South Siam Railway

[dick]

In a book about P.O.W. (Prisoners Of War) in the Pacific, there is a subject mentioned (without details): The South Siam Railway. At the end of the war a lot of prisoners were back again in Singapore and in the south of Siam. They were at Thung Song and Surat Thani. That's all I know. Who can give some more information about this South Siam Railway?

[GWR]

This is not really information as such.

Could it be that it was referred to as the 'South Siam Railway' at this point because the bombing destruction of the Tapi River Bridge near Surat Thani left the line to the border isolated from the rest of the network. A Surat Thani II station was created on the Bangkok side of the bridge, from which cargo was barged across the river to the line on the other side. POWs would have been needed to do these transhipments and to try to repair the bridge. Indeed, I seem to remember reading one Australian's account of his being involved in the work at this bridge and others in Chumpon.

I imagine that the junctions in the vicinity of Thung Song would have also been bombed, and so would have needed POWs to repair track and get freight moving.

[dick]

So it was an already existing branch, isolated so I may understand; not a branch line made by POW and romusha?

[GWR]

That's my thought only. Could it also be some sort of throwback name to the time before the Chao Phraya Bridge linked the two parts of the network? When the railway was set up in Southern Thailand under British influence and capital?

[Wisarut]

Branch line at Thuing Song -> That's Kantang branch (Thung Song - Kantang) ... the ONLy lien that goes to the coast of Andaman Sea ....

[dick]

Thanks Khun Wisarut,
I will try to lokate this on map(s).
Also during the war: I'v read that the Birma - Siam Line should have, besides sidings, also "loops" on several places. There are a lot of maps in the archives (in Australia, USA and England) with maps of the line. Who knows more?

[Wisarut]

At least the Death Railway Museum (next to the Kanchanaburi Cemetery) has shown the track Map drawn by IJA officers who worked on this Death Railway ... i hav e see THAT map so I can testify for that :p