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Take a journey into the windswept deserts of India and the
cold frontiers of Northeastern China for a rare last glimpse
of powerful steam trains that have managed to survive on the
fringes of Asia’s railway empires. This onetime "king
of transportation" is riding on the brink of extinction -
its last outposts now in the most remote areas of China and
India.
In
China, the steam locomotive still survives as part of the
national transportation system, but not for long. In the once
forbidden territory of Inner Mongolia, the Chinese government
has recently permitted film crews to explore the world’s
last major steam railway center. It is here that China’s
largest and most powerful steam engines, the 135-ton behemoths
of the legendary QJ-class, still carry on through the frozen
expanses of this sparsely populated frontiers. Behind ancient
Chinese villages looms the spectacular Jingpeng Pass, the
last great steam powered mountain line built in modern times.
In
India, steam trains still travel through the Rajasthani desert
along routes that shadow the ancient Silk Road. Many of these
trains date from the days of the British Raj. Take a window
seat as we travel across this wondrous land, stopping at the
12th Century castle fortress of Jaisalmer, the lakeside palaces
of Udaipur, and the magnificent Ranakpur Jain Temple. Witness
the final days of steam on the Indian Railways, as once mighty
steam locomotives are pulled from the tracks.
Empires
of Steam explores the largest and most exotic centers of steam
railway activity left anywhere in the world. Brilliant cinematography
documents this closing chapter of the world’s last great
steam railway empires and the colorful people who still populate
these remote regions.
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