Trains from the Chengde direction faced a 13km climb at 1 in 60 east of Lingyuan before reaching the summit west of Hongshi and dropping down to Yebaishou. Freights were few and far between but if you did manage to catch one the pictures could be spectacular.
QJ 3344 approached the top of the climb with an eastbound freight on the gloriously clear morning of 25 January 1996.