Extract Trip Report B.Seiler farrail.net/ Burma at the end of 2013: The Burma Mines first part Burma Mines Railway: Namtu Another successful tour to Namtu! The first three days we had some trouble with the weather, but the rain washed the air and during the sunny hours of these days we enjoyed amazing clear visibility. The last two days we had sunshine from wall to wall. 2014: 100 years! In Namtu the situation was different. They faced severe rain in the dry season. Five small sections of the track between Tiger Camp and E.R. Valley were damaged and couldn’t even be passed by a railcar. We asked them to repair as much as they could, but they replied they can’t do anything before the rain stops. Eventually it stopped raining, but the time wasn’t sufficient to repair all the broken sections. But they managed it, at least, to the second reversal and the pagoda. From there we had to take a railcar. The light railcar was able to go up to E.R. Valley. As the railcar in Bawdwin is broken and couldn’t take us we had to walk from here. At the first possible point a road truck took us to the mine and the concentrator plant. Another mishap happened on the first day. The steam roller was ready to move early on. As we passed it in the morning on our way to the station it was already in steam. About an hour later I got the information that they had run into a rock and damaged the steering seriously. We skipped the planned parallel run of the steam roller and the steam train that day. As we passed the steam roller again while going up to our guesthouse, the mounting for the roller had been taken off and taken to the workshop where they were trying to repair it. They welded the three broken pieces together and added a massive metal sheet cover over the cast part. It didn’t look nice, but the roller could be moved, on the very last day of our visit, under its own steam. The last night before we could use it, they worked under the supervision of the general manager until 23.00 hrs, just to make our group happy and satisfied. Since our last visit, the situation of the railway had become depressing. Although the new investor let them work the track through to Walla Gorge, he’d decided to use trucks for the lead and zinc transport from Bawdwin to Namtu. They use the dry season to transport most of it as, during the wet season, the road sometimes doesn’t allow trucks to run over it. The first 14 miles of the 37 miles long road to Manton are paved, but have some steep gradients and the last three miles are not paved yet. The main reason for not using the railway for ore transport was the severe monsoon damage of a high dam in E.R. Valley. A repair of this massive dam would have been too expensive. However, the concrete sleepers to repair the line to Bawdwin are in Namtu and the railway manager still has hopes that he’ll receive an order to carry out the major repair at E.R Valley. The daily railcar service for the locals had been given up soon after our last visit. Nowadays, the railway only runs a pay train every two weeks, a railcar which delivers the money to the employees in Wallah Gorge and Tiger Camp. In addition there is some freight transport, for instance, stone from the river bed above Lopah to Namtu. In Namtu the stone went on a truck and then to a road construction site. Bamboo also came by train from Lopah to Namtu and then continues by road. They’ve built a new smelter near the site of the old smelter (the one which was bombed to the ground by the Royal Air Force in WWII), some two miles along the way to Namyao. They used the railway to transport some construction materials up there although the smelter has no rail connection and is not visible from the railway. The line is usable and obviously in a good shape. We paid for the repair of the line to the old smelter in Namtu. This was the smelter where no.13 shunted wagons until 2000. Since 2009 no train has run up to the smelter. We were told that the smelter is still in working order, but recruiting staff to run it wouldn’t be easy as most of the original staff are now working in the new smelter, elsewhere or retired. We were the first group ever to run a steam train up to the smelter. I tried this about a decade ago, but our loco failed to haul the two wagons up to the smelter. This time we paid a four digit sum of money (in Pounds – not in Kyats) to repair the track. It took us a good while up there to bring two points back to life, but we got the desired shots. After it, a rail cracked and the loco derailed with all axles. With the help of diesel DC 303 they re-railed the loco within an hour. It went back to the depot and was repaired there within half an hour, so we could run our intended afternoon charter train to Lopah. While shunting in front of the fantastic industrial backdrop of the smelter we always thought, “wouldn’t it be great to bring a Tattoo class loco up here?” I made a first attempt in 2007 to overhaul the Tattoo which is on a plinth on Yangon Mahlwagon, but the ministry of railways refused even though we offered him one of the Tattoos (14 or 16) which are plinthed in Namtu. Those Namtu ones are lacking many parts, but the Mahlwagon one is complete. The chief of the workshop said that he has all the necessary drawings to complete one of the Tattoos. A major problem will be parts which need brass, like injectors or safety valves. Also water gauges are an issue. In addition, they would need new cranks for the axles, something which is almost impossible to re-model in Burma. However, the chief of the workshop was almost sure that he would be able to bring one Tattoo back to life if financial support was granted. The Tattoos were in use at the Smelter until 1975, while those in Namyao had been replaced already by 1970. There was also a Tattoo in Wallah Gorge, but withdrawn early on. The railway manager wasn’t sure when, he thinks around 1965. The shunting service in the last years, after dieselisation of the main line, was carried out by nos.34 and 40 (Huxley class) in Wallah Gorge, by no.13 in the old smelter and no.42 in Namyao. Until 1982 the Huxleys made at least one turn to Bawdwin and Marmion Shaft a day. Between Wallah Gorge and Bawdwin they hauled general goods, mine equipment and wood for the mines. From Bawdwin to Marmion Shaft the load was wood and furnace oil for the mines. The wood came from a sawmill in Namtu and one in Bawdwin. In 1982 diesels took over. From then they also transported ore concentrate from the concentrator plant next to the Marmion Shaft to Namtu/Namyao. The ore from the deep shaft was always delivered by electric locos to Wallah Gorge. The GM said once they achieve their target in concentrating ore they’re thinking about rebuilding the dam in E.R. Valley. The locals in Bawdwin and Wallah Gorge want their railway service back. But it used to be a free of charge service. It’s unlikely that a resumed service will be free of charge unless the ore traffic can be re-started. And this seems to be unlikely in the near future because the deep mine can’t be operated. On the one hand the pumps are not working, hence everything below level six is under water, secondly they can’t buy the necessary mining wood any more and third no electric loco is in working order. There is one they want to work on. They’ll bring a wheel to a foundry in Namtu where they are able to cast a new one. But this solves only one problem … They have 13 diesel locos, six of them serviceable, three under repair and four scrap. After the initial dieselisation by O&K diesels in 1978 they bought two German Diema locos in 1993 and one Chinese diesel in 1995, although this youngest diesel, they’re not happy with. Their best diesel is DC 303, fitted with a new engine. Only one serviceable O&K still has its original engine.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 09:30:22 +0000
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