The International Steam Pages


Ruston Engines in Burma

This is part of a series of pages covering the known steam engine manufacturers for Burma. Click here for the full list.

Click here for a page of Ruston engines found in India in 2007.


Originally 'Ruston, Proctor', Ruston and Hornsby of Lincoln got into diesel engines quite early on and a number of such machines survive here although we have only seen one active.

Burmese Ruston's come in a variety of shapes and sizes, few have numbers and while I am usually a small engine man, I confess that here I have a very soft spot for their larger products which I believe are usually older. This small engine is in Mon State, it recently (2007) moved from a closed mill nearby and we first saw it in its new home in 2009 and have yet to see it in action:

This small Ruston is based in Shwebo, we saw it working in 2009, here it is ready to start.

While this tiny engine north of Shwebo was recorded in 2006:

This Ruston in Irrawaddy Division must date from the late 19th century, but has no number, we photographed it in 2005: 

By 2009, on a scale of 0-10, the same engine scored a maximum for both steam leaks and dusty environment, it was a nightmare to photograph and video and added to my mounting lung problems:

Old Ruston Proctor engines have a certain elegance, I am not sure why this one is missing the 'Proctor'. We saw it in Irrawaddy Division in 2005:

This larger engine is #28725 which dates it to 1904, we saw it in the Shwebo area in 2006. It has a Bulloch Brothers, Rangoon agents plate:

However, my personal favourite is this engine in Yangon Division which has worked on every one of the several occasions I have seen it since the first time in 2005. It is #16424 of 1892:

This engine and its adjacent boiler made up a Ruston and Hornsby portable. As such it must be one of the newest of their engines in Burma, the pictures were taken in 2005 (first one) and 2009 (other two).


Click here for the full list of known steam engine manufacturers for Burma.


Rob and Yuehong Dickinson

Email: webmaster@internationalsteam.co.uk