Further on the Kopei (Kopi) railway in Yunnan.

[ben_issacs]

Folks,
My earlier post mentioned the Yunnan-Kopei Railway.
The original French built line was the metre gauge Chemin de Fer Yunnan, 'Yunnan Railway', running from Kunming (Yunnan-fu) down to the border with what was then French Indo-China and connecting there with the French Indo-China railways.
The Kopei (Kopi) Railway was an interesting 600mm (23 5/8 inches) gauge railway that ran as a main line from Pichetchai (Bisezhai) on the CdeF Yunnan to Gejiu (Kokiu), a distance of 73 km, with a branch line from Jijie (Kikay) at 39 km to Jianshui (Lingon)at 103 km.
From about 1925 its main motive power was a group of Baldwin built 0-10-0 tender engines, one of which is now on display in the Railway Museum at Beijing.
From a China Rail timetable of 1981, the only section of this 600mm gauge line left was from Jijie to Geiju, a distance of 34 km.
The other parts of this railway had either been converted to metre gauge or by-passed by a m.g. line from Guanjiashan to Caoba, on the Yunnan Rly.
I and a mate were in Kunming many years ago, we didn't get any chance to travel on the Yunnan line, but did see in Kunming Bei yard an abandoned 2-8-0 KD 55 class m.g.loco, ex s.g. KD 5, ex Japanese Army (IGR) 9600 class, which would have likely been used on the Yunnan line.
Regards,
Bill,
Melbourne.