Bangkok Trams (1894-1968) Main Page

Tram Overview
Rusting trams
The Bangkok Tram Song!
End of the line
Links
Tram routes including the 1996 proposal for tramlike buses
Tram maps - 1917 and 1963
Tram map and route description - 1958
Tram fares
Tram stop signs
Tramways stock certificates
The daily tram
Details: closeup views of Tram 120
Stills from the tram video
Tram Photos - 1959 Remembering the trams and the Paknam Railway
Tram Photos - 1962
Tram Photos - from the collection of Charlie Sullivan
Tram Photos - three great color photos
Tram Photos - various
Tram Photos - trams around town today
Tram Photos - a few shots of the Paknam Railway
Tram photos - trams in Black Silk (1961)
Tram accounts sent to use from those who rode the trams

Latest Tram News

Tram for Chinatown will be in service this month - The Nation, February, 2009
The project to develop Bangkok's Yaowarat area is more than halfway complete and the "red route" tram service should be running by the end of this month, a senior official said Thursday...
[This is not a tram, but a bus styled like the old trams.]

(Photo: Wally Higgins)

(Photo: Ryoichi Sakuma)

(Photo: Ryoichi Sakuma)

(Photo: Ryoichi Sakuma)

HO-gauge tram!!! - November 7, 2007
Ryoichi Sakuma writes: I'm happy to show you two Bangkok trams I made in HO gauge (1/87) recently. Every photo on the Bangkok tram has been very useful and helpful for me to make it. I wish 2Bangkok. com will be successful more and more.

Bangkok horse trams and the Chinatown gang wars - October 28, 2006
Ric Francis provides the following translated from an old SEC magazine: Probably the most extraordinary event the tramways became involved in was in the early days when they became embroiled in a battle between government troops and a gang of Chinese Mafiosi called the "Ang Yi."
‘It’ was’ early 1889 and, the Trams, which were then still drawn by horses, were used to transport soldiers to suppress the "Ang Yi" gang which controlled what is now the Yan Nawa area. For years the "Ang Yi" had been above the law and terrorised the local residents. But in 1889 the gangs split into two factions and a classic gang war' situation developed.
What was to be the beginning of a showdown between the two gangs -the Tang Kong Si and the Siew Lee Kue - began on June 19, when they declared part of the Charoen Krung Road a "war zone," building huge road blockades out of zinc sheets, removing furniture and whatever they could lay their hands on in preparation for a pitched battle which followed that the same night.
Fight
The fight which involved all kind of weapons ranging from simple wooden batons and knives to various types of guns lasted all night and continued the following morning. The casualties mounted until there were at least 20 dead and more than a hundred injured.
As the fight raged on, the situation clearly was beyond the ability of the local police to handle and the troops were called in. And it was no small operation.
The soldiers' maneuvers were mapped out during a meeting of the top brass held by Army Operations Department Commander Krom Phraya Panuphandhuvong, the department's ,Ipsp, or General Krom KbuR Narisra Nuwattiwong, Assistant Army Commander-in-Chief Krom' Muen Damrong Rajanuparp and Commodore Phraya Chollayuth Youthin who would provide Jiavy support from the Chao Phya River front.
Efficient
D-Day was set for the next morning of June 21. It was then that the mission planners decided to select the trams to mobilise the ground troops to the "front line," as they represented the only efficient mass transportation system in the city at the time. The trams which were making their regular early morning rounds to Lakmuang terminal were commandeered by the government force and hundreds of troops clambered aboard ready for action.
The tram drivers, upon learning about the mission, volunteered to drive their trams turned-war chariots to the battlefield.
At the clash, site, fierce gunfire erupted when the gangs turned their weapons on the government troops. The bloody battle lasted for five hours before being put to an end with 10 law-breakers killed, 20 wounded and 800 - eight of whom were members of Ang Yi's top echelon - arrested.
Throughout the battle the trams served the vital function of, providing reinforcements for the government troops at the battle scene. Their role was hailed by both local and foreign 'residents alike.

