Friday, March 6, 2015

Friday Night Steam

We're off to China .... at the coal mines!

(A nice little video filmed in HD, so it can be viewed in full screen mode.)





The Sandaoling Coal Mine Railway


This coal mine is, in early 2010, the largest steam locomotive operation in the world.

Bad News in March 2010: The company got three used DF8B engines, which now serve most coal trains between Nanzhan and Liushuquan. However, in November 2010 the steam locomotives used before between Nanzhan and Liushuquan were still in use on all sidings from Nanzhan, as well as helpers from Liushuquan. Diesel fuel seemed to be too expensive.

All other not especially marked information is from November 2009.

At the mine you will find big posters in blue color with white characters. They tell the history of the mine and some other data. Here is what is written: The mine was opened in 1958.

Length west to east: 6km, north to south: 1.7km, 10.2 square km. Originally they used locomotive to haul coal stone and since 2007 they have started using trucks, additionally.

In 2008, they produced 2.4 million tons of coal.

There are 3244 staff in total. It is predicted that the mine will be in use until 2020.

By the day Oct 2, 2008, the mine has been a safety record for 2000 days, which is considered first-class standard amongst coal mines in this area.

The rest of the information text is mainly about the methods, the productivity, and the safety rules...

Other info was told me, like a depth of about 100 meters, coal seam is 13.7 meters thick, and they have to move about 10 tons of stone per ton of coal.

Their railway is 180 km long in all.

For more info, please see:

http://www.softwaretesting.no/chinarail/Sandaoling.html



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