Looking through my sources it seems some were built by Pacific Car and Foundry and some by Jusmag. Introduced in 1968 Kev
Interesting! I worked for them for several years, but it was a few years after these cars were built.
First call was the roundhouse. This was still busy doing light and heavy maintenance on the RH/RHN Diesel railcars. Some needed a bit more TLC than others Just in front is the shed Breakdown crane No 33 was built by Hitachi in 1955 ( makes it the same age as me!) One of the few things I knew about before I went to Thailand was their, USA Built, Davenport Bo-Bos ( and their sister Co-Cos) . punching out a mighty 500 hp they were usually paired up with the cabs facing out. Introduced in 1952 and numbered 511-540. I expected to find some of them dumped out of use but was astonished when 516 grumbled past me shunting the Roundhouse Now I was a really happy boy! More soon Kev
That switcher Diesel looks a lot like a Vossloh locomotive of one model or another. I can't place it though, and it might not be a Vossloh at all.
Hi Michael Henschel & Sohn.Numbers 70 to 79. Delivered in 1986 Most of these were laid up and switching was being done by GE Gek Co-Cos at other locations When I get to the Hua Lamphong section of the thread they are seen in action After I finish Nakhon Ratchasima I will probably do Thai Country stations next and then finish with Hua Lamphong station because there is a lot of video from there during the 2000s Kev
More of 516 With a RHN in tow They seemed to be using an LS 4 wheel wagon as a spacer most of the time So I returned in 2009 not expecting to find the Davenport still there. Wrong!!! Another one, DAV 520 being very busy More soon Kev
back at the station The ever present Alsthom Co-Cos were busy. ALS 4108 heads for servicing and fuelling And ADD 4407 leaves with a Westbound passenger train.I still have a bit of work to do identifying the train numbers and services on these trains I have the raw data it is just time consuming cross referencing the timetables, the photos ,the time line on the videos ( Which were still on GMT) and some best guesses THN railcar did something I had never seen before. After the station stop where passengers got on and off it set off and then halted at the servicing point to take on fuel and water.The market vendors, who get on the trains to sell food and drink to the passengers followed it down and climbed back on board 1123 is attended to. Note the instruction in English on the fuelling point,Safety First
More interesting things dotted around Another Metropolitan built Four wheel coach. Seemd fo be in use as an office had it phone wires going into it. The train destination board on the side says 'Nakhon Ratchasima-Bangkok' I'm trying to find out where the Metro-Cammel archives finished up to see if I can get some drawings of these Another of the very plentiful CG vans And a modern bogie BWS van Video of Nakhon Ratchasima with lots of Davenport action More soon Kev
I'm going to leave Bangkok Hua Lamphong ( The centre of Thai rail operations) until last so the next part I've called 'Thailand country stations'. These are locations I only visited one or twice and perhaps only saw a few trains. These are in no particular order and the video will be a very random selection I'll start with Bua Yai junction. 346 Kilometres North east of Bangkok on the North eastern line between Nakhon Ratchasima and Khon Kaen The station frontage with a large portrait of the then King Bhumipol prominent. He passed away in 2016 RHN railcar 1034 with a vynil wrapped companion waits to depart to Kaeng Khoi There is a P-way/Civil engineers yard. It seems no matter where you go in the world there is always a Plasser & Theurer track machine! No 2 is a Plasser DGS 62N TM003 Kolzam No. 34. I quite fancy modelling this in 1nM if I can find a drawing In the yard were a lot of BCF Container flats. I believe the blue containers carry sugar but I'm trying to find out for sure The large signal cabin controls the junction and yard These were interesting. Bogie Oil tankers (B.O.Ts) that were delivered to Thailand during the Vietnam war. Looks like they are in the middle of stenciling them in this picture Still around today but now dual braked ( Air and vacuum) Air hose on the left, Vac pipe on the right More soon kev
Forgot to add the best picture from Bua Yai! Before I retired I used to use this picture when I was doing health and safety inductions for new starters . Not something you would ever see on British railways these days but in South East Asia in the early 2000s regarded as quite normal What you would call a 'Speeder' are known as 'Rot Toks' in Thailand because of the sound they make. See how many dodgy practices you can spot Photo taken in 2009 Kev
My Favourite station in Thailand is Tha Phra. a block section on the NEL just south of Khon Kaen A sight rarely seen these days The second man leaning out of the cab window, at speed, to do the token swap Alsthom ADD 4413 is on train 69. Bangkok to Nong Khai More sedate is local train 415 Nakhon Ratchasima to Nong Khai with a pair of RHNs in charge The station entrance The station is always immaculate and a credit to the stationmaster and his staff The projection part of the building is here the block instruments are station name board Hand written timetable for the locals Across from the station a concrete pad had appeared after my first visit. This had a long line of BCF Container wagons with removable lids that were being loaded with agricultural products Interestingly these BCFs were vacuum braked only More soon Kev
in May 2007 I left the wife in bed in the apartment we were renting in Pattaya and headed down to the station which is on the Eastern line. My aim was to get to the port and container terminal at Sattahip which has a station at the end of the line. I was thwarted when the train terminated at Ban Plu Ta Luang, one stop shor,t but in the event it turned out to be an unexpected bonus As we arrived it was obvious there was some interesting stuff going on Our train engine was Alsthom ALD class #4303 which ran round ready to depart back to Bangkok I was rooting through the undergrowth in the carriage shop and found some ex JNR West coaches from Japan being converted to SRT BTCs ( Bogie Third carriages) There wasn't a soul to be found to ask any questions. Either they had gone for lunch, or, they were hiding from the 'Farang' with the expensive looking camera! One ready for the interior to be fitted out Even more interesting to me was a siding full of very rusty SW Salt wagons .Oil Axleboxes, Vac brakes etc. My scratchbuilt 1nM model needs a lot more weathering! The train driver seemed quite a chilled sort of guy and I asked him if I had time to photograph the rest of the station as time was getting tight. He shrugged and said in fluent English " When you are ready , and can get me a Pepsi when you pass the shop" Quite a contrast with Tha Phra, fairly austere with the ubiquitous Tuk Tuk parked outside I got him his Pepsi ( and and as I was hungry we shared some 'Thot Man Kung(deep Fried squid balls), Pla Muek Yang (Char grilled squid) and Khluai Thot (deep fried bananas in batter) off a street stall that delayed the train even more. As I waited to be served I noticed that other people had got off the train and were queuing behind me., Nobody bothered and we set of about 20 minutes late. When I got off at Pattaya he set off from the station, as I was filming, in Notch 8, Top Man! Nowadays, we would still be in touch on Facebook, Twitter ,Whatsapp, whatever Kev