Trams, old and new - January 19, 2006
Colin writes: Above is a picture that was published on the cover of The Modern Tramway for August 1955, to accompany an article on the Bangkok trams by Ralph Forty. The content of the article is probably what you already know, but the picture is of interest. It shows the subtle differences between the modernised trams, probably with the imported English parts and the local version. The numbers displayed might be expected to be service running numbers, but as they are so obviously posed, they may well represent the tram numbers for the occasion - 203, 17 and 3. Note also that the two modern trams are not fitted with towing gear.

(Photo: Undated postcard from the 2Bangkok.com collection)

Tram map and route description (1958) - January 7, 2005 Remembering the trams and the Paknam Railway - December 17, 2005 Tram Photos - 1962 - December 7, 2005 Return of the Daily Tram - November 15, 2005 Take a ride through Bangkok on a tram in the 1920s - October 8, 2005 A thread about the footage is here. Bangkok Tram at the Ministry of Public Health - rotfaithai.com, September 9, 2005 TRAMWAYS et ELECTRICITE de BANGKOK SOCIETE ANONYME - May 21, 2005 The closing of the Bangkok tramways - January 29, 2005 We recently obtained a copy of Modern Tramway (March, 1969) which contains a contemporary account of the closing of the Bangkok tram system in 1968. Article (186kb) - photos (140kb) - map (55kb)

(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)

The last tram sign - September 26, 2004 Bangkok tram stop sign near Wat Chai Chana Songkhram intersection in Chinatown (right and below).

(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)

Tram map with stations - September 15, 2004
Ric Francis sent in this great tram map. The undated map came from Robert Sechler in the USA who obtained it in Bangkok from the "Manager of the Tramways." It is a blueprint image in three parts 1 (369kb), 2 (439kb), and 3 (347kb).

(Photo: Dick van der Spek)

Rusting mass transit - February 23, 2004

(Photo: Terry King)

Bangkok mulls reviving the electric tram - AFP, November 17, 2003
This is brought up from time to time...: Thailand is considering the revival of an electric tram system used in Bangkok early last century to help solve the capital's perennial traffic woes, according to a Sunday report.

New tram video - October 21, 2003
Dr. Volker Wangemann writes: I would like to inform every visitor of 2Bangkok.com who is interested in the history of the Bangkok Tramways, that there is a new video: "TRAMWAY EXOTICA-1: VIETNAM AND THAILAND." It is available for 18 English Pounds from LRTA Publications, 13A The Precinct, Broxbourne EN 10 7 HY, United Kingdom. It includes scenes not only of the classic 4-wheelers of Bangkok (including film from the 1920s), but also the tram and the short-lived trackless trolleys of Hanoi and the veteran AECs of Singapore!

Tram photos from 1906 - September 16, 2003 Ric Francis sent in some frame grabs from a 1906 film of the Bangkok trams.

Trams for Phuket? - The Phuket Gazette, November 22, 2002 Serious consideration is being given to an electric tram service around Phuket... What these studies usually find is that creating a tram system is a lot more expensive and complicated than laymen (and politicians) expect. Tram maps - October 20, 2002 Check out this old map from the Royal Military Survey Department, Royal Siamese Army (now the Supreme Command Headquarters)

Bangkok streets in 1959! Here they are! Stills from the never-before-seen tram footage circa 1959. Wilf Watters of Online Video (no website as of yet) brought the tape from England to show to Dr. Sanpsiri at the Thailand Railway Hall of Fame. The 16mm color film shows various trams gliding through the city, workmen fixing tram wires, the tram depot, and a trip out of Bangkok on a gleaming steam train. Even Dr. Sanpsiri seemed surprised and excited by this wonderful footage. There are plans to collect and issue all the tram footage on one tape. This footage is sharper and clearer than any existing footage of trams in the National Archive.