A line of redundant W1 loco's are awaiting their final fate but another use seems to have found for them for a while.

Class W2, 711 amongst other hydraulic class mates seem to have reached the end of their working lifes.

Class W1, 635 is being re-claimed by mother nature at Ratmalana.

Henschel W1, 649 will never enjoy another run along the wonderful coastal route as it slips further in to decay at Ratmalana.

Can you guess what it is yet ? W1 or W2... Your guess is as good as mine.

Henschel class W1, 646 also awaits it's fate.

Hitachi class M5, No. 773 has been taken out of service and the empty shell shows collision damage at both ends.

Alstom built M9, No. 867 is one of many of these almost new locomotives side lined at ratmalana due to the un-reliability of the class. Just 3 or 4 of these remain in service.

A driving trailer car of an S7 power set was found in the over grown siddings at Ratmalana.

Hunslet shunter Y693, Built in 1969 in Leeds, England. This is the only one of the class that I have seen in this colour scheme as all the others are painted black.

This engine was a total suprise. It is a G2 loco, No. 536. I know of only one other of these old North British, 1951 built shunters that still survives and that is No. 535 which can be found at Kandy. A total of eight locos were once in service on the Sri Lankan railway network.

Looking in fine shape after a heavy overhaul is DLW Varanasi built M8, 843.

Canadian MLW built M4,754 is under going a major overhaul at Ratmalana workshops.

British built in 1981 by Brush locomotives is M7, 802. This loco is being almost completly re-built and will soon be thrashing again.

Catch of the day !!! This little beauty is a G1 class shunting locomotive number 500. It was built in 1934 by the Armstrong Whitworth Co. at Newcastle up-on Tyne, England in 1934. It is currently waiting a repair due to a traction motor fault.

The builders plate of the Whitworth Armstrong G1, No. 500 at Ratmalana.

Another view of G1, 500 at Ratmalana.

Two loco's that are ready to be put back into service are M7, 809 & M6, 788.

A very rare view inside one of the main workshops at Ratmalana with M4, M5 & M8 loco's visable.

W2, 706 with one of it's fellow hydraulic W1 relations lies amongst the vegitation at Ratmalana.

Another total suprise find for me was this very rare N3 locomotive No. 001. This is a class that was totally un-known to me and I do not know of any other members of the same class.

A look inside another workshop revealed many power sets and Y class shunting locomotives under repair.

Almost totally covered by vegetation this loco is hardly recognisable. I suspect that it could be one of the 1972 locally built Y1 shunting engines that were short lived due to their un-reliability. No running number could be seen on it at all.

Do you think we can fix it ? W1 class, 665 has seen better days for sure...