The narrow gauge line at Namtu, with it’s quaint rail lorries, lovely steam and interesting diesel locomotives, friendly people, and wonderful setting is a fabulous railway to visit and ride. Moreover, it probably counts as some of the rarest railway mileage to ride in the world. Visiting it is a delightful experience, but it has some challenges, particularly as traffic declines on the line and maintenance is curtailed. In this report, I want to tell you some of the background on the trip, but remember, we had a superb time and took more pictures than any film or digital budget would have predicted or allowed!
This is a not a chronological report, and it was even not my intention to make it so. If you weren’t been on the tour you might have some problems to following me until you have read the full report. However, the most important point is that except for the 19 participants who where the lucky ones (more are impossible because of the limited accommodation opportunities – very British in the local, wooden guesthouse and very simple too – in Namtu) you missed one of the greatest railway adventures in the world. An adventure that is unlikely to be repeated very often. It doesn’t look good for the great little railway. One reason is the condition of the track. Till now the railway, as well as the guesthouse, had an indescribable flair. But how long will it will last is more than uncertain. Chinese businessmen are already involved.
There is not much to add to the in-depth report from 2006. The number of trains between Namyao and Namtu has been reduced to two or three a month, the number of wagons per train is down to only two. The track condition is in places dangerously bad. On our trip from Namyao to Namtu we derailed five times, one time seriously.
It looks very much like the line to Namyao is to be closed soon. Only the section to the quarry seems to remain open (as they need the stones in Namtu). However, the road between Namtu and Lashio is in a very adventurous state as well, and I compare it to the other Burmese roads, which aren’t good at all. The second road connection to Namtu was washed away during the last Monsoon, so only the ultra-bumpy connection to Lashio remains. To get an impression how bad the road is: our bus drivers refused to drive this road (so we needed to arrange a bus from Namtu on the spot) – and Burmese bus drivers are used to huge potholes on the so called roads!
However, they still invest money in their railway, and actually in the steam loco no. 13, which will get new boiler tubes and tube plates. But even if you’re willing to invest money, it’s not easy at all. Although we confirmed our visit months in advance they sent the boiler just two weeks before our arrival for inspection and overhaul/re-tubing to Mandalay. Namtu can’t handle these heavy repairs any more. So it was impossible to reach our target to go with no. 13 up to Bawdwin. The ministry of mining, anyhow, confirmed that they will re-assemble the locomotive so that we could at least take a picture of the cold but complete locomotive. Just a fee of $200 US would do it. Ok, I agreed. But when we saw the locomotive, the boiler was missing! Of course, it was in Mandalay, they said. In Namtu no one knew anything about the re-assembling $200, they just went ahead with the order to fix the side tanks on the frame. So we could take a picture of a frame-gear-wheels-cab-skeleton only. But we didn’t just spend the $200. Beforehand we donated a reasonable amount to the ministry of mines to repair the boiler, and more to repair it in time. Requests for getting back some money because they didn’t deliver what we paid for lead to a dead end. Not only this: on my invoice appeared another $200 US as “tip” to the minister of mines (until today it’s not clear for what, as everything had been arranged the official way) and another additional $165 for the flight for the person who brought the money from Yangon to Naypyidaw (the new capital). All together this visit to Namtu was the most expensive of all and we saw less than ever before. This doesn’t mean that we took fewer pictures or had to wait long times doing nothing. The film fraction needed to check their fresh film stock for the rest of the tour carefully after these three busy days; even some of the pixel fans approached their limits of memory cards!
There will be a strange uneasy feeling when I put Namtu on an itinerary again. Doubtless it will appear there, because the railway is gorgeous, and more than worth another visit. The risks are there as well ... One could say it increases the challenge and adventure.
The track condition had gotten much worse compared to our last visit, especially close to Namyao. It seems they want to close this section rather soon: no maintenance, many derailments and almost no traffic. The traffic to Wallah Gorge is unchanged, the number of rail lorry services to Bawdwin as well. However, track maintenance is lacking there as well, our loco derailed shortly beyond Tiger Camp because a rail just laid itself on the side under the load of a locomotive. As it looked serious we needed to leave the loco there and continued by rail lorry only. Once no. 13 is back from the boiler repair they’ll use it for sure on the section to Bawdwin, the first engineer promised to me, which would be great. Well, we’ll see.
I guess the first engineer found our tour weird, at least the whole day we went on the almost ruined track from Namyao to Namtu it seemed he spend it praying in a temple. And because the 2-6-2 no. 42 was and is running on its last leg (for this loco we also donated some money for technical aid which probably got stuck in the offices of the ministry of mines) they thought it a good idea not to overstretch the capability of the locomotive and operate it downhill – tender first with a loaded train. So they brought it to Wallah Gorge before we had arrived. Superb! In a nocturnal discussion I was able to re-arrange their whole unsuitable program, and made it my program again. But for bringing back the steam locomotive from Wallah Gorge they needed a diesel loco to pick it up. And a diesel loco swallows diesel. Ok, another $60 for purchasing diesel fuel. Oh, I forgot, some green backs changed pockets for the extra night shift as well. Because they needed seven people to bring the loco down.
