Main line narrow gauge in Thailand

Thank you guys for this definitly interresting topic, especially my fellow Z scaler colleague Nickel Platte Road! I'm lucky enough to have spent trips and railfanning sessions with Thai Railroad, and I'm in a hurry to get back for a trip to Thailand in 4 weeks! I hope to take a few more shots of trains there!:tb-wink:

Dom

 

Thanks Dom.
I am hopefully getting back out there in January and now that I have taken the plunge and invested in a decent digital cameras body I am going to photograph everything! I particularly want to get up to the Laos border and catch the train over the new bridge into Laos.They have apparently sent a pair of refurbished Davenports up there.

 

railroad paraphenalia at Khon Kaen

One of the fascinating things about visiting other countries railway systems is the different clutter you find lying about a station and its yard

Khon Kaen in north east Thailand is just such an example. I have spent amany an hour exploring the vicinity.

The goods shed is a well maintained building that is kept busy with L.C.L goods and parcel traffic


Note the plank laid across the platform road! I have seen the staff manouvering mopeds across this. At the end of the goods shed road is a well battered stop block that has been given some rough shunts in the past



Khon Kaen boasts a fine array of German designed semaphore mechanical signalling and block apparatus



Extensive use is made of counter weights to keep the signalling wires taught

 

yard clutter 2

The ground signals at Khon Kaen are also german designs



To the north and south of Khon Kaen the mainline is single track requiring token working. The token apparatus is situated halfway down the platforms and the tokens are taken 'on the fly' as the trains are slowing to a stop


The extensive single line sections mean that it is important to know where trains are going to meet. In the control centre at Khon Kaen, not the same as the signal box it should be noted, is a timetable path chart



Another important thing, apart from keeping trains apart is keeping the road traffic away from trains! Thai railways are noted for having some bad fatal crashes on level crossings. many Thai cars and 4x4s have a lot more people riding in them than they were designed for and the consequences of a crash are usually severe. Khon Kaen's north end level crossing has a fine display of equipment

 

yard clutter 3

Not all of the lineside buildings are well maintained, I don't know what the original purpose of this barn was but there is still track going into it underneath the vegitation



The pointwork into the oil terminal is in much better nick



More substantial structures are things like the bridges that cross the rivers around the city



also a substantial bit of engineering is the water tower at the station



More soon.

 

Wow.

I knew of modellers making those, but I had no idea it was a real-life practice.

 

Kevin, S.R.T. sometimes suffers from X-ing incidents. One case in point: A 10 wheel truck disregarded the crossing protection and get in the way of Train 36 (Special Express, Butterworth Malaysia-Bangkok). The outcome is extremely ugly: 5 dead 50 injured and 1 scrapped CM22-7i.:mfrown:

 

Here is another website that covers thai railways.

Thai Mass Transport Systems

Everything from around bangkok and also the Maeklong and Mahachai lines. Plus a number of items on Buses and Boat mass transport.

[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Georgia, Verdana]kevsmith[/FONT] Is it true that you had issues access Makkasarn yard. I have considered going there in the past to photograph it like i had done in other locations. Was it a weekday when you visited or a weekend. How long ago did you visit it as i understand alot of it has changed since the ARL line has been underconstruction.

So far I have not had problems with access to SRTs rail yards and workshops. Could you share a little about what happened to you when you tried to access Makkasarn yard.

 

Makkasan

When I was last at Makkasan the piers for the airport link were still under construction and the wall surrounding the works was still pretty much intact. I was photographing the wrecked GEK when the security guys collared me and threw me out! I think they were sensitive to me taking pics of the wreck. The time before I had gone to the main gate and was stonewalled by the gateman despite explaining that I worked for a railway company in the U.K and knew what I was doing.
Everywhere else I have been I have never had any bother including the whole of the yard and sheds at Nakhon Rachasima. At Bang Sue an S.R.T worker called Akii gave me a guided tour of the yards, Bang Sue park and the Chatuchak museum in one of the company pickups!
I am back over in January, airport permitting, amd will try again

 

I've been photographing the Thai railway scene a couple of times a year for 3-4 years now and I have noticed a tightening up of security and a lesser tolerance of wandering enthusiasts as the political situation deteriorated.

 

Welcome Wim

Hi Wim, welcome to the forum.
For anybody who does not know Wim has a series of articles about Thai railways in Continental Modeller magazine ongoing at present.
I haven't managed to get to Thailand this last year and will be interested to see if security has been tightened up out in the country next time I'm there