I took a ride along the Thai-Burma Railway (Death Railway) – by special diesel railcar 171 back around 1988 where I rode on nearly 50 miles (77 kilometers) of the original 258-mile (415-kilometer) long Thai-Burma Railway. The roundtrip train trip from Kanchanaburi Station, across the River Kwai Bridge to Nam Tok Station took about two hours and crossed though some of the most scenic territory in all of Thailand. My trip, however, took a bit longer as I got off at Nam Tok to photograph scenes such as this one of trains.
During WW II, Japan constructed this meter-gauge railway line from Ban Pong, Thailand to Thanbyuzayat, Burma. The line passing through the scenic Three Pagodas Pass runs for 250 miles. This is now known as the Death Railway.
The railway line was meant to transport cargo daily to India, to back up their planned attack on India. The construction was done using POWs and Asian slave laborers in unfavorable conditions. The work started in October 1942 and was completed in a year. Due to the difficult terrain, thousands of laborers lost their lives. It is believed that one life was lost for each sleeper laid in the track.
At the nearby Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, around 7,000 POWs, who sacrificed their lives in the railway construction, are buried. Another 2,000 are laid to rest at the Chungkai Cemetery.
This line has the River Kwai Bridge which became famous all over the world, when it was featured in movies and books. The cliff-hugging tracks and the natural beauty of the surrounding mountains and valleys were well captured in the David Lean movie.
I plan on publishing scans from images that I’ve shot in the past on Saturday’s at 5pm CST so check back then to see more images from around the world from my past travels!
Fuji 6×17, Fuji 105mm lens, other exposure information wasn’t recorded back then.