Rail History/Heritage:JunglelessLine

[surabaya]

does anyone have any links to old malay rail schedules dating back to 1920s/1930s???

i was recently staying at the heritage hotel and became intrigued by some of the prints on the walls and the names of the trains - so much better than the characterless kommuter services...

[airlana]

Here's a few more from "Railway Wonders of the World" 1936

MALAYA

16 pages totalling 3.7mb here

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/lanastar/MalayaRail.htm

For those without the luxury of broadband you can view the pages one by one

Start with

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/lanastar/MalayaRail01.jpg

For page 2 change url ...............MalayaRail01 to MalayaRail02 and so on thru to 09 then 10 thru to 16



INDIA
Also perhaps of interest is the chapter "Hill Lines of India" especially the superb picture spanning two pages of the Gokteik Viaduct.

8 pages in all totalling 1.8mb here

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/lanastar/IndiaRail.htm

or page by page starting with

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/lanastar/IndiaRail1.jpg

and change..........IndiaRail1 to IndiaRail2 and so on thru to IndiaRail8



Enjoy

airlana
.

[ncr]

the sort of folk who grace that saloon car.Do you mean the picture on page 959? The elephant collision is amazing enough in itself, but to see that guy arrogantly standing on top of the poor beast as if he had hunted it down and shot it...... :eek:

Anyway, great stuff. Thanks, Airlana!

[airlana]

Anyway, great stuff. Thanks, Airlana!


My pleasure and glad the rail fans enjoy it.

airlana
.

[GWR]

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/steam/trains/malay02.htm
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/steam/trains/malay03.htm

[GWR]

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/steam/trains
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/steam/trains/ktmmap.gif

Interestingly,the map below gives Hat-Yai Junction as the alternative name for a station mistakenly called 'Dutapao'. Well, the original junction was near Khlong Utapao, but it was eventually moved a short ways to avoid the flood problem at that site. Confusing stuff in a place some people then called 'Khok Sa-Met Choon'.

http://www.timlight.uni.cc/A%20Brief%20History.html
http://www.timlight.uni.cc/images/map.jpg

[dick]

http://www.cable-car-guy.com/html/ccoznz.html#penang
Straits Settlement also with prov. Wellseley and Din Dings?

[GWR]

http://dlxs.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=sea;cc=sea;sid=6c4a74904f5c974443e29be147808 207;q1=siam;q2=railway;op2=and;op3=and;rgn=pages;v iew=image;seq=1;idno=sea253
Then 'Go to Page 88A'

Author: Federated Malay States Railway
Title: Federated Malay States Railways, 1921; pamphlet of information for travellers
Publication date: 1921

You can scroll through the whole pamphlet. Numerous other maps, pictures, adverts etc. Individual images downloadable.

[GWR]

The railway illustrations & descriptions are particularly interesting, but the whole book is fascinating: -

Author: Wright, Arnold
Title: Twentieth century impressions of British Malaya: its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources
Publication date: 1908

http://dlxs.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=sea;cc=sea;sid=18f02592e857972a6d7e99761487d ec9;q1=wright;rgn=full%20text;view=image;seq=1;idn o=sea233

Then, GO TO PAGE: 303 (Section 23)-312 on drop down menu

It's easier to read the text if you set the drop down Scale menu to 'small'. Illustrations tend to dapple at this setting, so view them with the 'normal' setting.

[GWR]

Author: Federated Malay States Railway
Title: Federated Malay States Railways, 1921; pamphlet of information for travellers
Publication date: 1921
Approx 125 pages with numerous illustrations, photographs, maps and adverts
http://dlxs.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=sea;cc=sea;sid=18f02592e857972a6d7e99761487d ec9;q1=federated;rgn=full%20text;idno=sea253;view= image;seq=5

On page 88A is a map of railways in Central Siam/Thailand, Southern Thailand and the mainland Malay States. Many of the branches have been discussed on this site, but I was interested in the Kuala Pilah branch off the East Coast mainline at Bahau.

Here's a site with pictures of Kuala Pilah Railway Station in 1921 and today. While you are at it, take a look at the rest of the site for some idea of what life was like in a small Malaysian town in the 1950s:-

http://us.geocities.com/kualapilahan/kuala_pilah_railway_station.htm

[GWR]

Other info on this branch: -

http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/forum/showpost.php?p=6162&postcount=47

http://www.ktmrailwayfan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7861#7861
http://www.ktmrailwayfan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=712&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15&sid=2fbe87fd8dcb6d75d3fb70a4a0ee5fa3

But I was particularly interested in this blog on the branch, complete with a Japanese map from WW2: -

http://kinkonkid.blogspot.com/2006/09/once-upon-railway-town.html

Here's the map: -

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5840/1859/320/perak_060916_HPIM0009.1.jpg

This map was taken from an exhibition of old postcards, maps and magazines organized by the Society of Japanese Culture. It is currently held at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Hill Street. What drew my interest to this map was that it showed the name of my hometown in Japanese! Though it was a small town, it was clearly marked and written as – MENGUREMUBU – in katakana.

