was a great experience even if we didn’t get “the shot of our lifetime”. We then retreated to our room and had “breakfast”. We were offered traditional chinese breakfast (rice soup) by the friendly locals, but as this looks and tastes like used dish water, we decided to stick with our supply of muesli bars.

After breakfast our group split up. Two guys (the really hardy ones) decided to walk over the hill, photograph the first uphill train, and then walk back for the next banked train. I and the other one (we are only semi-tough) wanted to wait in Lixin and only watch the departure of the banked train. So we waited. We watched masses of ladybirds. We waited. We watched a shepherd cross the the railway line. And still we waited. We watched the arrival of the Japanese guys in their railcar, and then watched them swarm all over the hills in typical Japanese tourist fashion. And waited some more. When finally something steamy actually moved on the railway (it was afternoon by now), everyone was in the wrong place at the wrong time to properly exploit it photographically because of the position of the sun and time of day.. No shot!

Later in the afternoon the two mini groups met trackside, caught up on sleep in the long grass (softer than concrete that’s for sure) and finally walked downhill towards the place where our bus could pick us up. On the way a good shot could be had of the chartered railbus, which passed us picking up Japanese photographers along the track as it went by.

After walking for approx. 6 of the 8 km to Tuayaozi, the Chinese guide came along to pick us up with a group of motor bike taxis. This turned out to be a very bad idea. We died many deaths, at least in our imagination. Anyone who has been in China knows the suicidal manner in which motorbikes (or any vehicle for that matter) negotiate the traffic. Our drivers were no exception. Other traffic wasn’t the problem here, there was none. But the state of the path (what path?) was such that any speed greater than walking pace was dangerous and they covered the last 2 km in a matter of minutes! After arriving in the village we congratulated each other on still being alive and recuperated in the local shop. We were offered seats on the bedstead of the owners (like the concrete thing like we’d slept on in Lixin) in a corner of the shop, which also served as livingroom, bedroom and kitchen. In the courtyard behind the shop chickens were running around, now and then using the shop as a shortcut to the road in front of the shop, where the worms were apparently juicier. Our bus hadn’t arrived yet and we noticed that the japanese party was waiting near the shop too. After regaining our strength, we found out that there was another train coming. There was still plenty of daylight left, so we decided to walk along the track to a suitable photo point within the village. During the wait for the train we entertained the local children (they waved at us, we waved back, you know the routine) and then saw our bus pass…with the Japenese guys aboard and it was leaving! They waved at us. We waved back…

After getting our last shot we met up with our guide again. She wouldn’t come clean, but it was clear to us that they had tried to save money, using one bus for two groups. Quickly two taxis were summond and we set off in hot (or by now cold) persuit of the bus. Later that evening we were reunited with our luggage in the bus, and after a quick meal we boarded the next sleeper. We really appreciated the comfort of the softsleeper (first class sleeper) and in particular the running water in the bathroom. Two days of dirt and coal dust fought a hard but losing battle against hot water and soap. We emerged looking slightly more like first class travellers. Another great adventure behind us. Some great shots recorded on film. We were already off to more of the same at our next destination. There would be time for reflection when we got back home.

About the Author

Ian Lawrence lives in the Netherlands and works as a civil engineer (piping and pipelining). He spends his spare time photographing trains in their surroundings, always looking for the perfect shot in the best light. As the Netherlands don’t have many locations where he can get the type of shots he likes, he travels abroad whenever he can.

More of his work can be seen on his homepage at www.railway-photography.net 

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