Jianshui Ancient City Tourist Train 建水古城小火车

About Jianshui Ancient City Tourist Train

According to People's Daily Overseas Edition, the Ge-Bi-Shi railway (also called the Ge-Bi-Lin-Ping railway) began construction in April 1915 and fully opened in October 1936, built on a 600mm 'cun' gauge as China's first privately funded, built and operated railway. In 1970 its Bisezhai-Shiping section was converted to metre gauge and renamed the Meng-Bao railway, while the remaining Jijie-Gejiu cun-gauge section was fully suspended in January 1991. Kunming Railway Bureau and Jianshui county jointly relaunched a 13-kilometre stretch of this line as a tourist train on 2015-05-01, running from Jianshui ancient city's east station via Shuanglong Bridge and Xianghui Bridge to Tuanshan, using small, slow-moving trains of up to 6 carriages with a rated capacity of 246 passengers, made up of ordinary, function and decorated cars.

The train's carriage design, by designer Liu Hongbo, blends Republican-era Chinese and French artistic styles, aiming to recreate the appearance of early-20th-century trains. The same report notes that Jianshui itself was founded in the Tang-dynasty Yuanhe era around 810 AD, beginning as an earthen-walled town built under the Nanzhao kingdom and expanded into a brick-walled city in the 20th year of the Ming Hongwu reign, later serving as a political, economic, cultural and military centre for southern Yunnan.

What to look for

• the restored 13km stretch of the Ge-Bi-Shi railway between Jianshui ancient city's east station and Tuanshan
• Shuanglong Bridge and Xianghui Bridge, passed along the route
• the train's carriages, designed to recreate early-20th-century Chinese and French decorative styles

Location & getting there

Getting to Jianshui Ancient City Tourist Train

Confirm the specific ticket, show date or activity booking. Transfers, queues and the finish time matter when arranging your return.

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