This map was part of a large map published around 1943, that showed the occupied territory of MARAYA & SHONAN （照南） - Malaya and Singapore . When Singapore fell to the Japanese, the name was officially changed to SHONAN, meaning - Beacon of the South. The name SHONAN were in kanji （汉字）or Chinese character but rendered a kun-yomi (训读), that is reading the Chinese characters in Japanese style. All other town names were in katakana, one of the two types of Japanese alphabets, the kana’s – that is the katakata and hiragana.

Katakana is used chiefly for foreign words adopted into Japanese. Thus Menglembu was translated as MENGUREMUBU in katakana, and IPOH as IPOO (pronounced as I-POH, the OO denotes long sound). The character for ‘state’ was written in kanji, and Perak state was written PERAKU SHYU. The SHYU being a kun-yomi of 州。

I was also drawn to the railway lines on the map. Beside the main North-South line that ran thro Ipoh, there was another line that started from IPOO and ran in the south-west direction to TORONOO. In between these two terminals, the towns marked on this line were MENGUREMUBU and SHIPUTEN. It dawn on me that this was the railway line that mum used to talk about during dinner time. The line ran from Ipoh to Tronoh, and it had stations in Menglembu and Siputeh.

The older folks that lived during during the pre-WW II days had fond memories of this line. The station in Menglembu was located somewhere to where our old house was. The railway line crossed the trunk road on the northern part of the town. The town folks would refer to this part of the town as the Railway Gate – 火车闸. Being a town with a railway station would naturally have caught the Japanese map makers attention, and what more a town located in a stratetic tin mining region.

The British colonial masters had build a railway to link the booming tin mining town of Tronoh to Ipoh in the begining of the 20th century. This region was the centre of the tin mining industry industry.

The railway line was dismantled by the Japanese army during the Japanese occupation, and the older folks mentioned that the tracks were transported north to build the Thailand-Burma railway line. The Death Railway as it was popularly known was build with Japanese POW/s and countless forced labors from Malaya and Singapore.

What was then the railway track is now still visible in the town. It is now part of a straight trunk road that runs thro what is considered the rear side of the town. The road is named Jalan Lee Min Hin, after a towkay tin miner whose old masion is still standing beside the trunk road.

The tracks from this line contributed to the building of the infamous railway which was later made into box office Hollywood movie - The Bridge over River Kwai - in 1957, starring William Holden, and Jack Hawkins among its cast. The theme song from the movie - with the soldiers who build the bridge proudly whistling the tune as the marched across the newly completed bridge - was a hit during the 1960/s.


Side-note:

A search in the web on Tronoh, yielded the following:

Teronoh or Tronoh is a small tin-mining town located some 30 km south of the Perak state capital Ipoh in Malaysia.

The tin-mining industry boom during the early 20th century saw Teronoh grow from a small village into a major town. The centre of the mining field containing the mine of the Tronoh Mines Company, Ltd. was the village of Tronoh. The Tronoh Mines Company Ltd. belonged to Chung Thye Phin, a rich businessman (towkay) and last Chinese Kapitan of Perak and Malaya. It was here in Tronoh that Thye Phin's famous deep-shaft mine could be found.

A railway line linking the town and Ipoh was completed in 1909 and used to transport tin ore. The tracks were dismantled by the Japanese during World War II and were never rebuilt. Shortly after the war ended the tin industry deteriorated, and with it, the importance of the town.

Today Teronoh is a sleepy little town, though it is hoped that would change with the location of two universities within its vicinity - Universiti Teknologi Petronas and Universiti Teknologi MARA is located here. The main road that used to cut through town linking Ipoh with the seaside town of Lumut has been replaced by a new highway bypassing the town.

(Source: from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

[GWR]

This branchline left the mainline at rawang to serve the coalfields and brickworks of Batu Arang. Lots of pictures and links to other maps and articles:-

http://www.malaysianwings.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php?t3972.html

[GWR]

Malaysians seem to have quite a strong like for the genre of nostalgia. Bernama regularly prints such articles, even about neighboring countries. I'm actually struck by how close this description is to the situation that existed quite recently (and perhaps still does in part) at the Padang Besar border crossing:

No More Railway Market At Pasir Mas

By Kamaruzaman Yaacob

PASIR MAS, June 8 (Bernama) -- Flashback to the years of the 1960s and 1970s. As the train slowed to a halt at Pasir Mas railway station here, passengers sitting in the coaches were the witnesses to a unique scene.

