Railway History Research

Since 2002, we have conducted extensive field research on railway heritage across China, combining historical photographs, maps, documents, oral histories, and on-site investigation to identify historic railway sites and reconstruct their past.

To date, we have surveyed over 150,000 kilometers of railway heritage, collected historical data covering 40,000 kilometers, inspected more than 3,000 stations, and identified over 500 sites with confirmed cultural heritage value.

Based on this experience, we provide research support for universities, libraries, museums, archives, and heritage organizations, including:

• Identification and research of historical railway photographs, maps, documents, stations, rolling stock, infrastructure, and artifacts

• Chinese-English metadata, historical place names, railway lines, dates, locations, captions, and contextual information

• Historical photograph geolocation and "then-and-now" comparative research

• Research assistance, image licensing, field documentation, exhibition and publication support

We welcome collaborations involving Chinese railway history, archival collections, industrial heritage, and historical photography.