Visited as a part of a twice-weekly photography tour.
I'd looked at this 3 years ago in 2018 knowing that whilst it was derelict it was still full of stored locos and coaching stock. Unfortunately as soon as I appeared at the gates the guards waved no at me. Walking round revealed ways in, only to be covered by PIR-activated CCTV across most of the site along with groundskeepers, making exploring either difficult or effectively impossible. It's a fairly large site, with plenty of exploring potential, but unfortunately as it stands its in the process of gradual restoration for conversion to a national railway museum. Indeed in this visit, one of the highlights of the site, the rail workers bathhouse was inaccessible because of restoration works. But it's all about the locos here, so I got what I came for and left (mostly) full-handed.
History from Wiki: The Taipei Railway Workshop (Chinese: 臺北機廠) was the largest workshop of Taiwan Railways Administration. For decades it manufactured and maintained thousands of railway vehicles. The Workshop was established in 1935 replacing the original workshop, which had become became inadequate. It was the largest railway workshop ever built in Taiwan. The Governor-General of Taiwan recognized its establishment as celebrating the Empire of Japan ruling Taiwan for 40 years.
The 16.82-hectare site on Civic Boulevard was the largest and oldest of its kind on the island. It closed in 2012. It was constructed in 1930 and features distinctive structures such as a 168-meter-long train assembly shed. The operation was transferred to TRA Fugang Vehicle Depot (Chinese: 臺鐵富岡基地). The workshop was recognized as an "official national historic site" in 2015. The government of Taiwan says it is planning to transform the facility into a railway museum.
The boilers of two steam locos are in the carriage workshop, presumably under restoration.
It's brilliant to be allowed to see inside such an iconic structure with so much variety in rolling stock, but the trouble is it felt very restricted with areas closed off, no tripods and no climbing inside the locomotives. There are volunteers and guards throughout to make sure everyone stays in line too. But one has to make best of the situation given, right?
This loco here was built by British Rail at ABB York in 1977, bearing much of a resemblance to the UK's MK2 coaching stock. As such they were given the nickname British Ladies across the network.
Taiwan branch line DMUs, these worked into the 1990s along the mountain railways.
The works could've had a mainline connection before a road cut it off, but this isn't entirely clear.
More British Ladies
These are two American S-class locos, commonly used across Taiwan with some still in service today. Built at GM Foundry in Illinois in the 1970s for use in Taiwan, you can tell by their modular single cab design they're American-built. Both will be restored in time.
Whilst the other two will be restored, S402 has a far less certain future. It's owned by the owner of S405 at the Miaoli Railway Museum, and is considered neither scrap or spare parts. But given its condition, it's agreed it'll cost too much to restore, so will likely be kept on display as a wreck.
I must say it'll be great as a museum, but as things stand now, you can't beat the magic of the dereliction and dirt everywhere you walk even if what you see is tightly controlled. That'll be all for exploring for another few months, but if another opportunity arises to go out and get something, I'll be sure to post it pronto.
Thanks for reading,
TBM
I'd looked at this 3 years ago in 2018 knowing that whilst it was derelict it was still full of stored locos and coaching stock. Unfortunately as soon as I appeared at the gates the guards waved no at me. Walking round revealed ways in, only to be covered by PIR-activated CCTV across most of the site along with groundskeepers, making exploring either difficult or effectively impossible. It's a fairly large site, with plenty of exploring potential, but unfortunately as it stands its in the process of gradual restoration for conversion to a national railway museum. Indeed in this visit, one of the highlights of the site, the rail workers bathhouse was inaccessible because of restoration works. But it's all about the locos here, so I got what I came for and left (mostly) full-handed.
History from Wiki: The Taipei Railway Workshop (Chinese: 臺北機廠) was the largest workshop of Taiwan Railways Administration. For decades it manufactured and maintained thousands of railway vehicles. The Workshop was established in 1935 replacing the original workshop, which had become became inadequate. It was the largest railway workshop ever built in Taiwan. The Governor-General of Taiwan recognized its establishment as celebrating the Empire of Japan ruling Taiwan for 40 years.
The 16.82-hectare site on Civic Boulevard was the largest and oldest of its kind on the island. It closed in 2012. It was constructed in 1930 and features distinctive structures such as a 168-meter-long train assembly shed. The operation was transferred to TRA Fugang Vehicle Depot (Chinese: 臺鐵富岡基地). The workshop was recognized as an "official national historic site" in 2015. The government of Taiwan says it is planning to transform the facility into a railway museum.
The boilers of two steam locos are in the carriage workshop, presumably under restoration.
It's brilliant to be allowed to see inside such an iconic structure with so much variety in rolling stock, but the trouble is it felt very restricted with areas closed off, no tripods and no climbing inside the locomotives. There are volunteers and guards throughout to make sure everyone stays in line too. But one has to make best of the situation given, right?
This loco here was built by British Rail at ABB York in 1977, bearing much of a resemblance to the UK's MK2 coaching stock. As such they were given the nickname British Ladies across the network.
Taiwan branch line DMUs, these worked into the 1990s along the mountain railways.
The works could've had a mainline connection before a road cut it off, but this isn't entirely clear.
More British Ladies
These are two American S-class locos, commonly used across Taiwan with some still in service today. Built at GM Foundry in Illinois in the 1970s for use in Taiwan, you can tell by their modular single cab design they're American-built. Both will be restored in time.
Whilst the other two will be restored, S402 has a far less certain future. It's owned by the owner of S405 at the Miaoli Railway Museum, and is considered neither scrap or spare parts. But given its condition, it's agreed it'll cost too much to restore, so will likely be kept on display as a wreck.
I must say it'll be great as a museum, but as things stand now, you can't beat the magic of the dereliction and dirt everywhere you walk even if what you see is tightly controlled. That'll be all for exploring for another few months, but if another opportunity arises to go out and get something, I'll be sure to post it pronto.
Thanks for reading,
TBM
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