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By a river, a locomotive and two green carriages are parked on a railroad section right next to a road and a row of two-story buildings, as visitors gather around to take pictures.
The train, tucked in deep mountains in Xinnan Village in central China's Henan Province, carries no passengers, but it has attracted visitors and brought fortune to local villagers.
"I saw pictures of the train on social media, and I am taking my children here for a visit," said Xie Bing, a tourist from the city of Luoyang in the province. "The air is really refreshing here."
Xinnan Village is not on any rail route maps, yet, the once-impoverished place is now known as a "railroad village," thanks to Wang Yanhui, an employee of China Railway Zhengzhou Group Co., Ltd., who was appointed to help local villagers fight poverty.
China has a system of appointing officials from government organizations and public institutions in poverty-stricken villages to help and support local poverty alleviation.
Luanchuan County, which administers Xinnan Village, has a forest coverage of 82.4 percent. Many villagers were engaged in agricultural production and not willing to leave the mountains despite the low income.
Wang, who first arrived in the village in 2018, believed that the villagers can have a stable income by developing tourism.
"The mountains are steep and the land is scarce in the village, so it's difficult to scale up in agricultural production or husbandry," Wang said. "However, the green mountains, clear waters, lush plants, and fresh air make it a great place for developing tourism."
Wang encouraged villagers to build homestays for visitors. However, even with subsidies and bank loans, many villagers were afraid that there might not be enough guests.
To further promote his plan, Wang came up with the idea of creating a theme park featuring a railroad. As a senior employee working in the rail system for over 20 years, Wang soon got the resources from his company to put his plan into action.
In October last year, the village built a train platform near its entrance, laid old steel rails, and placed a scrapped locomotive and two carriages from China Railway Zhengzhou Group Co., Ltd here.
By his invitation, Wang's colleagues became the first batch of visitors to the village over the weekend. Soon, more tourists arrived in tour coaches.
With the influx of tourists, more local residents refurbished their houses and opened homestays.
"We have tasted the bitterness of poverty and now, no matter how hard it is to run our own business, we want to do it right," said Qiao Ling, a 49-year-old local villager who was among the first to open a hotel and a restaurant. In the last few months of 2019, Qiao made nearly 50,000 yuan (7,148 U.S. dollars) from her business.
Zhang Liujun, another 60-year-old, has made over 10,000 yuan since May from his homestay despite the novel coronavirus epidemic. "Judging from the income from last year till now, I am confident about the business," Zhang said.
Wang is still planning more projects in the village, including boat rides, a train-themed cafe, and a restaurant to keep tourists in the village for a longer time.
"I hope that the railroad village can develop stably, and become a great example of rural tourism," Wang said.