The Alishan Forest Railway is celebrating its 110th anni­versary this year. Construction work started in 1906, and the railway opened on Christmas Day 1912. With the first haul of lumber rolling down the mountain, the railway began serving as an umbilical cord of raw material, providing vital economic sustenance. It spurred development of the city of Chiayi as the lumber industry there became a major contributor to Taiwan’s economy. The Chiayi Sawmill, which was completed in 1914, played a key role in boosting employment in related fields.

Many decades later, forestry policies changed and competition from road transport led to a decline in the railway’s fortunes. Meanwhile, a series of natural dis­asters damaged the railway structurally, and its opera­tions suffered. A turnaround came in 2018, when the Exec­utive Yuan decided to establish the Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office (AFRCHO) under the Forestry Bureau, tasked with preserving and re­vital­izing the industrial and cultural heritage of which the line is a key part.

As a steam train chugs through the forest, a century-old scene of hauling lumber reappears before one’s eyes. (courtesy of AFRCHO)

Journey on a small train

Accompanied by tour guide Wu Yu-yoe, at Chiayi’s Beimen Station we board the little Alishan train bound for Shizilu Station.

“The Alishan Forest Railway takes a pretty incredible route,” he says. In the early days, it started at Chiayi’s Beimen Station at an altitude of 30 meters and climbed to Erwan­ping Station at 2000 meters, moving through trop­ical, subtropical and temperate-zone ecologies.

Speaking over the train’s rumble, Wu relates that even in the 1960s, trucking was still in its infancy in Taiwan, so the railways were busy hauling freight. At the sugar-cane harvest, four trains a day on the Ali­shan Forest Railway would carry cane to the Nanjing Sugar Re­finery. Wu recalls how he and a few classmates would ride their bikes to the stretch of track between the Lumachan and Zhuqi stations and then chase the trains to steal sticks of cane. The recent opening of a bike trail running alongside the same section of the line re­awakened happy memories of such escapades among local residents.

After passing Zhuqi Station, the railway begins to ascend a long series of horseshoe curves that each turn the train through 180 degrees. Wu urges us to look out the window at the U-shaped bends.

Once the train reaches Dulishan (“Lone Mountain”), Wu starts to point to distant landmarks to orient us and give us a sense of our winding path around and through the mountain. Halfway up, we turn behind Dulishan before winding back to the original face. With each of the three loops around the mountain we gain about 100 meters in elevation.

Between Pingzhena and Zhaoping stations, the tracks are laid in zigzags, forcing the train to ascend in reverse on alternate stretches. Like the earlier horseshoes, these are designed to overcome the steep gradient of the slope.

The train’s final stop is currently Shizilu Station. Up ahead, work is proceeding on Tunnel No. 42, which was damaged by Typhoon Dujuan in 2015. The entire line is expected to reopen in 2023.

The classically elegant Beimen Station has borne witness to the rise and fall of the lumber industry over the course of a century.

A lumber town revisited

Upon returning down the mountain, we visit the Chiayi Sawmill, once described as the most advanced in the Japanese Empire. Guide Lou Cheng-kuo explains that by turning felled trees into lumber, the mill under­pinned the growth of the wood processing industry in Chiayi.

The sawmill had its own electricity generation system and used machinery imported from the UK, America, and Germany. Incoming unprocessed logs were moved automatically along the production line. The mill was impressively advanced for its time. The electric-­powered drying room featured a cutting-edge dryer, which circulated rising hot air and falling cool air to dry the wood while controlling for air speed, temperature, and humidity.

A remarkable mountain railway

Chiayi’s lumber industry boom traces its origins back to 1899, when Japan discovered the forest resources of the Alishan area. The colonial government adopted the recom­menda­tion of botanist Shitaro Kawai, who had a doctorate in forestry, to build a railway up the mountain.

Curiously, the Alishan Forest Railway is Taiwan’s only railway system to combine logging railway and mountain railway technologies. Just a few years after its construction, cableways were established at Tai­ping­shan and Ba­xian­shan to transport lumber in those locations. Railway expert Su Chao-hsu explains: “That divergence was connected to the evolution of tech­nology.” In 1903, airplanes were unheard of, and roadways for motor vehicles only became widespread after 1920. The rails were the main arteries for land transport during that era. Alishan used forest railway technology developed in America. From today’s perspective, the railway may not seem the most economically efficient method, but it represented an ingenious combination of the technologies and construction techniques of its time.

“Of the five methods used anywhere in the world to construct a railway up a mountainside, four are employed on the Alishan Forest Railway,” says Su. The sweeping 180-degree horseshoe curves represent the first method. The second is the spiraling track on Dulishan. The third is the zigzagging track that requires the train to go in reverse. The fourth is the use of Shay geared steam loco­motives.” If you want to ascend a mountain slope, the train must possess certain capabilities. The Shay locomotives produced by the Lima Locomotive Works in the United States were specifically designed with mountain railways in mind. With cylinders positioned upright to save space, these engines are extremely powerful, and the large trees that were felled on Alishan were all carried down the mountain using them.

