Railway Hall of Fame faces uncertain future - Bangkok Post, October 21, 2009
...His sadness is caused by the Hall of Fame's uncertain future as the State Railway of Thailand (SRT), owner of the land where the museum is situated, wants to take back the plot of land and turn it into a dog park, to be run by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
It is understood that he is to leave the plot of land right away...
The Thailand Railway Hall of Fame is a privately owned museum. It
contains a diverse collection of objects that future generations will
be glad someone had the presence of mind to preserve. Dr. Sanpsiri Viryasiri, the enthusiastic English-speaking curator, has a story
ready for each exhibit.
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One of the last steam engines produced in the world (in 1959). April
16, 2001 - A Japanese reader emailed us the website of the company that
made this engine-> Kyosankogyo
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The steam engine was shipped to a sugar plantation in Hat Yai, but by
the time it got there the plantation had gone out of business. With
its unusual 75 cm gauge, it could not be used on local railways so it
sat unused for 50 years before being rescued by Dr. Viryasiri and moved
to the museum. Reiner Zimmermann writes: The Kyosan Kogyo
delivery consisted of three locomotives. The one at the museum carries
the works number 10089. The others were 10088 and 10089. Where are they?
Kosan Kogyo, 10 years ago, was unable to provide information on their
buyer as all material had been discarded.
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Tiny Thai tank (slightly bigger than a go-cart).
Danny O'Hara of Danny
O'Hara's Weird Wars informs us that it is a Vickers Carden-Loyd
2-man tankette (of which about 60 were imported to Siam/Thailand during
the 20s). His website has some excellent info on the early twentieth
century Thai military (the site seems to be offline though).
Harold reports: I need to let you know that it is not the above mentioned tank, but rather the French Renault UE 2 armored-carrier and tractor. You can see the similarities to the real thing here.
Pklykoom writes: The tankette in question is indeed a Carden-Lloyd Mk IV tankette, designated the Type 71 by the Thai army (below).
More pictures can be found here.
The Chenillette looks nothing like it; the second picture (below right - taken at the RTA's Ordnance Museum) is an example of one among the few captured from the French during the Franco-Thai War.
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Tank interior - It was powered by a Model-T engine! Imagine how hot
it would get sitting next to it! In the upper left is a oblong metal
plate with a line of holes to look out through.
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(Photo: Pklykoom) |
 (Photo: Pklykoom) |
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The museum has two beautiful railroad cars from the Rama V era. One
has been restored, the other has been left unfinished.
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The small food preparation area on the train was modified with Thai-style
hot pot cookers. Hot coals would be placed in the opening in the front
to heat food.
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An elegant and functional fold-down sink in the railcar.
Sink goes up.
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Sink goes down.
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For more views of the Thailand Railway Hall of Fame see the Bangkok Tramways page. |
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This is the wreckage of a Japanese general's plane that was used to survey the construction of the Death Railway in western Thailand during World War II. It crashed a week before the railway opened. The first thing Dr. Sanpsiri Viryasiri asks visitors to his museum is "do you know anything about aircraft?" Dr. Viryasiri dug up the parts from a field in Kanchanaburi and has been trying to identify the make and model. Update! - March 6, 2001 Sakuma, a member of Rao Lack Rotphai in Japan, informs us that "this plane is Japanese army's heavy bomber, type 97, judging from the two engines (14 cylinders)." Sakuma has also seen the wreckage in person and spoken to Dr. Sanpsiri about it. (Conor writes concerning the phrase Rao Lack Rotphai: This is obviously meant to be the Thai phrase for "we love trains" which I would transliterate as "rao rak rot fai". As is common "rak" became "lack.") |
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A closeup of one of the engines.
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Some stacked wreckage. On top is a wing.
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