A Bunch of Videos From North Korea

[Jcarlton]

One day somebody posted a video on Facebook of a steam train in North Korea. One thing led to another and I found a bunch of them.  So I made a blog post with the best that I found on YouTube.

https://theartsmechanical.wordpress.com/2017/02/24/riding-the-train-in-the-secret-state/

North Korea get more surreal every time I see something from there.

[kvp]

The 3rd video has a shot of a modified soviet diesel electric locomotive from the Luhansk machine factory in the Donbass (currently in the Ukraine DMZ). It was rebuilt in NK to be a dual mode diesel catenary electric as they have coal and thus electricity but no oil. It's standing near a nice JGR type signal which you could see a lot of them in use on other videos. Strange but even some of the newer metro cars have the old JGR orange-creme paint.

 

Btw. the linked post has an error. The north is not a socialist state (that would be more like Canada or Sweden), but an officially communist state which as usually happens have turned into a straight dictatorship, made worse by using the ancient inherited leaderhip model.

 

Edit: i removed the rest of the explanation as it was political and off topic

 

ps: As a word of caution about any videos from NK: Foreign visitors are only allowed to see what the leadership wants to show...

[medusa]

Firing a steam loco with old tires is really like... declaration of bankruptcy?

Just watching the grey smoke bites in my eyes, imagining the stinky smell all the day on the engine makes my gut feel really odd...

[railsquid]

Strange but even some of the newer metro cars have the old JGR orange-creme paint.

I presume these are the ex-Berlin ones? In which case "new" is relative, either 1950s/1960s West Berlin wide-bodied trains or late 1970s/early 1980s East Berlin narrow-bodied ones. Some of the former have apparently been converted into something resembling a Tokyo Metro 10000 series in British BR-era InterCity livery:

 

http://www.subways.net/northkorea/kp-pyongyang-metro-train-approaching.jpg

Edited February 27, 2017 by cteno4

[kvp]

I meant the berlin type D-s as one was visible in one of the videos. However i keep finding pictures of them in a greenish paint and can't really decide which is more recent. That 'new' set looks more like a chinese DK4, especially the front and the roof equipment, but the door arrangement follows the german D type.

[Suica]

I meant the berlin type D-s as one was visible in one of the videos. However i keep finding pictures of them in a greenish paint and can't really decide which is more recent. That 'new' set looks more like a chinese DK4, especially the front and the roof equipment, but the door arrangement follows the german D type.

Where did you find pictures of green Doras?

I've only seen green DK4s converted for overhead catenary use.

[kvp]

Where did you find pictures of green Doras?

I've only seen green DK4s converted for overhead catenary use.

That would explain where the extra DK4 units went... (also found some G-s with pantographs on google)

 

Check these old photos:

http://frogsnakes.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/pyongyang-metros/

http://gizmodo.com/take-a-rare-look-inside-north-koreas-secretive-metro-1771476626

It's not green, but greenish like on some of the locomotives. The 3rd one on the first link is imho the original paint.

[Suica]

(also found some G-s with pantographs on google)

Oh yes, those pantographed Giselas look absolutely horrible.

[railsquid]

An interesting pictorial overview of the Pyongyang metro I found from one of the above links:

http://www.earthnutshell.com/stopping-all-stations-the-pyongyang-metro/

[Socimi]

I presume these are the ex-Berlin ones? In which case "new" is relative, either 1950s/1960s West Berlin wide-bodied trains or late 1970s/early 1980s East Berlin narrow-bodied ones. Some of the former have apparently been converted into something resembling a Tokyo Metro 10000 series in British BR-era InterCity livery:

 

 

I meant the berlin type D-s as one was visible in one of the videos. However i keep finding pictures of them in a greenish paint and can't really decide which is more recent. That 'new' set looks more like a chinese DK4, especially the front and the roof equipment, but the door arrangement follows the german D type.

 

 

Where did you find pictures of green Doras?

I've only seen green DK4s converted for overhead catenary use.

 

 

That would explain where the extra DK4 units went... (also found some G-s with pantographs on google)

 

I meant the berlin type D-s as one was visible in one of the videos. However i keep finding pictures of them in a greenish paint and can't really decide which is more recent. That 'new' set looks more like a chinese DK4, especially the front and the roof equipment, but the door arrangement follows the german D type.

