After having learned about the construction of the railway from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, attendees experienced it first hand by taking the train from Chiang Mai to Lampang, passing through the 1.3 kilometer Khun Tan tunnel and stopping on the way back at the iconic Khun Tan station. The excursion also included a stop at the newly opened Railway Museum Park in Lampang and lunch at Baan Phraya Suren Restaurant.
Enjoy the photos from our railway excursion and see what the group got up to!
Credits for these wonderful photos- John Polyak
A multi-span bridge carries the railway over an expanse of flat land next to the Heritage Center.
A horn sounded and a train of empty tank cars headed south crossed the bridge.
The group got into two vans that would carry us for the remainder of the journey. Our first stop was at the Railway Heritage Center alongside the railway track near the station. This clever sculpture is constructed of scrap metal from the railway. The wheels are from old steam locomotives while the horse, and parts of the carriage, are sleeper plates to which rails are mounted. Walkways in the Heritage Center are old railway sleepers (ties to Americans).
The railway station main hall is spacious and opens onto the loading platforms.
The Northern Line between Bangkok and Chiang Mai was planned and constructed by German engineers. This is the street side of the Teutonic-looking station they built at Lampang.
The train left Chiang Mai at 0850 and arrived at Lampang at 1040. There were passengers waiting on this platform at Lampang station. They had gotten on the train and the doors were about to close. The train left just after this photo was taken.
Across the nicely trimmed railway center is another retired steam locomotive.
The builder's plate indicates the locomotive was built in Japan in 1950, five years after the Japanese withdrew from Thailand which they had occupied from 1941 to 1945. This engine served the State Railway until 1979.
This is the memorial to Herr Einhofer. He had been arrested and expelled from the country when Thailand declared war on the Central Powers in World War One. He returned in the late 1920s. His wife requested to be interred with him and shares his gravesite.
The displayed locomotive is a 2-8-2 Mikado type. It was a relatively large freight hauling engine.
A 2-6-0 Mogul steam locomotive is displayed as a memorial in the driveway divider outside the station. Note the city's full name is Nakhonlampang.
We were taken to a restaurant for lunch. This elegant old house was across from the restaurant.
This view is the other direction, looking toward the railway station in the far distance.
A pair of semaphore signal towers frame the original station near the tunnel entrance. The operating wires can be seen in the center foreground with pulleys redirecting them up the masts at the base of the towers.
A group of levers, pulleys and wires that operate switches (points) and signals was visible through an open window of a structure near the tunnel.
After another lengthy drive we arrived at Khun Tan tunnel, another famous spot on the railway.
The tunnel portal is colorful and well maintained. The veranda of the station is visible on the far left.
A young mother and her son look at the train we rode to Lampang. The three unit train is the daily service train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. Our seats were in a block in the first car pictured here.
The lead tunnel's German engineer, Emil Einhofer, asked to be buried near the tunnel. This is his gravesite. The tunnel is under Khun Tan mountain, the boundary between Lamphun and Lampang provinces. It's in Doi Khun Tan National Park.
Here's another structure/sculpture built from railway scrap.
Another bull eyes one of the group who is too busy on his phone to notice.
The arrival of a group of tourists wasn't about to deter this bull from enjoying a meal at the famous White Bridge, our second stop on the trip home.
A Buddha shrine has been constructed at the Chiang Mai railway station.
Brian and Colleen were smiling for the camera at the restaurant.
It was hot. Several members of the group found shade on the small veranda of the station. The station is the highest in Thailand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khun_Tan_Tunnel
