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Federated Malay States Railways

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The Federated Malay States Railways (FMSR) was a consolidated railroad company that operated in British Malaya (present day Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore) during the late 19th century and early half of the 20th century. Named after the then recently formed Federated Malay States in 1896 and founded immediately after the formation of the federation, the company acquired various railways that were developed separately in various parts of Malaya, and oversaw the largest expansion and integration of the colonies' rail network encompassing the Federated Malay States, the Unfederated Malay States (except Trengganu) and the Straits Settlements, with lines spanning from Singapore to the south to Padang Besar to the north.

Federated Malay States Railways (FMSR)
Übersicht
HauptsitzKuala Lumpur, Federated Malay States.
LocaleBritish Malaya (including Singapore).
Dates of operation1896–1948
PredecessorSelangor State Railway, Perak State Railway and other state-built lines in Pahang and Negeri Sembilan.
SuccessorMalayan Railways
Technical
Track gauge1

History

Operated under the rule of the British Empire, the FMSR

World War II

Rolling stock

FMSR Class A

Class A (1901—1933)

The FMSR Class A was the first designated series of locomotives in use by the FMSR. Consisted of 18 4-4-0T tank locomotives originally purchased by numerous state railways, the locomotives served as the FMSR's backbone fleet before the arrival of newer FMSR-ordered locomotives.

The Class A was designated in July 1901 for 12 locomotives originally assigned for both the Perak Railway and Selangor Railway and manufactured between 1884 and 1898, consisting of 11 from manufactured by the Hunslet Engine Company and one from the Selangor Railway produced by Neilson & Company. The Class A designation was further assigned to two 1904 Hunslet locomotives from the Malacca Railway in 1905, and four 1901-1903 Singapore Railway Hunslet locomotives in 1912.

Several Class A Selangor Railway locomotives were known to have been converted to run on oil rather than firewood to cut cost, years before the formation of the FMSR Class A. In addition, the outer cylinders of the Class A were rebuilt with a dimension of 11" by 16" from the original 10" by 16".

The Class A was gradually retired beginning the 1920s when new locomotives were introduced into the FMSR network. From 1912 onwards, certain Class A's were also transferred to the Construction Department; FMSR 71 (Malacca Railway 2) was sold to Siam for use in coal mining assignments in 1924. The last Class A, FMSR 34 (Perak Railway 19), was withdrawn in 1933.

Class A (1941—1946)

Encompassing only three 1928 Hunslet single engine 0-6-0T OCs, the "new" FMSR Class A was originally delivered to Singapore for use in the construction of the Sembawang Naval Base in 1929, and remained stored in the base after its construction was completed. In 1941, the FMSR acquired the locomotives, reintroducing the Class A designation for the locomotives. When introduced in 1941, the FMSR had retire the last original Class A locomotive, allowing the designation to be reused for a new series of locomotives.

The locomotives were only briefly used, surviving World War II, before renumbered by the FMSR in 1946 and sold to the Singapore Harbour Board in September of that year.

FMSR Class B

The 4-4-0T FMSR Class B locomotives were heavier, more powerful versions of the original Class A, with extended tanks. Also originated from local state railways, the series was, however, made up of a smaller number of locomotives, compared to the Class A, with only seven.

Like the Class A, the Class B was introduced in 1901 with the redesignation of the two Perak Railway locomotives, one from Hunslet, and another from Hawthorn Leslie. In 1910, the Class B fleet would see another addition, another Hunslet locomotive from the Johore Railway, followed by another three from Singapore Railway (two Hunslets and one Hawthorn Leslie) and two Hunslets from Johore Railway in 1912.

Class B locomotives were retired as new locomotives were delivered for the FMSR. While four Class B locomotives were removed from the active fleet during the 1920s with the last Class B withdrawn in 1932, three others were sold to the Malayan Collieries in 1923 and 1925.

FMSR Class C

Class C (1901—1928)

With seven originally built between 1893 and 1894, FMSR Class C locomotives were essentially 4-4-0T Class B locomotives with additional four-wheel tenders. As were other pre-FMSR locomotives, the Class Cs were absorbed from a state railway company, specifically, the Perak Railway, between 1901 and 1903. The Class Cs consisted of two locomotives from Neilson, three from Kitson & Company, and two from Hawthorn Leslie. All Class Cs were known to feature outer cylinders measuring 12" by 18", 3' 3" driving wheels, and 140 lbs of boiler pressure.

In 1907, the two Class C Hawthorn Leslie locomotives were passed to the then independent Johore Railway, two years before the opening of the state's line in 1909, and returned to the FMSR in 1912. All Class C locomotives would later be remove from service and scrapped between 1924 and 1928.

