Static Preservation in West Malaysia

Static Preserved Steam in West Malaysia

For active preserved steam in Malaysia, you have to go to Sabah where the a tourist service operated for some years and will presumably be re-instated when the current prolonged rebuilding of the railway is completed - at the time of writing (May 2009) it is literally running years late. See the North Borneo Railway website for the latest information, www.northborneorailway.com.my.

Tim Light has posted a list of known preserved locomotives here on http://timlight.keretapi.com/KTM/Preservation.html, however positive information on several entries is sadly lacking. So please email me with any additions and corrections for me to post here and forward to Tim, similarly, if you have original pictures to upload here.

The longest preserved locomotives are those outside the national museum in Kuala Lumpur, 321.01 and 531.01, these are Chris Grimes' pictures from 2009:

Chris also notes that ex-USATC ‘Plymouth’ Gas-Mechanical 5054/45 is situated on the island platform of the old station and there is also a museum of small exhibits and photographs in the former booking hall.

Outside Kuala Lumpur, there are three locations I know with preserved steam locomotives for certain:

The Military Museum at Port Dickson has 564.21 or 564.12 the number has been changed at some stage. There are pictures of it on this site http://mfrna.tripod.com/ktmpic3.htm. I have my doubts about both identities as neither were in evidence in Kuala Lumpur in the mid-1970s when the (alleged) remaining steam stock was gathered there and several put back into use owing to a power shortage. 564.12 is a 'famous locomotive' of the former Malayan Railway as it hauled the first train express train out of KL on 2nd June 1953 for which it was temporarily renamed 'Coronation'. More conventionally it was also named 'Krian' and 'Alor Gajah' as nameplates and/or numbers tended to get swapped around! For the record 564.21 was 'Selama'.

564.36 'Temerloh' was at Gemas, the last steam locomotive to have worked on KTM, officially preserved in 1975 along with 564.33 'Jelebu' (which has not been reported for many years), it worked off and on through the 1980s and into the 1990s, most recently on the short-lived Peninsular Line luxury train project. This is Chris Cairns' picture from 2007, but by November 2010, it was reported to have been sent for display at the new Johor Bahru Sentral station.

At Butterworth is 564.25 'Kuala Lumpur", again this is Chris Grimes's picture from 2009.

Tim also mentions 562.04 'Dungun', the last pre-war member of the class to survive which was certainly working specials around KL in the 1970s and the appropriately named 564.34 'Pekan' last reported at the Sultan of Pahang's palace in the 1990s, I am not sure if this is really that loco which did survive quite late as I recall.

There are a number of 'heritage diesels' reported by Tim again on http://timlight.keretapi.com/KTM/Preservation.html.