Traveling China by steam-powered train in 1978. Sometimes 2 or 3 days at a stretch in packed train c
Traveling China by steam-powered train in 1978. Sometimes 2 or 3 days at a stretch in packed train cars, as a layer of black soot from the locomotive furnace accumulated on everything. And honestly, I loved it. I loved all the interesting snacks, makeshift meals, ladies selling food from baskets, flower-covered thermoses of hot water and tea. I loved seeing all the strange people with all their different dialects and energies and ways of handling themselves. I loved hopping between cars while the track whizzed by below, walking up to the locomotive and watching the men shovel charcoal into the roaring furnace, walking back to the caboose. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of the latest train technology – I rode the mag-lev train in Shanghai and was in complete awe as we hit 260 miles per hour – but the steam-powered train was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and a fond childhood memory. All that’s missing from the pic above is a portly train conductor checking his pocket watch and bellowing “All aboard!” as a young couple parts their embrace and the train slowly pulls away. -- source link
#china 1978