Pakistan Railways

SGS (Standard Goods Superheated) 0-6-0 2471 at the head of a passenger service in Malakwal Station. Not quite Edwardian, the locomotive was built at some time between 1914 and 1923. The lack of coal in Pakistan meant that oil firing was the rule and this is confirmed by the black plume rising from the chimney.

Another Standard Goods Superheated heads back to the shed at Malakwal Junction. Just look at those lovely semaphore signals in the background.

SGS 2471 heading for the shed at Malakwal Junction having just come off a passenger train in the station.

SPS 2997 ready to depart from Malakwal Junction.

Although diesels were beginning to appear in the area the environs of Malakwal were one of the strongholds of steam in Pakistan in 1992. There was a distinctly Edwardian feel to the motive power which comprises SPS (Standard Passenger Superheated 4-4-0) and SGS (Standard Goods Superheated 0-6-0) oil fired locomotives. To get here it was a long drive down from Islamabad and into the recently flood devastated area adjacent to the Indus Valley. In several places the road had washed away and detours into the desert-like landscape were necessary to find our way to this remote town. We were made very welcome by the station staff and given tea and cake in the telegraph (yes, real telegraph machines) office and later the same at the locomotive depot. It was very hot but the opportunity to photograph the twilight years of these veteran locomotives made it worthwhile. Here (Vulcan Foundry built 1911, I think) SPS 3191 gently leads a westbound departure past just a few of the magnificent array of semaphore signals around the station.

SPS 2997 simmers in the yard at Malakwal shed.

Hidden away behind the locomotive depot at Malakwal were this pair of SPS 4-4-0 locomotives undergoing repair. No.3159 was a little short of wheels!

A Standard Goods Superheated Setting back from the station at Malakwal Junction. A happy day was spent here watching the action, followed by a hair-raising drive back to Rawalpindi.

Line-up of Edwardian steam locomotives awaiting repair behind the shed at Malakwal. The line commences with a spare tender, followed by a Standard Goods Superheated (SGS) 0-6-0, then a Standard Passenger Superheated (SPS) 4-4-0, then another SGS and another SPS. All British made and, sadly, probably never to run again.