Friends of the Rail Forum

From The Railway Magazine, June 2009, p 10

Steam enthusiast tortured in China

Photographers planning to travel to northern China to see the last working steam in the world are warned that there has been a horrific attack in the Russian border town of Manzhouli on a British railfan.

The unidentified man was not only robbed of his cameras but repeatedly tortured until he revealed his bank PIN numbers [sic]

A bit of a late reply but i've only just found this post. I never read the article in "Railway Magazine" about this incident. I was traveling with this fellow when this happened and he was an Australian, not British. We were traveling solo after leaving a tour group at Zhalai Nuoer a couple a days beforehand. He was drugged and had his camera gear, phone and credit cards stolen. The PIN numbers were revealed after being threatened with a knife, the torture bit is a bit over the top however.

They ended up catching the offenders two months to the day after the abduction with the stolen goods in their possession. Last i heard the fellow was still waiting for the return of his stolen items.. Peter.

It seems Railway Magazine is getting a bit of a reputation for inaccuracies in its stories, especially about international stuff.

I believe it is about to be renamed "The Railway Sun"......

Is this not where the term "Chinese Torture" comes from?