乘坐蒸汽機車來到被時間遺忘的中國城鎮(多圖)

Rail service in rural Sichuan is a life line for local people and a big pull for tourists who want a last glimpse of the age of steam

四川農村地區的鐵路線是當地人民的生命線，想目睹蒸汽機車最後一眼的人們也可以在這裏看到。

It isn't the quickest of commuter trains,taking 75 minutes to cover just 12 miles. Nor is it the quietest: speech is barely audible over the rattles and blasts of steam. It is certainly not the most comfortable. Passengers jolt along in unlit cars and on windy days their clothes are specked with ash.

這並非最快速的通勤火車，12英里的路程要花費75分鐘。也並非是最安靜的火車：在巨大軌道聲音和蒸汽聲的掩蓋下，幾乎聽不見人們講話。這也並非是最舒適的火車。乘客們在昏暗的車廂裏顛簸前行，在有風的日子裏，人們的衣服上會沾滿灰燼。

But the journey from Shixi to Huangcunjing may well be the most memorable ride they will ever experience. The narrow-gauge railway, running through a lush valley in Sichuan, is one of the last regular passenger steam train services in the world.

但是這段從石溪到黃村井的旅程可能會給人們留下最難忘的記憶。這條經過四川省茂盛山谷的窄軌鐵路是世界上僅存的最後幾條客運蒸汽機車之一。

"Steam locomotives are about the nearest thing man has ever created to a living creature," said David Longman, who has photographed working steam locomotives all over the world

“蒸汽機車是人類所創造的最令人感到親近的事物，”David Longman如是說，他拍攝了世界上還在運行中的蒸汽機車。

Now their numbers are in such swift decline that updating his website "is like running an obituaries page", he said. "It's been a steady decline since the turn of the century. Virtually everything has gone."

而蒸汽機車的數量正在急劇減少，所以他在更新自己的網站his website時就好像在發佈訃告，他說：“世紀之交以來，蒸汽機車的數量就開始漸漸減少，幾乎都消失了。”

China is one of the few countries where they still run for practical–mostly industrial–purposes rather than as tourist attractions, but even here the services are fast disappearing.

中國是少數幾個依然將蒸汽機車作爲實際用途（大多數是工業用途）而不是將其作爲旅遊景點的國家之一，但是即使是在中國，蒸汽機車所提供的服務也正在快速消失。

Shixi lies three hours' drive from Chengdu,the provincial capital of Sichuan. In recent years, tourist carriages have beenadded to the regular trains and extra sightseeing services scheduled. But forresidents, this is still their lifeline.

石溪離成都有三小時的車程，成都是四川的省會城市。最近幾年，在普通的蒸汽機車上添加了旅客車廂，也開辦起了觀光旅遊服務。但是對當地居民來說，這依然是他們的生命線。

Until a couple of years ago, there was noroad to the last stops on the line. The area's new concrete road still does not reach most of the stations and is too narrow for much traffic so even now,people walk or ride motorbikes straight down the railway line.

直到幾年前，這條鐵路線的最後幾站還沒有通公路。新建的混泥土公路也沒能延伸到大多數的站點，而且車一多道路就顯得狹窄，所以即使到了現在，人們都會直接在鐵軌上走路或者騎摩托車。

For those who pay the five yuan (50p) fare,on busy days the few seats soon run out and passengers must cling to a rail suspended from the ceiling as the train bumps over the track. Women lugvege tables in woven baskets on their backs as they clamber on. There is noglass in the windows: when it rains, you get wet or pull up the metal shutters and sit in darkness.

對於那些支付5元錢坐火車的人來說，在忙碌的日子裏，裏面少數幾個座位早就被人佔去了，所以在顛簸的火車裏只能扶着天花板上的扶手前進。婦女門背上揹着編織筐上了火車，筐裏面滿滿的是自己種的蔬菜。火車上的窗戶根本沒有玻璃：每當下雨時，要不就是被淋溼，要不就是拉上金屬百葉窗並坐在黑暗裏。

But on fine days you admire the bamboo groves, rice terraces and fields of flowers. Residents rush out as the train passes, armed with tongs to pick up dropped embers for their stoves.

但如果是晴天，你就可以欣賞到外面美麗的竹林，梯田以及花海。火車經過時當地居民四處散開，用火鉗拾起火車上拋下的餘火未盡的煤塊用以自己燒火。

A brief flirtation with diesel engines inthe early 1990s was soon abandoned, probably because it was not the service continues at its old pace, so slow that, were Mo Farah to raceit, he could celebrate his victory with a leisurely cup of tea before it had caught up.

90年代初期時使用過柴油發動機，但很快就被拋棄，可能是因爲不合算。所以速度依然是那麼慢，甚至是英國長跑選手法拿都能跑贏它。

China now boasts 6,800 miles of high-speed track, with trains running 18 times faster than those on the Shixi line. But this railway too seemed like a step into the future when it was completed in 1959. It was built as part of the Great Leap Forward, Mao'sinsanely ambitious modernisation drive in industry and agriculture, which led to a devastating famine that killed tens of millions.

