On this day, MTREC was invited by BBC to host a special guest from the United Kingdom, and the special guest is Francis Bourgeois. Francis is a well-known train enthusiast and he is exploring Malaysia’s railway as part of his Great Malaysian Railway Adventure documentary with BBC.

As a welcoming community, six members from MTREC decided to bring Francis to one of our favourite trainspotting locations and give him the chance to experience what it’s like to spot trains with Malaysian train enthusiasts. 

Our day begins with one of our members meeting Francis at Kuala Lumpur Station and accompanied him on the journey to Rawang. Onboard the Komuter train, they discussed interesting topics such as the similarities between Malaysian and British railways, their favourite locomotives, and some railway facts and trivia.

Meanwhile, the other participants gathered at Rawang Station around 10:00 to greet and welcome Francis. Everyone introduced themselves and the event began with a simple icebreaking session where each person shared how they discovered their passion for railways.

Next, we visited the station master’s office to inform him about our trainspotting activity. To our surprise, the friendly and welcoming station master, Mr. Zainudin turned out to be a fellow railway enthusiast. He shared his personal collection of KTMB rolling stock photographs and invited us to view his mini museum. With great enthusiasm, he shared the history and unique facts about the locomotives in his collection.

We then began our trainspotting at the platform. Although there were some long waits between trains, everyone passed the time with lively conversations. During lunch time, the producer treated everyone to nasi kandar taken out from a nearby restaurant. We had our meal on the platform so we could have our lunch without missing any trains in action. After that, we continued our trainspotting with the goal of catching a specific locomotive that Francis had been hoping to see but had not yet spotted that day.

Just as the day was winding down, hopes were fading and we were about to give up, a blue train curved into the station. It was the train everyone anticipated for, the rare Class 29 locomotive hauling sugar containers. Everyone was thrilled and relieved that we could help Francis achieve his mission.

Before we end our day, we gathered for a group photo with the BBC crew, Francis, and Mr. Zainudin. It was an unforgettable day of spotting Malaysia’s mainline trains. We would like to express our gratitude to BBC for including us in the documentary and to Mr. Zainudin for his warm support.

This trainspotting event with BBC and Francis shows a success in our group to host trainspotting session with international train enthusiast and promoting our hobby of trainspotting. We are looking forward to organising more events in the future to promote the use of our rail system in Malaysia.

Documentary by BBC Travel: https://youtu.be/lWUcx1Mf6i8

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Last Updated: 08/09/2025