Standard Datong QJ or JS plate, 1981.

Earlier version.  A heavier casting giving the month of build.  From a QJ.

Front board from a QJ.  Some locos had these embellishments mounted at the top of the smokebox.

Dalian JS plate, March 1960. This mixes simplified and full-form characters.

Alternative (later?) style of Dalian JS plate.  Note that the plate is a different shape, the star has been replaced by a China Rail logo, simplified characters are used exclusively and it has become Ministry of Railways rather than "state operated".

Front numberplate from a JS. The corn on the left represents agriculture and the impression of a cog wheel on the right, industry. Note that these motifs are also evident on the plate from QJ 2989 above.

Dalian MK 1 plate, July 1956.  "MK" or "mor-ke" ( a phonetic for "mikado") was the designation for 2-8-2s.  They were renamed "jiefang" or JF class ("liberation") the following year.

Qiqiha'er (Qiqihar) MK 1 plate.

Sifang MK1 plate.

Dalian JF plate December 1957.

Jinan YJ "yuejin" ("leap forward") plate, 1959. YJs were 2-6-2s, pre-1949 examples being known as "PL" = "plairlie" (prairie)! This plate is from YJ 235.

Worksplate and cabside number plate set from SY 0238.  This was a Shougang (Beijing Steelworks) loco.  The cabside number is fabricated.

There are at least two types of Tangshan SY plates. The more common version is as for 0238, the first three characters being 铁道部, or Ministry of Railways. For a period however, plates were fitted with the first three characters reading 交通部 or Ministry of Communications. The upper plate shown is made of aluminium, while the lower plate is cast iron.

Examples compared: Ministry of Communications above and Ministry of Railways below.

Shijiazhuang plate (ali.), probably from a C2 narrow gauge (762mm) 0-8-0.

Qishuyan plate, probably from a JS. Qishuyan built 130 JS in 1960 and 257 in total.

Lima plate from a KD6 (brass).

Large "Zhongguo Gongqingtuan" badge from a cabside. 中国共青团 is the Chinese Communist Party's Youth League. The quality of the casting particularly of the characters is not great.

Small "Zhongguo Gongqingtuan" badge from a cabside. Few other Chinese loco plates seem to be made of brass. Casting flaws were repaired, not very well by, filling with lead.

Flag from a cabside, made of ali. with brass characters bolted from the back. The writing says (top line: "Study (or learn from) the Mao Zedong locomotive", bottom line: " model locomotive group (crew)" i.e. an award for the crew or groups of crews on that loco.

Large and small forestry logos (ali.).

Numberplate (ali.) from a Zhanhe C2.  "S" I think stands for "senlin" (forest) and "Z" for Zhanhe.

Dalian plates (cast iron) from DF4s 0157 (lower, 1977) and a 1981 example.

Front numberplate from DF4 0045. These are very heavy iron castings.

SS1 plate, Zhuzhou 1974 (ali.). SS1s were the first Chinese domestically produced mainline electrics and are rather handsome machines.  Presumably this loco was a casualty.

Electroputere plate (ali.) from an ND2 (the ND3s came later, 1984 onwards).

LEW Hennigsdorf plate (ali.) from No 17032 of 1979. I think this is from a V1000 from the Jilin area.

Qishuyan 1979 plate (ali.). Not sure what this is from. It is identical to the DF2 plates but building of these ended in 1971.

Standard China Rail five note chime whistle, as fitted to most steam locos.

Coach destination board.  This style was replaced with a new style a few years ago. "zhikuai" literally means "through / direct, fast".

Jining Nan - Tongliao, from the famous JiTong Railway. Note the Mongolian script. The two Chinese characters in the middle are "pu-ke" (pronounced "poo-ker", not "puke"), meaning ordinary passenger train.

Early Chinese enamel sign.  I assume this is a genuine railway artifact.  "PMR" stands for Peking-Mukden Railway i.e. Beiiing - Shenyang.  The slogan at the bottom is to the effect that this chap wasn't careful and died.

There is a separate page on Chinese tickets.