Bringing steam engines out of retirement
One of the high points of the event was when representatives of the Taiwan Railway Administration, the Taiwan Forestry Bureau and the Taiwan Sugar Corporation were invited to discuss the question "What kind of railway museum do we need?"
The TSC once also failed to see the value of old trains, but now they have preserved over 30 treasured steam locomotives. The TFB wishes to restore the tourist appeal of the Mt. Ali Railway, and is willing to operate it even at a loss. It plans to build a narrow gauge museum at Fenchi Lake Station, where old forestry railway engines are to go on display, and it would also welcome exhibits from the sugar, salt and mining railways.
But what is the attitude of the big daddy of Taiwan's railways, the TRA? Spokesperson Ma Chung-nan says that from 16 sites throughout Taiwan, including Chichi Station and the Changhua roundhouse, the TRA's planning team has chosen Taichung Station as the location for the future museum, which is to be incorporated into the project to move the station underground. But he freely admits that it will be quite some time before this plan can be realized, and for the time being the TRA will display its railway artefacts in a temporary home in the old railway administration building on Taipei's Yenping North Road.
But in fact, methods of preservation are by no means limited to morgue-like museum exhibits. Professor Timothy Kao, who teaches at an American college, points out that preservation of working trains is a much more attractive option. The Steamtown National Historic Site in Pennsylvania recently spent US$300,000 on an old steam locomotive from mainland China. The engine is greatly prized by local people, and attracts many visitors young and old who get enormous pleasure from riding in the trains it hauls.
Jen Heng-yi has promised his son that one day he will show him a steam train running on Taiwan's main north-south line. But at the moment the surviving old engines are scattered far and wide, and if not standing alone in some square they are shut away out of sight in sheds. With the old skilled maintenance fitters literally dying out, when will he be able to keep this promise?
Apart from calling for the preservation of railway hardware, the RCS is also thinking about how to restore the railways to their "rightful status." "In view of the price paid for road development, many countries have begun to evaluate the possibility of reviving the railways," says Cheng Ming-chang.
In a Japanese book entitled Railways to Save the Earth, the opinion is expressed that trains really have far more advantages than motor vehicles. Not only do the tracks take up less space than roads and blend in better visually with their surroundings-trains also save oil and produce far less emissions and noise pollution than motor vehicles.
"Taiwan is neither large in area nor rich in natural resources, yet we have been continuously building roads. Shouldn't we stop and consider what price we are paying?" asks Wu Yi-han.
The things we do for love
What course future events will take is still far from clear, but the RCS also has many internal problems. Many members have now left behind their carefree student days, when they could travel freely, and begun to raise a family, so they can no longer devote all their energies to the society's affairs. Others who are so obsessed with the railways that they work for the society for a tiny salary are accused by their families of falling down on their responsibilities. And for lack of personnel and funds, the RCS is not able to put on enough activities to satisfy some members.
The work of putting on the Kuanghua event and accompanying exhibition at the end of October rushed everyone off their feet. With these activities over, they have been considering whether to change the nature of the society to a "soft" organization for the time being.
"What we mean by that is cutting personnel costs as far as possible, and reducing the number of members," explains Jen Heng-yi. Only people with a real "cultural mission" could join, while people who are simply railway fans could perhaps consider setting up another club. From that point on the RCS would no longer be mainly concerned with putting on activities for its own members, but would look outward and concentrate on seeking opportunities to preserve railway culture.
A plan drawn up by the RCS for a survey of historic railway hardware in Taiwan has just gained funding from the National Culture and Arts Foundation. "In fact we had already gathered a great deal of material and photographs," says former Railway News editor Lai Te-hsiang, showing us stacks of photographs and files in a filing cabinet. Over the last few years society members have been travelling all over Taiwan and have listed and photographed many steam engines, old stations, facilities and items of equipment worth preserving.
Where are the trains going to?
After many trials and tribulations, Taipei's rapid transit system is now up and running; the western corridor high-speed railway is also now at the planning stage. When the pop song asks: "Train, train, where are you going to?" these young people simply hope that as the railways continue to move ahead, people can also look back along the tracks behind them, and not forget the railways' glory days.