MANY would have ridden the current Penang Hill funicular train, but how many ‘actually’ know the history, in-depth engineering efforts and challenges faced by the engineer who designed the historic Penang Hill railway in the past?
The treasured and historical record was penned in the nearly century-old book ‘Penang Hills Railway’. It was written by Arnold Robert Johnson (1879 – 1966).
The book was published by The Institution of Civil Engineer in 1925.
It is learned that there were only three surviving copies of the book known to exist to date.
One of the books was presented to Penang Hill Corporation (PHC) recently.
PHC general manager Cheok Lay Leng was honoured to receive the book from Ric Francis, the author of the book ‘Penang Hill Funicular Railway Remembering An Engineering Feat 1923 – 2010’.
Francis, who owned the nearly century-old book, said he wished to present the ‘Penang Hills Railway’ book as a gift to PHC.
Cheok thanked Francis for his generosity and kind gesture.
The Penang Hill railway was inaugurated on Oct 21, 1923 and officially opened to public on Jan 1, 1924.
Story by Christopher Tan