Singapore (locomotive)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Singapore steam locomotive with a freight train in the Rutland Railway Museum
Singapore steam locomotive with a passenger train in the Rutland Railway Museum

The standard gauge Singapore steam locomotive was built in 1936 by R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. Ltd. built with the 0-4-0ST wheel arrangement and the serial number 3865. It was originally used in the Singapore Dockyard of the British Singapore Naval Base in Singapore as part of the Singapore strategy .

history

The first plans to establish a military port in Singapore were drafted in the early 1920s. The budget request for surveying work was approved in 1923. As a result, the location on the Strait of Johor was selected and the first preparatory work began, which was discontinued in November 1923. In November 1924, work was resumed.

At the end of 1925, 7 officers and 25 crew ranks were posted for use in Singapore. Initially there was only one fleet tanker C450 and one 18 m (60 feet ) long steam tug .

The newly built steam locomotive was delivered to the Singapore Dockyard in 1936 and was given yard no. 10 and the name Singapore . It was damaged in the Japanese invasion of World War II in 1942 before it was confiscated and the Allied soldiers responsible for its operation were captured. The bullet holes are still visible in the locomotive today.

The locomotive was imported back to the UK in 1953 and used in Chatham Dockyard until it was retired and sold in 1972. The locomotive is now on display as a moving memorial to prisoners of war in the Far East at the Rutland Railway Museum in Cottesmore, northeast of Oakham , in Rutland , England .

The locomotive has been exhibited outdoors since 2007, and its paintwork was badly weathered. It was repainted and cosmetically restored in mid-October 2016. It was then publicly displayed at the commemoration of the completion of the Thailand-Burma Railway, known as the Death Railway , which killed 12,500 prisoners of war . The locomotive is to be moved to a new exhibition building, where it will be cosmetically reworked and repainted before the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Chatham Historic Dockyard Railway: History of Locomotive Names: SINGAPORE. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  2. ^ War Memorials Online: Reference # 191870.

Coordinates: 52 ° 42 ′ 54.1 ″  N , 0 ° 41 ′ 21.7 ″  W.