Class C (1929—1970s)

By 1929, all original Class C locomotives were removed from active service, allowing the Class C designation to be reassigned to a new series of locomotives. The "new" FMSR Class C locomotives was introduced in 1929, beginning with a fleet of five locomotives from Nasmyth, Wilson and Company and saw the addition of 11 from the North British Locomotive Company between 1939 and 1940, expanding the fleet to encompass 16 locomotives.

All Class C locomotives were 38' 11"-long 4-6-4T side tank engines with two cylinders measuring 14½" by 22". Differences may be noted with the 1929 Class C and the 1939—1941; among others, the 1929 series was lighter (73 tons compared to the later series' 74.1 tones) but featured a smaller fire grate (at 23.6 sq ft compared to the later series' 28 sq ft).

An additional six orders from North British were completed in 1941, but were redirected by the War Department of the United Kingdom to Egypt for use as military locomotives in World War II. The six locomotives were allocated FMSR numbers after the war, but a dispute over payment arose as the locomotives were no longer new. Subsequently all six locomotive were sold to the Royal Jordanian Hashemite Railway in 1949 and delisted from the FMSR by 1951.

The remaining Class Cs were presumably scrapped by Malayan Railways during the 1960s and 1970s.

FMSR Class D

Designated as FMSR numbers 22 to 25, the FMSR Class D was a series of 4-6-0 locomotives with four-wheel tenders that originated from the Selangor Railway and given the Class D designation upon its entry into the FMSR fleet in July 1901. Consisting of only four locomotives, the Class D included two locomotives from Kitson (built 1894, numbers 3530 and 3531) and two from Dübs and Company (built 1895, numbers 3220 and 3221).

FMSR 24 was scraped in 1926, followed by the rest of the Class Ds in 1928.

FMSR Class E

Designated as FMSR numbers 30 and 31, the FMSR Class E was introduced in July 1901 as a fleet of two Kitson 4-6-0 locomotives with four-wheel tenders, both originated from the Perak Railway (built 1896 with works numbers 3681 and 3682). In comparison to the Class D, the Class E feature larger drive wheels.

The Class E was scraped entirely between 1929 and 1930.

FMSR Class F

Designated as FMSR numbers 32 and 33, the FMSR Class F was a pair of Sharp Stewart and Company 4-4-0 locomotives with four-wheel tenders built in 1897 for the Selangor Railway (with Sharp Stewart works numbers 4267 and 4268).

Both locomotives were scrapped in 1929 and 1930.

FMSR Class G

Designated as FMSR numbers 36 and 69, the FMSR Class G was introduced in July 1901 with a starting fleet of 21 locomotives from both the Perak Railway and the Selangor Railway, followed by two from the Malacca Railway in 1905 and an additional 11 orders directed to the FMSR between 1903 and 1905, bringing a total of 34 locomotives. The Class G was thus the largest FMSR fleet to include locomotives absorbed from state railways following the formation of the FMSR.

While the Class Gs were largely similarly built 4-6-0 locomotives with six-wheel tenders; all 34 of them were manufactured by four separate locomotive companies between 1898 and 1905. 16 were from Kitson, 9 were from Hunslet, three were from Robert Stephenson and Company, and two were from Neilson, Reid and Company.

Class G was largely retired between 1928 in 1938. The last two Class Gs were withdrawn from service in July 1947.

FMSR Class H

The FMSR Class H was the first FMSR class to consist of locomotives ordered after the formation of the FMSR. Delivered in the form of three batches between 1907 and 1914, three companies, Kitson, Nasmyth Wilson and Robert Stephenson, would produce a total of 54 Class H locomotives for the FMSR, while another 6 were delivered to the Johore Railway in 1908 before its absorption together with the rest of Johore Railway into in the FMSR in 1912.

The Class H consisted of 4-6-2 locomotives with 8-wheel bogie tenders. While nearly consistent in design, 11 1908 Class H locomotives from Kitson featured thicker frames that increased each of their weights by over 2½ tons.

The Class Hs may be distinguished by the order of the batch they were in: The first batch of 17 locomotives delivered between 1907 and 1908 were referred as "Class H1" locomotives, the second batch of 17 locomotives delivered between 1908 and 1912 were referred as "Class H2" locomotives, while the last batch of 15 locomotives received between 1913 and 1914 were referred as "Class H3" locomotives (of which two were redesignated as a "Class H4" locomotives in 1924).

The entire Class H fleet remain in service until the entire stock of Class H1s was scrapped between 1930 and 1934. The H2s and H3s were partially scrapped before 1946, but were selected in limited numbers in 1946 for use in the Malayan Railways: Six H2s were numbered MR 501.01 to 501.06, while five H3s were numbered MR 501.07 and 501.11. The remaining 11 Class Hs remained in service at least before the 1960s and 1970s.

References

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