Bangkok and Beyond! A quick trip to the Thai capital

[nuuumannn]

Gidday folks, thanks ever so much for following along. We continue our look at Phi Suea Samut Fort. This fort's origins go back to the reign of King Rama I in the late 18th Century, but its rebuild into its current condition was undertaken under the order of King Rama V. During both the Great War and WW2, both this and the fort at Chulachomklao were kept at a state of readiness and troops were stationed at these sites. During WW2 there was construction on site of buildings for munitions stockpiling, but we are looking at the original 19th Century construction here. This is the fort's rearmost defensive wall constructed of bricks, concrete covering and earth. I'm pretty certain the shrubbery ("A Shrubbery!") is post military use decoration.

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Looking toward the entrance to the three gun emplacements in the natural brick, and the semi-circular construction to house them and the munitions bunkers. Note also the covers over the gun emplacements, a post decommissioning modification.

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From the right to left: Gun No.3. During the Pak Nam Incident on 13 July 1893 this fort was put into action to prevent egress up the Chao Phraya River by French gunboats. As recorded previously, the gun fire was muddled and without discipline, but did result in the running aground of a French steamer charging up the river with the gun boats.

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Gun No.2. Although the disappearing gun crews managed an impressive barrage, because their fall of shot was largely aimless, a large amount of ammunition was wasted. Ten out of ten for enthusiasm, one out of ten for effectiveness.

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Gun No.1. The result of the two gunboats joining the one already moored off Bangkok led to the ceding of nearly one third of Siamese territories in what became known as French Indochina and it sent the Siamese into a state of utter humiliation. As previously mentioned, it was the intervention of everyone's favourite global Empire the British to negotiate a peace, once again, for its own benefit as Siam was a major British trading partner in the region.

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Standing on top of the ramparts. Note the air intakes.

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The guns from above, a view not always offered. It gives a sense of the bulk of the installation and what it took to operate these things. Gun No.3.

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Gun No.2.

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Gun No.1.

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The seaward end of the fort looking back over the ramparts.

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Looking toward the big bunkers and fort entrance, with its rear wall to the right.

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A monument to King Rama V, His Majesty King Chulalongkorn overlooking the river toward Pak Nam on the far bank.

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The Chao Phraya River looking toward the river mouth and the location of the Chulachomklao fort on the right side of the river. Bangkok City is behind us on the opposite bank facing south. Today you can catch a water taxi from Pak Nam Pier to Phi Samut Chedi Pier and walk to the fort. Pak Nam is one stop further on the Sukhumvit Line of the BTS Skytrain from the naval museum we visited on the first day of my trip.

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Back across the islet and the Phiboonsri Bridge to the lovely temple next to the car park where my driver was waiting.

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Lovely dragon architecture.

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Back in the car for the return drive to Bangkok City, more than an hour away by car. We crossed these ginormous bridges spanning the Chao Phraya River downstream of the city. Visible in the distance is the Rama IX Bridge toll road and its enormous golden towers.

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For the next two and a half hours we were stuck in traffic. I'm not sure whether it was because my driver got lost or simply because of the sheer volume of traffic, but in the end I got out of the taxi from sheer desperation to make my own way back to my hotel. Turns out I didn't have to go far, it was within walking distance from where I got out. I had had enough and spent the rest of the afternoon in the hotel, swimming in that delicious pool and relaxing. It had been a looooong day and I was pooped.

That night I prepared for my next day's adventurising. I had booked a tour to Kanchanaburi, which is some two and a half to three hours' drive north west of Bangkok and the site of the Thai Burma Railway museums and interesting places to visit. I had booked this before I left, so I was suddenly surprised to see later that evening the tour had been cancelled without explanation! The evening before the tour! I tried contacting the tour company but there was no answer, being a Saturday. The tour was a hotel pick up and drive to Kanchanaburi, followed by a train ride on the Thai Burma Railway itself, in airconditioned comfort and with a lunch stop at a nice restaurant. Since it was cancelled, at around 12 am I began to panic. I switched into traveller mode and formulated a plan. Firstly, how to get to Kanchanaburi? I knew there was a daily train service that departed early in the morning, but the railway station was a long way away from the hotel and there was no metro or BTS stop nearby. Next problem was what did I want to see and how was I going to get to these places once I was in Kanchanaburi? This was actually easier than I could have thought. I did need to catch a taxi to go to one of the sites, which the tour wasn't going to go to but I wanted to see, but the rest was relatively easy to get to once I was there. Pretty soon I had a plan, but I needed help. I went down to reception to talk to the night receptionist, who advised, as she had done for my trip to Chulachomklao, a taxi to the train station to catch the train to Kanchanaburi, far easier and quicker at that hour of the morning owing to being before rush hour. And that was it! My taxi was booked for 6:45 to be at Thonburi Train Station before the train departure at 7:45. The receptionist said it would take me around 15 to 20 minutes, but I wasn't taking any chances after yesterday's long haul in the taxi. And so I found myself at just after 7 am waiting for the Nam Tok train via Kanchanaburi, arriving in Kanchanaburi just after 10:00 am - we didn't get there until 10:30, but that's okay...

