The recent wave of restorations of Taiwan's old steam locomotives has relied almost entirely on the skilled hands of a small group of retired master mechanics. Both Cheng Wan-ching, leader of the Taiwan Railway Administration's (TRA) projects, and Lin Mo-shan, who heads up the Taiwan Forestry Bureau's project, are experts on these old trains, and have deep feelings about the restoration efforts and the passing on of their knowledge.

A Hakka sensibility

The 73-year-old Cheng Wan-ching led the restoration of CK101 and is now leading the team working on Cloud Rider. Cheng began working for the TRA in 1942 when the Japanese still ruled Taiwan. When he retired in 1992, he was assistant director of the Taipei train yard and had devoted 50 years to Taiwan's railways. He has a tremendous amount of experience repairing railway machinery, and having worked in quality control, as head of the Keelung section of the TRA's repair and maintenance division, as director of the Chitu section repair shop and also as assistant director of the Taipei train yard, he has a deep understanding of all models of locomotive used in Taiwan.

Talking about the past, Cheng pulls out some precious old photographs. The Taipei train yard hasn't changed much over the years. The faces of his dashing colleagues, however, have been gradually etched by time's relentless progress.

Cheng remembers that it used to be difficult for Taiwanese to get work in the TRA's workshops. There were four tests and a number of barriers to be gotten through. They also had to deal with unfair competition from the Japanese. The year he began working, more than 2,000 people tested for 80 positions, but half of these positions were reserved for Japanese candidates.

It required "a grade one vocational qualification [equivalent to a degree from a junior college of that time] and a grade two academic qualification [equivalent to a degree from a three-year technical high school of that time]. Preparing for the test was difficult. Days were hard after you went to work too, both in the training period and when you actually were working. If you didn't have an interest in machinery, it would have been hard to take any pleasure in the work," says Cheng.

Many of the workers in the Taipei train yard were Hakka, and many people attributed the staff's diligence to Hakka traditions. Cheng, however, disagrees with this view, stating that it was their focus on their work and the demands that they placed upon themselves that were the source of the diligence seen at the yard.

"The TRA has continuously cut back its parts manufacturing and maintenance. Now, most parts are imported. The youngsters don't understand the steam locomotives well enough, so the department had no choice but to rely on us old men." But Cheng says that if Taiwan is to continue to preserve these old engines, their knowledge must be passed on.

According to Cheng, "Some of the young people today are still hard working and serious about their jobs. For example, Chen Chao-yue, who is a team leader on this current project, is exceptionally skilled, and he's interested in keeping up these old engines. But he's only worked on two projects, and he still has other work to do at the Taipei train yard. It's hard to pass on our knowledge in such a short time." He says that currently the TRA doesn't have a plan to deal with this, and he worries that the skills required to repair these old steam engines will be lost.

"Right now they've still got us 'old guys,' but who knows how long we can keep doing repairs." Cheng sighs, but the expression on his face remains neutral with the reserve that is so typical of Taiwan's older generations.

A wedding gift

Although we visited Chiayi at the same time of year that we visited the Taipei train yard, the weather in Chiayi was noticeably clearer. Lin Mo-shan, who is heading the Alishan steam engine restoration, greets visitors with the warmth characteristic of southern Taiwanese.

Lin is 75 this year, but his face and movements are more those of a man in his forties. After graduating from the Chiayi's industrial high school at the age of 18, he went to work for the Taiwan Forestry Bureau's (TFB) Chiayi office. During his 36 years there, he did drafting, was a supervisor and a chief engineer. When he retired in 1990, Lin was the shop director. Because the office had itself maintained its trains and manufactured parts for decades, even recasting boilers when necessary, Lin knows the Alishan steam engines inside and out.

In fact, Lin has handled much of the restoration of No. 26 personally. One can see his love of trains in the diligence with which he has approached the building of model steam engines over the last several years.

Everyone at the Chiayi office of the TFB knows that Lin has seven daughters, all of whom received a train as wedding gift. Of course, these were not the sort of trains which run on the tracks. Instead, they are model steam engines fired by alcohol lamps which were hand-built, wheel by wheel, panel by panel, by Lin himself, some based on his own designs, others scale models.

When then-Provincial Governor Hsieh Tung-min encouraged turning homes into small factories in the 1970s, Lin took the message to heart and began building model trains. The purpose of the proposal was to improve the economic situation of the island's farmers, but in Lin's case, his home-workshop was purely a hobby.

When he started, most of his trains were simple models of his own creation which, from drawing up plans to final assembly, took him more than a year to build. With the exception of the screws, Lin himself cut and shaped every part from steel plates and rods, and welded everything together.

Lin had more time to himself after his retirement, and he devoted most of it to his model building. He has now completed a total of ten engines, each more finely done than the previous. He is currently working on a scale model of one the Alishan steam locomotives, but age is beginning to take its toll.

Lin says, "I spent two years just making the vertical cylinders. I'm getting old, and it's taking me longer to make things." He says that his vision is no longer good enough to do the really fine work.

Lin had been retired for nearly ten years, and had been "playing" with his model trains for a full ten years when work started on the restoration of Alishan's engine No. 26. The project gave him the opportunity to be on the front line of steam engine repairs once again. Asked about passing on his knowledge to the younger mechanics, he says, "None of my nine children has gone into my line of work. Even among the young mechanics at the shop, there's a lack of interest in steam engines. No one's interested in learning how to maintain them. We'd better repair them while we still can, make them really solid so they can run for a long time. Ha, ha!"

Though saddened when speaking of having no one to whom he can pass his knowledge, Lin still manages to look on the bright side.

p.43

Cheng Wan-ching (right) spent 40 years of his 50-year career with the TRA at the Taipei train yard. His long experience has made him the leader of the CK101 and Cloud Rider restoration efforts. On the left is Chiu Kun-shan of the Taipei train yard.

p.44

There aren't many people left with the skill to repair Alishan's steam engines. Lin Mo-shan is one of these, and he laments that there is no one to pass his knowledge on to.

After his retirement, Lin Mo-shan devoted himself to building model trains. Bordering these two pages are pictures of several of his scale-model locomotives.

After his retirement, Lin Mo-shan devoted himself to building model trains. Bordering these two pages are pictures of several of his scale-model locomotives.