National-level train museum
When you think about Taiwan finally having a chance to create its own railway museum, what kind of a museum would you imagine?
Railway expert Hong Zhiwen explains that Taiwanese culture is highly tolerant and inclusive, which is evident when you look at the island’s railways. From the earliest tracks laid under the Qing-Dynasty governor Liu Mingchuan, to the introduction of the Japanese system, to the guidance provided by American consultants after the war, Taiwan has purchased trains from various nations. Thus the whole railway system in Taiwan has a highly cosmopolitan flavor. A Taiwan railway museum ought to “use Taiwan’s history to show the trains of the world,” says Hong.
Because the Taipei Railway Workshop restoration project involves preservation of the entire site, including 24 different stretches of track, many elements can be brought into play for a future rail museum. For example, Hong notes that Taiwan has just acquired two 583 Series sleeper cars from the Railway Museum in Saitama, Japan. They could be made available for overnight stays. Restored Chu-Kuang Express dining cars, meanwhile, could be used as the museum’s cafeteria. Old things can inform the public about the evolution of the island’s rails. They help to tell the stories that a train museum should tell.
Apart from conveying the elegance of railway architecture, the central focus of the restored TRA offices will be in taking a “small is beautiful” approach to describing railway culture and history.
From the standpoints of “cultural equality” and “cultural accessibility,” Deputy Minister of Culture Yang Tzu-pao, who is a train buff himself, is worried that contemporary art is gradually becoming stratified by social class. He emphasizes that museums have the difficult mission of making learning fun. “Enjoyment should be the mother of knowledge.” You don’t want to intimidate or alienate the public. These considerations must be the starting point for the museum.
“The late start taken to create a Taiwan train museum poses serious challenges but also offers advantages,” Yang says. He uses the metaphor of a train station being a place of departure. He anticipates that the railway museum will provide a gateway for the public to look back, turn around, and make new starts—all the while holding bright expectations for the future.
The plans call for exceeding a mere national-level railway museum. Yang anticipates that the museum will demonstrate to the world how the people of Taiwan can bring disused industrial sites to life for modern people and will prompt more foreign friends to take special trips to Taiwan. The institution will thus ascend to the ranks of truly international-class railway museums.
A shot of the TRA office building during renovations. (courtesy of National Taiwan Museum)
The Alishan Mountain Railway opened in 1912. Cypresses from the mountain—some of tremendous size—were used to construct the Taiwan Railways Administration building, which was finished in 1919.
A quiet corner of the TRA office building on a bright afternoon.
Part of Taipei Railway Workshop
The erecting shop of the Taipei Railway Workshop features a vaulted ceiling supported by steel trusses. This is where steam engines used to be repaired. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)
An old photo of workers at work in the forge and metallurgy shop. (courtesy of the Bureau of Cultural Heritage, MOC)
An old photo of workers at work in the new coach shop. (courtesy of the Bureau of Cultural Heritage, MOC)
For Chen Wu-chang, retired chief of the Taipei Railway Workshop, every corner of the facility is rich with memories. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)
With arched ceilings and beautiful windows, the bathhouse at the Taipei Railway Workshop was a place where workers could wash away the day’s fatigue. This was another side of workers’ lives at the facility. (photo by Chuang Kung-ju)