SY #1395 storms out of WuLong Mine on a sunny May morning with a train full of coal bound for the National Railway. This train has only a short 5 mile trip behind SY1395, as it will be interchanged with the China National Railway (CNR) at Fuxin Yard.
SY1395 is the last operable decorated steam locomotive in China. The locomotive bears the portrait and name of Zhu De, the first Marshal of the People's Republic of China, and a key general during World War 2 and the Chinese Civil War.
Fuxin, a minor city in Liaoning, a province north of Beijing, remains one of the meccas for REAL steam in 2015. The Mining Administration railway employs 5-6 SY 2-8-2s, proving that a decade after the JiTong Railway dieselized, China is still THE destination for Real steam.
