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Arthur Joseph West (1863 in
On 3 February 1898, barely two years after the beginning of construction, the railway first opened for service. However, completion of the entire Beaufort–Weston section took two more years. From 1900, West used all his energy to extend the railway line along the Padas River to
Arthur Joseph West (1863 in Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about northeast of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 (39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area). Bromsgrove is the main town in the ...
; – 2 November 1937 in Bexhill-on-Sea
Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the local government district of Rother, Bexhill is home to a number of arc ...
) was a British civil engineer. Under his leadership, the Labuan Coal Line and the North Borneo Railway
Sabah State Railway (SSR) is a railway system and operator in the state of Sabah in Malaysia. It is the only rail transport system operating on the island of Borneo. The railway consists of a single 134-kilometre line from Tanjung Aru, Kota Kina ...
from Beaufort Beaufort may refer to:
People and titles
* Beaufort (surname)
* House of Beaufort, English nobility
* Duke of Beaufort (England), a title in the peerage of England
* Duke of Beaufort (France), a title in the French nobility
Places Polar regions ...
to Weston and Melalap were built.
Personal life
West was born in 1863 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire,England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, the son of a farmer. Little is known about his youth and early professional career, but he was recorded in a census as a teacher at the age of 17. On the recommendation of his friend William Clark Cowie,K. G. Tregonning. p. 56. he was appointed as Chief Railway Engineer on 7 July 1896 by the North Borneo Chartered Company with an annual salary of 4,800 Straits dollar
The Straits dollar was the currency of the Straits Settlements from 1898 until 1939. At the same time, it was also used in the Federated Malay States, the Unfederated Malay States, Kingdom of Sarawak, Brunei, and British North Borneo.
Histor ...
s. Although his previous experience was limited to the construction of the kilometre-long narrow Labuan Line, with which the coal mines of Labuan had been connected to the port of Victoria Town, his position was completely independent from any control of the Governor, being mainly directed by Cowie.
West began his work on Bukau in 1896 as the first section for the North Borneo Railway
Sabah State Railway (SSR) is a railway system and operator in the state of Sabah in Malaysia. It is the only rail transport system operating on the island of Borneo. The railway consists of a single 134-kilometre line from Tanjung Aru, Kota Kina ...
. At the same time he had to construct both the line to the north of Beaufort and south towards Brunei Bay
Brunei Bay ( ms, Teluk Brunei) is on the northwestern coast of Borneo island, in Brunei and Malaysia.
Brunei Bay is located 5°00'43.44", 115°17'26.66"; east of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
It is the ocean gateway to the isolated Temburong Dis ...
. The terminus of the line on Brunei Bay had been selected by Cowie but proved to be too shallow as it was a mangrove forest area. West called the station there "West Town", which later became Weston. West married Mary Louisa Dixon in 1895 at Newington, London
Newington is a district of South London, just south of the River Thames, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It was an ancient parish and the site of the early administration of the county of Surrey. It was the location of the County ...
; and had two children named Arthur Gilbert Dixon (b.1898) and Willie. His first son was born in Labuan and baptised there on 28 November 1897 by the Governor of Beaufort. His family remained in the island during the first phase of construction of the North Borneo Railway.
On 3 February 1898, barely two years after the beginning of construction, the railway first opened for service. However, completion of the entire Beaufort–Weston section took two more years. From 1900, West used all his energy to extend the railway line along the Padas River to Tenom
Tenom ( ms, Pekan Tenom, ) is the capital of the Tenom District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 5,148 in 2010. It is located about 176 kilometres south of Kota Kinabalu and 128 kilometres n ...
and then to Melalap. Tenom was reached in 1905; Melalap in 1906. On 1 April 1900, his family moved to Bukau. His two sons received an academic and technical education in Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
and entered a technical career; Gilbert, the older of the two became an assistant chief engineer at the British Broadcasting Company
The British Broadcasting Company Ltd. (BBC) was a short-lived British commercial broadcasting company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom. Licensed by the British Genera ...
(BBC) while Willie became a geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
.
As his career and presence was mainly linked to Cowie, he was relieved of his post and left Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
on Cowie's death in 1910. West died on 2 November 1937 in Bexhill-on-Sea.
Notes
Literature
*References