The Burma Mines Railway is a gauge railway in
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
for the transportation of locally
mined silver and lead
ore
Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 April 2 ...
to a smelter at
Namtu
Namtu ( shn, ၼမ်ႉတူႈ) is a town situated in northern Shan State, Myanmar. It is famous for Bawdwin and Namtu silver mines. NamTu River is flowing across in the middle of town and the transportation from Namtu to Lashio or Namtu to M ...
.
The line runs from
Namyao, on the
Mandalay - Lashio branch of
Myanmar Railways, via
Namtu
Namtu ( shn, ၼမ်ႉတူႈ) is a town situated in northern Shan State, Myanmar. It is famous for Bawdwin and Namtu silver mines. NamTu River is flowing across in the middle of town and the transportation from Namtu to Lashio or Namtu to M ...
to
Bawdwin and is long.
History
The Burma Mines, Railway and Smelting Co Ltd was founded in March 1906 and the construction of the railway started in 1907, to reach the Tiger Camp mining area in 1908, with a extension to the Bawdwin mines and included a
Z-reverse at Wallah Gorge, just before Tiger Camp, which was later replaced by a
spiral
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point.
Helices
Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:[metre gauge
Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre.
The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...]
Burma Railways was moved from Manpwe to Namyao, a short distance to the east. After the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the local Burma Corporation Ltd took over operations and built an electrified underground railway at Tiger Camp and 100
hopper cars were ordered from the American
Pressed Steel Car Company.
In the 1930s the line experienced its peak traffic. Steam was largely replaced in the 1970s and 1980s but today two steam locos remain in working order.
The Burma Mines Railway in Namtu
/ref>
Present day
In present day, the coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
for the smelters and the finished products is transported by road. Ore transport from Bawdwin to Namtu is still done by rail. The section from Namyao to Namtu sees little traffic. Namtu is a security area and restrictions are placed on visiting the railway, mines and smelters, except on official tours.
See also
* Rail transport in Burma
Rail transport in Myanmar consists of a railway network with 960 stations. The network, generally spanning north to south with branch lines to the east and west, is the second largest in Southeast Asia, and includes the Yangon Circular Railway ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Namtu Mines Railways - A set on Flickr
Burma Mines Railways - A set on Fotocommunity
2 ft gauge railways in Myanmar
Railway companies established in 1906
Mining in Myanmar
Mining railways
Railways with Zig Zags
1906 establishments in Burma