User:Two hundred percent/Dirtbox/Johore Wooden Railway
| Johore Wooden Railway | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Status | Ceased operation |
| Owner | Johore state government |
| Locale | Johore, Malaya. |
| Termini |
|
| Stations | 2 |
| Service | |
| Type | Wooden light rail. |
| Services | 1 |
| Operator(s) | Johore state government |
| Rolling stock | 1 steam locomotive; unknown number of railroad cars. |
| History | |
| Opened | Early to mid 1870s |
| Closed | 1880s |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 18 miles (29 km) planned; 10 miles (16 km) completed as of 1875. |
| Track gauge | 1 |
The Johore Wooden Railway (JWR) was an early railroad in the Johore Sultanate, Malaya (present day Peninsular Malaysia), which was intended to link New Johore (Johor Bahru) to an unspecified location "18 miles in the direction of Gunong Pulai". The line, which began construction in 1869 and was partially operational as of 1875, utillised wooden tracks, and preceeded the first modern railway line operated by Perak Railway between Taiping and Port Weld by at least 10 years. By 1889, the JWR was in disuse.
History
editThe idea of a railway line in Malaya was conceived by then Maharaja of Johore, Sultan Abu Bakar, following a visit to England in 1866 where he witnessed some of the England's early railways. The new railway was to connect New Johore, the capital of the Johore Sultanate, to Gunong Pulai 20 miles (32 km) away, where a sanatorium and hill resort was planned to be built to capitalise on the location's cooler temperatures. While the line was to later pass estates and plantations, there were no reports of additional stations to be built besides the terminating two in New Johore and Gunong Pulai. A decision was made to use wood for every component of the railway tracks, as such construction had proven to be feasible in the past and abundant sources of quality wood were available close to the site of the railway.
In a July 24, 1869 Singapore Daily Times article, the railway was reported to have been inaugurated by the Maharaja of Johore "in the presence of a small gathering of Europeans and Natives", and a low-powered Chaplin's contractor's locomotive was utillised in track building. In the years that followed, significant progress was made on track building. By the middle of 1873, 6 miles (9.7 km) of track was completed and a further 2 miles (3.2 km) of track was nearly completed. In 1875, another article indicated 10 miles (16 km) of track and sidings were completed with part of the line in use, passing estates and plantations. The deepest cutting was 42 feet (13 m).
The 1875 report was to be the last piece of news on the railway until an article publish in 1889 reported the line was no longer in use for an unspecified time, following an train accident when the railway's locomotive plunged into a hole, as well as damage on the tracks by termites.
Technical details
editRailway track
editThe Johore Wooden Railway was distinctive in Malaysia's railway history as its track were entirely made of wood, including the rails, sleepers, and wedges used to fasten the rails and sleepers. Although unspecified, Johore teak was suggested to be used in the production of tracks components. An estimated 90 tons of timber was used for each mile of track.
The rails were planned to be fabricated from 10 feet scantlings with a cross-section of 6 inches by 4 inches wide and would be attached to round sleepers measuring 6⅜ feet in length, with slots the size of the rails' cross-section set on edge and keyed in by two wooden wedges driven against the rails and the sleepers. To facilitate the wheels of a locomotive, the rails projected two inches above the sleepers.
Originally assumed to adopt a 3 feet gauge, a 3 feet 3⅜ inch metre gauge was later clarified to be favoured, standardising the railway line's gauge with those of light railways in India slated for construction beginning 1872. The railway also lacked ballasts as the Johore government was unable to afford them. Instead, the sleepers were embedded into the ground.
Rolling stock
editThe size and description of Johore Wooden Railway's rolling stock is uncertain. An early proposal involved the use of a Fairlie, double bogie locomotive "successfully used on the Ffestiniog Railway in Wales" and adapted to negotiate steep gradients and sharp curves, but a lack of evidence suggests no such locomotive was delivered to Malaya. In 1875, the Maharaja of Johore purchased a second-hand Indian steam locomotive, an Indian State Railway Class B 0-4-4T number B27 (number 89 on the Rajputana State Railway) manufactured by Dübs (742/1874), suggesting, while unverified, its use in the JWR. The locomotive would later change hands to serve for the Selangor State Railway to be named Lady Clarke and aid in the construction of a railway line between Klang and Kuala Lumpur, and was inherited by the Federated Malay States Railway to be used as a shunter before its scrapping in 1912.
References
edit- malsoh@hotmail.com (2004-12-21). "The Johore Wooden Railway". Retrieved 2008-06-30.
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