Although Lima eventually went bankrupt, repairs and spare parts made by the Beimen Repair Plant kept the Shay locomotives rolling on Alishan’s tracks. They didn’t start being retired until 1969. In 2000 re­construc­tion of the railway’s steam locomotive No. 26 was successfully completed, and it began to chug along the tracks once again. Since then, engines Nos. 31 and 25 have also been restored and brought back into service. There are very few countries with any Shay loco­motives remaining, and fewer still with the engines actually in service. These truly are world treasures.

“The Alishan Forest Railway, Asia’s highest-elevation narrow-gauge railway, has the most complex spiral of loops—nearly concentric circles—found on any of the world’s 762-millimeter-gauge railways,” summarizes Su. “It also has the greatest gain in elevation.” Moreover, the Alishan Forest Railway is a sister line of railways in Japan, India, Britain, Switzerland, Slovakia and other countries, fostering frequent international exchanges.

Huang Miao-hsiu says that Alishan’s unique tapestry of charms is woven from its tangible and intangible cultural assets.

Shared heritage

A few years ago, the Alishan Forest Railway welcomed the return of the SL-21 steam engine from Chiayi Park, where it had sat for 44 years. Repairs would get it moving again. The motivation for that work was rooted in visits that AFRCHO director Huang Miao-hsiu had made to Europe. When she passed over her name card and announced her affiliation with the railway, people’s eyes immediately brightened. It was a big deal that Taiwan had earlier restored other Shay locomotives and got them rolling again. “From their reactions, I could sense how special we are,” Huang says. “They are grateful for the preservation work Taiwan has put in for over a century, and they hope that Taiwan will continue to maintain these Shay locomotives, because they are part of the railway heritage of the whole world.” Likewise, the Japanese government has given the Alishan Forest Railway its special award for overseas railways. Clearly, this railway is a cultural asset treasured by the world.

The Chiayi Sawmill has been renovated and is officially listed as a historic site. It now provides visitors with a sense of what it must have looked like in its heyday.

Coexisting with the forest

Alishan’s assets are not limited to its railway and trains. “Alishan’s attributes combine forest ecologies, railway technology, forestry resources, commerce, culture and the arts,” says Huang, waxing philosophical: “The tangible and intangible weave together to create Ali­shan’s unique charms.”

Still today, sunrise at Alishan is what many visitors remember most about Taiwan. The Mt. Ogasawara Observa­tion Deck offers unobstructed panoramic views that include Yushan’s peaks. In the spring, melting snows give way to cherry blossoms. In the fall, the gink­goes and maples on the slopes turn brilliant colors. Meanwhile, the observation deck at night provides astro­nomy lessons with its starry vistas, and an ancient stand of giant trees remains after a millennium of being battered by harsh winds and rains.

In recent years, the Forestry Bureau has picked Alishan as one of its “forest therapy” demonstration sites. Paul Lin, deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Forest Therapy Society, explains that scientific experiments have shown that the forest has healing effects. Under expert direction, exposing a patient’s five senses to ­nature can help to ease anxiety and other negative emotions. From a physiological perspective, that exposure lowers pulse rates and blood pressure. Lin arranges for groups to walk slowly along mountain trails. After the crowds enjoying the sunrise disperse, the group stays up on Zhushan and at the Mt. Ogasawara Observation Deck, experiencing nature with all their senses as they walk barefoot on the grass and open their ears to the sounds of running water and birdcalls. Or they might find a big tree to hug or lean against, peacefully sharing a moment with it. Alishan has a lot of potential to become an inter­national base for forest therapy.

Ecological surveys of Alishan were first under­taken many years ago. Quite a few species have been named after the mountain. A Guide to the Named of Alishan Plants (sic) lists 120 vascular plants that have been collected on and named after the mountain since 1896, includ­ing 55 that are endemic to Taiwan, such as Ali­shan chickweed, Alishan felwort, and Alishan ma­honia.

At an altitude of 904 meters, Liyuanliao Station is famous for its fireflies, and the railway here bears the nickname “the firefly river railway.” All year long, from the beginning of spring to the end of winter, there are different species of fireflies to be seen around Alishan. Then there are the more than 10 million migrating cattle egrets that stop over every fall near Tai­xing Village, between Li­yuan­liao and Jiaoliping stations. Their flocks are truly a sight to behold.

Within Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, endemic Taiwanese bird species such as Swinhoe’s pheasant, the Taiwan partridge, and the Mikado pheasant can be seen from time to time going about their business with little evident fear of people. The Mianyue branch line features a conservation area for the native windowsill orchid, and hikers may see Reeves’s muntjac wandering near the Mt. Ogasawara Observation Deck. Such images of peaceful coexistence spur one to consider the evolution of forestry policy on Alishan: In an earlier era, it was oriented toward extracting forest resources, while today it is based on the principle of “sustainable forestry.” In a similar vein, we are searching for the best direction to take toward mutually beneficial co­exist­ence with the forest.

A display in the Chiayi Sawmill shows how a giant log was cut into usable pieces of lumber.

A lifelong lover of the Alishan railway, Su Chao-hsu animatedly uses a model to explain the line’s use of zigzags to conquer the mountain’s steep slopes.

On the trip up Alishan, the train window offers views of scenery from different climatic zones.

A therapeutic moment with a tree.

The little train running through the forest seems like something out of a fairytale.

The “sea of clouds” from the Mt. Ogasawara Observation Deck.

Alishan reveals a path to combining nature, history, popular memory, and sustainability.