Sarawak Government Railway

 

In 1915 the Sarawak Government Railway had been opened to the 3rd Mile and was in due course extended to the 13th. In its heyday there were five trains in either direction propelled by three locomotives and observing a speed which precluded any possibility of mishap. There was an ugly attempt at sabotage in 1917 when some miscreant spread fat on the rails at the 7th Mile incline and nearly brought traffic to a standstill, but in June, 1920 occurred Sarawak's only railway catastrophe, when the up 11.30 a.m. passenger train collided head-on with a down ballast train outside the Kuching Central Station. The guard of the ballast train was badly shaken, and the two locomotives were only with difficulty *disentangled.

 

 Above: A Peckett 4-4-0T at Batu Sa Puloh with a mixed train for Kuching.

Below: An 0-4-0ST with a ballast train from the 10th mile quarry at the 7th mile station.  Courtesy UK National Archives.

Above: Bulan

Manufacturer

Works

Year

Gauge

Type

Cylinders

Drivers

Name

 

Bagnall

1756

2/1905

3' 0"

0-4-0ST

6" x 9"

1' 67/8"

IDIOT

To Lysaght's Scunthorpe Steelworks >1912. Regauged by Peckett & resold to Borneo Co. for Sarawak, 1913.

Peckett

1284

1912

Metre

0-4-0ST

 

 

JEAN

 

Peckett

1362

1914

Metre

4-4-0T

 

 

BULAN

 

Peckett

1363

1914

Metre

4-4-0T

 

 

BINTANG

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next article is extracted from the Industrial Railway Society as are the two pictures which follow.

SARAWAK GOVERNMENT RAILWAY

This metre gauge railway which started off as a passenger line but seems to have finished up as an industrial one! Track-laying began in 1911 with a "light locomotive" quaintly named IDIOT, and although twenty-seven miles were surveyed only ten were built. Three Peckett locomotives arrived later - a small 0−4−0 side* tank, JEAN, and two 10−ton 4−4−0 side tanks, BULAN (moon) and BINTANG (star). (These Peckett locomotives were, respectively, 1284 of 1912, 1362 of 1914, and 1363 of 1914. The former had in fact worked as a 3ft gauge locomotive at John Lysaght's steelworks at Scunthorpe, Lines., from June 1912 to March 1913; it was regauged by Peckett and resold in September 1913 to the Bristol Wagon & Carriage Works Co. Ltd. for The Borneo Co. Ltd. - Hon. Eds.) The official opening took place on 1st August 1915 but by January 1931, when the third Rajah ordered its general closure, the Railway had lost no less than 1,063,760 dollars (at 2s 4d to the dollar). It was used on and off (the Japanese took it over during the Second World War) for hauling stone from the quarry at Mile 10. Diesel locomotives were employed latterly, and the final closure came in 1947. What was left of the line was sold for scrap in Singapore in 1959. The passenger rolling stock (1st and 2nd class with wooden seats) came second-hand from Burma, and the goods wagons second-hand from the Federated Malay States Railway.

    There is a story (probably apocryphal) told about the second Rajah, who evolved the scheme, that when in England on leave in 1907 he approached the Board of the Great Western Railway for advice. However, when the Chief Engineer heard that the narrow gauge railway was to be only ten miles long initially, he suggested that the Rajah would be better off going to Gamages!

*Peckett works list shows 1284 as an 0-4-0ST named Jean sold to Lysaght in 1912 then back to Peckett who sold it to the Borneo Co for Sarawak.

 

Page updated 13th November 2017.

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