Large bamboo baskets laden with food, wrapped in banana leaves and paper, appear to be "dancing" from window to window. These baskets were expertly carried on the head of hawkers known to the locals as "Tok Peraih".

These hawkers, were actually middle-aged women. Their trademark was the coil-like batik cloth used to cushion the heavy bamboo basket that were carried on their head.

The Tok Peraih arrived early in the day with the hope of earning some money by selling their goods to passengers on each train that chugged into the station.

At times, the Tok Peraih waited until late evening before going home. As for those who missed the last transport home, they had to spend the night at this railway station.


MARKET ON RAIL TRACKS

For those familiar with this market on rail tracks, the action began when a train slowed into the station for passengers to alight and for the others to embark.

The Tok Peraih had to be fast as the train only stopped for a few minutes.

Shouts like "jagung! jagung! kacang! kacang!" (corns! corns! beans! beans!) were heard when passengers sitting inside the coaches took a peek at what the hawkers were selling.

After making their choice, the buyers would take the food packet and place the money in the basket. There was no communication, only a transaction based simply on trust.

"Choooo! Choooo! Choooo!". It signalled that the train, powered by a steam engine locomotive, was about to leave the station and some of the Tok Peraih who boarded the coaches clambered out hurriedly.


FORMER HAWKER

Former hawker Zabedah Omar said she would climb into the train and moved from coach to coach to sell her goods.

"After selling outside (the coach), I climbed inside. At that time, I was in my mid 30s," said the 75-year-old woman from Kampung Slow Machang near here.

"On my head was a big bamboo basket while in my hands I held two large plastic bags laden with food packets," said Zabedah when looking back at her days as a railway station hawker.

She said during that time, the train was the nucleus that boost the economy of Pasir Mas hawkers.

According to Zabedah, the hawkers not only sell ready-cooked food like the kuih, laksa and nasi dagang but other perishables as well like fresh and salted fish, vegetables and rice.


MAIL TRAIN

Zabedah said the Tok Peraih can only board the stage or local trains and not the mail or express service.

Why? Because the mail service did not stop at small stations, she said.

"Those days, we did not have roads like now. The people including school pupils preferred taking the train instead of using boats along the river.

"Hence, the railway station became the place for traders to sell their goods. They sell everything there including rice, bananas, tapioca and vegetables," said Zabedah.


SHELTER FROM FLOODS

The colonial government began to build a network of railway tracks and stations in the 1940s due to the rapid development in the tin mining industry.

When constructing these railway lines, the tracks and stations were located on higher ground. Hence it was no surprise that when villages and towns were hit by floods, their residents would seek shelter and safety along these structures.

A Pasir Mas resident, Mat Nasir Hassan, said during the great floods of 1969 and 1978, the town's railway tracks and station were not affected.

"Tens of cars were parked along the railway. Many sought refuge at the railway station, waiting for the flood water to recede," said the 70-year-old retired civil servant.

RICE SMUGGLING

The Pasir Mas railway station, was at one time, known for its notoriety in rice smuggling from Thailand.

As the rail line from Sungai Kolok, or better known as Sungai Golok, in south Thailand joined the rail tracks at Pasir Mas before proceeding to Tumpat, Pasir Mas became the transit point for rice smugglers.

The contraband rice were loaded onto the train at Sungai Golok and upon arriving at Pasir Mas, hordes of runners who the locals called "budak beras" (rice boys) would spring into action, unloading the smuggled rice packs and hiding these packs at several spots near the station before being collected by pick-up trucks later.

As the train was about one km from the station, the "budak beras" began to unload their contraband by throwing out the 25 kg packs of rice from the coaches with their accomplices waiting along the rail line.

The scene was like a relay race with the rice packs functioning as batons.

GANGSTERS

The locals said these runners behaved like gangsters. They would stash the rice packs into every nook and corner within the coaches. Most of the times, the passengers were deprived of their seats.

Ticket checkers and train conductors who tried to reprimand them were beaten up.

Usually each of the train service from Sungai Golok would comprise four coaches and three of them were monopolised by the rice boys under different gang leaders.

Names like Fauzi Ayam Bapak, Jali Kucing, Ibrahim Pok Hok, Mamat Rambo and Syed Nor were treated with caution during those days.

However, a Pasir Mas resident said the presence of a customs officer who the rice boys called "Mat Ribut" had put fear among the smugglers.

COLONIAL IMAGE

However a new station is being built under an allocation from the Transport Ministry. When fully completed, this modern railway station will shed the colonial image of the existing structure.

Will the new station be able to hold its own without the support of other railway "halts" like that in Bunut Susu, Slow Machang, Chicha Tinggi, Tok Uban, Repek, Batu Lima, Gual Periok and Gual Sitok in Pasir Mas district.

