The regular passenger train of the Ba-Shi Railway storms upgrade past some flowering rape-seed plants. In March, the hillsides around the Shibanxi Narrow Gauge were alight with these yellow blossoms, attracting thousands of Chinese tourists to the railway. These tourists proved to be the savior of the railway, as well as a curse. For the first time in a generation, the narrow gauge became profitable, eliminating the threat of abandonment which had hung over the railway for over a decade. For the railfan this was a curse, as it brought an end these regular passenger trains and all coal trains, replacing the last stronghold of revenue narrow gauge steam in China with tourist trains with blue coaches and green locomotives.