Thonburi is not the main Bangkok station, it is a smaller station, but it is one of the oldest in Bangkok and used to serve train traffic south to Singapore. That was before the Thai Burma Railway (TBR) was built.

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Monks are, somewhat naturally held in very high regard in Thailand and there are warnings everywhere you go to give way to monks when walking along the streets and on public transport, to give up your seat for them. This guy was chowing down on some rice when I snuck a photo from behind a potted plant while waiting for the train.

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On board the train I contemplated the day ahead. The train was noisy and had no air con, just these ceiling fans, which were surprisingly effective, especially with the windows open, but after three hours the noise was ringing in my ears for sometime afterwards. A bit about the railway line we were travelling on. As previously mentioned, it was the main line south down the Malay peninsula to Singapore and will feature in the story of the TBR in the next instalment. At a place called Nong Pladuk Junction, the TBR was begun and the line split northwards toward Kanchanaburi, which, before the TBR did not have a rail link from Bangkok, so beyond Nong Pladuk we are travelling on what used to be the TBR. I was getting my train ride of the Death Railway after all.

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Stay tuned for a journey into Thailand's dark past when we traverse the infamous Death Railway and visit an equally infamous bridge, or two!

 

[Wurger]

 

[nuuumannn]

Thanks for following along, everyone. Today we take a look into one of the darker chapters of Thai history, the construction of the Thai Burma Railway (TBR) by travelling on the first part of the route and visiting sites associated with it. There is much contextual information out there, but my primary source of information is a small handbook sized paperback called The Death Railway: Facts and background information on the Thailand-Burma railway by Lt Col K.A. Warmenhoven, but reprinted by the Thai Burma Railway Centre in Kanchanaburi. It is a reprint of the original report on the railway by Lt Col Warmenhoven in 1947. He was in a particularly good position to write this official account as he was a POW of the Japanese and survived the ordeal of working on it. His report is recognised as the best factual analysis of the railway as it was at the end of the war. It is quite dry and focusses on detail, rather than the emotive accounts by survivors. It doesn't pull any punches though, expressing the death and injury statistics which are to this day alarming, made worse by the deeply disturbing way in which the POWs and civilians working on the railway were treated by their captors. By consequence, I won't be dwelling too much on the details of torture and depravity, but these things will be apparent throughout this pictorial journey.

We begin at Nong Pladuk Junction, the first station built on the TBR. Before the TBR it was a small rail junction but was considerably enlarged by the POWs for Japanese requirements. Several sidings were built to cater for the amount of rail traffic expected through the site, which included the southbound line down the Malay Peninsula to Singapore, but its largest user was the Japanese, who designed the entire railway to transport troops and equipment north to occupied territories in Burma. This is the main reason behind the invasion of Thailand in December 1941, as a means of swiftly moving troops and equipment around the lower South East Asian territories. Responsibility for building the railway was through the combined efforts of the 5th and 9th Railway Regiments of the Imperial Japanese Army, with work beginning at both ends simultaneously at Nong Pladuk, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma on 16 September 1942. As the starting point for the southern leg of the line, Nong Pladuk was modified with marshaling sections, repair depots and new station facilities separate to the Thai Rail buildings, and in support was a POW camp built near the station to house the workforce.

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This next image was taken at a place called Banpong and is a monument to the king on the side of the railway line. Before the TBR, Banpong was the first station past Nong Pladuk, five kilometres away on the main trunk line south to Singapore, but the station became the receiving centre for POWs and material used to build the TBR. A POW camp and storage yards were built for this purpose and from there, men and materials were shifted to Nong Pladuk to begin work on the line. Some 3,000 POWs took a train journey from the POW camp at Changi in Singapore in freight carriages without windows or any adequate ventilation on the main trunk Thai Rail line. Many suffered from severe dehydration and heat exhaustion on the long journey to Banpong. A kilometre before Banpong station, the TBR turns in a northerly direction away from Banpong, and the second station built on the line, Banpong Mai Station was constructed. It and some of the stations purpose built for the line no longer exist despite the current line running on the southern section of the TBR.