The new station is hoped to be among the catalyst to change the image of Pasir Mas, from a sleepy hollow to that of a modern township in line with the nations development mainstream.

But residents, despite welcoming the construction of a new railway station, hoped that some of the colonial features would be retained as a move to remind the town folks of the significance of the old station.

"We welcome development of a new railway station but at the same time feel that the identity of the old station should be maintained, as the station has its own nostalgic moments," said a 42-year-old son of Pasir Mas, trader Rosley Omar.

-- BERNAMA


http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=266340

[GWR]

KL's Railway Station definitely ranks amongst the list of buildings I admire. My sleeper-train views of Ipoh Station also suggest it would make a fine venue. Good idea!:

November 24, 2007 20:45 PM

KL Railway Station To Be Turned Into Arts Centre

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- The Kuala Lumpur Railway Station will be turned into an arts centre for local artists to carry out their activities, including displaying works, said Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) General Manager (Intercity Services) Sarbini Tijan.

He said this was aimed at enlivening the station building, which had become deserted since KTMB's services shifted to the KL Sentral station.

"If the response is good, we may expand the programme to other stations like Ipoh, Johor Baharu and Singapore, which have been categorised as national heritage," he told reporters after the opening of an exhibition on visual arts at the station here today.

The 16-day exhibition, opened by literary figure Datuk A.Samad Said, showcases almost 30 art works by local artists, including Aris Aziz, Khairudin Mustaffa (Dino), Amiruddin Ariffin and Sani Sudin.

-- BERNAMA
Non-specific link:
http://www.bernama.com.my/

Launching Ceremony For The Arts Exhibition

A launching ceremony for the arts exhibition, Transformasi Seni Tampak KTMB will be held on Saturday, 24 November 2007 at Kuala Lumpur Railway Station at 9.30 am.

National Laureate Dato' A. Samad Said will be officiating the exhibition.

Among the local artistes that will take part in the exhibition are Aris Aziz, Sani Sudin (Kopratasa), Johari Alias and Usop (Kopratasa), Mohd Rashid and Hussein.

The artiste will also do live sketches for the public.

The exhibition will be held from 24 November to 6 December 2007
http://www.ktmb.com.my/Article.asp?Id=2377

[GWR]

A trifle corny with one of those awful corporate video commentator voices. Indeed, the voice of a guy most of us will probably heard dozens of times in our allotted four score years and ten. Still worth a quick shufti, however!:

http://www.ktmb.com.my/Section.asp?Sid=&SectionID=266

KTM Berhad (http://www.ktmb.com.my/index.asp) Video

This video briefly features the colourful history of the Malaysian Railway, from its inception as tin-ore transportation in colonial Perak to the usage of diesel locomotives and eventually, the graduation to the electric Komuter train. The footages and stills date way back to the 19th and 20th century, with some exclusive pictures taken during the British colonial era and the Japanese insurgency.

To view the videos, you need to install Media Movie Player Version 9 and use Internet Explorer Version 6. You may download this software from http://www.microsoft.com .

Part 1
http://www.ktmb.com.my/Attach/History/Bah1.htm
Part 2
http://www.ktmb.com.my/Attach/History/Bah2.htm
Part 3
http://www.ktmb.com.my/Attach/History/Bah3.htm
Part 4
http://www.ktmb.com.my/Attach/History/Bah4.htm
Part 5
http://www.ktmb.com.my/Attach/History/Bah5.htm
Part 6
http://www.ktmb.com.my/Attach/History/Bah6.htm
Part 7
http://www.ktmb.com.my/Attach/History/Bah7.htm

[GWR]

See also previous post:

Rail nostalgia
JOHN TIONG

To find out more about the history of railways in the country, visit the KTM Bhd Mini Museum at the Railway Station in Kuala Lumpur. JOHN TIONG is fascinated.
http://www.nst.com.my/TravelTimes/article/HeritageCulture/20071112122404/insidepix1
[Photo: KTMB/NST - Nostalgic picture of local train station and local staff.]

http://www.nst.com.my/TravelTimes/article/HeritageCulture/20071112122404/insidepix2
[Photo: NST - Various of old gadgets on display.]

http://www.nst.com.my/TravelTimes/article/HeritageCulture/20071112122404/insidepix3
[Photo: NST - Caps, bell and boots used by station firemen.]


THE charming Moorish-style Kuala Lumpur Railway Station at Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin has a new attraction — the KTM Berhad Mini Museum.

The museum is small and its caretaker Kamalul Mohd said it showcases only 25 per cent of the items KTM Berhad has gathered for the project.

However, there are enough displays to get one acquainted with the history of the Malayan Railway since the first railway line was set up in Taiping in 1885.

