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Irrawaddy Steamers 2010, Part 5 |
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This is part of our 2010 Burma Crusade. As a 'reward' for a very long and 'hard' day out down Labutta way, I scheduled a 'soft' day around Myaungmya; the town had over 20 known steam powered mills in 2005 and we had visited just three of them on arrival (plus two new ones). The idea was to revisit a dozen or so today and leave the rest for a further 'soft' day after our forthcoming 'hard' visit to Wakema. As such, it was no surprise to me that Yuehong adopted her 'bored' look. We had a lie in with a late breakfast, it doesn't seem to matter how much I eat or how little Yuehong eats, our shapes move in the opposite directions... Afterwards, we headed for the three remaining known mills on the way into town - another we had seen in 2005 seemed to have vanished or changed roles. At the first mill, the Shore type with a Cowie agents plate must have been retired soon after our visit as it was totally covered in dust. Next to it was an engine of a type I couldn't recognise at all, unfortunately it can't have been a great success as the mill was using the increasingly reliable local electricity supply.
The next two mills were basically unchanged, the first produced working what I am 90% + sure is a Robey (Dave Davies of the Robey Trust does not disagree, see my page of Robeys), the second a large Marshall due to work in a couple of days, the staff were fettling up a 'new' boiler, note the chain drive to the Hartnell governor.
On the edge of town was a chimney which looked like a rice mill type but which we had wrongly been told was not in 2005. In fact it was of near Dakhondaing like quality with a similar Tangye (#12181 and with Cowie 984 but no other marks). Like many of the smaller mills in this area it had a vertical (probably Cochran) boiler, time will tell whether we will have been been able to get back for it working tomorrow as it has only a day's supply of paddy to mill. As readers of these pages may have spotted, we own two Tangyes (ouch!) reflecting the fact we have a very soft spot for this builder.
From here on it was pretty well downhill all the way, three of the working mills across the river produced unphotogenic standard Marshalls, which are not worth the web space to display here. Along the way we found a nice old Tangye (#9682 - below left) installed since our 2005 visit which was unlikely to work during our visit and an early Hosain Hamadanee Tangye (#9188) which we had seen working before:
We confirmed that the "Societé Centrale Pantin" engine was still present although its mill was only working intermittently. Which just left us the two big engines near the bridge to revisit. The 14" Robey was a big disappointment, it had suffered a crack somewhere in its cylinder block which had now been repaired. In the meantime, a small 50HP electric motor was proving a more than adequate substitute and the owner was waiting to see whether the present more reliable electricity would be a permanent feature - even in Burma labour costs money and the electric motor (until it breaks down) is free of that charge. It's a feature of the Burma economy that, for the time being, electricity is very cheap, until now that has been largely a theoretical consideration...
After which, the mega 20" Holman engine working was rare good news, some of the sheeting around its compartment had been removed which allowed a full view of it. Clearly the mill owner was a 'Smiley' man, something I could not accuse Yuehong of, she clearly craved something unfamiliar, we had seen not a single new working engine nor met any interesting people, but experience suggested that this would be an unusual day in that respect.
It was barely 14.00, but it was time to pack up the cameras, next morning we had an early start for Wakema. |
