This is now part 3 of the trip report. The previous parts can be found here:
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=93644
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=93660
The first meters in North Korea:
Welcome to North Korea:
The station Sinuiju was under renovation:
Border control took about 50 minutes, the border police checked also our luggage and we had to declare the mobile phones, our cameras and laptops and our cash. But compared to Tumangan 2008 it was very unspectacular.
The special train, to which we would change here, and our guides were already waiting for us.
After all the checks were finished we could get off. By the way, some places in our sleeping-car have been sold twice from Dandong. There were some discussions in Dandong between a group of Chinese tourists and some other touritsts from Germany - they had tickets for the same places. But as we got off already at Sinuiju, the problem existed only for the short cross-border trip.
On the platform (well, not really a platform, as evything was under reconstruction) we were welcomed by our two guides Ms Pang and Mr Oh. We boarded our special train and just a few minutes later we left for Pyongyang - about one hour earlier than the regular train.
The special train was hauled by the "red-flag" locomotive no 5301. It consisted of 4 former Swiss seating cars (from BLS, they were sold for a symbolic price to North Korea in 1997), 1 buffet-car and one car, which looked like from the governments special train (which was used by Kim Jing Il and Kim Il Sung for official trips, probably Kim Jong Un uses that train too). We didn't found out about the purpose of this car.
Before I continue with photos about the trip to Pyongyang, I want to present some impressions from our special train, the "Chosun Explorer":
Locomotives:
Day 1; Sinuiju - Pyongyang:
"red flag" electric locomotive no. 5301, manufactured in 1981 by Kim Jong Thae Loco Plant.
Days 2+3; Pyongyang - Myohyangsan:
"red flag" electric locomotive no. 5385, manufactured in 1980 by Kim Jong Thae Loco Plant.
Days 4+5+6; Pyongyang - Hamhung - Wonsan - Pyongyang:
M62 diesel locomotive no. 429, manufactured in 1990 by Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Factory (USSR).
Cars:
no 3121 (ex BLS seating car, converted for energy supply from catenary)
no 9087 (ex BLS seating car)
no 9091 (ex BLS seating car)
no 9090 (ex BLS seating car)
unknown number (buffet car)
unknown number (unknown type/purpose of car)
For the longer trip to the east coast and back a sleeping car was attached to the train, while the number of ex-BLS cars was reduced to two.
This was the sleeping car:
Our group, which consisted of 17 persons (most of them were railfans and most of them from the UK), was usually placed in the seating car next to the buffet car. For the meals we went to the buffet car and on the longer trips it was possible to get some sleep in the sleeping car (however, this option wasn't heavily used - one must not sleep while passing scenic lines at daylight). The other cars were off-limit to us.
Inside the Swiss cars:
Inside the sleeping car:
Our excellent meals in the buffet car:
Train staff:
Chief conductor:
Chief conductor using his mobile phone:
Chief conductor, one of his colleagues and lovely Ms Pang:
The two conductors and me:
There were about 5 conductors on the train and two policemen:
The crew of the dining car:
---
...to be continued.
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=93644
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=93660
The first meters in North Korea:
Welcome to North Korea:
The station Sinuiju was under renovation:
Border control took about 50 minutes, the border police checked also our luggage and we had to declare the mobile phones, our cameras and laptops and our cash. But compared to Tumangan 2008 it was very unspectacular.
The special train, to which we would change here, and our guides were already waiting for us.
After all the checks were finished we could get off. By the way, some places in our sleeping-car have been sold twice from Dandong. There were some discussions in Dandong between a group of Chinese tourists and some other touritsts from Germany - they had tickets for the same places. But as we got off already at Sinuiju, the problem existed only for the short cross-border trip.
On the platform (well, not really a platform, as evything was under reconstruction) we were welcomed by our two guides Ms Pang and Mr Oh. We boarded our special train and just a few minutes later we left for Pyongyang - about one hour earlier than the regular train.
The special train was hauled by the "red-flag" locomotive no 5301. It consisted of 4 former Swiss seating cars (from BLS, they were sold for a symbolic price to North Korea in 1997), 1 buffet-car and one car, which looked like from the governments special train (which was used by Kim Jing Il and Kim Il Sung for official trips, probably Kim Jong Un uses that train too). We didn't found out about the purpose of this car.
Before I continue with photos about the trip to Pyongyang, I want to present some impressions from our special train, the "Chosun Explorer":
Locomotives:
Day 1; Sinuiju - Pyongyang:
"red flag" electric locomotive no. 5301, manufactured in 1981 by Kim Jong Thae Loco Plant.
Days 2+3; Pyongyang - Myohyangsan:
"red flag" electric locomotive no. 5385, manufactured in 1980 by Kim Jong Thae Loco Plant.
Days 4+5+6; Pyongyang - Hamhung - Wonsan - Pyongyang:
M62 diesel locomotive no. 429, manufactured in 1990 by Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Factory (USSR).
Cars:
no 3121 (ex BLS seating car, converted for energy supply from catenary)
no 9087 (ex BLS seating car)
no 9091 (ex BLS seating car)
no 9090 (ex BLS seating car)
unknown number (buffet car)
unknown number (unknown type/purpose of car)
For the longer trip to the east coast and back a sleeping car was attached to the train, while the number of ex-BLS cars was reduced to two.
This was the sleeping car:
Our group, which consisted of 17 persons (most of them were railfans and most of them from the UK), was usually placed in the seating car next to the buffet car. For the meals we went to the buffet car and on the longer trips it was possible to get some sleep in the sleeping car (however, this option wasn't heavily used - one must not sleep while passing scenic lines at daylight). The other cars were off-limit to us.
Inside the Swiss cars:
Inside the sleeping car:
Our excellent meals in the buffet car:
Train staff:
Chief conductor:
Chief conductor using his mobile phone:
Chief conductor, one of his colleagues and lovely Ms Pang:
The two conductors and me:
There were about 5 conductors on the train and two policemen:
The crew of the dining car:
---
...to be continued.
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