Most of the displays are tastefully arranged in glass cabinets while giant lamps and headlights are placed on the floor.

At the door, one is greeted by a, 1½m-tall grandfather clock from the 1920s bearing the stamp of the Federated Malay States Railways.

Beyond that is the old Malayan rail era with all its facets — uniforms, lamps of all shapes, headlights, staff record books, typewriters, calculators and even a telegraph message code book from 1949.

Because the history of Malayan Railway spans over 120 years, from coal to steam, diesel and electric trains, one will also see the development of office gadgets such as weighing machines, typewriters and calculators over the same period and how these have morphed from bulky machines to smaller, more advanced equipment of today.

Fans, Flags And Bells

A range of fans is also exhibited and this includes simple gadgets as well as elaborate fans used in the first class cabins.

Those interested in uniforms will be able to see a full range of these from the light green porter’s uniform with plastic buttons in the 1907 to the more elaborate 1980s version with the Malaysian emblem and gold buttons. There are also guard uniforms used between the 1950s and the 1960s as well as the station master’s uniform between 1907 and 1940.

There are old train tickets on display too. These were used at various periods of rail operations and were manually stamped, showing dates and time of travel.

The different signal flags and bells used over the years are another interesting exhibit. Except for real train tracks, almost every little object used in trains or the station can be seen here — from crockery and lighting and a punch card machine used between 1930 and 1980.

One surprise find is a first-aid kit from 1970-1990, a woven bamboo basket the size of a standard luggage bag. According to the label, it was used at the Brickfields and Sentul train stations.

Historical Moments

There are also many black and white pictures of historical significance including those of the wooden track from Gunung Pulai to Johor Baru taken in 1869, the first railway line in Taiping and the railway head office in Kuala Lumpur in 1895.

One is surprised to learn that many items such as plaques and signs used at the old railway stations were assembled or even made at the old rail workshop in Sentul, where the Kuala Lumpur Performance Arts Centre is now located.

Outside the museum is displayed a large model train station and the immediate outlying areas including shops and office blocks.

Other interesting items here are old sewing machines used to repair seat cushions, various train coaches and the Happers Key (the principal key used between 1885 and 1980 to start a train and to signal to the next station of its movement.

Just outside the museum, a short film on the history of the Malayan Railway is shown on a television set throughout the day. [See previous post?]

The KTM Bhd mini museum is open daily from 9am to 6pm.


Historic KL Station is also likely to be used as an art gallery in future:
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/forum/showpost.php?p=18386&postcount=53

[GWR]

Site with videos:
http://mrtv.mymalaya.com/

It was dismantled by the Japanese during World War II in the early 1940s for the construction of the Burmese Death Railway. As with a number of other branch lines this was not reinstated.

http://mrtv.mymalaya.com/tampin-melaka.htm

Photos of what remains of the branch:
http://keretapi.mymalaya.com/categories.php?cat_id=128

And not forgetting the ever wonderful KTM RailwayFan.com:

http://www.ktmrailwayfan.com/forum/index.php

[GER]

does anyone have any links to old malay rail schedules dating back to 1920s/1930s???

I don't have links but I do have copies of working timetables (post WWII) at home along with copies of old books and magazines going back to 1898 relating to Malayan Railways (FMSR) which I have been studying for some 45 years. It will be a few months before I get back home and can gather the information for you.

i was recently staying at the heritage hotel and became intrigued by some of the prints on the walls and the names of the trains - so much better than the characterless kommuter services...

I also saw these this week when I stayed there, they are priceless. The characterless Komuter services are expanding, they now go to Kuala Kubu in the north and will soon run to Batu Caves. I rode on what were probably the last ever loco-hauled services to Batu Caves earlier this week (Thaipusam specials).

[GER]

When the class 17 diesel shunters were withdrawn by KTMB 2 or 3 were sold for use in Thailand. Recently one of these has returned but is not currently identifiable. It is parked in a secure compound adjacent to Klang station. Does anyone have any further information on these 2/3 locos, such as original numbers, current status, etc.
Going back a lot further, in 1924 a class A 4-4-0T was sold to "a coal mine in Siam", it was Hunslet 851 of 6/1904, Malacca Railway 2, became FMSR 71 in 1905. Does anyone have any further info on this loco, such as where exactly it went and its subsequent fate.

