Cassandra - Hualomphong Station, Bangkok - An Exercise in Film

By Graham K. Rogers

Last week I managed to sneak some time in at the new Apple Store in the just-opened IconSiam mall. I took several photographs with the iPhone X that I put online, but I had to wait a few days for the black and white photographs I had taken with my medium format camera were developed. I put those online a few days ago.

When I went to have the films developed I already had several exposed rolls that I had taken the week before, but once all 8 were ready, I treated the Apple Store output as priority and scanned the photographs from Hualomphong Railway Station (as well as a few from Lumphini Park) early this week.

Hualomphong Railway Station - Ticketing and Waiting Area

Hualomphong is slated for closure some time in the fairly near future and a new station is being readied at Bang Sue. The government tried to move all services out of the city several years ago, but although trains stopped at Bang Sue, so many people took taxis to meet friends and family at Hualomphong that full services resumed. This is unlikely to happen when Bang Sue station is complete, which will help with some congestion in certain areas of the city: Bangkok is almost flat so wherever the line crosses a road, there is a gated level crossing.

Hualomphong Railway Station - Ticketing and Waiting Area

In the meantime, the old terminus serves routes to the North and South (and on into Malaysia) as well as some commuter and other short routes. Most long-distance trains arrive in the mornings. Departures of these mainline trains are in the afternoon or early evening. With the relative cheapness of the railways here, this form of transportation is still heavily used, despite the expansion of more convenient air routes.

Hualomphong Railway Station - Platforms

I have used the station once or twice myself, but the only times I have been in recent years is to take photographs. Like an airport, there is always some activity, although the pace at Hualomphong has none of the frenetic nature of activities at Don Muang or Suvarnhabhummi airports. Travellers are likely to wait for several hours before the carriages arrive for the journey, which itself may take 14 hours or more.

Hualomphong Railway Station - Travellers to the Southern Provinces

Hualomphong Railway Station - Carriages for a Northern Train and Free Haircuts for Travellers

I used Bergger Pancro 400 for the shots here. This was my first trial of this film and I have ordered some more as the results were quite acceptable along with 5 rolls of Ilford Pan F Plus 50 which is giving me some good results when the light is good: in the Apple Store, and in Hualomphong Station, the Bergger Pancro 400 was a better choice.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. 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. After 3 years writing a column in the Life supplement, he is now no longer associated with the Bangkok Post. He can be followed on Twitter (@extensions_th)