Trainman in Vietnam
- John Ashworth
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Trainman in Vietnam
Photos and captions by Nathan Berelowitz, February 2012
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- The actual photo of the tank bursting through the gates at the American Embassy in Saigon
- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 403.jpg (99.57 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
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- This class 141 is mounted outside the main station in Saigon. It was a very hazy day so the photo quality is not the best.
- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 305.jpg (66.56 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
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- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 309.jpg (68.01 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
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- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 312.jpg (77.22 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
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- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 310.jpg (60.25 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
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- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 307.jpg (62.56 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
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- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 313.jpg (61.41 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
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- This was the gate where the North Vietnamese tank bust through into the American Embassy compound, thus ending the Vietnam War. Saigon.
- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 318.jpg (82.84 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
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- The Notre Dam in Saigon!
- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 319.jpg (40.05 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
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- Saigon old Post Office
- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 326.jpg (100.04 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
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- Interior of old Post Office
- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 330.jpg (110.71 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
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- Photo display board outside Ho Chi Minh museum in Saigon.
- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 377.jpg (77.45 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
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- Travelling Train Ted and his new Vietnamese mates!
- Thailand and Vietnam. February 2012 451.jpg (44.21 KiB) Viewed 1310 times
- John Ashworth
- Site Admin
- Posts: 23606
- Joined: 24 Jan 2007, 14:38
- Location: Nairobi, Kenya
- Contact:
Re: Trainman in Vietnam
John Middleton's response to Nathan's query about the plinthed loco in Saigon:
John M wrote:Hi Nathan
Thanks for the photos, interesting, I never got to Saigon - only Hanoi. I don't know if you ever play around with PHOTOSHOP but its now quite easy to remove haze from photos. I did a very quick (2 minute) fiddle with one of your shots, the result is attached - this was only a 70 kb file so not much detail - you could bring up more contrast with the hi-res original.
These typically French locos are actually Chinese (!!) so quite interesting and their origin was a mystery until relatively recently. After WW 2 the French (SACM) built a series of 2-8-2 and 4-6-2 for their Colonies in the 1950-53 period, about 40-50 of each. It gets complicated because they were delivered piecemeal to railways like the Congo-Ocean in Congo, the Dakar- Niger (Senegal) and Abidjan - Niger (Ivory Coast) as well as Vietnam. We actually don't know how many went to Vietnam but at some point only 10 were left and were renumbered 141.101-10 (they were originally in the 5xx series).
Two were then built in Vietnam Railways Hanoi Works in 1961-62 and were 141.121-122, these probably used parts and spares from scrapped locos.
The ones that survive today like 141.158 in Saigon are not that old as they were blatant rip-offs of the SACM design built in China in 1965-1969 by Tangshan Works as their SY2 Class (although there were no others built - just the ones for Vietnam), Tangshan built 66 of these 141.151-216. I saw them working in 1995 and even had a footplate ride on one, I'll have to scan a couple of photos and send them through.
So in conclusion, Chinese rip-offs have been around quite a while !
Cheers
John
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- 141-158 PS Tweaked.jpg (131.42 KiB) Viewed 1309 times