The Circle Line Revisited

Events of 23rd September, 2012

No, not London's underground line but the metre gauge surface railway in Yangon (formerly Rangoon) in Myanmar (formerly Burma). I first travelled on this line in March 2008 (described here) and, having a few hours available in Yangon on 23rd September 2012, thought it was time I sampled the line again.

I had a charming guide, car and driver at my disposal, so I discussed with her what was possible. The Circle Line is notorious for its unreliability and she wasn't sure we'd have time to do a complete circuit, so I compromised on a part circuit. We agreed to drive to an intermediate station on the east side of the city and catch a clockwise Circle Line train to Yangon Central Station (originally called Phayre Street which I presume was named after Lieut.-General Sir Arthur P. Phayre G.C.M.G., K.C.S.I. and C.B.).

The car duly dropped us at a point on the main road into the city where a short side street, teeming with commercial life, led to the station. The station building was on the other side of the double-track railway so we walked across the tracks (as everyone does in this part of the world) and she spoke to the booking clerk. She seemed to suggest that a train going in the right direction was not due for some time but that a possibility was to get a train going in the wrong direction and change after two stations, so we decided to do that. She offered me a drink at a nearby tea shop whilst we were waiting so I had tea with condensed milk plus a cup of Green tea.

We then returned to the station and I pointed out that I thought it unlikely that an intermediate station could sell me the one U.S. Dollar Tourist Ticket (locals pay a smaller fare denominated in Kyat). This required some serious discussion so we were invited into the office where what I took to be the Station Master was sitting at a table attempting, improbably enough, the repair of an electric soldering iron. It was concluded that I should travel without a ticket to Yangon Central Station where I could pay my Dollar Fare. With an interpreter available to explain my interest in railways, it became quite friendly with a lot of smiling and I ended up taking photographs of both the Station Master and the Booking Clerk.

Station Master and Booking Clerk on Yangon's Circle Line.

The facilities in the office were very basic, home-made and grubby. The Booking Clerk had only a roughly-made shelf behind his ticket window. A pad of pre-printed paper tickets sat in pride of place and as passengers pushed a Kyat note through the window, he would tear off the next ticket and push it back to them. To one side, a little pile of Kyat notes built up. There was no obvious sign of any sort of cash box. The Station Master sat at a superannuated table which bore a bright orange hand-cranked magneto-ringing telephone. He made one call whilst we chatted and seemed to obtain a satisfactory reply which surprised me, since the tangle of wires leading away had the appearance of having been vandalised. Two plastic-insulated cables dangled from the ceiling and were terminated on a panel of bolt-type terminals.

When the train came in, we hurried to the rear coach and boarded. As I found before, there are no windows in the window frames, no doors in the doorways and (more surprisingly) no automatic brakes on the coaches, although the coaches had once been vacuum-fitted. The Guard squats on the longitudinal seat right at the back of the coach and is able to lean out of the last window to flourish a green flag to authorise departure from each stop. Young men and the many vendors are continually moving from coach to coach at station stops (these are non-corridor coaches). They seem to take a particular delight in deferring boarding until the train has gathered a little speed. Similarly, on entering a station, they choose to jump off early and run alongside. The guard's equipment appeared to consist of two well-used shopping bags. A selection of flags protruded from one bag - the contents of the other were only revealed a little later. The final part of the guards kit appeared to be a piece of string of some antiquity. When required, the guard would attach this string from one side of the coach to the other so as to define perhaps the last three feet of the coach as the guards area. This reminded me of the old tube trains on the London Underground when Guards were still employed. Coaches with Guards' Control Panels had a hinged bar which hung vertically when the Control Panel was not in use but could be fixed horizontally by the Guard to exclude passengers.

More on this trip when I can.

DD.931 runs round her train.

List of stations on the Circle Line

Stations are listed in a clockwise direction. Burmese words can be Anglicised in various ways, so alternative spellings of at least some of names may be found.

Golf Course
Kyait Ka Lei
Mingalardon Market
Mingalardon
Wai Bar Gi
North Okkalapa
Pa Ywet Seit Gone
Kyauk Yae Twin
Tadalay
Yaegu
Parami
Kanbe
Bauk Hlaw
Tarmwe
Myittar Nyuni
Mahlwagone (#1)
Pazundaung
YANGON CENTRAL
Pha Yar Lan
Lanmadaw
Pyay Road
Shan Road
Ahlone Road
Pan I Daing (or Pann Hlaing)
Kyee Myin Daing
Hanthawaddy
Hledan
Kamaryut
Thin Myaing
Oakkyin
Thamine
Gyogone
Insein
Ywa Ma
Phi Taw Thar
Phaw Khan
Aung San
Da Nyn Gone (#2)

#1: Before Mahlwagone the line from the north and east converges.
#2: Beyond Da Nyn Gone the line to the west diverges from the Circle Line to Golf Course.

