We arrived at Pyin Oo Lwin station a little before 08:00 and went to the booking office for our pre-arranged tickets from Pyin Oo Lwin to Nawngpeng. Handwritten tickets for Upper Class with seat reservations were prepared with due ceremony and my passport number was included in the ticket information.
In the booking hall there was a black notice board with details of the two departures and with that day's notes added in chalk in English. Our train number 131 was shown as an Up train. In the past, it took me a while to realise that UP and DOWN on the Mandalay-Yangon line refer to trains to and from Mandalay, respectively. Thus, I'd expected the train we were about to board to be a Down train but, apparently, it's not so.
To help passengers find their correct coach, at principal stations there is an Arrivals and Departures board showing the make-up of passenger trains. Each coach is represented by a disc with vehicle details inscribed. The appropriate discs are hung on a horizontal series of small hooks so that the composition of each train is readily visible.
The discs representing our train number 131, left to right, were marked Guard, Parcels, Upper 2, Ordinary 3, Ordinary 2, Upper 1, Ordinary 1, Locomotive.
Train number 132 was similarly represented.
Our train number 131 was already in the platform with Bo-Bo-Bo DF.2080 in red and blue livery (built in China by Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock) on the front of 3 air braked carriages (2 Ordinary Class and 1 Upper Class) with a bogie parcels van (type GBHV) and a bogie Guard's/Parcels van (type VBHV) on the rear. The locomotive and all vehicles were air braked and fitted with automatic couplers. The Doctor said his friend had told him that the load limit from Mandalay to Pyin Oo Lwin is 180 tons but that, beyond Pyin Oo Lwin, the limit is increased to 240 tons.
Another Bo-Bo-Bo, DF.1629 in brown and cream livery, was propelling two flat cars used as shunters' wagons towards the rear of our train, number 131.The flat cars were modern, air braked with a wheel to operate a handbrake. Both cars had locating dowels at each corner for carrying a standard shipping container. The one flat car, R.9.2021 had two additional dowels perhaps for carrying half-length containers and the maker's plate 'TITAGARH WAGONS LIMITED 2013'. The Titagarh Group (website here) is a heavy engineering company based in India but now developing an export market.
It was clear that DF.1629 was going to remove the two goods wagons from the rear of train number 131, with a view to strengthening the passenger accommodation. But it took three attempts before the coupling between the leading shunters' wagon and the rear coach mated correctly.
Whilst the additional coaches were being fetched, we'd visited the Stationmaster's Office so that I could photograph the track diagram. The 'wye' at the bottom of the diagram serves the loco shed which I understand is still in use.
Approaching a Block Station like Pyin Oo Win in either direction, the first indication a driver receives is a white, rectangular warning board, set half a mile before the distant signal. All distant signals are fixed and come in a wide variety of designs. Next comes the 'Outer' or 'Home' stop signal. This is operated by the pointsman at the entrance to the station where a green flag indicates that the points have been set and clipped for the train to enter the station. Before leaving the station, the driver must be in possession of a paper Line Clear form for the Block Section ahead and must have a green flag from the pointsman to indicates that the points have been set and clipped for the train to leave the station. Finally, the train passes a 'Limit of Shunt' board. This is a white square with a smaller red square in the middle.
The station is not interlocked in the sense of having a lever frame but four Trapped Key Locking Boxes were mounted on the wall near the door. The Locking Boxes for roads 3, 4 and 5 had their keys but the unmarked box had no key, presumably because of the shunt in progress. I took pictures of the Stationmaster on the radio, the book of paper Line Clear forms authorising train movements and the Train Register book.
For more information on the control of trains in Myanmar, see the post here and for information about the control of points and interlocking see the post here. Alternately, there's an index of all my Myanma Railways posts (which may not always be up-to-date) here.
Back on the platform I watched DF.1629 propelling two Upper Class carriages and the two goods wagons onto the train and, to my surprise, the re-inforced train departed at 08:22 as scheduled.
The ruling gradient appeared to be downhill and we we travelling faster that I previously recalled. We came to a brief stand at the approach to a station and, once the points were set away from a sand drag, the upper quadrant signal cleared and we entered the platform. We carried on, making brief intermediate stops, to Hsam Ma Hse. This had the normal passing loop plus a third line on which DF.2063 (red and blue livery) waited with a ballast train, adjacent to a yard with numerous large piles of ballast. There was a belt-type elevator which apparently was used to load the ballast wagons.
Our next stop was at Nawnghkio, a more important station, where we stood for a few minutes loading and unloading freight.
Five or six kilometres beyond Nawnghkio, we started getting views of the famous viaduct. What struck me was how much higher than the bridge we were and I wondered how we'd lose height. Well, we did it by twisting and turning down the mountain side, around tight curves and descending through rock cuttings. Finally, we headed away at right angles with the bridge on our right. Below us, there was a parallel line at lower level with the semaphore Outer signal for Gokteik. We traversed the expected 'dumbell' loop now heading back towards the bridge now on our left and stopped at the small isolated station of Gokteik. The line curved left to lead us onto the viaduct which we traversed slowly (there's a 5 m.p.h. limit displayed). This monumental structure, set in impenetrable jungle, gives feelings of awe that are hard to convey.
at the entry to the station where hand operated Immediately after the viaduct, there are two tunnels. The second was certainly brick-lined, I'm not sure about the first. The locomotive was now working hard as we climbed away from the bridge, so I was not surprised when we passed a sand drag (trailing to us) protected by stop signals. Soon, we arrived in Nawngpeng, where we disembarked. I made it a 'right time' arrival. However, the train did not, as suggested by the travel website ‘The Man in Seat 61’ here wait for train 132 to arrive and leave at 12:25 but set off for Lashio a few minutes after noon.
Station distances from Wikipedia
Pyin U Lwin 422 1/2
Pwe Kaul 427 3/4
Wet Wun 433 1/2
Sin Lan Su 438 1/4
Hsam Ma Hse 444
Nawnghkio 456
Gokteik 463 Gokteik Viaduct
Nawngpeng 472 1/4
The complete list is here.
Information from 'The Man in Seat 61'
There is one passenger train daily each way over the Gokteik Viaduct. Upper and Ordinary Class seats are provided.
Mandalay to Pyin Oo Lwin is 67 km (42 miles).
Mandalay to Hsipaw is 206km (129 miles).
Mandalay to Lashio is 280 km (175 miles).
Train number 131: Mandalay > Pyin Oo Lwin > Lashio
| Station | Arrive | Depart |
| Mandalay | 04:00 | |
| Pyin Oo Lwin (Maymyo) | 07:52 | 08:22 |
| Gokteik | 11:03 | 11:08 |
| Nawngpeng | 11:58 | 12:25 |
| Kyaukme | 13:19 | 13:39 |
| Hsipaw (Thibaw) | 14:55 | 15:15 |
| Lashio | 19:35 |
Train number 132: Lashio > Pyin Oo Lwin > Mandalay
| Station | Arrive | Depart |
| Lashio | 05:00 | |
| Hsipaw (Thibaw) | 09:25 | 09:40 |
| Kyaukme | 11:05 | 11:25 |
| Nawngpeng | 12:22 | 12:30 |
| Gokteik | 13:23 | 13:25 |
| Pyin Oo Lwin (Maymyo) | 16:05 | 17:40 |
| Mandalay | 22:40 |
For all the information on train travel in Burma on this website, click here.
My pictures
Where necessary, clicking on an image above will display an 'uncropped' view or, alternately, pictures from may be selected, viewed or downloaded, in various sizes, from the albums below:-
By train over Gokteik Viaduct 7th May 2018.
All my pictures on this trip to Myanmar can be found at Burma 2018.
['My pictures' link added 4-Aug-2018]
