MONGOLIA: M62 in the North
May 2025

My 2024-trip to the Mongolian (and at the time also Russian) diesel locomotives in the northern part of the Transmongolian Railway was a bit of a risk, because it was the first time I had traveled to Mongolia without the top dog among the local tour guides. To my great joy (and relief), however, everything went well: our Russian four-wheel drive UAZ got through (almost) everywhere and my new Mongolian agency completed its first real railfan tour with flying colors! We enjoyed Russian diesel on the secondary line to Erdenet and experienced the Chinese locomotives on the private branch lines. We got some great pictures in the Shatan Mountains and the landscapes along the large Mongolian rivers in the north are simply amazing! We could enjoy a very mild climate: the winter cold had already gone, it was already "green" everywhere and we just got a little bit of rain.

That's why I want to repeat this successful trip again, because on the one hand the Transmongol in the north simply offers too many first-class photo spots for us to be able to do them all in one trip and occasionally we also had the famous cloud shadowing the sun or no train showed up despite perfect light conditions... that's just how life goes as a railway photographer. 

In addition to the old Russian M62 class diesel locomotives hauling passenger trains, I also expect 2M62 double locos in the North. Thanks to lots of paperwork and perfect agency connections to the right people, we were even able to advance almost to the Russian border fence and take photos in 2024. We played by the rules and got some great pictures! We want to repeat that in 2025.

The exact day-by-day itinerary will be finalized around September 2024. If you would like to receive automatic updates, just send me an email!

© All images on this page: Peter Patt