Bisezhai – Shiping railway line

Gebishi Railway
Route length:	176 km
Gauge :	600/1000 mm
Maximum slope :	30  ‰
Minimum radius :	70 m
Legend 0 碧色 寨 Bisezhai, Mengzi (Bìsèzhài) Qiushuizhuang 乍 甸 镇 Zhadianzhen Shiwopu 个旧 市 自立 矿冶 有限公司 Huogudu 鸡 街镇 Jijiezhen Tsi-kay 蒋家 山 Jiangjiashan 坝 心 镇 Baxinzhen 石 屏 县 Shiping from approx. 1949–1955 黑 龙潭 Heilongtan, Mengzi (Hēilóngtán) 芷 村　 Zhicun, Mengzi (Zhǐcūn) 落水洞 Luoshuidong, Mengzi (Luòshuǐdòng) 戈 姑　 Gegu, Mengzi (Gēgū) Wujiazhai Railway Bridge over the Nánxī Hé 倮 姑　 Luogu, Pingbian (Luǒgū) several tunnels 亭 塘　 Tingtang, Pingbian (Tíngtáng) 老街 子 Laojiezi, Pingbian (Lǎojiēzi) 菠 渡 箐 Boduqing, Pingbian (Bōdùqìng) several tunnels 冲 庄　 Chongzhuang, Pingbian (Chòngzhuāng) 湾 塘　 Wantang, Pingbian (Wāntáng) 白 寨　 Baizhai, Pingbian (Báizhài) several tunnels 白鹤 桥 Baiheqiao, Pingbian (Báihèqiáo) 腊 哈 地 Lahadi, Pingbian (Làhādì) 大树 塘 Dashutang, Pingbian (Dàshùtáng) 老 范 寨 Laofanzhai, Hekou (Lǎofànzhài) 马 街　 Majie, Hekou (Mǎjiē) 南溪　 Nanxi, Hekou (Nánxī) 蚂蝗 堡 Mahuangpu, Hekou (Mǎhuángpù) 山腰　 Shanyao, Hekou (Shānyāo) 河口　 Hekou (Hékǒu)

The railway Bisezhai-Shiping (also: Gebishi train , an abbreviation of Gejiu (鸡街镇Jijiezhen) -Bisezhai Railway) was the central path of a narrow-gauge railway in the track width mm 600 - from station Bisezhai on the Yunnan-Bahn starting - Over 176 km a side valley of the plain of Kaiyuan (Honghe) , Yunnan (today: People's Republic of China ) opened up.

prehistory

The Yunnan Railway from Haiphong via Hanoi (both at that time: French Indochina ) to Kunming (then: Chinese Empire ) was built since 1900 by the French- dominated Chemins de Fer de l'indochine et du Yunnan (CIY) March 1910 continuously open for scheduled traffic. Contrary to an original plan, the Yunnan Railway was due to the difficult terrain not over Qiushuizhuang (then: Mong-Tseu) and Jiangjiashan, 蒋家 蒋家 (then: Mien-Tien), in a western side valley of the plain of Kaiyuan, but further east through the Pa-Ta-Ho valley erected.

construction

In order to open up the mineral deposits in the western valley, the Bisezhai – Shiping railway line was built as a feeder to the Yunnan Railway from 1915 onwards by a company that was exclusively in Chinese hands. In order to compensate for the problems caused by the topography, which had prevented the construction of the meter-gauge railway here, the line was built in 600 mm gauge, for which standardized field railway material could also be used. Nevertheless, 8 tunnels , including spiral tunnels , were required, one of them 700 m long, gradients of up to 30 ‰ and curve radii of only 70 m.

business

In 1917 the first section to Jijiezhen, 鸡 街镇, went into operation, an extension to Shiping , 石 屏 县, 1928. According to other sources, the line was completed in 1936. From 1924 to 1929 Baldwin procured a total of 16 steam locomotives with the D wheel arrangement. Some of these locomotives were in service until the end of service on the line in 1990. Locomotive No. 29 was taken over as an exhibit in the Yunnan Railway Museum (云南 铁路 博物馆, Yunnan Tielu Bowuguan).

With the victory of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1949, the Bisezhai – Shiping railway line - like all others in the People's Republic of China - was nationalized and operated by the Chinese State Railways. The Yunnan Railway was badly damaged by air raids in World War II and could no longer be operated in its section in China. The Bisezhai – Shiping railway line from Bisezhai on its route to Hekou , 河口 瑶族 自治县, on the Vietnamese border was then occupied and operated with a 600 mm track by local forces . After the Geneva Convention of October 1954, the communist state of North Vietnam came into being , allied with the People's Republic of China. This then decided in 1955 to rebuild the Chinese section of the Yunnan Railway in meter gauge. The reconstruction of the Yunnan Railway was completed in just a year and a half. The 600 mm track on the route between Bisezhai and Hekou had to give way again.

In the 1960s, the route of Bisezhai was to Baxinzhen on meter gauge umgespurt . There was passenger traffic here until the 1980s . In the end, two daily train pairs were offered that traveled eastwards, i.e. uphill, for over two hours, downhill, in the opposite direction, but only took half the time. In 1990, the last remaining section of the line to Jijiezhen, 鸡 noch, was shut down.

In 2013, a completely re - routed , standard-gauge Yuxi – Mengzi railway via Tonghai and Jiangjiashan, eröffnet 山, was opened, which runs east of Shiping roughly parallel to the former Bisezhai – Shiping railway. The new route also features the 10 km long Xiu-shan tunnel .

literature

• Frédéric Hulot: Les chemins de fer de la France d'outre-mer 1: L'Indochine - Le Yunnan . Saint-Laurent-du-Var 1990. ISBN 2-906984-05-1
• NN: A Picture Album of Steam Locomotives in China, 1876 - 2001 . China Rail Publishing House. ISBN 7-113-04147-7 .

Web links

• Robert von Hirschhorn: A Tale of China. The broken dreams of Mungcheu . In: Asia from the Train [!] V. September 14, 2011.
• Lynn: Peaceful rural scenery along Gebishi Railway . InKuming v. January 10, 2012.
• NN: Bisezhai . In: People's Daily Online v. August 10, 2011. (partly incorrect information)
• NN: The Gebishi Railway. A little-known narrow-gauge railway connecting Gejiu, Mengzi and Shiping . On: Yunnan Explorer.
• NN: Yunnan narrow gauge railways .

Remarks

1. ↑ A total of 13 tunnels between Luogu and Boduqing.
2. ↑ A total of 4 tunnels between Boduqing and Wantang.
3. ↑ A total of 6 tunnels between Baizhai and Lahadi.
4. ↑ After Hulot, the section Pi-Che-Tchai (Bisezhai in Mengzi , 碧色 寨) - Mong Tseu (Qiushuizhuang) was put into operation in 1921.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ NN: The Gebishi Railway .
2. ^ Hulot, p. 58.
3. ^ Hulot, p. 58.
4. ↑ NN: The Gebishi Railway .
5. ↑ Lynn: Peaceful rural scenery .
6. ↑ HL Broadbelt: The gauge, the wheel arrangement, the tender. In: Trains v. August 1983, p. 51.
7. ^ NN: Yunnan narrow gauge .
8. ↑ NN: The Gebishi Railway .
9. ^ Hulot, p. 141.
10. ↑ Hulot, pp. 140f.
11. ↑ See Hirschhorn.
12. ↑ NN: The Gebishi Railway .
13. ↑ NN: A Picture ; Staghorn.
14. ↑ NN: The Gebishi Railway .
15. ^ NN: Yunnan Railway Museum ( Memento from August 30, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). In: Tiny Adventures Tours.