The Tin Monster : Going Down

How coincident is it to put the title The Tin Monster : Going Down when the dredge is already slanting at nearly 30 degrees and for how long can it withstand the pull of gravity?

It wasn't so long ago that the dredges in Lembah Kinta was a source of income for many families. This mine had given so much not only for the families, but it was once the pride and joy of our nation. What's  left today are just evidence of hard work and irons of steel and machinery left to embrace and photographed before it comes tumbling down. What do we do?

The preservation of the dredge had caught the attention of the local herit- age buffs. Chairman of the Perak Heritage Society, Law Siak Hong, said “eve- rything must be done to preserve it. Not only did it help make Kinta Valley world famous, it helped provide the wealth which built our country’s infra- structure and develop- ment”. “The dredge was presented by the mining company to the State for the people. That should be the inspiration for its con- servation and subsequent re-use”, added Law.

The dredge was built in 1938 by the consulting engineering firm of F.W. Payne and Co. It started operations at Teja, Gopeng, and after 44 years ceased operations and moved to its present location in 1982. The company responsible for managing the dredge, Century Mission Sdn Bhd is unable to repair the pon- toon due to financial con- straints.

Meanwhile, with the pontoon rusty and leak- ing the situation of the tin dredge is getting worse each day. We hope that the commitment made by Dato’ Hamidah to save the dredge will material- ise in the very near future to preserve the last visible heritage of the tin mining industry that brought the Kinta Valley the fame and glory that it enjoyed in the past. (source:Ipoh Echo)

Its a pretty awesome feeling when you look down at the vast space beneath you. This machine is silent now, but imagine the amount of noise and vibrations that you would experience if this thing was actually in operation!

It shows that the manganese steel buckets is leading towards the revolving screen before dropping the excavated soil into the screen.

Just like an airplane, this is the cockpit / control room.

It is operated by the winch man and dredge master. It is the control panel to move the dredge forward.

The control room is left as it was over 20 years ago. Old fire extinguisher, masks and documents are seen still in tact.

The gears are to control the cable that power the movement of the dredge while excavating the soil under the water.

Documents are still seen in the control room though scrunched and ripped apart.

The ruler above indicates the depth and length of the manganese buckets while excavating.

The three pictures above shows the gears area. Same gearing concept like the train, except these lines are dedicated to each buckets, not track.

I reckon these huge electrical generators were used to power the dredge when it was in use.

Before it gets to the dumping part, these pipes collect the tin ore with various minerals before storing it into drums.

This dredge, the last of its kind, is called the ttd5 (Tanjung Tualang Dredge 5). It is an amazing machine and it is up to us to preserve this heritage so that our future generation will have the chance to know where the nation's source of income came from back in those days.

Through this experience in exploring the ttd5, I realize that when I was in primary school, all I learnt about tin mining was that :

1. the Malaysian sen is made of it.

2. Yap Ah Loy was famously connected to it.

3. I only recognize the dredge in black and white drawings from the reference books.

But now that I've seen it up-close and personal, I began to submerge in the appreciation of hard labor by our ancestors. Life was tougher. We should always remember that and embrace the life we live now. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here today.

Thank you miners for your endless work just for us today, whether they knew then or not.And thank you mr. Steven Ng for the generous information on the dredge.

Thank you.

Thank You

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Thank You.