Ali Shan Railway
Without a doubt the most famous 30'' gauge line in Taiwan was – still is - the Ali Shan Forestry Railway. Information here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alishan_Forest_Railway and here:
https://afrch.forest.gov.tw/EN/0000107 including a map of the lines, gradient profile and loco information, for both the Shays and the diesels that replaced them.
Going up to Ali-Shan, a view out of the train, part of which can be seen on the right. At Duishan were a series of spirals to enable the railway to gain height.
Just time to visit the loco depot at Fenn Chii Hwu during the stop there. It contained four of the big 3-cylinder Shays, probably none were used at that time.
By the 1970s regular passenger services from Chia I were diesel hauled but there were still American built Shay locos on logging trains and specials at Ali-Shan. I saw fifteen of the twenty Shays that had worked on the system in recent years, but most were in store. There were two types, the 18-tonnes 2-cylinder and the 28-tonnes 3-cylinder. Only the 2-cylinder ones – numbers 12, 16 and 17 - were in use on my two visits.
And a working Shay at Ali-Shan, number 12, doing some shunting while DL 33 which brought up the passenger train is on the left.
12 is back on shed with 17 which was also a working loco. 12 was built by the Lima Locomotive Works, USA in 1910, one of eight of these two cylinder type.
I was so taken by watching no.12 going about its duties that I forgot I had left my bag on a bench at the station. An hour and a half later, it was still there.
Side view of Shay 17 showing the gears and vertical cylinders and,right, the other side.
Shay 17 marshals two coaches used for tourist specials at Ali Shan.
But Shays were made for logging and there was still some of that going on in 1977/78.
Top left: Shay 17 had departed well before daybreak on a works train, so we trekked up the branch line above Ali Shan to Mianyue and Monkey Rock in the hope of seeing it. This branch was for logging trains, there was no passenger service. The tunnel pushed through sheer solid rock on a ledge gives a good impression of the countryside the railway had to negotiate.
Bottom left and right: Here is 17 returning to Ali Shan traversing a concrete viaduct which had originally been constructed of timber. We are well over 2000 metres up at this location. These pictures give just a flavour of the line, its operation and the rugged terrain in which Shays operated.
The railway is very definitely worth a visit for the scenery alone, then adding in a working Shay makes it a must do. In recent years, it has suffered various problems but some of the system is still operational for tourist traffic. Number 31 of the 3-cylinder type has worked tourist trains and it is planned to restore Number 22, also the 3-cylinder type. Most if not all the Shays have been preserved, with one or two in other countries.
Footnote:
Search YouTube for a few minutes of film taken in 1968 which includes Shays at work on the Ali Shan line and glimpses of the Hualien - Taitung line with some steam locos.