Sha Tau Kok Railway

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Route of the narrow-gauge railway from Fanling to Sha Tau Kok
WG Bagnall 0-4-4T steam locomotive that ran on the Sha Tau Kok Railway and is now in the Hong Kong Railway Museum
Former Hung Ling Station on the Sha Tau Kok Railway

The Sha Tau Kok Railway ( Chinese  沙頭角 鐵路 , Pinyin Shā Tóu Jiǎo Tiělù ) was a nearly 10 km long narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 610 mm (2 feet ) and ran in the northern New Territories of Hong Kong from Fanling to Sha Tau Kok .

history

The Sha Tau Kok Railway began operating on April 1, 1912. It was operated on the track and rolling stock of a field railway that had been used in the construction of the British section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway , which opened 18 months earlier in 1910. For the first 6.5 km from Fanling to near the village of Au Ha, the rails were laid next to and on a newly built road. From Au Ha to Sha Tau Kok, the height difference to be overcome required a longer route for the railroad with inclines of up to 1:45 and minimum curve radii of 45 m (150 feet). In places, the rails and a tunnel can still be seen in the thick vegetation.

In 1924, the Hong Kong government decided to extend the existing highway from Au Ha to Sha Tau Kok. The railway line then became increasingly less profitable and ceased operations on April 1, 1928.

Then two steam locomotives purchased in December 1923 by WG Bagnall Ltd. , which were in use from mid-1924 until decommissioning, were sold by the Hong Kong government to the North Negros Sugar Company in Iloilo , Philippines . They were used to bring sugar cane to the sugar mills until 1990, after which they were used as shunting locomotives and for track maintenance. In 1995 the locomotives were acquired by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation and brought back to Hong Kong, where one of the two is on display at the Hong Kong Railway Museum after a major overhaul . The other was donated to the Phyllis Rampton Narrow Gauge Railway Trust in the UK in 2007 for restoration and use on the Vale of Rheidol Railway in Wales.

Train stations

The railway line had the following stations and stops:

  • Fanling with the option to change to the Kowloon-Canton Railway
  • Hung Ling
  • Where slope
  • Shek Chung Au
  • Sha Tau Kok

Fanling train station continues to operate. The Hung Leng station building is still there, but the other stations have been demolished.

Web links

Commons : Sha Tau Kok Railway  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation: A History, RJ Phillips, Urban Council Publication
  2. ↑ Boyd-Hope, Gary: Rheidol revival . In: Steam Railway . 358, Jan 2009, pp. 91-5.

Coordinates: 22 ° 31 '14.8 "  N , 114 ° 10' 39.2"  E