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Lukkae Station was known as Rukke at the time and both Sakosinarai and Tharuanoi Stations mentioned on this sign outside the station were built especially to service the TBR. At Rukke was a triangular shunting yard to enable trains to turn without the benefit of a turntable.

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Some fifty kilometres from Nong Pladuk, Kanachanaburi Station was one of the biggest built on the TBR, being equipped with shunting yards, numerous sidings and a train servicing depot. Nearby was a POW camp and hospital. Before the arrival of the TBR, Kanchanaburi was a rural town of no significance without a rail link to Bangkok, but the TBR brought feverish activity as it became a major centre for the Japanese as there were also ammunition and goods storage facilities there. Postwar, the town blossomed because of the draw of the tourist element to the TBR and it has exploded in population and visitors because of this. There are four trains per day that pass through Kanchanaburi, two to Nam Tok and two returning to Bangkok.

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This is Locomotive 457, a Bayer-Garratt loco built by Henschel & Sohn, Kassel, Germany and was imported to Siam in 1936. It sits in what used to be the marshalling yards at Kanchanaburi Station, but it is now in a decorative garden out the front of the station, now a shadow of its former self.

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Next, it is a quick five minute walk across the road to the Kanchanaburi Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery. There are 6,858 casualties listed as interred there, of British, Commonwealth and Dutch origin. It is located on the former POW camp site. The CWGC website notes that visitors to the cemetery must be wary of snakes. The only snake there on that day was me...

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I saw this, which was particularly poignant. There is a whole section of graves of Dutch personnel.

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Directly across the road is a sports field, which was the site of the former POW hospital, the largest facility of its type on the TBR.

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According to survivors interned there, conditions were appalling. "Hospital" was an arbitrary way of describing the facility; apparently, it wasn't so much a hospital as a space where wounded workers went to die. This picture was drawn by one of its patients and survives in the Death Railway Museum.

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We cross over the road to the Death Railway Museum, home to the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre, a visitor centre and research facility, from where I bought my copy of the Warmenhoven Report. This is a rather poignant memorial inside.

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Railway spikes.

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This is a model of what was named the Kampong Express, a wheeled vehicle that plied the railway carrying supplies. It's unique feature was that it was a road truck but could be converted to run on the railway. We'll see a real one soon. It is on a model of the infamous "Bridge on the River Kwai".

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Humanitas, the stained glass window especially commissioned for the museum.

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This is a section of a map made by the Japanese that details the length of the railway line to Burma. The section photographed is that on which I travelled, from Nong Pladuk to Kanchanaburi.

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Speaking of the Bridge on the River Kwai, here is a reconnaissance photo of the two bridges that were built at Tamarkan, now a part of the urban expanse that is Kanchanaburi. The bridges were attacked on numerous occasions, and on 5 February 1945, RAF and USAAF Liberators attacked the steel bridge, bringing down a single span. The raid that took out the three spans visible here took place on 24 June 1945 by RAF Liberator Mk.VIs (equivalent to the B-24J for all you Americans) of 159, 355, and 356 Sqns. Two direct hits were scored on the bridge, firstly by a Liberator flown by 24 year old Canadian Flt Lt Roy Borthwick, while the next direct hit was scored by the aircraft flown by New Zealander P/O Johnny Haycock. The bridge was not subsequently repaired after this last raid, whereas it had been between earlier raids and this one. While the steel bridge was down the wooden bridge, the original river crossing built by POWs in February 1943 was re-used to cross the river. This image was taken after the end of the war on 21 October 1945.

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More to come next time when we see more from Kanchanaburi and the Death Railway.

 

[Snautzer01]

The dutchmen burried was Johan Albert Hemmes. He was taken prisoner on 1942/03/12. Transferred to No.6 Branch Camp of Thai POW Camp on (no date) 1943; Died of septicemia (blood poisoning) on 30 April 1945. Burial; Died on 30 April 1945 (JA.267 P.49); Death certificate is not available; Disposal of remains: Burial. Buried in Kanchanaburi Cemetery, Kanchanaburi county, Kanchanaburi prefecture, Thailand.