Photographs:

Railways in Myanmar (pictures accompany an earlier post).
The Circle Line, Yangon (pictures accompany an earlier post).
Circle Line Revisited (pictures accompany this post).
Yangon Central Station (recent pictures accompany this post).

[First published 23-Sep-2012, revised 17-Nov-2012, 21-Nov 2012]

Last Night on 'Road to Mandalay'

Events of Saturday, September 22nd, 2012

I spent the day looking at initiatives by the 'Road to Mandalay' Social Contribution. I made both a morning and afternoon visit to the Bagan Medical Clinic (described here), visited what I have come to regard as 'old friends' at Htee Pu (described here) and, I hope, made new friends at Nga Minn May (described here).

Sunset was at 6.00 p.m. so the Farewell Cocktail Party on the Top Deck was held in total darkness, relieved by some electric lights and candles.

The 'Elephant' introduces himself to the guests.

We were entertained by a traditional Elephant Dance where two men in an elaborately- dance decorated elephant costume dance to music and song before performing remarkable balancing feats, still in the elephant costume.

The 'Elephant' balances on his forelegs.

The Farewell Dinner was served in the Restaurant at 8.00 p.m. and I had been invited to join Margot and Audrey and their friends.

Smiling faces at the Farewell Dinner.

Before retiring for the night, I had to complete my packing as luggage was to be available no later than 6.00 a.m. Sunday morning. However, 'Road to Mandalay' staff would then ensure that my case magically appeared in the luggage hall at Yangon Airport without further intervention on my part. And so to bed.

Photographs:

Elephant Dance on the 'Road to Mandalay'

Visit to Nga-Minn-May School

Events of Saturday, September 22nd 2012

After our visit to Htee Pu school (described here), it took about three quarters of an hour to drive to Nga-Minn-May. I'd not visited this village before and my trip allowed me to see the refurbishment carried out at the school with the support of the 'Road to Mandalay' Social Contribution. The last part of the journey involved slow travel on rutted dirt roads. We became even slower as we were forced to follow a bullock cart until the young driver turned onto a side track.

Passing a bullock cart on the approach to Nga-Minn-May.

Our car pulled up near to a large school building. I was surprised at just how many adults and children from the village were watching our arrival from under the shade of an ancient tree.

First, Doctor Hla Tun and the group of men from the village who had organised the refurbishment showed me around the school. It was quite a large wooden-framed structure with a 'wing' at each end and a verandah across the front. The roof was corrugated iron. The walls had originally been wooden planks but the refurbishment had removed the wooden cladding and replaced it with brickwork faced with cement for durability. The new walls had been painted pale blue on the outside with the exposed wooden framing picked out in green.

The refurbished school building at Nga-Minn-May

Concrete had been placed around the vertical timbers where they entered the ground to prevent (or at least delay) rotting. The building certainly looked smart and the group of men from the village who'd been involved in the project seemed rightly proud.

The group of men from the village who had organised the refurbishment

Although it was a non-school day, the children (including the nursery children) were waiting in their various classes for our visit. As always in Burmese schools, discipline was impressive. Some of the original wooden cladding from the building had been adapted to form simple internal partitions to give the different classes some slight isolation from one another.

Doctor Hla Tun had brought a number of pairs of spectacles (from the donation made by Ruth and Linda) for distribution to the group of elderly villagers squatting in the school yard where we had parked. The Doctor supervised the selection of the most effective spectacles for each person.

Schoolchildren waiting around the ancient tree before the distribution of stationery.

It was then time to distribute the stationery to the waiting schoolchildren. The tables bearing the stationery were moved out into the dusty schoolyard to leave room for the children to line-up and teachers helped to make up the 'kits' for each child. The actual distribution by Doctor Hla Tun and Jan then proceeded quite quickly. Finally, a table and two chairs had been set-up near our vehicle, and we were invited to take a snack before starting our journey back to Bagan. Here, the Doctor carried on giving consultations at the Bagan Medical Clinic. I observed the work for an hour or two but then, shattered, returned to the ship leaving the Doctor and his colleagues to complete the day's work. There's a report on my visits to the Clinic that day here.

Photographs: Nga-Minn-May School.