Steam Locomotive cab ride, Hua Lamphong - Thonburi, Bangkok (I)

This evening I'm at Hua Lamphong, Bangkok's main terminus station, to catch a glimpse of the returning steam excursion that set off from here to Ayutthaya at first light. Due back around 6PM, it quickly establishes normal Thai railway timing pattern by being expected up to two hours late. Hua Lamphong at night is like so many of the world's great railway stations, a seething mass of people setting off or arriving on journeys known only to themselves, or tearfully waving loved ones off. The State Railway of Thailand's (SRT) two Japanese-built steam locomotives shatter the conformity of the evening when they suddenly come chugging down platform 9, emerging from behind a powerful, beaming spotlight, belching plumes of steam and smoke from the front, sides and top and underneath. These ageing warriors that once ruled the iron roads of Thailand are back on their throne, Hua Lamphong, half a century after they clanked their way out of their natural hunting grounds for the last time and into the fading sunset. And how they announce themselves: Pacific Locomotives #824 and #850 have a presence that no modern transportation method can hold a candle to, from a dashing red Ferrari to a hulking ferry boat or a screaming 747 to the slickly-efficient Skytrain, the current contenders cannot match this pair of old ladies who haul themselves to a spectacular stop and utterly take over the scene. The surprise is in everyone's eyes, the arrival of these green-and-black titans of the rails is totally unexpected, at a stroke shattering the humdrum of the modern era journey with each hiss of their mighty pistons. I'm not old enough to remember the golden age of rail travel, but this evening I have a fleeting glimpse: the dashing glamour, the unrivalled mightiness, the excitement, pride and prestige of that bygone era when rail travel was a pleasurable adventure, all suddenly comes alive again and is flickeringly relived in a hundred eyes. Once the SRT's snake of blue-and-white coaches are whisked away by a burbling diesel locomotive to be anonymously thrust back into the humdrum of daily rolling stock life, the locomotives are hooked up to the water standpipes to quench their massive thirst. These divas of the rails, like a ageing star making one more comeback, demand attention, and they receive it, staff flutter by and an endless stream of people queue up to have their photos taken in front on their thrusting red 'cowcatchers' and inside the heat of their cabs.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• steam
• locomotive
• train
• pacific
• hua
• lamphong
• station
• bangkok
• thailand
• 824
• 850
• thonburi

[jez952]

Wow ...do u live in Thailand? BKK?

I want to find out more about steam can you help me?

You are lucky man...brilliant !! :o)