The
Tu Luc 141-190 locomotive, which is
A team of engineers and workers in
the southern province of Binh Duong late last month completed their lengthy,
painstaking restoration of a steam locomotive which will soon be tapped into
for tourism.
An unusual, resonant whistle broke
the silence in the province’s Di An District on the night of October 31,
signaling a revival.
The Tu Luc 141-190 steam locomotive,
which was parked on Railway No. 2 of the Di An Train Co., was bellowing and
belching its first columns of smoke almost 30 years after its “death.”
Some 20 engineers and workers were
elated, seeing their eight-month collective effort was finally “alive.”
From scrap to working locomotive
Nguyen Van Hien, 68, the restoration
project’s chief engineer, emotionally recalled that after 1975, steam trains
operated mainly in the northern region.
“The trains were removed from long
routes starting in 1996, and were occasionally used to carry tourists when
demanded and ran within the station, before service was suspended altogether
in 2003. It’s been ages since I last heard its whistle,” he added.
The Tu Luc 141-190 locomotive, which
was produced in
The locomotive operated on the Ha
Noi- Hai Phong routes in the north.
According to Hien, who knew the
locomotive from its very first day in
It pulls a tender which is capable
of carrying 10 tons of coal and 16 cubic meters of water. This water volume
is enough to pull 20 passenger wagons for 50 kilometers.
After steam locomotives were
replaced by their diesel successors in 1996, the Tu Luc 141-190 locomotive
was shelved at a locomotive firm in
As
The company initially inked a deal
with state-run Gia Lam Rail Firm in
However, after the Tu Luc 141-190
locomotive was dismantled, the restoration project ground to a halt.
The project resumed in late 2010,
with the locomotive’s components being transported to Di An Train Co. in Binh
Duong for reconstruction.
Pham Hong Phi, director of Di An
Train Co., said his company was short on engineers and workers who
specialized in steam locomotives.
The restoration project didn’t
resume until February 2014.
The painstaking restoration process
Phi said that his engineers and
workers faced immense difficulty as many parts had gone missing during
transport, while others were seriously rusted and unusable.
They even borrowed certain
components, such as the pumping system, from the iconic steam locomotive
which is currently on display in Da Lat, in the Central Highlands’
“Though original parts account for
less than 80% of the finished product, the locomotive has returned to its
complete original from,” Phi said proudly.
The legacy goes on
Hien, the project’s chief engineer,
who majored in steam locomotives, retired several years ago.
However, he never lost hope that he
would hear the beloved whistle from a steam engine again.
“Even after retiring, my house is
still packed with materials on steam engines, which I intend to be a legacy
to pass on to my children. My dream finally came true when I joined the steam
locomotive’s restoration project,” Hien shared.
Several foreign experts were
summoned for the project, but all declined to take part, as most of them
specialize in specific parts, not the overall locomotive.
Hien then drew on his 30 years of
experience in working with steam engines and instructed the young engineers
to bring the engine back to life.
Tran Dinh Hung, who was trusted with
overseeing the project, was one of the men who escorted the eight cogwheel
locomotives from Da Lat to
He was also invited to coordinate
tourism steam engine services in
“My father was a cogwheel train
driver on the Da Lat- Phan Rang route in the central region. I worked in the
railway industry for many years. It’s so great that I could help bring back
the steam locomotive, so that future generations can witness the remnant of a
historically significant technology, which is also associated with a period
of the country’s history,” Hung shared.
Not far from where the locomotive
was parked sit the components of another steam locomotive, which was also
transported from
“If the investor needs it urgently,
another steam locomotive will soon be back in action,” Phi said.
According to Hoang Quoc Hoi, CEO of
Indochina Rail Co., his company has decided to run the Tu Luc 141-190 steam
locomotive first for tours on the Da Nang - Hue railway route.
“As paperwork to launch the tour is
underway, we are also restoring the locomotive’s wagons and reviving the two
other steam locomotives,” he said.
TUOI TRE
NEWS
|
Chủ Nhật, 9 tháng 11, 2014
Đăng ký:
Đăng Nhận xét (Atom)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét