02/06/2021
Reminiscing the History-Heritage of the oldest Railway Station of Perak, Malaya.
Today is the “136 Years Anniversary” of the 1st Railway Station of Perak, Malaya
Let us revisit some historical events preceding to its commission.
Subsequent to the discovery of large Tin deposits at Larut (Klian Pauh and Klian Bahru) by Long Jaafar in the 1840s, new tin fields were opened and mined at the Larut’s district.
Mining activities intensified under Ngah Ibrahim when he took over as Mantri of Larut in 1858, whereby he encouraged further grow and expansion of tin mining activities.
As a result, more coolies were recruited to Larut, which lead to formation of two large Chinese mining community group, the Hai San and Ghee Hin. Disputes and fights over territorial mining's fields, infrastructures and domestic affairs eventually led to the break out of the 13 years long Larut Wars from 1861 to 1874.
Peace was only achieved when the Larut Wars ended with the signing of the Pangkor Treaty (1874). Pursuant to the truce arrangement, the Pacification Commission was formed and Pacification Agreement was signed as part of the Pangkor Treaty, whereby Klian Pauh (subsequently renamed as Taiping) and Klian Bahru (renamed as Kamunting) was allocated to the Hai San and Ghee Hin group respectively to manage and operate, enabling new and expansion of tin mining activities to be carried out in an orderly manner for administration.
Sir Hugh Low, was appointed as the 4th British Resident of Perak (1877 to 1889). As the tin mining economic activities and industry expanded, there were needs to find a speedy and efficient way to transport tin ores to the coastal port for export to the world for industrial productions.
The plans to commission a Railway track to transport tin ores from the mines of Taiping, heart of the tin rich Larut and other produces, sundries & supplies to/from Port Weld were conceived and undertaken in the 1980s by the British Government, supported by the Perak State Council established by Sir Hugh Low.
The first Railway Station of Perak, Malaya was finally completed and commissioned on the 1st June of 1885. It was situated where the King Edward VII Primary School now stands. The Station was officiated by Sir Hugh Low and the tracks (8 miles 6 chains - length!) connects Taiping to Port Weld (now known as Kuala Sepetang). The tracks lines no longer exist now as they were later dismantled in the 1980s. The train services lasted until 1941, start of WW2.
As for development of the railway line towards the FMSR, the Taiping to Port Weld line, 8 miles 6 chains, was built to predominantly to serve the tin-mining industry and opened on 1st June 1885. It would be almost 5 years before the next section from Taiping to Kamunting, 3 miles 50 chains, was opened on 6th May 1890 and this was followed by Kamunting to Ulu Sepatang, 5 miles 22 chains, on 1st July 1892.
The rest of the system was built in isolated sections over the next 10 years and not all sections were joined together until after the merger with the Selangor Government Railway in 1901 which formed the Federated Malay States Railway.
