Hi, this is my first one here guys, be gentle.
The History
Syfang Train Factory (Qingdao, China)
Qingdao is a coastal city halfway between Beijing and Shanghai. It is known for its beer: Tsingtao - they even have beer festival every summer in the southern part of the city - Huangdao. The city has an interesting history. In 1897 two German missionaries were killed in the city and that was enough for Germany to land there with their troops. Soon after in 1898 Qing government agreed to sign a concession treaty that made Tsingtao a German colony. You can to this day see the German influence in the old part of the town - style of architecture. The treaty also gave the German right to built railway as they planned to mine the mineral deposits from the area. Between 1900 and 1910 German built many factories in the city. Later the city was occupied by the Japanese since WW1.
Side note: Nowadays Qingdao is a city of 9 million people but feels like a village where everyone goes home to sleep at 10pm. It is known for it's great sea food (if you into that) and there are a lot of Korean influences - my favourite being the Korean BBQ restaurants.
Few historical pics I was able to find online:
The main building of Shantung Railway Syfang General Repair Works. Built in the 1900s [above]
Damaged Syfang Workshop after the Siege of Tsingtao (Qingdao now) - attack on the German port during WW1 by Japan [above]
Factory floor during the first Japanese occupation of Qingdao [above].
The place I went to (I believe) belonged to Bombardier Sifang Transportation Ltd and it was a huge site, pretty much in the heart of the city. Very surprising! I am not quite sure how old the place was but there were signs old train carriages dating to 1950s. They also produced many high-speed trains CRH2A, CRH380A or CR400AF.
Explore
When I went there in August 2020 I was extremely lucky. I heard that weeks or a month later the whole are was demolished. The site has brilliant real-estate value - no wonder. Friend and I hopped the fence on the far side of the factory. There were few abandoned carriages left outside - in appealing condition.
Outside = basically trash, nothing to see in those train carriages .
Let's go inside:
Climbed through a window inside the factory floor. I don't tend to take pictures if I don't find the place interesting or if I don't find interesting things. It was pretty bare. One thing I found is the picture of Chairman Mao at the back on the window. That surprised me a bit. I also took some pics of the messages displayed on the walls. [below]
[above] Not an expert on this type of stuff. Maybe you can tell me what is that.
[above] My friend translated this as "It’s a light house to light up the road for our work". Another friend say it means "It’s kinda like road is an important prerequisite for success in all work"
Big Daddy always watching.
It was one of those spontaneous explorations. I didn't have any plans for that weekend so we decided to check what's local to us. We did the train factory but on our way out we hit the jackpot. I heard a noise coming from one of the warehouses so "let's check that out" obviously. As we walked in the scrapper was working on the train haha, he didn't mind us, we didn't disturb him.
First thing I noticed was old train but wait a second. As I moved forward I realised something:
OMG there is an abandoned bullet train there!! and they just stuck this old carriage to the end of it. WTF moment but also super amazing! I was able to get inside that last carriage but the bullet train - unfortunately no. Nada. Sealed tight. No way in. I considered asking the local scrapper to help me with it (haha) but I let that go.
[above] On the right is the buggy of the scrapper who was cutting the metal on site.
Coming across an abandoned bullet train was mind-blowing. Super lucky. I'm not a train expert, hence I don't know what model is this. Maybe you guys can help me out figuring it out.
Syfang Train Factory (Qingdao, China)
Qingdao is a coastal city halfway between Beijing and Shanghai. It is known for its beer: Tsingtao - they even have beer festival every summer in the southern part of the city - Huangdao. The city has an interesting history. In 1897 two German missionaries were killed in the city and that was enough for Germany to land there with their troops. Soon after in 1898 Qing government agreed to sign a concession treaty that made Tsingtao a German colony. You can to this day see the German influence in the old part of the town - style of architecture. The treaty also gave the German right to built railway as they planned to mine the mineral deposits from the area. Between 1900 and 1910 German built many factories in the city. Later the city was occupied by the Japanese since WW1.
Side note: Nowadays Qingdao is a city of 9 million people but feels like a village where everyone goes home to sleep at 10pm. It is known for it's great sea food (if you into that) and there are a lot of Korean influences - my favourite being the Korean BBQ restaurants.
Few historical pics I was able to find online:
The main building of Shantung Railway Syfang General Repair Works. Built in the 1900s [above]
Damaged Syfang Workshop after the Siege of Tsingtao (Qingdao now) - attack on the German port during WW1 by Japan [above]
Factory floor during the first Japanese occupation of Qingdao [above].
The place I went to (I believe) belonged to Bombardier Sifang Transportation Ltd and it was a huge site, pretty much in the heart of the city. Very surprising! I am not quite sure how old the place was but there were signs old train carriages dating to 1950s. They also produced many high-speed trains CRH2A, CRH380A or CR400AF.
Explore
When I went there in August 2020 I was extremely lucky. I heard that weeks or a month later the whole are was demolished. The site has brilliant real-estate value - no wonder. Friend and I hopped the fence on the far side of the factory. There were few abandoned carriages left outside - in appealing condition.
Outside = basically trash, nothing to see in those train carriages .
Let's go inside:
Climbed through a window inside the factory floor. I don't tend to take pictures if I don't find the place interesting or if I don't find interesting things. It was pretty bare. One thing I found is the picture of Chairman Mao at the back on the window. That surprised me a bit. I also took some pics of the messages displayed on the walls. [below]
[above] Not an expert on this type of stuff. Maybe you can tell me what is that.
[above] My friend translated this as "It’s a light house to light up the road for our work". Another friend say it means "It’s kinda like road is an important prerequisite for success in all work"
Big Daddy always watching.
It was one of those spontaneous explorations. I didn't have any plans for that weekend so we decided to check what's local to us. We did the train factory but on our way out we hit the jackpot. I heard a noise coming from one of the warehouses so "let's check that out" obviously. As we walked in the scrapper was working on the train haha, he didn't mind us, we didn't disturb him.
First thing I noticed was old train but wait a second. As I moved forward I realised something:
OMG there is an abandoned bullet train there!! and they just stuck this old carriage to the end of it. WTF moment but also super amazing! I was able to get inside that last carriage but the bullet train - unfortunately no. Nada. Sealed tight. No way in. I considered asking the local scrapper to help me with it (haha) but I let that go.
[above] On the right is the buggy of the scrapper who was cutting the metal on site.
Coming across an abandoned bullet train was mind-blowing. Super lucky. I'm not a train expert, hence I don't know what model is this. Maybe you guys can help me out figuring it out.
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