[Wisarut]

Khun GER,

Pleaser show me the time tables of FMSR trains that made a connection with RSR railways ... alogn with Thai trains whcih terminate at padang besar and Sugei Golok

[Wisarut]

When the class 17 diesel shunters were withdrawn by KTMB 2 or 3 were sold for use in Thailand. Recently one of these has returned but is not currently identifiable. It is parked in a secure compound adjacent to Klang station. Does anyone have any further information on these 2/3 locos, such as original numbers, current status, etc.
Going back a lot further, in 1924 a class A 4-4-0T was sold to "a coal mine in Siam", it was Hunslet 851 of 6/1904, Malacca Railway 2, became FMSR 71 in 1905. Does anyone have any further info on this loco, such as where exactly it went and its subsequent fate.


Let me guess, those class A 4-4-0T may ended up at Lignite Mine in Mae Mo, krabi or Kian Sa ..

[GWR]

Here's a thread that has some mention of shunters at Mae Mo Lignite mine in Lampang Province, Northern Thailand. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to mention the shunters in question, and its sole RotFaiThai photographic link has lapsed:
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/forum/showthread.php?t=612&highlight=lignite+mine

I've also posted this thread in the SRT subforum to try and grab more attention, so you may want to follow this link for future comment on this subject. One reply has already been received:
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/forum/showthread.php?p=19604#post19604

[GWR]

http://www.ktmrailwayfan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2889&highlight=

Found some photos of Malayan Railway during ww2. Don't know where the photos taken. Maybe some experts here can shed some lights.

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/4708/rsxs4.jpg

Damaged station - could be Ipoh?

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/8912/m12pe7.jpg

Crossing. Notice army trucks in front.
Regards
Shaharom Ahmad
Malaya Historical Group - Researcher

Is it a truck on rails of some sort, pulling wagons of troops. Not clear!

Wiz

During WWII when IJA had given 4 Northern Malay States to Thailand in August 1943, IJA made a traffic agreement for RSR to run the trains to 4 malay state as follows:


1. IJA Special traint got the first priority
2. RTA (Royal Thai Army) got the second priority
3. the civilian trains got teh last priority
4. the International station had to be moved from dang besar to Sugei Pattani - takign turntable and buildign from Sugei Golok ... alogn with some facilities from Padang besar .. and RSR had to remvoe the facility of Sugei Golok to be rebuilt at Sugei Pattani
5. All parcles relatign to RTA and Royal Thai Consul had to get the red seal stamp of Kanji "Tai" .. or the parcles have to be thrown away or confisticated at Padang Besar
6. No civilian parcels from Thailand allowed to go beyond Sugei Pattani

Oh, RSR had to extended Mixed 79/80 (Hat Yai - Sugei Golok) to Tumpat when Thai Military were runnign the affairs for 4 Northern Malay states.

After officially returning the land back to British government aftere the Peace Treaty on 1 Jan 1946, RSR men had been asked to run Mixed 79/80 (Hat Yai - Sugei Golok - Tumpat) for a few months since the reconstruction of Jungle line was not done yet. However, RSR men asked British Goverment in Malayu that the passengers had to pay in British Strait Dollars instead of Banana Banknotes issued by IJA.... RSR could no longer exchange the Banana Banknotes with Thai Bath after September 1945 since the Battlefield Treasury had moved back to Thailand after transferring the authority to British Government.

REF: Department of Allied Force Cooperations, Supreme Commander Headquarter.

Note: at that time, Thai governemtn called IJA as "Allied Forces" while the US & UK Forces as "United Nation Forces".

1st pic could be Ipoh, the only station with that many platforms (I haven't been south, so could somebody tell me the platform count in Gemas?).So many clothes on the ground, they must have run lintang-pukang when the Japanese attacked.

2nd pic is of Sungai Petani with the loading ramp and railway crossing south of the station.Is that truck a loco?Here is another view from that era

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/1100/britishsgpetaniom4.jpg
[Photo also at: http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2730054690039015006mKZrOz]

The photo showing East Surreys Regiment under 11th Indian Infantry Division cycling near the crossing on the happy days during their training.

Later it was Japanese turn to ride that bicycle.

The photo match to the japanese side of the photo. Look at the arrow.

Shaharom Ahmad
MHG - Researcher

Any idea what that last comment means anyone?

[GER]

Gemas had, and still has, just 3 platforms. The old Kuala Lumpur station had/has 4 through platforms, numbered 1-4 and 2 bay platforms (un-numbered) at the north end, the west side one being used for the Kiriman Express loading/unloading dock. The new Ipoh station only has 3 platforms while the new KL Sentral station has 6 for KTM, 2 for Putra line and 2? for KLIA line.
For those of you patiently waiting for my information on old timetables, I will post them on my web-site eventually, but having spent several months away from home I now have a lot of work to do on the house first so it could be some time. The Singapore timetables were published in the Straits Times between 1903 and 1912 at irregular intervals and can be viewed in Singapore Library. It may well be worth checking old Malayan newspapers, also held in that library, to see if any Malayan timetables were published.

