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Sungai Lembing Mining Legacy

Deep in Kuantan hinterlands, there lies a sleepy town which was once a well-developed and the richest town in the east coast region. Sungai Lembing, 42 kilometers away from Kuantan was the centre of attraction because of its tin ore. In fact, at Sungai Lembing, there were lode mining as well as alluvial mining activities prior to the arrival of the Europeans in 1888 and before that, it had been worked for more than 100 years by the Chinese and Malays by using open-cast mining. Mining began in the 19th century in 1868 when Almarhum Sultan Ahmad Muazzam Shah I signed a concession with Baba Ah Sam.

When the British came to Pahang in the late 1800s, the mining concession area at Sungai Lembing was taken over by the British owned Pahang Corporation. Later, the Pahang Corporation and existing loss-making mining companies in Pahang were wound up and combined to form the Pahang Consolidated Company Ltd. (PCCL) in 1891 with a 77-year lease to mine the area. Sultan Pahang Almarhum Sultan Ahmad Muazzam Shah I agreed to the proposal and in 1905 mining started. This company started to intensively mine the Sungai Lembing area in 1906 until its closure in 1986. The tin mine in Sungai Lembing is the deepest and longest underground mine in the world. It was once commercialized on a big scale and enriched the nation’s economy, making Sungai Lembing renowned throughout the world. Until the 1970s, Sungai Lembing was a major producer of underground tin. It was once the richest town in Pahang, known as El Dorado of the East. In the 1940's about 1400 people worked in the mine.

To add efficiency and productivity, a narrow-gauge railway line network was built from Sungai Lembing mining area all the way to Panching which is about 25 kilometers away where Panching area also known to have rich iron ore resources.

Steam locomotives were then used to transport iron from Panching to Sungai Lembing mining centre. The Sg. Lembing tin mine in Pahang was reputed to be among the world's largest and deepest. The total tunnel length is 322km, with a depth of between 610m and 700m. There were two main mines. Myah Mine is 700m deep, and Tabeto Mine 488m. The mines were dug on many levels, with about 30m of rock between the tunnels.

Meanwhile, inside the mining tunnel, railway lines were built for transportation purposes. This was how the miners of Sg. Lembing tin mine reached their workplace each day. They would then spend six hours underground, extracting the tin ore from the main lode. At the end of their shift, the lift would transport them back to the surface and daylight and fresh air. For those six hours of subterranean work, they were paid $40-$44 in 1950. Miners dug into the rock face and broke the stones using iron hammers. The lumps of ore would be put into railway carts, which were taken up to the surface by lift.

For lighting the men used carbide lights, until they were replaced in later years by personal electric lights. The battery pack was worn around the waist and connected by a cable to the headpiece mounted on the helmet. These lamps are still used by miners around the world today.

The yard was built next to the mining area to gather iron ore collected from the mines in various areas and connected by narrow-gauge railway line.

PCCL was responsible for the care of the township, providing the roads, electricity, schools and healthcare. During the peak periods of the tin industry, the Sungai Lembing mines in Pahang contributed about 70 percent of the tin exports of Pahang.

However, tin is no more an important ore in the world, having been replaced by plastics, aluminium and other cheaper synthetic resources for what were previously its end products, like tins and containers for foods and drinks. Beginning in 1984, all that prosperity and riches gradually dwindled as a result of tin’s price drop. With the decline in tin production, Sungai Lembing town itself has slowly dwindled in size and importance, but the memories of its heydays are still vivid in the minds of its old residents.

A museum which is highlighting the tin mining industry of the past was opened in 2003, known as Muzium Sungai Lembing. The museum is housed in an old bungalow once used by the mine manager. The museum houses a collection of mining artifacts as well as mining equipment, mineworkers’ costumes, furniture and tableware.

* Photos taken from Muzium Sungai Lembing

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MALAYA

A Line that Brought Prosperity to the Jungle

THE lines of the Federated Malay States, Straits Settlements, and Johore State Railways have a special interest of their own. They have played a major part in the opening up of a valuable part of the British Empire which, not long ago, was the stronghold of pirates and warrior tribes. The modern history of the country is, in itself, a romance, due to the enterprise of British pioneers and scientists. British Malaya is not "a white man's country," but because of the enterprise, knowledge, and applied science of the white man it has become of vital importance in the history of modern transport.

British Malaya is a peninsula extending from Singapore, which is a degree and a quarter north of the equator, to the borders of Siam, nearly seven degrees north. With Sumatra on its west and Borneo on its east, it consists of a narrow tongue of land, 464 miles long, and nowhere more than 216 miles broad, forming the most southerly extremity of the continent of Asia. The surface is mountainous, the highest peak being Gunong Tahan, 7,186 ft. ; the longest rives is the Pahang, upwards of 330 miles in length. Except in the areas which have been mined or cultivated, a tropical forest covers the whole country, including the hills.

The country is divided up between the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States, and the Unfederated Malay States. There are four Straits Settlements—Singapore, Penang, and their dependencies, and Malacca and Labuan (an island off the coast of Borneo). The Federated Malay States, comprising Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang, are sovereign sultanates in treaty relations with the British Government. They are administered under the advice of a Chief Secretary, subject to the control of the Governor of the Straits Settlements in his capacity as High Commissioner. The Unfederated Malay States of Johore, Kedah. Perils, Kelantan and Trengganu, are also in treaty relations with Great Britain, but they are outside the federation.

Areas and populations are : Straits Settlements, 1,508 square miles, and 1,038,800 ; Federated Malay States, 27,506 square miles and 1,597,800 ; Unfederated Malay States, 23,486 square miles and 1,550,300. The total area—52,500 square miles—is slightly larger than that of England without Wales.

Read More at http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r178.html

Hybrid Train EMU

Starting from 6 Mei 2009, Jabatan Perkhidmatan Komuter (Commuter Service Board) has introduced another new kind of additional Komuter service as part of short term plan to alleviate Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) shortage crisis; the hybrid train.

Hybrid train EMU is a train set where a refurbished once-a-mechanically-defunct EMU is hauled by a diesel electric locomotive with power supplied by a Power Generated Car (PGC) to provide enough electricity to power up the air-cond and electric-powered door. Hybrid train can accommodate as much as 400 commuters in one go. For Rawang-Seremban sector, hybrid train only stops at Rawang, Sungai Buloh, Kepong Sentral, Putra, Bank Negara, Kuala Lumpur, KL Sentral, Mid Valley, Bandar Tasik Selatan, Serdang, Kajang, UKM, Bangi, Nilai and Seremban. For KL Sentral-Shah Alam route, the train only stops at Shah Alam, Batu Tiga, Subang Jaya, Setia Jaya, Petaling, Pantai Dalam and KL Sentral.

This additional one-of-a-kind service is part of KTMB effort to add more frequency and reduce waiting time after receiving lots of complaints and feedbacks from commuters and will improved their service from time to time.