Steam lives on! Well, at least for the time being in some isolated pockets of China. One such location is Sandaoling, in north-western China on the fringes of the Gobi Desert, where JS 2-8-2 tender steam locomotives thrash in and out of a large open cast coal mine. In this scene JS8167 heads a coal train destined for the wash plant, whilst the train in the background waits to reverse to the loading point to collect more coal. Nobody knows for sure how long steam will last at Sandaoling but 2017 could be the final year of JS operations. Sandaoling, Xinjiang Province, China.
