An expansive exhibition hall.

Boarding a steam locomotive.

On a steamer.

The young and the middle-aged look at trains differently.

On April 11, 2008, China’s first domestically-manufactured 350-km/h bullet train, the “Harmony CRH3,” rolled off the production line at Tangshan Railway Vehicle Co., Ltd. The event marked a major achievement in the history of China’s rail network, and today the nation is one of the few capable of constructing 350-km/h rail systems.
Those who may wish to learn more about China’s railway history and current systems would do well to visit the China Railway Museum, located in Jiuxianqiao North Road, in the Chaoyang District of Beijing. The museum covers a total area of 157,334 square meters, and the facility’s floor area comes to 20,500 square meters.
In 1881, for the purpose of transporting coal from Tangshan City, in today’s Hebei Province, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) government decided to build a 10-kilometer-long railway from Tangshan to Xugezhuang. Construction of the railway, the first built by China, commenced on June 9 of that year and was completed in November of the same year. However, some superstitious officials worried that the use of trains would offend the gods. Thus, they ruled that only animals could be used to pull wagons. Not until the year 1882, through the efforts of various parties, were trains permitted to ride these rails.
In 1909 the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, China’s first self-designed and self-built railway, went into operation. The railway was designed and built under the supervision of Zhan Tianyou, a Chinese engineer who returned upon completing his studies abroad. Since then, especially after China’s reform and opening up to the outside world, railways have been constructed across the nation. And on July 1, 2006, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway went into operation,now the world’s longest plateau railway running at the highest altitude.
Recent years have brought a continuous increase in the average speed of trains nationwide. The sixth nationwide increase of speed took place on April 18, 2007, and 140 pairs of domestically-made bullet trains running more than 200 kilometers per hour were put into operation.
To enable greater public awareness of China’s railway achievements and technologies, and to participate, organize and host related technology-exchange, exhibitions and railway cultural relics protection, in August of 1978 China’s Ministry of Railways began the construction of its Science & Technology Center, the pre-decessor to the China Railway Museum. On November 2, 2002, its Locomotives and Rolling Stock Exhibition Hall was opened to the public. In September 2003, the name of the center was changed to China Railway Museum and it was designated as a state-level professional museum.
The museum comprises three halls: the Locomotives and Rolling Stock Exhibition Hall, the Comprehensive Exhibition Hall and the Feature Exhibition Hall. Construction of the Comprehensive Exhibition Hall, intended to showcase China’s more than one-century railway history, is now complete.
The Locomotives and Rolling Stock Exhibition Hall, with an area of 16,500 square meters, is the largest and most important of the three. Opened to the public in November 2002, the eight varying exhibition routes in the hall display nearly 60 locomotives from past eras. Exhibits include China’s earliest steam locomotive, locomotives named after China’s revolutionary leaders, various foreign locomotives used before the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, the first generation diesel locomotive and an electric locomotive designed and manufactured by the People’s Republic, old-fashioned passenger trains, special trains used by state leaders, and carriages with hard seats, sleeper trains, dining cars, baggage cars, and various types of freight cars.
Among all of these exhibits, the 30 precious steam locomotives are perhaps the most eye-catching. And the first locomotives designed and manufactured after the founding of the People’s Republic, including Victory, Construction, People, and Marching, are housed at the museum.
Not far from the museum, this reporter came across the bullet train “Harmony,” operating on the Beijing Circle Railway. The Circle Experimental Field of the National Railway Experimental Center, the only comprehensive train experimental base in China, has witnessed numerous trial runs of locomotives over the past few decades. Together with the museum, they embody a close connection with railway history and the rail lines of today.

An ornate carriage.	An iron flower never fades.