Residual Steam Locomotives in Vietnam, June 2025

Thomas Kautzor reports on his visit to the country in June 2025 to seek out and check the status of its residual steam locomotives. Back in 2014, I uploaded a list prepared by Bernd Seiler which I edited over the years as information became available. I have appended that list in its final form at the end of this page. This is the current list as prepared by Thomas:.

131-402 plinthed at Gia Lam Train Factory (ex Yen Bai)
131-428 on display at Da Lat Station
131-436 stored at Thai Nguyen Iron & Steel Works (? not visited)
141-122 stored at Gia Lam Train Factory (not visited)
141-158 plinthed at Sai Gon Station
141-159 dismantled at Di An Works (spares for 141-165/190)
141-165 stored at Di An Works (restored for Revolution Express) - sent to the new R.R. maintenance facility at Kim Liên (Da Nang) for further work (August 2025)
141-179 on isplay at Bao Tang Ha Noi/Hanoi Museum
141-182 plinthed at Di An Train Factory
141-190 stored at Di An Works (restored for Revolution Express) - sent to Hanoi for the 80th DSVN celebrations (August 2025), presumably it will rejoin 141-65 afterwards.
141-202 on display at Euro Garden Cau Dat
141-206 plinthed at Da Nang station
GJ 1035/1037/1042/1045 at Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Works (not visited): at least one sold to China, 1045 is reported privately preserved on site.

If anyone has any recent pictures from the sites that Thomas was unable to visit, I would be happy to add them to this report.

What follows is a brief report of parts of his visit and some pictures taken during it:

"At both gates in Gia Lam I was denied access, but could photo 131-402 (ex-Yen Bai) at the Western gate together with some track maintenance railcars. This saved me a trip to Yen Bai. 141-179 was recently put on display as part of the industrial history exhibition at the new Hanoi Museum, in a new part of town. I also visited the Thong Nhat park railway, but did not see it run.

I managed to find the Decauville 0-4-0T at Mao Khe coal mine, where I was warmly welcomed. I got there by taking a Grab car from Hai Phong station (40 km/1 hour). Like most coal mines in the area, they still use a narrow gauge railway at the mine, but using 900mm electric locomotives (of Eastern European origin).

I saw 141-206 (now 141-026) at Da Nang and 131-428 at Da Lat. The Kambarka TU6P railcar at Da Lat, which had been sold to a coffee dealer at a private location, has recently been sold again and while it is still in Da Lat, no one could tell me where. I did however find 141-202 at Euro Garden Cau Dat (21 km SE of Da Lat), where it is part of the Train Station Ca Phé, while looking for other remains beside one of the line's old tunnels. Vietnamese railfans had said it had been scrapped.

I tried to contact Michael Gebbie by phone, but the number has been disconnected, and the 'Revolution Express' restaurant inside the old station at Lang Co, which they had started operating, has also shut down. Talking to owner of the Ca Phé at Hanoi Long Bien station, who is also a railfan, he told me that getting into Di An is very difficult and he has never managed to do so."

		This is 131.402, formerly at Yen Bai, at the west gate at Gia Lam.
		This is the Decauville 0-4-0T at Mao Khe coal mine together with my host.
		This is 141-179 at the new Hanoi Museum
		This is the Thong Nhat park railway, but did not see it run.
		Thomas travelled on the Hué -Da Nang tourist train headed by a D11H Romanian diesel . At Lang Co station it crossed a freight train which had been banked by a Chinese D19E (left).
		This is the former 141-206 (now 141-026) at Da Nang
		This is long term resident 131-428 at Da Lat.
		This is unexpected survivor 141-202 at Euro Garden Cau Dat The second picture shows the historic Da Lat station.
		Very little remains intact on the original Da Lat (part) rack railway climbing up from Phan Rang. This is the current tourist train on the top adhesion section just outside Da Lat which runs 7km as far as Trai Mat, beyond which was the first rack section. The single Kambarka TU6P railcar formerly used here and then on display at the station was preserved by 11.2018 to 03.2024 but gone by 01.2025 at The Married Beans coffee shop workshop in Da Lat, in the part of town east of the station. After that location closed, it was sold and moved to another location in Da Lat, but no one at the downtown The Married Beans could tell me where that was.
		141-158 is plinthed at Sai Gon station.
		This is 141-182 plinthed at Di An Train Factory. The second picture shows the outside of Di An Train Factory, as well as some parts of the dismantled 141-159 inside Di An which was used for spares for the Revolution Express locomotive.
		The decoration shows the wall of the Coffee Ga Sài Gòn inside Sai Gon station and is supposed to depict 'Vietnamese steam' with locomotives 190-118 and 061-219. It might have been AI generated (it's that bad). The final view shows the scene at Sai Gon station after alighting from train SE6 from Thap Cham. It was pouring so hard that he couldn't get to his hotel, which was just 200 meters from the station gate.

For the record, this is the version of the original 2014 list that I had on this site as it had evolved before Thomas's visit.

A posting on the Far Rail Blog in March 2014 gave a list claiming to be of the remaining steam locomotives in the country (3rd April 2014). The status of the four 0-6-0T at Thai Nguyen was uncertain..

1. Thai Nguyen:
131-428 was to have been transferred to China, leaving 4 steam locomotives: 030-1035, 1037 (best, after repair and using spare parts of 1032 and 1034, last check 1st December 2013), 1042 and 1045 still in good condition, ready for running

2. Gia Lam formerly at Yen Bai: (updated 27th June 2025)
131-402 stored

3. Hanoi (area)
141-167 Hanoi Depot
141-122 Gia Lam in bad condition.
141-164 Gia Lam
141-199 Gia Lam
141-159 Bim Son in good condition
141-192 Bim Son
141-215 Ninh Binh
141-202 Giap Bat
141-206 Giap Bat
141-210 Ga
141-108 Yen Vien shed
141-153 Yen Vien shed
141-157 Yen Vien shed
141-175 Yen Vien shed
141-176 Yen Vien shed
141-189 Yen Vien shed
141-193 Yen Vien shed
141-205 Yen Vien shed
141-211 Yen Vien shed
141-212 Yen Vien shed
141-213 Yen Vien shed
141-226 Yen Vien shed

4. Hai Phong Depot
141-178
141-186
141-191
141-198

5 Saigon
141-165 was transferred in December 2013 to Di An, Saigon. There it is now together with 141-190 which was transferred for repair...

6. Others plinthed:
141-182 Di An Depot, Saigon
141-158 at Saigon Station
a 141 in Danang Station (said to be 141-206 by http://railwaysinvietnam.com/141.html) but actually 141.026, the real one is at Giap Bat, see above)
a 141 in Vinh Station (said to be 141-179 by http://railwaysinvietnam.com/141.html)