 

 

There is no actual record of a cream and orange D stock, this photo is like this probably because of excessive saturation of the colors.

http://www.pyongyang-metro.com/dmetro.jpeg

 

Then AFAIK,

 

In the '70s North korea imported around 345 units (by meaning single cars) chinese-made DK4s (based on the DK2 and DK3 running in Beijing).

During the economical crisis of the mid 1990s, some were converted to mainline catenary operation for local lines, in order to replace diesel trains due to fuel shortage.

Others were sold back to China where they were used as provisional trains on the newly-opended Beijing Metro line 13 before being replaced shortly after by the DKZ5 stock.

 

On the right is a former-pyongyang DK4 on the line 13 in Beijing

http://www.pyongyang-metro.com/beijing13outside.jpeg

 

As of today some are (maybe) still in use on the pyongyang metro, see this site:

http://www.jamesmullarkey.com/2007/04/north-korea-pyongyang-metro/

(images date back to 2007)

 

In this video, at 5:35 you can see what is probably the only video recording of a DK4 (the one on the left) in operation in the pyongyang metro.

 

While being converted to mainline operation the DK4s were replaced by second-hand brought German rolling stock from Berlin, starting in 1996 with the Gi stock and in 1998 with the D stock.

 The former spent only a little time in service on the metro due to being built for Kleinprofil (Small size) subway networks, thus creating boarding problems due to a large gap at platforms. The D was built for standard-size metros like the one in pyongyang, so it had practically zero problems.

 

Like the DK4, The replaced Gi stock was transferred to mainline operation, some being converted to catenary others being converted to narrow-gauge trailers for use in the rural areas of the country.

Also rumors state that the Pyongyang metro also tried to buy older Hamburg U-Bahn trains, probably the DT1 stock  ( https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/HHA_Typ_DT1 ) wich was retired in 1991.

 

Also see this intresing statement of a BBC juornalist in a 28 october 2000 article :

 

There is an antiquated public transport system with rattling electric trolley buses and, I discovered, a metro, with old East German trains complete with their original German graffiti.

 

This is probably the reason why initially  the foreiginers were only permitted to visited only Puhung and Yonggwang stations, mainly because the other stations where dilapadated due to the lack of maintainance of the 1990s, so it wasn't a good thing the "leadership" would show to the foreigin visitors, now they've been rebuilt so now you can visit the whole system.

 

http://johnsson-z.com/works_pyongyangunlike/index.html

Probably the only photo that shows a Berlin-condition train running in Pyongyang before the "retrofurbishment" (wich by the way, removed the nice BVG door closing chime).

 

The new train is probably a refurbirshed mix of a D-stock frame, some components from a DK4 and a mix of showcase cheap, chinese built LCD screes, IGBT-VVVF inverters and automated announcments to (badly) mimic modern european and asian metros.

All assembled by the Kim-Jong-Tae locomotive works.

 

Image

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/expairience/Pyongyang%20Metro/metro%203.jpg

 

This, more than a prototype for a mass-scale production and practical use will likely remain a single train, probably only used for showcase purposes.

Due to using different (and more complex) systems than the rheostat D, and DK4s it will be probably used only when a subway visit is planned, in order to use it the least possible, in order to make it look new and to save on maintainance.

 

Also a question:

In the electricity-starved Pyongyang, where there is almost no electricity to keep on the traffic lights, why the metro runs with the headlights and cablights on in the middle and the back of the trains?

Edited February 27, 2017 by Socimi

[bikkuri bahn]

Firing a steam loco with old tires

 

There's a good possibility that those old tires come from discarded bicycles collected in Japan.  In the past NK trawlers could be seen leaving Japanese ports, loaded to the gills with enormous piles of old bicycles topside.  I suppose the frames were melted down to make pots and pans, or perhaps nosecones...

[westfalen]

I've seen these videos before, they have been out there for a while but still a good watch as there is not much to see on North Korea.  It would be a great place to visit as it would be one of the few places in the world, railway wise, where you still would not know what you are going to see next, unfortunately it's not a place you'd want to visit.

 

The steam loco burning old tires is a good example of the primitive conditions steam can work in, a brand new diesel would be parked in the weeds behind the loco shed in a matter of weeks.  "Expensive spare parts and imported diesel fuel? just give us a blacksmiths shop and anything that will burn and we'll keep it running."