Alishan Forest Railway!! Alishan Express Arrival & Departure at Fenqihu (Main Line Uphill)

Описание: Alishan Forest Railway is an 77.65 km network in narrow gauge railways (762 mm) running up to and throughout the popular mountain resort of Alishan in Chiayi County, Taiwan (part of the railway is located in Nantou County, Taiwan).
The Alishan Forest Railway climbs from Chiayi Station (嘉義站) at an altitude of 30 meters to Zhushan Station (祝山站) at 2,451 meters, and the total climbing height of the railway system is 2,420 meters. In order to cope with the difference in altitude, the system has spiral loop railway, zig zag railway (Z-shaped switchbacks), uses a lot of tunnels and bridges.
Because the system is a mountain-climbing railway, there are steep slopes along the way, so when the train is running, the locomotive (including diesel locomotive and steam locomotive) faces direction of the downhill, and the carriage faces direction of the uphill. This mode of operation will enable the train to climb more favorably, it can also avoid the breakage caused by overload of the connector when going up the mountain, and the weakening of braking ability when going down the mountain. The locomotive pushes train up the hill at the back of carriages, train driver will be in the front carriage and using remote to control the locomotive behind.

During the period when steam locomotives were used, the Fenqihu Station (奮起湖站) was a maintenance station on the way up and down the mountain, steam locomotive will replenish coal and water at Fenqihu, and check the vehicle for abnormalities. So the Fenqihu Station is the largest station between Chiayi and Alishan.
These inspection items will give passengers enough time to get off the train and buy bento, this situation has created "Fenqihu Old Street" and the famous "Fenqihu Bento" today.

The train in the video is Alishan Express, which operates exclusively between Chiayi Station (嘉義站) and Shizilu Station (十字路站), including uphill and downhill.
The section between Shizilu (十字路) and Erwanping (二萬平) will be completed this year, it including Pingzhena Station (屏遮那站), First Switch (第一分道) and Second Switch (第二分道), so the next year, Alishan Express will be able to operate directly from Chiayi to Alishan, and passengers can connect Shenmu Line (神木線), Zhaoping Line (沼平線) and Zhushan Line (祝山線) in Alishan National Forest Recreation Area.


0:00​ Start
0:30 Alishan Express arrives at Fenqihu Station.
1:23 Alishan Express departures from Fenqihu Station.