Locomotives International

The railways of Hong Kong are not so extensive, but have a fascinating history. There are no natural deposits of iron or coal to provoke the need for railways, and waterways provided adequate transport, so railways came rather belatedly to the colony. In 1905 the Hong Kong government agreed with the Chinese government to build a railway from Kowloon to the border at Lo Wu. Here the line would meet end on with a Chinese railway line to Canton, (now called Guangzhou). KCR trains would run right through to Canton, up to the Communist take over in China. It would be standard gauge, but with an enlarged 18’ loading gauge. The southern terminus is at Kowloon, beside the ferry terminus for Hong Kong island and the deepwater quay for the…

All pictures taken on a David Rodgers steam railtour Feb/March 2001. Several of the group were dismayed to find the train, that we were to travel and live on, newly painted blue, rather than the classic Soviet green. The Ukrainians were quite proud of it!…

For many decades the preservation of railway heritage in Chile sparked the interest of almost nobody, least of all Chilean State Railways (EFE). Hence, using the case of locomotives to illustrate the phenomenon, of EFE´s early engines, none were saved. The distribution by year of build of preserved steam locomotives is skewed towards more modern ones compared to that of all steam locomotives that there ever were. And, moreover, by far the majority of those preserved were withdrawn after 1950. See figure 1. Wagons and carriages had alternative uses and hence a few of them lived on for a decade or two after retirement, but LI deals with locomotives, so we shall limit ourselves to these. In spite of the institutional in-difference, from the mid-1960s onwards, one representative of several…

In a diverse portfolio of machines synonymous with New Zealand’s timber industry, the author highlights some finds from his trips to the Antipodes. In an article which is made up from a variety of individual chapters, these machines are mainly what fell in front of his camera and do not form a definitive list. Plenty more can be found in New Zealand orientated books and magazines as well as David Maciulaitis’ New Zealand Rolling Stock Register (industrial internal combustion locomotives section), which can be found via the Federation of Railway Organizations of New Zealand (FRONZ) website. In alphabetical order (well almost), they are as follows: A&G Price Whilst visiting the Tauranga Historic Village on New Zealand’s North Island the author came across what is thought to be the last of…

Contributions for this section should be sent to the Editorial Office, with the following exceptions: • Southern Africa – John Middleton, c/o Editorial Office. Email: johnmiddleton3401@gmail.com • South America – Lionel Price, 9, Liverpool Road West, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY11 1PE. Email: jldprice@btinternet.com • Spain & Portugal – Joan Carles Salmerón, c/o Editorial Office. Email: cet@terminus.cat Contributions which are primarily photographic in nature should all be sent to the Editorial Office to give the best choice of material for covers etc. Similarly historical articles and features should be sent to the Editor. The Editor’s contact details are inside the front cover. AFRICA BOTSWANA The state owned nickel mine BCL at Selebi Phikwe which has lain moribund since its abrupt closure in 2016 has been put up for sale by liquidators appointed…

Overview of the Langbian Railway The 84km long Langbian Railway is a branch line from the trans-Indochina mainline in central Vietnam (Protectorate of Annam). The junction for this branch line was at Tourcham / Tháp Chàm, which is 322km from Saigon and close to Phan Rang on the coast. Its terminus was at Dalat on the Langbian plateau (+-1500m). The Langbian Railway consisted of a coastal plain section (40.4km) and mountain sections (43.4km) with three discreet sections of rack and pinion working (8.2km, 5.5km and 1.4km; total = 15.1km). The longest rack section (8.2km) was between Krongpha and Bellevue which took the line up to the Da Nhim valley; the maximum slope was 120mm/m (12.1%). The next rack section (5.5km) took the line from the Da Nhim valley at Dran…