Registratie Johan Albert Hemmes (uit de periode 1942-1996)

Registratie (uit de periode 1942-1996), Johan Albert Hemmes, Nationaal Archief: Interneringskaarten

www.openarchieven.nl

 

[Wurger]

 

[nuuumannn]

The dutchmen burried was Johan Albert Hemmes. He was taken prisoner on 1942/03/12. Transferred to No.6 Branch Camp of Thai POW Camp on (no date) 1943; Died of septicemia (blood poisoning) on 30 April 1945. Burial; Died on 30 April 1945 (JA.267 P.49); Death certificate is not available; Disposal of remains: Burial. Buried in Kanchanaburi Cemetery, Kanchanaburi county, Kanchanaburi prefecture, Thailand.

Registratie Johan Albert Hemmes (uit de periode 1942-1996)

Registratie (uit de periode 1942-1996), Johan Albert Hemmes, Nationaal Archief: Interneringskaarten

www.openarchieven.nl

Good information, I'm trying to decipher which camp No.6 Branch Camp was. There were many POW camps in the area, Chungkai was another aside from Kanchanaburi and Tamarkan. There was a small hospital at Chungkai as well, but it wasn't as big as Kanchanaburi's.

 

[nuuumannn]

For anyone interested in doing more reading on the Thai Burma Railway, I'd be wary of the Wikipedia page, it has a few errors, although it does have some good information. One error it mentions is that the TBR ran from Banpong to Thanbyuzayat, Burma. It did not as Banpong was on the railway line south, while the TBR diverted northbound to the north of Banpong. As I mentioned, Nong Pladuk was the first station constructed on the TBR on the Thai side, while Banpong was a collections site for POWs and materials that went to Nong Pladuk and the construction of the line as it headed north. Both previously existed but both were modified for Japanese use. Anyhoo...

A good summary of the TBR, written by the museum in Kanchanaburi can be found here:

The Death Railway – Burma Thailand Railway Memorial Association

www.btrma.org.au

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely shots Grant!

 

[nuuumannn]

On with the voyage through Kanchanaburi. We are in the Death Railway Museum and this display focusses on the development of the Azon bomb. Azon stands for Azimuth Only and refers to the radio direction method of aiming the bomb. Azon bombs were first allocated to the 493rd Bombardment Sqn (Heavy) of the 7th Bombardment Group, USAAF based in India equipped with B-24s in 1944, and the first operational use of the weapon was on 27 December 1944 against a railway bridge at Pyinmana, Burma. The main issue with using the Azon bombs was that the directing aircraft had to fly straight and level toward the target while the bombardier directed the bomb toward its objective. This display shows fragments of Azon bombs.

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This typewriter is an interesting piece, as it was used by the British administrator at Changi POW Camp, Singapore, where many of the POWs working on the TBR originated from. The text on the paper states the following: "This is the typewriter on which Captain David Nelson S.S.V.F compiled information while running the bureau of record and exchange in Changi P.O.W. Camp, 1942-1945." "The quick brown dog jumped over the lazy fox" Nice!

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This is a copy of the surrender document signed on 12 September 1945 in Singapore by the Japanese Commander of Southern Asian forces and Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia.

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I saw this at a "museum", which looked more like a junk shop, next to the Death Railway Museum. That's an F8F drop tank, by the looks of things.

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Next, it's off to catch a taxi to our next stop on our journey, the Chungkai War Cemetery. This building is identified as the former Japanese Military Police HQ in Kanchanaburi by a display board near the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery.

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Chungkai Commonwealth War Graves Commission War Cemetery is the least visited of the two war cemeteries in Kanchanaburi and inexplicably, none of the tours that are run for foreign visitors come here. It is 20 minutes' drive from Kanchanaburi, so it isn't all that far away. There was a stop on the TBR at Chungkai because there was a POW camp and hospital located here. Today the railway that heads to Nam Tok no longer stops here, so this place gets far fewer visitors than its erstwhile sister cemetery in town. The cemetery is located directly on what used to be the POW camp, which was small compared to the camp at Kanchanaburi.

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There are 1,692 interred in Chungkai. Another snake warning...

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This is a well worn pathway down to the Khwae Noi River, where the prisoners went to bath. According to a map of the camp that I have seen, the cook houses and Japanese guard accommodation were located away from the main camp down this path, too. I didn't go any further as the land on the river bank is now privately owned.

