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Taiwan’s president told: Build a railway museum
Having lived in Taiwan and enjoyed their excellent rail system, I applaud this idea. Railfans are welcome everywhere across the system.
Having worked in Taiwan for 3 1/2 years in the late 1980’s I can attest to the popularity and reliability of the Taiwanese railways. Most of the original routes were laid out by the Japanese who occupied Taiwan (Formosa) from 1895 until October of 1945. The east coast rail line had to bore through several coastal mountains. The Japanes also built several logging lines into the mountains, e.g., the line to Ali Shan, which includes a switchback.
It’s not just the Japanese who enjoy travelling around Taiwan by train. I have done this with an Australian group and loved it. It was sad to see the old east coast narrow gauge equipment standing in the open at Hualien and more so the shay locos of the Ali Shan (mountain) railway. I would be surprised if there is another triple spiral any where else in the world.
See also this article:
“The Shays of Ali Shan - Trains of Taiwan”
by Middleton, William D.
from Trains, February 1978, p. 48
(mag. index keywords: shay steam Taiwan)
I’m happy to read that Taiwan is thinking about building a railroad museum. It’s good to see that it’s railway history will be saved so that future generations to see what we had.