You probably know that Hua Hin would not exist without the railway, and it was the construction of the southern line that created the need for a grand railway hotel to accommodate passengers overnight here before sleeper carriages were attached to long distance trains in around 1925. I’m lucky enough to be staying at it, now named the Centara Grand, but still owned by the SRT on a recently renewed long lease. It’s gloriously preserved, so much so that I can very much imagine myself sipping a drink in the Elephant Bar after a long and dusty steam train ride […]
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The story starts with a harsh economic fact. Laos now has an almost high speed railway, but as a result owes China over 10 billion US dollars in debt, not that far from its 13 billion dollar GDP. Walking around Vientiane almost wherever I see a Lao flag I see a Chinese one not far away. Practically you might have heard that the biggest challenge on the Lao China Railway (LCR) is getting a ticket. Matters have improved since opening, but tickets only go on sale 3 days before travel. There are three solutions. (1) get an agent to buy […]
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The new line from Boten on the Chinese border down to Vientiane may be fast, if not full high speed, but for the next few years the line coming up from Bangkok in the south will remain much slower – and that’s got to be a good thing, I love slow travel by train. Time to relax and watch the world go by. My journey to Vientiane starts at Bangkok’s now one year old Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal Station. If you haven’t tried it yet it’s like an airport terminal but without any lounges or retail therapy whatsoever. The […]
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I have referred to ‘steam week’ in Kanachanaburi as one of Thailand’s best kept railway secrets. The dates are not published until just a few weeks before the event, communication is in Thai and the details are a bit vague. But it’s worth persevering. This year the dates were moved back two weeks and I nearly didn’t make it, but where there is a will there is a way, and I managed to swap a few things round. Normally the event takes place in late November or early December – so keep an eye out if you are thinking of […]
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In the 1920s the southern line in Thailand connected to Malaya and travel was popular by train between Bangkok and Singapore. In the days before sleeper carriages, passengers would stop in local guesthouses, later replaced by railway hotels. International travel by train from Thailand has become quite disjointed lately, so I decided to try the journey from Singapore to Bangkok – not by the Eastern & Oriental Express, but using everyday trains. I have to confess to flying down to Singapore, and after an interesting night in Chinatown I met up with my travel partner for this adventure, Richard Barrow. […]
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One of the problems of Thai ‘excursion trains’ is guessing when they might take place. Communications from the SRT are usually only in Thai, and can be very close the date they will take place. One exception to this is the steam train trip on the King’s birthday. It’s a public holiday, and we know the date. All you need then is someone in the queue at the station at 8.29 in the morning on the day the tickets go on sale. Enter stage left, Richard Barrow, who has kindly sorted this for me. I was up early for this. […]
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I took the train to Pak Chong last week, departing from Bangkok’s new Central Terminal station for the very first time. Train 71 is described as an Express, which makes it sound more exciting than it really is. It’s a DMU with air conditioning in 2nd class and seats that are okay for a couple of hours. The guard on the train was great at marshalling baggage and finding passengers to remind them of their time to get off. ‘Pak Chong’ he says to me patting me on the shoulder like it’s time to take a parachute jump out of […]
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This was my first ever ‘excursion’ train trip in Thailand. These are special trains travelling at the weekend to popular tourism destinations. They tend to run on a timetable to allow people to get off at just a few stops. My train on Saturday was to the Pasak Chonlasit Dam, a huge reservoir that at the end of the rainy season is so full that the train appears to ‘float’ across the water just below the tracks on both sides of the line. The only downside of this train (for me) is the 6am departure time, but on the plus […]
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The 1st of November has rushed towards me like an express train in my diary, and my latest book is finally published today. Being an author is a strange occupation. The months become years as you slowly write and polish your work, then just when you think all the hard work is done you find yourself in a last moment dash of publishing, marketing and PR. I’ve had a few questions about the book from readers of my other books, so I have shared some of them here. Why is it called Bang Sue Junction, and who is Sue? Bang […]
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When Hua Lamphong was the station for the privately run Paknam line, the railway workshops were mainly located close by, just across the canal. However, when work began on the current Bangkok Railway Station in 1910 all these workshops had to be relocated to Makkasan, which had been open as both a station and a smaller depot since 1897. This isn’t the location of the MRT stop with the same name, but a location 5 km northeast of the city centre. You actually pass right by the short platform on the line from Bangkok to Pattaya. (Small piece of rock […]
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