East of Reshui the scenery opened out and the line followed a broad valley to Linxi. Appearances could be deceptive though. The valley might have been broad but it was far from flat and the locos on westbound freights still had to work hard. QJ 7041 and QJ 7012 snaked around the 'S' curve west of Yuzhoudi with train 22844, an 04:15 Daban to Haoluku freight, on 22 November 2002.