Into Sichuan by Train

After overnighting in Chuxiong we found ourselves in the train station waiting room in GuangTong, recalling memories from our November-December 2008 trip across China in which we spent a chaotic hour or so in the GuangTong station waiting for the slow train north to Heijing. This time the station is more orderly and instead of getting off at Heijing, just an hour north, we are riding to Panzhihua, Sichuan, some 6 hours north.

What a great ride! Although there are lots of tunnels, the views are awesome. At a few points the tracks double back on themselves to gain or lose elevation and the last hour is along the Jinsha Jiang, the main western headwaters of the Yangtze River.

And it's a slow, dusty, mostly empty train, with many stops in remote towns, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for quite awhile to let freight trains pass. During one of those long stops the conductor stopped by for a chat. At another stop our car was in a tunnel while the rear cars were at the station.

We had this car pretty much to ourselves




One of the valleys along the way.


Sun-Ling studies the route ahead.


A spot where the tracks "tripleback" on themselves.


Locomotives of a passing freight train.


The Jinsha River near Panzhihua.