After 20220222 rare snow weather in a special day, the temperature in Kunming gradually rose, and it was a good weather with blue sky and white clouds, suitable for hiking the mountain, just on the weekend, we continued to hike the third station of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, from Daying Village Station to Kebao Village Station.
This is a section of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway that bypasses Yangzonghai, and we start from Daying Village on its northwest bank, walk along the meter-gauge railway, walk through the north bank of Yangzonghai, and arrive at Kebaocun Station on the northeast bank to end the activity.
More than 80 partners participated in the activity, we took the 7452 train from Kunming Railway Station at 7:43 in the morning to Shijiazui Station, today the car was more than half an hour late, and arrived at Shijiazui at about 9:20.
After getting off the bus, we climbed and walked for more than 10 minutes to reach Dayingcun Station on the meter gauge line, which is the starting point of today's hike. Counting the number of people, explaining the itinerary, emphasizing the discipline of hiking... After methodically finishing, at 9:40 we set off.
Along the west of the meter-gauge railway, we walked through Yangzonghai Station, Fengmingcun Station, Kebaocun Station, the starting point of Dayingcun Station is the central mileage of K36+680, and the central mileage of Kebaocun Station at the end is K50+780, and the walking distance is about 14 kilometers.
The intensity of this trip is not large, the scenery is very good, on a clear day, accompanied by a warm spring breeze, we walked freely, around 14:30 in the afternoon, everyone completed the whole trip.
We took the 7451 train that passed through here at 16:13 at Yongfengying Station, not far from Kebaocun Station, and returned to Kunming Railway Station at around 18:00 to end the activity. Another group of friends stayed in the soup pond, soaked in the hot spring for one night, and then drove back to Kunming the next day, and everyone got what they wanted.
From Dayingcun Station, the meter-gauge railway winds its way along the mountainside of Yangzong Sea.
The starting point of this tour is the same as the previous station, which is located at Dayingcun Station on the northwest bank of Yangzonghai, which is opposite to the Shijiazui Station on the Nankun Railway. Because we had just walked last week, everyone was familiar with the road here, got off the train, and we quickly walked to Shijiazui Station.
After we assembled in front of Daying Village Station, we walked in the direction of Kunming last week, and the number on the milestones was getting smaller and smaller, and this time the trip was walking away from Kunming, and the numbers on the milestones were getting bigger and bigger.
In addition to marking the mileage, the white stone stele also indicates the slope of the railway in front of it, such as the following picture showing that "the front of the line is uphill, the slope is 25.5 ‰ (indicating 25.5 meters per kilometer), and the length is 240 meters"... The markings are clear and unambiguous, reminding train drivers to make relevant preparations in advance.
For us, it is a good reference for understanding the state of the railway. The sections we have traveled on this trip are all downhill, and the meter-gauge railway runs through the mountains and turns left and right along the mountain.
In addition to the straight line segment, the height of the two railway tracks is different, or left high, right low, or left low right high, the long two rails in the mountains snake-like extension, drawing a beautiful curve, with the early spring in the mountains dotted with small flowers, the mountains in the rugged and strange mountain rocks, into a unique scenery.
It didn't take long for the Yang Zonghai under the mountain to appear in our field of vision.
On the shore are densely housed villages, villas with red tiles and yellow walls, and large-scale resorts, along with the iconic Yangzonghai Power Plant and the sparkling white lake.
Seeing the familiar picture from the meter track line has a special feeling.
Standing on the meter gauge railway to see the Nankun Railway Qikongpo Tunnel below, this is its west side of the opening, and when we walked a long way, when we passed Yangzonghai Station, we encountered the east side of the Qikongpo Tunnel, and a long freight car was passing through the tunnel and passing through the busy Nankun Railway.
The meter-gauge railway and the Nankun railway have a long parallel section, but in the Yangzonghai section it parted ways for a long time, because to overcome the elevation, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway has adopted what is said to be the largest slope in railway construction at this section, 25.5, but still needs to go around a long curve to overcome the elevation, so it has to go around the northwest shore and north bank of the Yangzong Sea.
The Nankun-Kunming Railway has achieved this goal through technical means such as tunneling and bridge building, and the construction time of the two railways is more than 80 years apart, representing different technical levels and recording the changes of the times. It is interesting that we have separated from the Nankun Railway many times in the process, and have encountered it many times, either parallel or intersected.
Walking to K38+558, we arrived at the first tunnel of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway (numbered S-01 from Kunming), which was built and opened to traffic in 1910, with a length of only 100 meters, which was a difficult project and admirable in the era of all hand-excavated.
The length of the tunnel is not long, all rely on natural light illumination, the stone wall at the entrance of the cave, the wall inside the cave is smooth, and the masonry seam is neat, and it can be seen that the project is very fine. Because of the long-term erosion of locomotive gas, everything in the cave is oily black and shiny, and the rails, road beds, ballasts, and cave walls are all black, which makes people a little depressed. Inside the cave there is a sheltered cat hole.
The Yunnan-Vietnam Railway can be regarded as ill-fated, after many wars, destruction, reconstruction, and suspension of operation, and the tracks on many sections of the railway have long been rusty and lamentable.
The section of tunnel No. 1 preserves the rails and steel sleepers of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway when it was built a hundred years ago, and is completely bright and well preserved, which is a rare original style of the railway.