[GWR]

Tuesday June 17, 2008
Missing cenotaph plaques found
By CHRISTINA KOH

http://thestar.com.my/archives/2008/6/17/north/cenotaph2.jpg
[The restored cenotaph at the Ipoh Railway Station.]

FOR years, the plaques honouring was heroes of the past had been missing on the cenotaph at the railway station in Ipoh.

It took considerable searching and luck before friends led retired Batu Gajah OCPD Datuk R. Thambipillay, 79, to the Public Works Department storeroom where he retrieved them late last year.

With the plaques, Thambipillay led a committee to restore the cenotaph, which included a new plaque erected together with the old brass and marble ones, on last Wednesday.

The war memorial, erected in 1927, now pays tribute to those who died defending the nation in two world wars, the Emergency (1948-1960), the Confrontation (1962-1965) and the Insurgency (1972-1990).

http://thestar.com.my/archives/2008/6/17/north/cenotaph.jpg
[All Photos: The Star - Akeh exchanging greetings with British High Commission defence adviser Col Paul Edwards (third right) during the memorial service.]

“They (the department) must have kept the plaques there for safekeeping,” he told reporters after the first memorial service honouring the fallen at the cenotaph in decades.

Over 100 people attended the occasion, including British High Commissioner to Malaysia Boyd McCleary, Indian High Commission defence adviser Col P.K. Siwach, Australian High Commission group captain Philip Lavelle, war veterans and students.

Among those recognised for the first time were the orang asli who had served during the Emergency.

One of them was Akeh Gadung, who was 16 years old when he first trained British SAS soldiers in jungle survival from 1950 to 1959.

“I remember many of the soldiers were young and some used to jump when they saw every single thing in the jungle! They were so afraid,” the 75-year-old laughed.

“I taught them how to navigate the jungle, guided and showed them how to find food from the plants and animals there.”

Akeh, who was awarded the Pingat Pangkuan Negara medal in 1956, expressed gratefulness that he and fellow orang asli of the Senoi Praaq unit were remem-bered for their struggles against communist terrorists.

Another veteran, retired Regimental Sergeant-Major Middy Campbell, from the Royal British Legion’s parachute regiment, talked about his experience “chasing after the CTs” in the impenetrable jungle.

“Except for one or two, we never found any of them!” joked Campbell who is the chairman of the Royal British Legion’s Chonburi branch in Thailand.

“The jungle was so thick that at one time, an RAF plane full of ammunition crash landed just 500 yards from a CT camp, and the enemy didn’t even know it,” he added.

Perak Tourism Action Council general manager Rahmad Ithnin later told reporters that the council would work with Thambipillay on possibly including the memorial service into their official tourism calendar.

Thambipillay thanked retired Ipoh mayor Datuk Mohamad Rafiai Moktar for approving the erection of the plaques and installation of the new one on the cenotaph.

Earlier in his speech, McCleary said he was pleased to be part of a service that also happened to mark the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Emergency.

“I heard that at least one-tenth of the planters lost their lives, which was a heavy price to pay. It was a price paid by both civilians and officers, they made the ultimate sacrifice,” he added.

Asst Comm Zulkapli Ahmad represented Perak police chief Datuk Zulkifli Abdullah as the guest-of-honour.

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/6/17/north/21549314&sec=North

[GWR]

Malaysia’s Jungle Train Loses its Trees
Jed Yoong
30 June 2008
Historic track still runs but deforestation radically alters the view

Just before sunrise, Malaysia’s predawn sky is painted in dreamy hues of purple and pink. A train chugs southwards across paddy fields from Kota Bahru to Gua Musang — stopping at some stations that are no more than a wooden shack and a derelict signboard, occasionally picking up traders with bags of local food and vegetables from the jungle. A 70-year-old woman with a head of curly, shiny white hair in a shirt and batik sarong hauls five bags of homemade tapioca chips onto the train for sale at Kuala Krai, two hours away. At other stations, elderly women in headscarves and robes travel alone, selling their wares. Schoolchildren hop on and off. Young guys in jeans loiter around, flirting with young women in headscarves, quite unperturbed by the threat of khalwat, the Islamic prohibition against close proximity between unmarried persons of the opposite sex.

This is Malaysia’s Jungle Train, rumbling 526 km through remote rural towns down the country’s east-coast states of Kelantan, Pahang and then swinging west towards Negeri Sembilan. The landscape in Kelantan shifts between paddy fields, water buffaloes, grazing sheep, small banana and sugar cane plantations and giant palm oil and rubber estates. But there is very little left of the jungle. The world's oldest tropical rainforest, which dates back 130 million years, is nearly gone from this northern state bordering Thailand.