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Proportionally, there are a lot more of these at Chungkai than at Kanchanaburi, almost whole sections of the cemetery are of unnamed personnel.

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Back across where the Mekong (Mae Klong in Thai) River meets the Khwae Noi (Small Khwae) River to become the Khwae Yai (Big Khwae), colloquially named the Kwai River we travel to the north of Kanchanaburi, at the time of the TBR a separate place, named Tamarkan. At the time of the war, the river on which the bridges sat was the Mekong River; the use of the name Khwae Yai was not officially until after the war, while during the war the POWs did refer to the river as the Kwai, hence the name of the movie and its common usage today - it can get confusing sometimes because of the usage of the two different names in differing accounts. At Tamarkan was a large POW camp, a railway station that got moved after construction of the second bridge and major Japanese headquarters. This image from the Death Railway Museum adds context to the geography. The two bridges here were the only ones of the more than 600 on the TBR that were defended by AA guns.

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Anyway, my taxi then took me to the northernmost tip of Kanchanaburi, the former Tamarkan to the JEATH War Museum, a peculiar place as we shall see. JEATH stands for Japan, England, Australia, Thailand, Holland and is one of two museums so named, which is odd. The other, further south is not as large, with fewer artifacts, so I believe, I didn't go there since it was recommended I visit this one instead! The war museum was built by Buddhist monks to commemorate the deaths of POWs on the TBR and it is crowned by a temple on site. Within it contains artifacts recovered from the area and there are some fascinating relics, but the authenticity of some of these items cannot be verified. This is a locomotive that was frequently used on the TBR, according to script painted on the side of the carriage, it was an ammunition train. The inflatable snowman gets me, it was the week of Christmas and it was more than 30 degrees C outside...

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This is the only remaining section of the original "Bridge on the River Kwai", the first wooden bridge built entirely by POWs. The concrete sections have been added to preserve the railway lines.

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A better view of some of the surviving woodwork from the first bridge across the river.

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This first bridge on site, the wooden one was completed in February 1943. According to the Warmenhoven Report, "the timber diversion bridge over the Mekong is a timber construction of 42 spans and has a total length of 212.6 m; 34 of the spans have a length of 5 m or more up to 6 m; the others are smaller. This bridge has been repaired frequently." The wooden bridge maintained the running of the line by the Japanese following frequent attacks on the steel bridge, which required much more effort and materials to repair than the wooden bridge, itself repaired after a number of Allied air raids. On 5 February 1945, both bridges suffered damage, which meant that the line was temporarily halted until the bridges were repaired; the wooden one first. Reconnaissance photos show that the wooden bridge was intact by the end of the war. This is a drawing made by a POW that survives in the Death Railway Museum.

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The bridge crossed the river at this point and reached the opposite shore where the stage and jetty is located.

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A model showing the two bridges crossing the Mekong River at Tamarkan from the opposite shore to the location of the JEATH War Museum.

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A tricycle allegedly used at the Kanchanaburi POW camp.

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A freight carriage in which POWs were transported from Changi, Singapore to Banpong to work on the TBR.

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The sign says this was a British jeep used at the Nakhon Camp, which is likely the Nong Pladuk Camp, which is located near Nakhon Pathom.

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A motorcycle and side car allegedly used by the Japanese, "for a short trip between the camp to the market, Kanchanaburi."

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That's it for this instalment. Next, we continue at the JEATH War Museum and take a look at more things of interest in the local area.

 

[Wurger]

 

[z42]

I remember visiting the Death Railway Museum in Kanchanaburi, uh, it must have been something like 20 years ago with my girlfriend at the time. Went there by train and stayed overnight at some small hostel close by the river bank. Wasn't nearly as methodological documenting my visit as nuuumannn , though! And to be fair, before visiting I knew little about the whole thing beyond having seen the movie.

 

[nuuumannn]

I remember visiting the Death Railway Museum in Kanchanaburi, uh, it must have been something like 20 years ago with my girlfriend at the time. Went there by train and stayed overnight at some small hostel close by the river bank. Wasn't nearly as methodological documenting my visit as nuuumannn , though! And to be fair, before visiting I knew little about the whole thing beyond having seen the movie.

Cheers man, it's fascinating stuff, if you can avoid the tourist trap. The place gets swamped nowadays and the poignancy gets somewhat lost by people taking selfies in front of everything...