Such a complete record is also recorded in the Fengming section of this trip, the No. 9 bridge at K45+844 is a double-arch stone bridge built a hundred years ago, and the 35.8-meter-long bridge deck section retains the original appearance of rails and steel pillows.
Yangzonghai Station, an open station hidden in the mountains.
Yangzonghai Station is located at K39+813, which is a relatively open area, the railway is lined with a string of houses, visually measuring the works of several years, there are red brick bungalows, two-story buildings with external walls attached to this shape, gray and sturdy building courtyards, and gray ancient "Yangzonghai" station houses, the iconic French yellow station house on the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway has disappeared.
The station has long been abandoned and unattended, and some carefully observed friends have found that the station building still has a home item such as a machine cabinet for station control, recording the history of the place. Near the station and on both sides of the railway are carefully plated and well-groomed fields, planted with seasonal vegetables such as broad beans and peas, and some people are seen working in the fields.
We took a short break at Yangzonghai Station and took group photos, which was very happy. In front of you on the right is a bridge on the Nankun Railway Line, just as a freight train with dozens of cars connected to it passes, winding through the mountains like a long dragon, which is very spectacular.
Not far from Yangzonghai Station, there is a railway track line of considerable length that runs parallel to it, and then extends to the mountains... If it weren't for the reminder of friends who had walked this road before, we wouldn't have paid attention to this detail.
Everyone doesn't know what it's for, joking that it's not a safe haven lane for trains, like the hedge lanes on the highway that are specially prepared for big cars... If you think about it, it seems unlikely. For us, it's a puzzle.
Fengming Village, Kebao Village, the village by the meter gauge railway.
We rested for lunch near the village of Qiansuo, this area is close to the village, the railway has been planted with a variety of seasonal crops, it is the season of spring and warm flowers, yellow rape flowers, white pea flowers, broad bean flowers, and red peach blossoms intertwined into the field of vision, bright and colorful pictures are pleasant.
Qiansuo Village, Fengming Village, Kebao Village, distributed along the meter-gauge railway villages one after another, pastoral, railway followed, accompanied by each other. There is a long stretch of cement or dirt trails along the railway, and we walk there to relax our tired feet and to be with the meter gauge railway.
The station sign of Fengmingcun Station has been whitewashed, there is no station name, and the dense houses are already a short distance from the railway, almost connected. The water tower built a hundred years ago is still rusty and dilapidated.
An old station house with a green brick and red gate is still posted with the station's former work card, and the railway bed has been covered with green grass, and some sections have even become green railways.
Not far from Fengmingcun Station, we walked to Bridge 9, the central mileage here is K45+844, the length of the bridge is 35.8 meters, it is a double-arch stone bridge built when it was opened to traffic a hundred years ago, the railway section on the bridge deck still retains steel rail pillows, and above the railway, there is a highway intersecting with it.
Walking through a place called "Upper Soap Corner Village", people are dazzling, beautiful small bungalows are one after another, bright flowers are blooming, and the rockery in front of the farm yard is piled up in a very emotional atmosphere, which makes us feel good about this village by the meter gauge railway.
The colorful, flower-packed fake peonies and the soap horn tree with thorns on the branches and no leaves this season are two of the highlights of the village of Upper Soap Horn, which is said to have built a "rice track history display point".
The area around Kebao Village is rich in coal resources, and kebao coal mine provides raw materials for Yangzonghai power plant and contributes to economic development. As we walked past the huge open-pit mining area of the Kebao Coal Mine, a sense of the power of industrial production came over us.
Friends who have walked through this railway before have learned more about it. Under his guidance, we saw the remains of an ancient coal loading and unloading platform.
The small train from the mouth of the river to Kunming should be refueled here in case there is enough power to go uphill; at the same time, the coal produced here must be transported to its demand market... Today, the busy Nankun Railway has replaced the meter-gauge railway and become a logistics channel for cities along the route.
The most interesting thing is to find a stone lion used on the town road a hundred years ago, which we almost missed.
At the K51 crossing, a strange brick pile attracted our attention: two brick walls wrapped supported an animal-like stone statue, which could not be seen from the front, and it was found that its head was in the shape of a lion.
The stone lion sits on the side of the railway, facing the direction of Kunming... This is probably the legendary lion used by the locals to suppress the evil spirit of the train a hundred years ago, and it is said that there was a saying that "dogs bite the train".
The terminus of this trip is Kebaocun Station, which retains a section of steel sleepers, the number of road rails is larger, the yellow old-fashioned station house, the modern gray station house are together, the water tower is a modern building, and the surrounding area has been surrounded by villages...
Because of the hiking activities, we have visited Kebao Village many times, but we rarely pay attention to its appearance. After walking through the Series of Activities of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, I found that Kebaocun Station is an important station on the meter gauge line.
Today, only a small French station house has been preserved, and the words on the station sign are no longer found. Yongfengying Station on the Nankun Line, which is not far from it, is more familiar to us.
On foot at the third station of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, we walked from Dayingcun Station to Kebaocun Station, detoured between the northwest, north and northeast shores of Yangzonghai, measured the 100-year-old meter gauge railway with both feet, and saw the scenery of Yangzong Seashore, which is a different experience.
(Saturday, February 26, 2022)
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