Burma

Watched by a passing family group Burma Railways metre gauge YD 2-8-2 964 crosses the river bridge just north of Ela on the double track Mandalay to Rangoon main line with an empty sugar cane train

A group of little sunbeams catch the sunbeams on a bridge by the railway track in Myanmar. And yes, there is a steam engine in view...

The fireman of Burma Railways YD 2-8-2 967 has turned up the oil burner producing a tower of black smoke as the train moves off the river bridge to the east of Hnin Pale. This was on our way back northwards from Moulmein and was our second visit to the area around Hnin Pale.

The sun was rapidly going down when we made our last photostop of the day somewhere south of the Sittang River bridge in Mon State. Burma Railways Vulcan Foundry YD 2-8-2 967 smokes through a shallow cutting with rubber trees on the left. The star and anchor on the smokebox was the symbol of Mottama steam depot and was painted on 967 to recreate the look of the last few years of steam operation. In 2004, MR had approximately 40 oil-fired steam locomotives, of which about a dozen were serviceable and saw occasional use on goods, local passenger and tourist trains. On April 24th, 2008, all of a sudden Burma’s state railway stopped all steam operations. Trains which were out on the line were stopped in the next station and the steam loco had to leave its train, steaming back to its depot. All steam locos were stored in Pyuntaza. They removed all brass parts and took off most of the rods.

Burma Railways metre gauge class YD 2-8-2 967 approaching Zinkyaik station from the south with a freight train shortly after dawn.

Burma Railways Vulcan Foundry YC 4-6-2 629 on a passenger train northwards from Bago / Pegu station past a splendid British-style semaphore signal gantry during the FarRail Steam & Pagodas tour.

Evening street market. This lady is selling at least four different kinds of banana.

Sunset over Inya Lake Rangoon.

On the grounds that you can't have too much of a good thing and sunsets on Lake Inle are a very good thing here is a shot of last night’s.