 

[nuuumannn]

Thanks for following on, I thought I'd sneak in another post before I disappear off to a car rally this afternoon. We are in the JEATH War Museum in Kanchanaburi continuing our peculiar look at the Death Railway and some intriguing artifacts. These two boats were used for transporting malaria-stricken POWs to the hospital at Kanchanaburi to die a wretched and painful death.

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In the museum, there are rooms full of things dug up from the surrounding areas, including this cache of weapons and hardware.

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This room is something quite special though; the most bizarre mural I have ever seen in a museum, the bombing of the bridges by US aircraft, with aircraft and the bridge pillars sculpted to give a 3D element to the mural. Masterful!

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Bomb casings. I'm not sure what the ornate framework is on the last one, but the text is written in English and states that the bomb was dropped on the bridges on November (can't read the date), 1944.

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The exterior compound showing the railway carriage in which the POWs were brought from Changi to Banpong to build the railway at Nong Pladuk. The huts to the left are supposed to mimic the quarters that existed in the various POW camps about the place.

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Aside from being a museum, the JEATH War Museum site is also a temple. Here is the prayer chamber. There's our guardian angel friend again.

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Weirdly, there are a couple of aircraft on site, this Cessna 150 has a framework built up to it on which people can get a photo in front of it! It's a dirty old Cessna 150 ffs!

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This next aircraft is just as surprising, a German Army Alouette II. So many questions...

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According to a record of preserved Thai aircraft I have, it is one of a handful ex-Heeresflieger Alouette IIs imported into the country for Thai Army use. A few have ended up in museums around the country.

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Finally from the JEATH War Museum, the steel bridge. This was completed in April 1943, two months after the wooden bridge. Here's what the Warmenhoven Report has to say about it, "The bridge over the Mekong (km 56.2250) consists of 11 spans of 20.8 m each, of bow string girders carried on well curbs and cement concrete piers. The girders were transported from Java. Also, this bridge was built by the prisoners of war, partly by the Gordons [Gordon Highlanders - Scottish regiment in the British Army], and the Argylls and Sutherlands [Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, another Scottish regiment in the British Army]. Total length of the steel bridge is 241.5 m." The two squared off spans are postwar replacements for the bombed sections that were not repaired before the end of the war. The two pedalos would have proven particularly useful in its construction, I'm sure.

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We head out into the street and survey the surroundings, once a vast POW camp that spread across the landscape, with little else but the railway facilities the workers toiled away on, but today a massive street market selling this kind of tat.

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This is what used to be Tamarkan station before the bridge. To the right was the Japanese headquarters and anti-aircraft gun battery. I am not certain which type of guns were operating here, whether they were heavy guns or light MGs. Now, among the shade of the trees are seats for the restaurant and bar that occupies the site. Note the street vendors on the other side of the railway line. There was plenty of business for them on this day.

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Outside the station on decorative sidings are a couple of trains. This is an example of the Kampong Express truck we saw a model of in the Death Railway Museum. It comprises a diesel truck that could be converted to operate on the railway line and back to road use. This was achieved by the fitting of the carriage at the front with rail bogies, while the truck's rear wheels were removed and rail wheels fitted. Quite a few of these were used by the Japanese on the line, they could tow up to four carriages and were also useful for shunting at depots.

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According to the Warmenhoven Report, by the end of the war there were 58 trains operating on the TBR. The trains were largely imported into Thailand by the Japanese, although around two or three of the Thai Railway locos saw use on the line. The Thai Railway was allowed to continue operating independently within Thailand during the war, but it was not a user of the TBR despite some of its trains being used. The trains on the TBR primarily came from Malaysia, Burma, Java and Japan. This is a P-Class engine built in Britain by the North British Locomotive Company and was originally 22509, but has been depicted as 804, which was, according to an online source, a Kitson-Built P-Class 5162, so this loco might have been installed for display, rather than an actual TBR survivor? I'm not certain. If it was, it is a surviving ex-Thai Railway engine.

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This Locomotive most certainly did serve on the line during the war. This is a Japan National Railway C56-Class locomotive built by Keisha Seizo in 1936 and was one of 27 C56s sent to Thailand to operate on the TBR. It is not the only C56 loco that operated on the line to survive, there is one at the Bangkok National Railway Museum, there's one preserved in Burma and there is the first one to operate on the TBR at the Yushukan, the museum attached to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

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In the intense heat of the day, we walk across the bridge. There's no fear of being struck by oncoming trains as these only come at certain times of the day and when they reach the bridge they slow right down so the tourists can be shooed off the bridge!

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Looking back toward the Tamarkan side of the river. The Japanese HQ and AA battery was located to the left of the bridge, with the POW camp on the right.

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Looking at the JEATH War Museum site. The wooden bridge emerged from just below the nose of the Cessna 150. There's one of those damned inflatable Christmas ornaments again. At least its not a snowman this time...

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The Mighty Mekong River, officially renamed the Khwae Yai postwar, but universally known as the River Kwai. This is looking toward the junction of the two rivers, the Mekong and Khwae Noi. The wooden bridge spanned across the centre of this shot, reaching the bank at the site of the stage and jetty visible to the right. We crossed the bridge in the distance to reach the Chungkai War Cemetery.

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In the next instalment, more from the Bridge on the River Kwai, with a wee site of interest I visited on return to Bangkok that evening. Thanks for your continuing attention, folks.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Great set of pics.

 

[GrauGeist]

Really enjoying the visot so far, Grant!

Great history and photos, but I have one question:
In the photo of the museum's mural depicting U.S. aircraft bombing the bridge, why does the diving aircraft seen to the far right have pre-WWI U.S. insignia?

 

[nuuumannn]

Really enjoying the visot so far, Grant!

Great history and photos, but I have one question:
In the photo of the museum's mural depicting U.S. aircraft bombing the bridge, why does the diving aircraft seen to the far right have pre-WWI U.S. insignia?

Cheers mate. I wouldn't place too much on the accuracy of that particular work of art...

 

[GrauGeist]

Well, it is technically correct for the U.S
Army Signal Corps Aeronautic section - if they had attacked the bridge with Curtiss J3Ns!

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots Grant!

 

[nuuumannn]

Thanks again for following along, guys. We are standing on the steel bridge over what was the Mekong River, known to the POWs as the River Kwai, standing on the steel bridge that was completed by Scottish POWs in April 1943. On this journey the TBR next headed south toward Chungkai, which we visited in a previous instalment, but today bypasses Chungkai and heads to its final stop of Nam Tok. The TBR continued on toward the Burmese border but today stops at the site of yet another POW camp , but now receives lots of tourists because of the waterfall nearby. A few travel on toward the memorial at Hellfire Pass, where Australian POWs carved the railway line out of rock. A visit for another time.

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To the left of the bridge facing away from Kanchanaburi on the opposite bank is the POW Camp market, a postwar thing, which at the time of my visit was derelict, but I photographed this, becoz, why not?

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The bridge from the waterfront looking across the river toward Kanchanaburi. I sat on the bank front supping a cheap soda and thought. It is hard to imagine this serene place was the site of terrible suffering and hardship by so many.

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Back across the bridge and across the road from the train station I saw this small temple dedicated to the TBR. The flat stone out the front is a dedication in Japanese.

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Waiting for the return train to Bangkok, the train from Nam Tok has to cross the bridge, which was still covered in tourists, so it crawls along to enable the tourists to get onto the bays along the bridge so as not to get run over!

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On the way back I noticed this derelict water tower in the trees as the train flashed past. It is one of a few remaining relics from the TBR that hide away in the trees. Blink and you'll miss them.

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After a more than three hour train journey back to Bangkok I had one more stop to make on my day's adventurising, so I caught the metro to Rama IV Road, one of the major arterial roads through the city to go find my next site of interest. This is the Malaysia Hotel and in 1987, the entire hotel was requisitioned by the film crew that was making the feature film Good Morning Vietnam.

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I dunno about you guys, but I loved that film, it was truly great, so, knowing the film was made in Bangkok, I wanted to hunt down the main filming site while I was in town. The majority of the street scenes in the movie were filmed in and around the city in different locations, while the crew stayed here at the Malaysia Hotel. It makes an appearance in the movie's opening sequence, when Forrest Whittaker's character picks Robin Williams' Adrian Cronauer up from the airport - Don Mueang Airport, what was Bangkok's principal airport at the time, and drives him in the jeep to the radio station - that's the Malaysia Hotel. A screenshot.

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Inside, we see the front desk to the right and the hotel foyer, looking toward a salon and shops. The elevator is to behind me to the right.

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The same view during the movie, with Whittaker and Cronauer walking towards what is supposed to be the elevator. A few changes to the hotel compared to today's view, but the odd-shaped window in this screenshot helps pinpoint the shot.

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For filming the studio scenes, on the second floor (first floor for the rest of the world), an entire radio studio, complete with offices, staff rec rooms and recording studios was built. The remainder of the floors of the hotel housed the actors and crew. This exterior shot was the closest I was getting. The hotel security got a bit twitchy when I got my camera out next to reception, so I didn't dare go upstairs and settled on an exterior shot.

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Whittaker and Williams on the Second (First) floor set.

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Well. After a long day's travel I was pooped. By the time I got back to my hotel, the pool was shut for the night, but being the naughty boy I am I went for a dip anyway. It had been an intense day, but I lived for this kind of thing. History, lots of it, and getting to it on the hoof, not really knowing how the day was going to pan out. The story of the TBR is a sobering one, but it gets lost in the quagmire of tourism, making it difficult to appreciate what went on there. Even the cemeteries, set on what used to be POW camps where terrible acts of depravity took place, seemed completely out of place because of the bustle of tourists. Anyway, it was an utterly fulfilling day and I sank into a deep sleep, waking the next day on what was my last day in the city. Bangkok after dark is just as vibrant as it is during the day, and the noise level does not let up...

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Next morning I awoke slightly later for breakfast, my last in the hotel, before jumping on the Skytrain and heading for the Thai Air Force Museum again. I wanted one last look at some of those juicy aircraft I had not gotten to photograph during the Night at the Museum visit a few days earlier. I was mingling with the commuters off to work and the train was slow on this day. Just my luck, I had to get off because it wasn't heading all the way to the museum...

When I got to the museum I was told it was closed. It was undergoing a tidy-up, so I explained that this was my last day in the city and I would not get to visit again, so I was permitted to wander around taking photos while the tidy-up took place. It felt weird being the only person wandering around, but I was told the cafe was open if I wanted refreshments! Lucky for me!

Anyway, a bit more info on some of the aircraft we missed last time. An RT-33A. The RTAF operated a large number of T-33s, the first of which arrived in 1955, on which Thai pilots were taught to fly the RTAF's first jet fighter, the F-84 Thunderjet. A total of eight RT-33As were acquired for photographic reconnaissance training, the first in 1967. These aircraft remained in service for almost 30 years, undergoing upgrades before retirement in 1995. I'm not entirely sure, but that has to be some kind of record for a First Generation jet to remain in service.

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A former Royal Singapore Air Force F-5F Tiger II or F-5T Tigris. The F-5T was an upgraded version of the F-5F for the RSAF, which was carried out on the air force's F-5Es and Fs by Singapore Aerospace and included the fitting of digital displays in the cockpit, HOTAS, a new multi-mode look down radar and the ability to carry BVR AAMs. The RTAF received this particular aircraft in 2017. The RTAF Tiger II upgrades are similar to those done by Singapore to its Tigers and Thailand remains one of the only Asian air forces that continues to operate the F-5.

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One of a couple of O-1 Bird Dogs on display. The RTAF received a significant number of these useful little aircraft, the first in 1967 and they have become synonymous with the Thais. Examples have come from the Laotians and Vietnamese to keep the RTAF fleet serviceable, although the type has since been retired. This is an O-1E, there is also an O-1A on display.

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A rather sad looking Helio Super Courier. A total of 19 U-10s were operated by the RTAF, the first 12 of which arrived in 1963, with a further seven in 1966. These saw service with Thai forces during the Vietnam War; this one, a U-10B was one of the first arrivals.

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An SIAI Marchetti SF.260 of the Flight Training School at Don Mueang. A total of 12 of these were bought, the first of which arriving in 1973. The slick little aircraft has since been retired from RTAF service in 2002.

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One of the oddest aircraft types operated by the RTAF, the RFB Fantrainer, of which the RTAF received 26 400 and 600 Models. These were turboprop advanced trainers intended on supplementing the CT/4 Airtrainer in service to train F-5 pilots in advanced fighter techniques, but despite being built in Thailand, the type was in service for a few short years before being retired. The first entered service in 1987, but by 1994, all had been retired, some after only two years in service. I noticed that out the back of the museum, in the junk yard there was a number of derelict Fantrainer airframes. So, not very popular, then.

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Finally for today, the Fantrainer's replacement, the Pilatus PC-9. 26 of these were ordered in 1991, but the type has since been replaced in 2023 with the Raytheon Beech T-6 Texan II.

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Next up, more heavy metal from the RTAF Museum. Stay handsome, guys.