Train To Tenom

Note: Paul Lajumin wrote this for Facebook and has graciously agreed to have it posted on our NBHE blog. All the photos and words are his. I merely inserted a few punctuation marks and played a little merry-go-round with a few of his words. I know you’ll like his story as much as I did. Enjoy! ...TinaKisil

Beaufort Station

I was at the GM SSR Office at 8am and met Frisco who had arrived earlier.

“Mana opis GM?” I asked the PA.

“Saannna hujung,” she said, “ tapi ada orang dan dia mau jalan pigi outstation.” I realised she didn’t want her boss to be disturbed.

“Tell your Boss ada polis cari,” I told her. That did the trick. She hastened me in!

By the way, after the recent mishap Ir.—that’s French for Ingenieur—Hj Zain Said is the busiest railway Boss in the world.

I will refer to Ir Hj Zain  as GM and Ir Frisco as FC here and btw in the olden days Railway GMs were simply called "JIMAR"  after the acronym "GMR" ( General Manager Railways). I heard the staff called their Boss GM not jimar though.

At the Tanjung Aru workshop

After a quick breakfast at the SSR Canteen, GM took us to their workshop just behind the Main Station for a quick walkabout and to see the Halloween wreckage. The burnt locomotive and coaches were a write off.

The workshop houses the biggest and oldest (mostly) Lathe Machine I have ever seen. Some are more than 80 years old. Mind you SSR even mould their own wheels. You’ve heard of mould rubber tyres? This one’s a bumper. Imagine pouring molten steel into a mould to make train wheels! This is an engineering feat and done right here in Tg Aru.

There are many more gadgets to marvel at but I leave those for your own eyes when we come back next month. Btw the senior technician told me the holes on the roof of their oldest shed were made by Japanese warplanes. Apparently, the sheds doubled up as shelters in WW2 so the Zeros strafed them as well.

The Halloween wreck

We left Tg Aru Station about 8.30 am. Our next stop was the recent mishap site at Kapayan. It looked like a warzone that had been struck by a phosporous bomb. Massive thermal energy had melted the tracks at two points. Solid metal like railway tracks can melt just like that! Imagine the heat that melted and destroyed the NY Twin Towers on 9/11. We drove to Beaufort because the tracks from Tg Aru to Beaufort are still out of service.

We reached Beaufort and were warmly met by the Beaufort Station staff. They must have thought we were VIPs when they saw we had been driven together with their JIMAR! :-)

GM got a phone call from the Works Ministry Perm Sec to see the Minister ASAP to brief him in detail about the Halloween Crash. So GM left us in the good hands of SSR staff to continue our journey to Tenom by rail.

Waving school kids along the tracks to Tenom

At 11.00 am we boarded a maroon coloured  railcar No. 2202 and started our journey. Including the Driver, there were seven of us altogether. The railcar is like my beaten up wheel barrow!

“How old is this railcar?” I asked the old timer driver. He shook his head before he answered.

“It has been here before me.”

“And how old are you, sir?”

“Nda lama lagi pencen; tahun ani juga,” the old timer replied. So I guess the juggernaut is about 60 years old or more!

We proceeded to our first stop, Rayoh Station, chugging through lush vegetation, rock-faced cliffs, the meandering Padas River and snow-white egrets flying alongside us.

This could have once-upon-a-time been a station master's house.

We saw schools, waving school kids, maintenance gangs, kuburan Sharrif, power stations and plantations. There was a group of elderly folks on the way home from a hunt. (A policeman can easily spot a neatly hidden bakakuk on a hunter’s side.) 

The train horn was as irritating as it was assuring we didn't hit animals and humans along the tracks especially at blind spot corners. I could see the driver enjoying pressing the horn switch. He reminded me of the crazy PI and Indon taxi drivers honking for nothing!

Halogilat Station

We stopped at Halogilat  Station. FC met some of his buddies still doing some work there. I used the toilet for first job. It was a clean and fresh smelling bathroom.

Btw, I wonder if Halogilat got its name from some swear word: ‘Heloo Gila!!’

It’s Tenom straight ahead after Halogilat and we reached this famous coffee town at about 12.30 pm.

Passengers waiting to board a Beaufort-bound train at Tenom

Many north bound passengers were waiting to board another train to Beaufort. I like the scene: passengers young and old, pretty maidens, farmers with live chickens and crates of beer, dating couple, mothers nursing babies and I bet I saw a group of elderly folks who were a bit high on ‘spirit'.

We continued our journey back to KK by SSR SUV. We stopped at Keningau for lunch after which I bought a Toto 4D 2202 at the outlet next to Restoran Sri Keningau.

The ride was enjoyable, the sceneries refreshing and I took many photos. FC and I will list out some side activities like visiting the Depot and Station for our trip next month.

I know the question of safety is uppermost on your minds especially after the recent mishap so let me assure you that train rides are SAFE.