Preservation in Bangkok

It was some time since I had seen any of the preserved railway/steam items in Bangkok and a visit at the end of November 2005 provided an excuse to investigate. Some of the items here are covered in the list of preserved steam locomotives in Thailand. For a May 2008 update, click here.

I last went to what is now the Railway Hall of Fame at Chatuchak Park in the north of the city (on the new subway and also the skytrain) some 30 years ago, it looks very different now. It is officially open at weekends, but in practice there is often somewhere there during the week. However, the museum subsequently closed on October 23rd 2012. (This courtesy of Chris Yapp, see http://www.gogoflorist.com/blog/2012/10/chatuchak-park-rail-museum-closes/ and http://www.richardbarrow.com/2012/10/railway-museum-in-bangkok-to-open-for-the-last-time-today/.) 

I last saw this metre gauge tram stored in the open at Makkasan Works, it has been nicely restored. For more on Bangkok's trams see http://2bangkok.com/2bangkok-tram-index.html.

This is a restored British coach, a similar one is at Bang Sue station, used as a library.

Of the two steam locomotives, the more interesting one is this late example from Kyosan Kogyo, found in a warehouse in the city and apparently never used.

A quick trip on the sky train brought us to Ekamai, where the National Science Education Centre has some open air exhibits of interest. 

Last year I saw a Garrett stationary engine in Myanmar, here there was one of their steam rollers, it must be a fairly rare beast, behind is a more common Fowler traction engine. The third steam road vehicle is an Albaret traction engine:

The railway items were in a deplorable state, this Krauss, Meklong Railway Company #2 was immaculate when I last saw it. I am pleased to report that some time in early 2008 it was given a much needed spruce up, pictures of it and the adjacent tram from Wim Harthoorn are below: