Kayden's Wheel Reports: Great Leisure Heritage Rail
Kayden's Wheel Reports: Great Leisure Heritage Rail
Editor and Technical Consultant: The Steampunk Savant (https://steampunksavant.com/)
MANUFACTURING PROGRESS | STEAM LOCOMOTIVE 564.25
(From Great Leisure Heritage Rail's YouTube Channel)
But recently, the fate of one of these is being changed, by a company I had previously doubted no less.
(My Personal Photo of 562.04 'Dungun', plinthed at Bukit Mertajam Railway Station, 25/11/23)
Built in 1939 by the North British Locomotive Works of Glasgow, Scotland, 562.04 'Dungun' had sat on display initially at Butterworth Railway Station before being moved once more to Bukit Mertajam following her retirement from active service under KTMB (Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad, the national railway operator of Malaysia), under the guise of her scrapped classmate 564.25 'Kuala Lumpur'. I had the honour of visiting her before her most recent movement in late 2023 where I took endless photographs of her condition. Many of my friends and acquaintances from railway circles worldwide were intrigued about the locomotive, and was appalled by the condition she was in.
(Photo provided by Mohammad Amirul Hafizi, Head Technical Engineer at Great Leisure Heritage Rail Berhad. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohd-amirul-hafizi-070465257/)
Said movement happened in early 2024, when the old girl was moved to DS Rail Mobility's (The parent company to Great Leisure Heritage Rail) headquarters in Seremban. I have been told that the restoration of the locomotive is expected to take 5-6 months.
It certainly will be an achievement indeed when 'Dungun' moves under her own power once more, as we have had no operational steam since the 1990s, when the last operational steam locomotive, 564.36 'Temerloh' required an extensive overhaul to continue operating railtours and our last qualified steam driver hung up his hat for the final time, with the skill of operating and maintaining the old giants not being passed down to the next generation.
Once completed, Dungun is expected to haul luxury trains from Kuala Lumpur Railway Station to Butterworth, ironically, her initial resting place upon retirement.
My Personal Photos of Kuala Lumpur and Butterworth Railway Stations (2024 and 2023 respectively)
With a stopover at Ipoh Railway Station, presumably to refuel the locomotive with oil and water, the roughly 340 km journey is expected to take 6 hours one way (Departing KL at 9 AM and expectedly reaching Butterworth at 3 PM).
Tickets are now on sale on Great Leisure Heritage Rail's official website. It also contains more information for further reading. (https://www.greatleisureheritagerail.com/)
My Personal Thoughts and Concerns
As a steam locomotive enthusiast who has been infatuated with them almost since birth, my excitement for the project has never been extinguished since the day I learnt about it at DS Rail Mobility's Booth at the Rail Technology Expo in 2022. I had my doubts about the project initially, but the recent move of 562.04 'Dungun' has proven to me there is at least a degree of competence amongst the company.
Great Leisure Heritage Rail is receiving technical support from Steamrail Victoria, who have been consistently running mainline steam excursions on the Victorian Railways mainline since 1965. My first time riding behind a genuine steam locomotive was in 2018 behind New South Wales Government Railway No.3526 in Sydney, Australia. I must say, the Australians are highly competent in steam locomotive preservation and operation. Additionally considering their relative close proximity to us, it is fitting that they are advising them on how steam should be run and operated, especially on busy mainline networks like KTMB.
(Post from Great Leisure Heritage Rail's Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvYo-XEJyJJ/)
I am slightly unsure as to the Victorians' familiarity with the locomotive in question, for she uses 'Caprotti Valve Gear', which utilises a rotating shaft with cams to drive the valves as opposed to the linkages most often used. I will however, give them the benefit of the doubt as to quote my friend, Mason Buskirk from the Japanese Railway Society and a fellow steam enthusiast: "Looking at the mechanisms of a steam locomotive give us an idea of how they work, even if we know nothing about them." Thus with sound mechanical competence, I'm sure our own local engineers will be able to navigate the various aspects of the locomotive quite well.
5-6 months is also a rather brief period for a restoration of this scale though. Other friends of mine involved in steam locomotive restoration have said the time frame is a tad 'optimistic', especially in a nation like ours with no qualified workshops and personnel specialising in projects like these. However, it is not unheard of.
In 1975, Reading 2101, an American steam locomotive that had languished in a scrapyard for about 11 years, was purchased and restored in 30 days by Ross Rowland for the American Freedom Train, a special exhibition train taking artifacts of American history across the country. Although she needed further repairs along the way, she did exceptionally well hauling the special cars across the parts of the country she was needed, as her colleague on the endeavour, Southern Pacific 4449 (Herself impressively restored in 3 Months) was found to be too tall to fit under the tunnels in the North Eastern states.
Thus, if GLHR has qualified and passionate people working on the locomotive day in, day out and the right sort of assistance from outside contractors and consultants, we Malaysians could be looking forward to a '200 Day Miracle' of our own!
Apart from that, I do wish DS Rail Mobility, Great Leisure Heritage Rail and other parties involved all the best. My childhood dream was to restore the old Port Dickson branch line and have it be our own local heritage railway, similar to the ones in Britain and Australia. I'm glad there are now likeminded individuals who share my dream to revive steam in our part of the world that has been unnecessarily deprived of it. To those reading who are involved, directly or indirectly, I wish you all the best. Although, please do keep us updated and share updates on Dungun's restoration progress to keep the hype up! I am counting down the days when I can witness the steam from her stack, her cylinders pounding a beat through Kuala Lumpur Railway Station and her victorious whistle shrilling across the countryside announcing her return to the rails. It will be a glorious sight me and other enthusiasts never thought we would witness again in this part of the world.
Once more, I am not affiliated in any way with Great Leisure Heritage Rail and am not receiving funds for talking about them. I am merely doing this out of support and passion for steam locomotives both in my country and worldwide.
Thank you for reading!
Links to my own socials:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaydens_railway/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKxaDAZqoLainnjDH_KC75w
Hello, reading the article on the KTM steam locomotive brought back pleasant memories for me. In 1988, I was the KTM Regional Manager at Butterworth. That loco was brought from.Prai on rail and off loaded to a temporary track from Butterworth Station to the sight across the station. And there it sat till it's movement to Bukit Mertajam. Sadly, we did not look after it. But when moved from the Prai Loco Shed in 1988, it did have a fresh coat of black paint. These days,in retirement, I write railway themed books. Have written 3 books so far. Anyway, thank you for bringing back fond memories of the day we moved it from Butterworth Station to it's spot outside the Butterworth railway HQ Building.
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