Myanmar

An overhead wire electric locomotive pushes a loaded ore wagon onto the tippler at Wallah Gorge above the Burma Mines Railway. I hope that helmet is well insulated!

On a misty morning in Namtu, Bagnall 42 (2238/1927) is loaded with sand before a run uphill to Wallah Gorge on the Burma Mines Railway.

Burma Mines Railway locomotive No.13 (Kerr Stuart 2383/1914) on arrival at Wallah Gorge with empty ore wagons.

Local transport at Bawdwin on the top section of the Burma Mines Railway was this converted Hino truck. This is No.2 of 3 and has direct drive to the front wheels and belt drive to the rear.

Marmion Shaft at the Bawdwin lead/zinc mine in north-east Myanmar. It was sunk in 1914 down to the sixth (adit) level at c700ft and was subsequently deepened to serve 14 levels in total to a depth of 1700ft. The winding house contains two electric winders manufactured at the Siemens Works of English Electric at Stafford in the UK in 1925. The ore is trammed out of the mine via a two mile adit known as "Tiger Tunnel".

The sanders are hard at work as a train of ore hoppers climbs the valley to Tiger Camp on the Burma Mines Railway. The locomotive is a rare surviving product of Stoke-on-Trent builders Kerr Stuart(Works No 2383/1914).

1927 built Bagnall 2-6-2 No.42 prepares its train in the yard at Namtu before heading to Wallah Gorge on the Burma Mines Railway.

The new smelter at Namtu was constructed after the Second World War during which the old smelter was destroyed. It processed lead, silver, zinc and copper from the Bawdwin mines but has been out of use for some time. These pots were used for smelting zinc. It was suggested that the smelter would reopen in 2012 but I have not heard anything of this since my visit.

Kerr Stuart 0-4-2 2383 of 1914 climbs a zig-zag above Wallah Gorge on the Burmah Mines Railway. The hopper wagons are for carrying ore from the mines at at the top of the line at Bawdwin. Sanding the rails is all manual.