Roof of the Century-Old "Special Train Depot" on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway Suffers Partial Collapse
Photo / Legal Evening News / Law Vision News Reporter Cui Yifei
Photo / Legal Evening News / Law Vision News Reporter Cui Yifei
Photo / Legal Evening News / Law Vision News Reporter Cui Yifei
Photo / Legal Evening News / Law Vision News Reporter Cui Yifei
Photo / Legal Evening News / Law Vision News Reporter Cui Yifei
April 27, 2018, Legal Evening News
Legal Evening News / Law Vision News (Reporter Cui Yifei) — Near Nankou Station on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, a "special train depot" with a history of over a hundred years still survives. Recently, railway cultural scholar Wang Wei discovered that the roof of the special train depot, which was already dilapidated, has suffered a partial collapse, and the old building is in urgent need of protection. Reporters found that this old building does not yet have an officially recognized cultural relic status.
Old Garage for Parking Special Trains Suffers Partial Roof Collapse
In Wang Wei's view, Nankou is the "heart" of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, and its historical significance is no less than that of the famous zig-zag railway. Recently, during his field surveys, he discovered that a Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway special train depot located in Nankou, Changping District, had suffered a partial roof collapse, and its condition for cultural relic preservation has further deteriorated.
Legal Evening News / Law Vision News saw at the scene that the special train depot resembles a large locomotive shed, but it has long since lost its original function. Of the original four garage doors, three have been blocked up, the side windows have been sealed, and it has stood vacant for many years. On one side of the building's roof, a collapse has indeed occurred, creating a "skylight" in the depot.
According to Wang Wei, the exterior of the special train depot is similar to a locomotive shed. At the time of the initial completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, it was used to park special trains transporting high-ranking officials and dignitaries. The special train depot first appeared on a map in 1916, possessing a history of over a hundred years. The building is 99 meters long and 21 meters wide. However, it was later converted into a warehouse and underwent partial renovations. When Wang Wei inspected it last year, the roof was still intact. This roof collapse is related to lack of maintenance over the years. The fallen building materials include both old materials and subsequently added supplementary materials.
According to Wang Wei, within the Nankou Station area, there are auxiliary buildings of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway such as freight warehouses, special train depots, material plants, and supervisory offices. Nowadays, most of them have been modified, some are more than half demolished, and others completely demolished. Although most of the old buildings still survive, they appear somewhat dilapidated and are in urgent need of protection.
Special Train Depot Lacks Official Cultural Relic Recognition
Legal Evening News / Law Vision News reporters noted that the "Nankou Section to Badaling Section of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway" has been announced as a National Key Cultural Relic Protection Unit. Article 6 of the Interim Measures for the Administration of Railway Cultural Relic Protection stipulates that immovable railway cultural relics mainly include: stations, line sections, bridges and tunnels, rolling stock depots, former residences of railway celebrities, early work and activity sites of railway party organizations, railway labor movement sites, and buildings or architectural complexes. Article 13 stipulates that the propaganda departments at all levels of the general corporation are the leading departments for the unit's railway cultural relic protection and management work. However, in the cultural relic item list on the website of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau, the Nankou special train depot of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is nowhere to be seen.
On the morning of April 27, Legal Evening News / Law Vision News reporters called the news section of China Railway Beijing Group Co., Ltd., and a staff member stated that they would contact relevant departments to look into the matter.
Shi Wenyi, former curator of the Zhan Tianyou Museum, said in an interview with Legal Evening News / Law Vision News reporters that this old garage in Nankou is extremely important because garage buildings surviving across the entire Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway line can be counted on one hand. The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway needs a comprehensive cultural relic census of the entire line, and doing it now is still not too late.
