1977-2022-SE.Asia-railmotors-RSmith.jpg

Replacing older posts, with an extra photo added.

Column 1.
a. Beaufort - Kota Kinabalu (Sabah, Malaysia). Railmotor. Mon.12.7.93.
b. Hat Yai (Thailand). KTM railmotor RC28108 from Butterworth. Tues.20.12.77. My memory is that the service connected with an overnight train from KL, and connected into an overnight train to Bangkok (& vv). Now it is through carriages from Butterworth, attaching to the most important of several overnight trains at Hat Yai. The overnight from KL continues to Hat Yai. Last time I rode, the two trains crossed at the border station (Padang Besar).
c. Thazi (Myanmar): Railmotor to Myingyan. Fri.25.9.87. (Roderick Smith)
d. Toongou (Myanmar), AFAIK somewhere between Rangoon (now Yingon) and Mandalay. A homebuilt railmotor with trailers, for local travel, converted from a Hino TH truck, made over 1950-68. Sat.26.9.87. (Roderick Smith)

Column 2:
a. Tenom (Sabah, Malaysia). Railmotors. Mon.12.7.93.
There was no road to Tenom. Motor cars came in on flatwagons in mixed trains. There was a frequent service of small railmotors at a premium fare, changing into larger ones at Beaufort. I don't know what happened when the river section was damaged by flooding.
b. Krai (Kelantan), on the Gemas - Tumpat east-coast line (Malaysia). Armoured railmotor. Tues.27.12.87. AW27 hints that there are at least 26 others.
c. Myanmar: Railmotor makers.
d. Yone Zin: Near-new four-wheel railbus with four-wheel trailer. That is a Hino logo, with altered lettering.
e. Mahlaing (Myanmar) Thazi -Myingyan railmotor. Fri.25.9.87. (Roderick Smith)

Column 3:
ab. Tuntang (old spelling Toentang, Java Indonesia): Chartered railmotor set from Ambarawa. Tues.22.7.08. (Roderick Smith)
c. 221202F-Cambodia-PhnomPenh-railmotor-RoderickSmith. I don't know the source of these.
d. An unidentified halt 1.5 h into the 4 h Badung - Pursong section (Phnom Penh - Battambang, Cambodia): Metre-gauge local railmotors, run privately. Tues.24.12.03. (Roderick Smith)

Thazi is an important junction on the main Yangon - Mandalay line. On this holiday I travelled on branches to the east and to the west.
Florian Grupp: 'Have you seen more of these railmotors in 1987? Initially I thought that Myanma Railways only started to build self-constructed railcars in the 1990s numbered as LBRTE.xx. It looks like I‘m completely wrong. The only railcars in service before the 1990s known to me were the Talbot and Ganz-Mavag railcars in the early 1960s which were running on Yangon Circle Line'.
See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hino_TH-series
and
www.hcvc.com.au/forum/OldTruck/12981-re-myanmar-trucks?st...

Re 1d, it doesn't get much more basic than this, but the vehicles do run on rails, do have a motor, and carry passengers (and parcels) for payment.
I suspect that improved roads have made them redundant. There was a tourist operation near Battambang, but it was evicted when the railway was upgraded to connect through to Thailand again.
There are lots of videos on youtube, search on Cambodia Bamboo Railway. Here is just one:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilJAczgfmHk

Taken on: March 21, 2023

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Malaysia

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