China News Service, Shizuishan, June 13th. Title: "Time Train" in the Helan Mountains: Pursuing Youth and Dreams

　　Author Li Peishan Li Zeyang

　　In the midsummer season, among the towering Helan Mountains, eagles and falcons volley in the sky and shale patrols the mountains.

Accompanied by the sound of the siren, an old and brand-new green-skinned train-the "Shitanjing" is approaching from a distance...

Passengers board the green train.

Photo by Li Zeyang

　　The 7525/6 passenger train that has been in operation in the Helan Mountains for 50 years is the only passenger train in China that has an operating history of more than 50 years.

As one of the top ten coal industry bases in China during the “First Five-Year Plan” period, Shizuishan City, Ningxia has preserved a large number of old mining areas, old factories and other industrial relics. This green-skinned train is one of the most “literary and artistic”.

Today, it carries the ordinary and longing, and makes people feel the hustle and bustle and quiet mission in slow travel; "tells" the story of turning the industrial relics of Shizuishan City into tourism resources and rejuvenating the vitality of Ningxia's Shizuishan City.

"Rail Bus" born from coal

　　Helan Mountain is a "treasure mountain", where there are not only the nomadic people's thousands of years of civilization, but also contains rich coal resources represented by Taixi coal.

　　Dadenggou, Baijigou, Rujigou...many stations passed by the train are related to the word "ditch", which is a symbol of the mining area at that time.

"In 1959, in order to transport the coal and materials mined in the mining area, the state built the Baolan Railway branch line-Pingru Railway with Dawukou Station as the center point." said Wang Guofeng, the conductor of the Pingliang fleet of the Yinchuan Passenger Transport Section of the Lanzhou Railway Bureau. It wasn't until the 1970s that the first and only ordinary passenger train in Ningxia, the No. 7525/6 train, started running on the Pingru branch line.

Dadenggou Railway Station on the way of the train.

Photo by Li Zeyang

　　The train runs back and forth between Yinchuan and Rujigou. The total distance is 143 kilometers, with 13 stations, which takes 4 hours and 06 minutes, and the fare is up to 9.5 yuan.

"Passengers are mostly coal miners and local residents along the way. Because the train must stop at every station, it is also convenient for everyone to go to work, go home, visit relatives and friends, and is affectionately called the'railway bus'." Wang Guofeng said.

"Black" heads to "Green"

　　In order to change the environmental aspect of Helan Mountain, Ningxia took a series of measures such as exiting coal mines, backfilling mine pits, and planting trees to comprehensively renovate Helan Mountain.

Greatly improved the ecological environment of Helan Mountain, returning the environment here to nature, making the sky bluer and the water clearer.

The once scarred Helan Mountain outside the window has been covered with green plants.

Photo by Li Zeyang

　　"I heard from the seniors, at that time, because the train went to and from the mining area every day. The emerald green car body was always dyed black with soot." Wang Guofeng said with a smile, for this reason, the station with a long parking time became the rubbish of the train crews. Pick up the car and get on the car until the body is green.

　　"Nowadays, Helan Mountain is covered with a new layer of green. Many passengers take the slow train to return to the hometown of Helan Mountain and witness the great changes of Helan Mountain. The charming scenery brings people infinite beauty and yearning." Wang Guofeng said.

In recent years, the Dawukou District of Shizuishan City has made efforts to develop eco-industrial cultural tourism. The green-skinned train has turned from "black" to "green", becoming a walking "literary landmark", and has become a local industry from "relying on energy and weight." The epitome of the transition to high-quality development.

Pursue youth and dreams

　　Sitting on the train, looking out of the window, the surrounding streetscape constantly changes, driving north from the prosperous landscape, and the residential buildings, streets, and shops of the 1970s and 1980s that appeared in front of me make people feel in a trance. A "travel through time and space."

　　With the changes of the times, the current passengers on this train include residents along the way and retired employees who were working in the mining area at that time, and some are railway workers and veterans who are looking for memories.

In order to find their childhood memories, they jointly embarked on a "root-seeking journey".

　　"At that time, when I went to visit relatives and friends, I took a green leather car. Even many people's love did not leave the green leather car." Zhao Yanping, a former Baijigou mine employee, recalled with interest, in the 1970s and 1980s, many Young people living in the mining area took the green leather train to Yinchuan to buy wedding supplies.

　　The train travels slowly through the mountains, like pressing the slow button, and time suddenly goes back to the past.

"In those years, the green leather train was still the'artifact' for the students in the mountains to walk out of the mountains. Everyone took the train to go to the college entrance examination. There were countless students from here to the whole country." Zhao Yanping said.

　　Get on this train 7525/6 and get off at Dadenggou Station to Shitanjing.

In the past, the steel mills, coking coal plants, and coal washing plants that were the leading industrial enterprises in the past retained complete hospitals, schools, mines, corporate office buildings, military camps, and residential areas and shanty towns of different ages and specifications... Different memories from the sixties to the eighties and nineties.

In recent years, Shizuishan City has turned these industrial remains into tourism resources, attracting a large number of tourists to visit.

"My Father Jiao Yulu", "The Little Green Train", "Minning Town" and many other film and television dramas also came here to film.

　　This train has been in operation for half a century and has only a few carriages. It blows fans in summer, burns boilers in winter, and relies on labor for reporting stations. The average speed is about 30 kilometers per hour. It carries the youth and dreams of generation after generation, and is heading for a more beautiful landscape. (Finish)