One Careful Owner, Part 2, Burma 2009

Even after we had a day bashing the mills between Bago and Yangon and revisiting the industrial zone there was an uncomfortable gap of several days to kill. On my own, I might have been tempted to try another part of Irrawaddy Division but that would have been marriage threatening. So we took train 71 to Pyay, one of Burma's more pleasant towns although it was unashamed track bashing for me. It has a very strange timing leaving Yangon at 13.00 and fortunately it arrived on time at 21.30. I took the next day off to write the 'Temples of Steam' summary page, we then had to get back to Yangon - using 72 was out of the question as it runs overnight.

Planning ahead, I had consulted my research notes which said that the three mills in Thonze (just south of the midway point of Letpadan) had a strange main season between August and December - this meant we had yet to see them working. So that meant booking a morning bus from Pyay, taking a break en route and then pot luck to get to Yangon. Han consulted his own records and found three phone numbers, two of which answered in the affirmative. Our timings fell apart when the bus journey took a lot longer than expected, but the first mill was indeed working, the engine was not the expected Struthers Wells but a replacement T. Shore:

After this we loaded up a couple of trishaws and headed through the small town which had seen better days:

Our main destination here had an extremely old ('MacDonald') engine of unknown origin which I had long ached to record in action and we were greeted with a pall of black smoke over the mill. The engine was running slowly and was wreathed in steam, in fact I can state categorically that I have never seen a working engine in worse condition in all my life:

Whooosh... it went when the piston went back and whooosh... it went when the piston went forward...

Now and again the clouds drifted clear and the valve system could be seen:

This was my final sight of this dinosaur running itself into extinction, I could have stuck my little finger into the gap between the brass and the crankshaft:

We were travelling 'light' with just one video camera so Yuehong spent part of the time amusing herself:

It was a 'longye' day, the hot humid weather made the normal jeans an uncomfortable option. Han rolled up his to preserve its beautiful condition... He is telling me that the third mill in town is also working today.

And so it was back into the trishaws, no doubt a welcome addition to a very small income but extremely hard work, especially when you remember I was about to clamber on the back seat...

In complete contrast to the engine above, this is a 'modern' Marshall #90624, post World War II, with piston valves. Here it is with a rightly proud owner, it is a moderately hi-speed engine and the crosshead is normally covered with the red shield on the left as a safety measure:

Han produces a bottle of cold beer out of nowhere and while occasionally we make him so tired that he takes his eye off the ball, today he has been at his brilliant best. Somehow he has booked seats on the 16.00 bus which deposits us near the centre of town at 19.00 from which it is a short ride to our usual retreat and a final evening meal of south India 'non-veg' food at its best. And if I look somewhat haggard and feeling my age, it's because I was, 4 weeks in Burma always takes its toll if you are to make the most of its very special opportunities... 

Next stop Bangkok and then to Penang as soon as possible.

The full list of 2009 trip pages is on:

• Green to Gold, Rob and Yuehong in the Golden Land 2009, Part 2 - This includes more general reports of the trip (OK, a blog) as well as much stationary steam

• Rob and Yuehong in the Golden Land 2009, Part 1 - This includes more general reports of the trip (OK, a blog) as well as much stationary steam

Our earlier explorations are described in pages linked from:

• Temples of Steam 2007 - An update to our 2005 and 2006 reports

• Temples of Steam 2006 - An update to our 2005 report

• Temples of Steam 2005 - Introduction