Railways
Primary tabs
Sarawak had never been particularly rich in railways but it was little known that there was an actual railway laid down in an area called Ensalai, near inland of the Baram River near the border of Brunei.
As the oil company expanded its drilling sites throughout Miri, one of such site, Ensalai, lay in the middle of a swamp which could only be reached by laying a corduroy of logs over it, and putting the railway over those logs for vehicles to successfully move through. These railway equipment are brought over from North Borneo (now Sabah). Records show that this was in June of 1960.
The 'passenger train' for this railway was a standard Land Rover, albeit with the standard wheels swapped out for modified wheels. A 3.25 ton locomotive that was loaned from North Borneo Railways was used to carry much larger and heavier equipment.
As for the drill site itself, Ensalai turned out to be a disappointment and was abandoned on Christmas Eve that year.
On this Saturday of 25th July 2009, cellphones in Miri lit up with a flood of messages circulating of rumors that a light plane had ditched into the sea off the coast of Miri around noon.
A small, neglected Colonial era cemetery is located in between Gymkhana Club Miri and St. Columba's primary school. The cemetery contains a mix of European ex-pats, Chinese & orang Asli graves with marker stones. 