"When we first logged here, we could find huge trees. The biggest that I've seen is about 90 (inches in diameter). Now we just have some good trees, very few grade A’s and mostly just low quality wood," a logger who has been in the industry for over 30 years told Asia Sentinel on a cleared hilltop in the jungle around Gua Musang, the state's logging capital.

Single-track trains depart as early as three in the morning from Tumpat, the end of the line on the east coast, still running on an old token system to prevent collision. Tokens are passed in leather pouches attached to a hoop, with each section assigned a token that is passed back at the end of the section. If a train arrives at a station and the token isn’t there, it can't pass through till the train coming from the opposite direction has arrived with it. It's a pretty foolproof, if antiquated, safety mechanism but trains are usually delayed as they wait for faster express trains to pass through.

The coaches feature old, worn seats and toilets that make using the jungle for relief a better option. But the air is fresh and cool in the morning and the scenes of rural life enchanting. People are friendly and curious. They are happy to share bits of history about the train and the state in the local Kelantanese dialect or Malay. Some even speak a smattering of English and combined with do-it-yourself sign language, some level of communication may be possible for outsiders.

While forest covers about 60 percent of the state the train passes through, only 20 percent is still virgin rainforest, according to the State Forestry Department's management plan for 2006 to 2015. A department map also suggests that most of the lush forest on the lowlands, with thick canopies and trees that can grow to over 30 meters in height, are gone. Now most of the unlogged permanent forest estates are in the highlands. The rest lie in the National Park, south of the state. It's unlikely that the original rainforest with its diverse and complex eco-system can ever be replaced as trees are harvested after about 30 years, far too early.

Over the last five decades, in the name of poverty eradication, the government has aggressively pursued agro-conversion turning forests into palm oil and rubber estates, which cover about 13 percent, or 4.2 million hectares, of the country's total land mass. Oil palms, which are productive in as little as two years, are preferred over rubber, which can only be tapped after about five. Each productive year lost translates into billions of ringgit as the crude palm oil (CPO) price hit an all-time high of RM4, 486 per metric ton in March but is expected to drop to about RM3, 000 in the second half of the year.

Perilously, logged primary forest is classified as secondary forest, which allows it to be cleared for agriculture. A report by Lian Pin Koh and David S. Wilcove of Princeton University published this March said that over the 15 years between 1990 and 2005, 55 to 59 percent of oil palm expansion in Malaysia occurred at the expense of forests, based on an analysis of land-cover data compiled by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. “Any future expansion of oil palm agriculture should be restricted to pre-existing cropland or degraded habitats,” they suggested.

Environmentalists also charge that conversion may just be a convenient cover for logging as some cleared lands remain uncultivated for many years before being used for other development projects. Others say draining and burning peatland is creating carbon emissions, and toxic chemicals from fertilizers and pesticides are seeping into rivers and other water sources.

Ed Matthew of Malaysia’s environmental NGO Friends of the Earth, told The Telegraph last year: “While it is true that palm oil is one of the most productive vegetable oils and that significant carbon savings can be made if the crop is grown sustainably compared to the use of conventional fossil fuel, the reality is that the Malaysian government has plans to convert over 1 million hectares of forest into oil palm plantations. Such forest land conversion, which is likely to include the conversion of peat forests, threatens to create substantial global warming emissions.”

Instead of harassing producers, Greenpeace is confronting manufacturers that consume the most palm oil. In April, 60 volunteers, many dressed as orangutans, the endangered great ape species that lives in Borneo's forests, "occupied" and "overran" production lines in a Unilever factory in Port Sunlight near Liverpool while workers entering its headquarters by the Thames River in London were bombarded with jungle noises and the “orangutans,” according to a statement on its website.

Last week, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said Malaysia will stop clearing forest for oil palm cultivation, restricting it to areas designated as agricultural land, which includes logged forest. “We don't have to reduce the protected forests to increase new oil palm plantations. With more effective management of the plantations and new technologies, production can go up by 30 percent,” he told local media.

Chin Fah Kui, Plantation, Industries and Commodities minister, added, "There is still land available for agricultural expansion. There is no need for permanent forest reserves to be used for this purpose. The government in any case will not encourage deforestation to obtain more land for agriculture. But land currently designated for agriculture or not utilized for the planting of specific crops, can be converted for the cultivation of oil palm."

Meanwhile the Jungle Train, which once hauled tourists and locals alike through one of the world’s most scenic rainforests, now finds less greenery on virtually every trip. Instead it passes through degraded forest and over increasingly silted and polluted rivers.

In some areas, the ghost of the glorious rainforest haunts the landscape a lone towering tree with an umbrella-shaped crown. Rivers, once clear and thriving with life, are yellow. The environmental damage caused by decades of siltation and rubbish may cost billions to reverse, if possible at all.
http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1293&Itemid=34