By Graham K. Rogers

A few days ago on a trip along the river, I saw the clock tower of the old Thonburi terminus: a station that for years had been the start of services to Kanchanaburi and Prachuab Khiri Khan. The main station was demolished a few years back to make way for some new buildings at Siriraj Hospital. A smaller station and the market that had been part of the earlier site, are now a few hundred metres away.

I often use an elevated road that crosses the rail line and the wide canal by Siriraj Hospital. From there, a rail shed and some locomotives can be seen. I had always planned to go, but had never made it. The river trip reminded me of this, so with the free time I have right now, I made the long-postponed trip on Monday.

The start of the week coincided with the start of the school term for most kids in Bangkok, so what was normally a 20-minute trip, lasted almost an hour. The taxi driver let us out of the car by the new Thonburi station, where there were plenty of people waiting for a train that was not due for hours. I checked at the ticket office and was told that the railway shed was "that way": a waved hand indicated the end of the platform.

When I reached the end, I could see some single-storey railway buildings across the railway. This is Thailand, not the UK or US, so I just walked across. There were no trains and all was quiet. The offices were deserted: like the Marie Celeste with tracks. Papers were laying around; a cigarette was burning; an empty plate was laid ready for lunch. I walked into the next office. A fan was on; lights were burning. Then I heard a voice and found a couple of railway employees sitting in the shade.

They were polite and helpful. They knew exactly where I wanted to go and mentioned taking pictures, so I guess I was not the first. One added that one of the steam trains had gone out and would be back at about four in the afternoon. The other one walked us through the gap in the fence and we were then within a workshop of the shed area.

The Western line, as it is referred to, is not busy with about 6 trains a day each way. With the closing of Makkasan shed, it is one of the places where the steam trains that still exist are kept as well as other locomotives and rolling stock.

Only a couple are in running order. I had seen two of these a few years back when I was riding in Kanchanburi and one day in January 1998 went Chasing Steam - racing the train to places where it crossed the road and photographing it each time.

The sheds are not set up for tourism. Much of the ground in the area is a mixture of damp mud and thick black grease. Metal plates on the ground for walking on were slippery.

Walking through, we were approached by five puppies that clearly wanted to lick us to death. As is the way with these cute babies, they were underfoot as we were walking and I accidentally stepped on one, which ran off howling. It did come back limping and wagging its tail a few minutes later.

Photos by Korn

Although there were a number of people working in the shed - one was cleaning a diesel-electric locomotive with a high pressure spray - they took no notice of us at all. This was a bit different when, as a teenager, I had slipped into some of the London locomotive sheds. I was often chased out.

Although the steam engines were not in concours condition, some showed evidence of maintenance. They were well greased and it might take a few days to make a couple ready for a run. Some were in not such good condition and there were scrapped locomotive parts on a truck outside, as inevitably happens.

Work was also being done on some diesel-electric trains and I was pleased to see one stripped down with one bank of 8-cylinders clearly exposed. The massive crankshaft could also be seen underneath.

After an hour or so looking at the machinery, we walked out of the shed and passed a few more trains outside. One railcar had the engine running and was perhaps to make a trip to Prachuap Khiri Khan later.

The railway is built at the side of the canal, and between the two is a small road that leads under the elevated road.

There was at least some shade there and we watched people fishing and a couple of ladies make merit by releasing fish into the waters.

Photo by Korn

Photo by Korn

Instead of going into Siriraj Hospital, we walked back the other side of the tracks and cut through the market as that provided some shade. I was surprised to see the large numbers of rats running about, fearless of us.

Photo by Korn

The market is in three buildings. After the last, I was able to hail a taxi to take us the relatively short distance for lunch.

The sheds provide an environment in which the few steam trains left in Thailand can be seen in relative safety. As is the way here, we were left alone: no one disturbed us and we disturbed no one. For anyone visiting, approaching from Thonburi station may be the best as the Siriraj Hospital end is under a lot of construction and there is a lot of traffic congestion. Wear good shoes. Carry water.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.