So the second morning no. 42 was there and under steam – better to say covered in a cloud of steam. This loco seems to have no glands at all, like last time. Obviously more steam left the cylinders than the chimney, without being used for tractive effort. But this was only one problem; as soon as the loco driver opened the regulator, the pressure gauge above the fire box went anti-clockwise. From a start with popping safety valves until the loco came to a complete halt with fully opened regulator and full gear, it moved only 200 yards! Then they had to raise steam for ten to twenty minutes. The stuff which went into the firebox can hardly to be described as coal. It produced a lot of cinders, but the caloric value was below firewood. The main reason for the miserably failure of the steam production may be something else as well: it is very unlikely that they ever washed out the boiler. A view into the firebox revealed thick layers of things, which shouldn’t be around the tubes and the side walls. Therefore I guess they didn’t do anything at all which could raise the boiler’s ability to produce steam. With this sad vehicle we crawled from runpast to runpast before we ordered a diesel loco to bank us in between the photo stops. They didn’t argue about it, they even admitted that the loco was in a lousy shape. Otherwise they would not have born the idea of a downhill operation. For the additional diesel locomotive they didn’t ask for an additional payment, which makes the railway a notch more lovely.
After we finished our morning program with a bit of delay (because we needed to wait for raising steam) we set off for Wallah Gorge. We didn’t go far: in the night, as they brought back our steam loco from Wallah Gorge, they derailed near Junction and left the track in a condition which didn’t allow any further trains. So we needed to stop in front the broken rails and had to wait until the track gang repaired it. Why the track gang didn’t solve the problem in the morning remains a mystery. This day they even didn’t run the regular ore trains, because the track wasn’t repaired. This cost us precious time, and finally some clouds appeared which caused additional waiting time for runpasts. We finally reached Lopah as the shadows of the mountains crept up the valley in late afternoon. If this wasn’t be sufficient, they tried to get the cinders from the grate. They tried hard, but all attempts failed to get rid of the cinder cake in the firebox, so almost no air could passed through the grate. They expected to need some 20 more minutes to clean the grate. This was when we gave up, took our pushing diesel and went back to Namtu. We left no. 42 in Lopah to save some time the next morning.
Next morning we took one of the delightful round shaped rail lorries to Lopah. There it was, our steam loco, under pressure and ready for departure. Beside it – some grate bars, covered by and baked together with cinders. They didn’t only remove the slag from the grate, they removed parts of the grate to get rid of the cinders! But this is no problem, they told us. Overnight they brought some spare parts from Namtu up to Lopah and replaced the bars. Hmm, they replaced grid bars when there was fire in the box? The craftsmen must be the fire-proof versions ... Anyhow, the steam production of the boiler was as poor as the day before. Of course we managed the spiral with steam, but the train needed two pressure-raising stops. The loco dropped fires everywhere and that’s why a diesel train with water tanks followed us. Some ladies on this train spread water over the track so that the last complete sleepers wouldn’t burn away. Up to Tiger Camp we had been able to make a lot of good pictures, as mentioned.
In the late dusk, as the colours of the sky just lost their intensity, we rumbled down and through the curves of the jungle line in our lorry rail car. Suddenly it stopped in the middle of nowhere. In front of us a campfire – and a derailed lorry rail car. It tuned out not be a campfire, it was the illumination for the re-railing activities to get the lorry railcar in front of us back to the track. If there hadn’t been the technical background for this unexpected stop, no romantic railway night could have been arranged better: a small sparkling and twisting river, a campfire, two round shaped lorry railcars and the stars beginning to shine. But the re-railing took only a few minutes and now two lorry rail cars rumbled down, one followed the other by a short distance so that the light finger from the single headlight of our railcar touched the back of the first one along each straight part. A magical rail ride!
For sure it’s a risky undertaking to arrange travels at Namtu on this lovely little narrow gauge railway. You may get the impression that there are more negatives than positives involved in getting steam trains arranged the way you would like them to operate. On the other hand, this is part of the charm of this railway. And the landscape, the rail lorries, and locomotives and wagons which form the trains, the traffic patterns, the beautiful line, and for sure the gracious and friendly people along this railway, without a shadow of a doubt make this one of the most rewarding railway adventures you can experience on this planet. Even in the sad shape as it is now, it is one of the must do narrow gauge lines in the world. There will be a day in the (hopefully distant) future when the last train ever will have returned to Namtu, and the last fire will have been dropped. Keeping this in mind, there is only one option: Namtu is part of the next tour program to Myanmar! In addition, despite the lousy road and rail connection, despite the basic accommodation, we’ll even extend our stay here because it is so wonderful (and just to give us a little more time to make sure we see everything we possibly can along the railway.)
A gallery with additional pictures you'll find here.
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