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Exotic Railway Pages
Hong Kong
Trains and More
Kowloon Canton Railway (KCR) - 1974 I had three days in-bound, waiting on paperwork, to tour Hong Kong streetcars, the Victoria Peak Tram, Kowloon Ferries, and the harbour just west of the Peninsula Hotel. Out-bound, I enjoyed Chinese New Year with a total of $10 cash in my pocket - the banks were closed and bank machines didn't exist. Even the black market currency exchanges were closed, so I walked a lot. The Colony was British and the buses, trucks, and cars were mostly 1950's and 60's British Leyland. The Empire had not yet been dispersed.
The KCR train was hauled by n GE-EMD G-12 or G-16. They had 6 wheel trucks to keep the load on the light rails to a minimum. The G-12's had 1250 hp, arrived in 1954 - 56, and were numbered 51 - 55 (built under license in Australia). The G-16's with 1650 hp were #56 - 59 and arrived in 1960 - 64 (3 built in Illinois and the last one in Australia). G-12 #51 is preserved at the Hong Kong Railway Museum at Tai Po. G-16's #56 - 59 were still running in early 2008 with the KCR logo, usually switching or hauling mail cars to the International Mail Center as "extras". They appear to have been retired in 2008 - we did not see them on our 2009 trip. Antique GE-EMD G-16's still in use in 2008, photos from www.railpictures.net.
We were guided to our hotel, slept in cool stone-walled rooms, and toured downtown Shanghai on foot. The Sun Yat Sen central park was the focal point of numerous ornate buildings, nothing more than 3 or 4 stories high. After another night at the ancient hotel, we waited two more days at the Shanghai airport for the 6-engine Russian equivalent of a DC-8 to fly us to Beijing. Canvas seats on aluminum frames sized for smaller bodies were extremely uncomfortable, and the noise from six engines was phenomenal. By then we started to feel the cold. Beijing has about the same climate as Winnipeg, and Shanghai's is similar to Vancouver. Interlude: 35 years later Now it's 2009, and everything is new, really NEW, except the Hong Kong streetcars, the Peak Tram, and the Kowloon Ferries. Well, they don't look new, but all have been rebuilt or replaced since 1974 and are merely replicas of their former selves. New buildings, new buses, new underground metro transit, new airport, new everything. The old is still there, tucked away between skyscrapers or on steep hillsides.
Kowloon Canton Railway (KCR) - 2009
Our hotel room at the Stanford overlooked this set of tracks just south of East Mong Kok Station. We could see and hear the electrics swish past quietly, as well as the burbling exhaust of the inter-city diesel starting out with 10 or 12 cars. We also saw a "bullet train" and some bi-level tilt cars, but were not quick enough with the camera. Ask for a room number ending in a "2" if you want to train-watch from your bedroom.
The Stanford is on Soy Street halfway between Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok Stations, the heart of the Golden Mile shopping and restaurant district. Reasonable prices too, but food is usually cold in the hotel restaurant. It's more fun out on Nathan Road anyway, with every ethnic cuisine you can imagine, including McD.
Hong Kong Railway Museum, Tai Po, New Territories
An early W.G. Bagnall 0-4-4T narrow gauge steam locomotive, restored from the Philippines in 1995, is one of two that formerly ran on the Sha Tau Kok Railway line between Fanling and Sha Tau Kok. When that closed, they were used by sugar mills in the Philippines. The other locomotive of the pair was also brought back to Hong Kong and is reported to be undergoing restoration. According to one reference, these locos were probably used during construction of the original KCR, which was narrow gauge while being built and re-gauged before the railway opened.
The museum is located about half way between Tai Wo and Tai Po Market Stations on the MTR East Line (surface railway). Catch the train at Mong Kok East and walk west on the north side of the tracks from Tai Po Market Station. No entry fee.
Museum
Site (click on Tai Po
near center of map)
Victoria Peak Tram, Hong Kong Island
The current 2-car trams were built in 1989 by Gangloff in Switzerland. The track is 1384 meters long and rises 368 meters with a maximum grade of 27 degrees. Track gauge is 4 ft 11-7/8 inches (1520 mm).
The upper station is all glass and steel now, with six stories of shops and lookouts reached by a dozen escalators. Nothing like 1974; this was a parking lot for tourists then. You will find the lower Peak Tram Station a short walk south of the MTR Central Station. Cash fare only. Historical Photos from Peak Tram Website
Peak
Tram, Hong Kong |
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Copyright ©
E. R. (Ross) Crain, P.Eng.
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I visited Hong Kong
twice, first in January and February 1974, then 35 years later
in January 2009. Photos are from the 2009 trip, historical
photos are from websites
In
1974, I was en-route to Peking (now Bejing) with four colleagues for a six week technical sales
presentation. This was a year after US President Nixon "opened
China to the West". The British, Germans, and French were there
before him of course, but who's keeping track? 
The 1974 train trip from Kowloon to Canton (now Guangzhou) ran
22
miles north to the Chinese border at Lo Wu. Here we walked across a bridge,
through customs, to catch the steam driven express for the
remaining 89 miles to Canton, followed by the longer trip to Shanghai.
Known as the Kowloon Canton Railway (KCR), the British section
was completed during 1906 - 1910, with through traffic over the
Chinese section beginning in 1911. 
In
1974, there were official "minders" at every transfer point to
see that we found the correct train and did not stray into
sensitive areas. We were the only North Americans on the train,
the balance were Chinese officials, plus British, German, and
French businessmen. Miles of rice paddies, water buffalo,
farmers up to there knees in water, small villages, and many
bridges whizzed past as we rumbled along to Shanghai. We were
not allowed to take pictures from the train. The steam
locomotive at right is similar to the one that hauled us from
Canton to Shanghai.
Aside from the 1974 and 2009 trips into Hong Kong, I passed
through the old Kai Tak airport on at least 5 other trips before
it was closed in 1998, en route to Bangladesh or Indonesia. Kai Tak was notorious for its difficult approach and landing
procedure while skirting the mountains and high rise buildings
that had sprung up around the airport. It involved a descent to
about 650 feet, (facing into a 1400 ft hill), then a 47 degree
right turn that also dropped the plane to about 140 feet,
hopefully leaving the plane lined up with the runway. Before
1975, this was done visually, later aided by ILS, but the eyes
were still better. Canadian Pacific Airlines always asked us to
lower the window shades so we
Kai Tak Airport c.1974
In
the early days of course, KCR was steam powered; diesels arrived
in 1954 and electric multiple unit (EMU) commuter cars arrived
in the 1980's. The
KCR was merged with the MTR, Hong Kong's mass transit system, in
December 2007, after nearly 100 years of independent
operation. The route towards Guangzhou (Canton) became the MTR East Line.
KCR West Rail, a light rail commuter line, became MTR West Line. 
The inter-city trains to
Guangzhou and beyond use the same track as the East Line, running diesel powered
express trains, including some high speed bi-level tilt cars, as
well as a "bullet" train. There are at least 10 such trains per
day between Kowloon and Guangzhou.
The
diesel-electric locomotive #51 was introduced in
1955. This one is named "Sir Alexander", after the former
Governor Alexander Grantham. 
The six coaches
are:
The Peak Tram dates back to 1888 when it used a coal fired
boiler to run a steam driven cable to operate two funicular
cars. The upbound car is balanced by the downbound car, thus
little real power is needed. It runs on a single track with a
passing siding at the halfway point. Today it is electric and
the two two-car trains carry 120 passengers each way. 
