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. Now that they have done their job for the day and lightened the hearts of their hundreds of passengers, the final stage of the journey for this pair of old ladies is to make the trip back to their home depot at Thonburi, taking a triangular route of I guess around 20 miles or so. An invitation to ride in the cab back to the depot, apparently never handed out under any circumstances, is one to be leapt at, and so in the darkness just after 10 PM we start a race across the suburbs of Bangkok, the two muscular steam locomotives straining at the leash, as fresh as the day they were build.
The lives and dreams of the men who once imagined, realised, built and steered them may long extinguished, but the SRT's surviving handful of locomotives are today maintained and run by an enthusiastic band of employees and volunteers, who share those grand dreams, and as is always the case in Thailand, there is huge pride. Today that pride is shining brightly as we race along the main railway line towards Bang Sue Junction. The lusty horns scream into the night and the crews on each locomotive sound them with different tones, bouncing back and forth off each other, waking Bangkok up as we thunder through the night in a crazed mix of plumes of smoke, hissing steam, clanking wheels and the deafening hooting of horns. The surprise - and smiles - on faces of passersby is a joy to behold as idling passengers on platforms rudely waken as we race through while motorists at level crossings scrabble to point camera phones at #824 and #850 once the shock of their bursting unexpectedly onto the scene has receeded. History is being relived tonight in Bangkok, and in a glorious scale: the sights, sounds, majesty and smells of a century ago without warning overpowering the senses. The staff are all enthusiasts of steam, capably keeping alive the traditions of their forefathers and the never-ending sounding of the horns echoing into the night lets everyone know that these two old warriors are still the queens of the iron road: no equals, no pretenders ir no rivals to their style have emerged in the modern era of diesel. The cab meanwhile flickers to the bright light seeping from the boiler and the scene is a sea of huge brass knobs and levels, and round gauges some reading out pressures with their needles locked into a perpetual crazed dance.
After Bang Sue Station we abruptly spin through two 90-degree curves within a mile or so of each other to double back on ourselves, and with a clattering of mighty wheels, we race over the Chao Phraya River on the Rama VI bridge, a Meccano-set like lattice of criss-crossing girders that suspend the railway line above the swirling black menace below. Veering off from the river we thunder through the gloom up to Chumthang Talingchan Raliway Station where, with a clack of points, we head back the way we came, swinging off now onto the decaying spur that rolls into Thonburi and the locomotives' home. Now at the back of the pair for the first time, the heat of the boiler is abruptly replaced by cool air sweeping into the cab off the tender, and all-to-soon the towing cluster of lights that is the sprawling Siriraj Hospital starts to fill the skyline to denote the end of this railway track. One set of points later and the mighty beasts are home, back grazing in their 21st century habitat, a day spent turning back the clock and turning on the style accomplished as only the builders of these proud machines knew how. A big thanks must go to the railway staff for their kindness in arranging this trip, they deserve credit too for their all round pride and huge enthusiasm in keeping the age of steam alive in Thailand. The keepers of the flame keep it flickering so brightly.
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Steam loco cabride No.1by struck2soon20,251 views
brought me back....rode behind steam in '69, wasn't a train or steam freak yet, if i had been woulda been some great pics.....bangkok to korat and surin, and back again later on.....glad they've been preserved.....and, i forgot the night markets......nothing compares.
eswillie 1 week ago
This locomotive appears to be infested with leeches.
MysticOceanwaves 1 month ago
Felt like I was there
ghoststun 11 months ago