中國現在擁有6800英里的高鐵，其速度是這條鐵路的18倍。但是這條鐵路在1959年建成時，當時的人們也覺得這條鐵路就是未來。這條鐵路是作爲大躍進的一部分建成的。大躍進是毛爲了對工業和農業進行現代化而採取的瘋狂舉動，導致大饑荒，數千萬人因此死亡。

Thousands of workers toiled on this shortstretch of track. "We didn't have equipment. It was all manpower: there were people everywhere," said a man in his 70s who worked on the project as ateenager. "We started work before dawn and by the time we finished it would be dark."

數千工人辛苦工作才完成了這個鐵路建設。“我們當時沒有設備。都是靠人力：到處都是人，”一名70歲的老者說道，在他還是青少年時就參加了這個鐵路建設。“在黎明前我們就開始工作了，工作結束時天都已經黑了。”

The train was used to carry freight from the mine at Huangcunjing, which opened in the 1930s as a Sino-British joint venture. Previously, workers had pushed the coal to a nearby river by wheel barrow. Soon after it opened, carriages were added for the miners and their families who lived a short walk away, at Bagou. Since then, the train has carried an estimated 11.6 million people and 18m tonnes of coal.

這個火車原先是用來運輸黃村井的礦產資源的，該礦是在1930年代的時候由中英合資開採的。而在火車建成前，工人們要通過獨輪車將煤炭運到附近的河流裏。火車開通後，在原先的基礎上添加了車廂，這樣居住在附近的礦工及其家人就可以方便往返了。

Liang Shufang, 82, moved to Bagou when she married a miner in 1950. Others soon followed her, as workers gained more status under Communist rule. "At the beginning, girls didn't respect miners and didn't want to marry them. Then miners got better lives and better pay … Beinga worker was a very powerful thing," she said.

今年82歲的樑淑芳1950年與一名礦工結婚後搬到了巴溝。其他婦女隨後也追隨了她的腳步，因爲在共產主義統治下，工人們的地位得到了提升。“起先，女孩子們並不看好礦工，都不願意嫁給他們。之後，礦工的生活更好了，工資也更高了。。。當時，成爲一名工人是很厲害的事情，”她說。

The arrival of the railway completed Bagou's transformation into a booming industrial town, with more than 7,000 residents. Miners held mass sports events in the main square and performances on its grand stage. Later, during the Cultural Revolution, the platform hosted vicious struggle sessions as factions battled.

鐵路的建成使得巴溝完全成爲了一個繁榮的工業小鎮，7000多居民。礦工們在中央廣場上以及舞臺裏舉行大量的體育賽事和表演。後來，在文革期間，隨着派系鬥爭的開始，這些平臺上上演的是一次次惡毒的批鬥大會。

Chairman Mao's portrait still hangs over the square and slogans from the era adorn the walls of nearby buildings. This is the town that time forgot.

毛主席的畫像依舊懸掛在廣場上，那時期的口號依然出現在附近建築的牆壁上。這是一座被時間遺忘的小鎮。

The pit closed in 1988, when the coal seam was exhausted. The schools, the hospital and the grand workers'theatre soon followed. Plants poke through the tiled roofs of abandoned homes. Butterflies the size of a hand flutter past, flashing emerald.

礦井於1988年關閉，因爲煤層都被採盡了。隨後，學校，醫院和工人大舞臺也都相繼關閉了。被拋棄的房屋屋頂被植物所刺穿。手掌大的蝴蝶振翼飛過。

Perhaps 1,000 residents remain, living offtheir savings, government benefits and the food they grow: plantains, rice, soybeans and pomelos. "After they built the railway, these streets were full of people," recalled Zhao Bingrun, 65, as he stood at the door of his store,beneath fading characters reading: "Chairman Mao is the reddest sun in the heart of revolutionary people everywhere in the world."

大約有1000名居民留了下來，靠存款，政府福利以及自己種的食物過活，這些食物包括：大蕉，水稻，大豆，柚子。“在他們建完鐵路後，這裏的街道都是人，”65歲的趙炳潤站在自己店面的門邊上回憶到，門上褪色的文字這樣寫道：“在全世界的革命者心中，毛主席是最紅的太陽。”

His shop is one of the few still open on what used to be the busy main street and he would sell it if he could find abuyer. Further down, a hen scratches in the dirt; a cat lazes on a windowsill."Without the tourists, this place would be completely empty," Zhao said

在曾經熱鬧的街道上，他的店鋪是唯一還在開的幾家之一，如果有買家的話，他想把這個店鋪賣出去。一隻母雞在你泥土裏亂扒；一隻貓在窗臺上懶散的消磨時光。“如果沒有遊客，這個地方將空蕩蕩的，”他說。

Daytrippers arrive on sight seeing trains,which cost 10 times the regular fare and have ensured the standard services can keep running.

不過夜的遊客通過觀光列車抵達這裏，費用是常規費用的10倍，保證了標準的服務能夠得到延續。

Most travellers come from Sichuan, but some from Japan, Russia, the UK and even Afghanistan: rail enthusiasts eager to witness the last puffs of the age of steam.

大多數遊客來自四川，有些來自日本，俄羅斯，英國，甚至是阿富汗：鐵軌愛好者急於一睹蒸汽機車最後的喘息。