Many thanks for the links to the sequel! (And I see it was you who led me to the 2008 one.) The first couple of photos in the third diary, with the contrast between the booming Chinese border town and the desolate North Korean amusement park, are quite symbolic.

In the first diary, I find this strange animal – a Soviet M62 diesel-electric loco rebuilt as electric:

decrepid freight wagons

Huh, decrepit is an understatement... with this much corrosion, they should have wagons breaking apart mid-train!

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}