One of my favourites was the railway set — neat loops of track, a puffing locomotive, wagons obediently trailing behind steel rails laid carefully on the living-room floor. Tracks across timeThe modern railway story of Malaya is generally traced to 1885, when a modest but consequential line opened between Taiping and Port Weld. Where rails arrived, towns soon sprouted — sometimes planned, sometimes accidental, always consequential. Supplies had to be hauled along makeshift access tracks built solely so the railway itself could be built — infrastructure to create infrastructure, patience required to manufacture patience. As one chronicler observed, the railway often arrived before the road, because in the jungle, even roads had not yet found their courage.

Source: The Edge Markets February 16, 2026 09:10 UTC