THAILAND RAILWAY HALL OF FAME
 

Location: northwestern corner of Chatuchak Park along Kamphaeng Phet 3 Road
Directions: If you are traveling north on Phahonyothin Road, Kamphaeng Phet 3 Road is the road that runs along the northern edge of Chatuchak Market. It is the road that separates Chatuchak Park from the State Railway Public Park. However, you cannot turn left onto that road on weekends from Phahonyothin Road. You have to continue down Phahonyothin Road and turn left on Wiphawadi-rangsit Road and take the first left (this is the other end of Kamphaeng Phet 3 Road). A few hundred meters on your left is a parking lot for the museum.
Open: Saturday and Sunday 5:00 am-4:30 pm or so (as long as here are people still stopping by)

Railway Hall of Fame is in financial trouble - October 1, 2004
Wisarut reports: The Railway Hall of Fame is in financial trouble. The Viriyasiri family is desperate for someone to rescue this good museum... and uncle Sanphasiri is ailing due to advanced age. Thai Railfan may have to do theri best to deal with this kind of trouble. From this thread.

The Thailand Railway Hall of Fame is a privately owned museum. It contains a diverse collection of objects that future generations will be glad someone had the presence of mind to preserve. Dr. Sanpsiri Viryasiri, the enthusiastic English-speaking curator, has a story ready for each exhibit.
Last steam engine
One of the last steam engines produced in the world (in 1959). April 16, 2001 - A Japanese reader emailed us the website of the company that made this engine-> Kyosankogyo
Steam engine detail
The steam engine was shipped to a sugar plantation in Hat Yai, but by the time it got there the plantation had gone out of business. With its unusual 75 cm gauge, it could not be used on local railways so it sat unused for 50 years before being rescued by Dr. Viryasiri and moved to the museum. Reiner Zimmermann writes: The Kyosan Kogyo delivery consisted of three locomotives. The one at the museum carries the works number 10089. The others were 10088 and 10089. Where are they? Kosan Kogyo, 10 years ago, was unable to provide information on their buyer as all material had been discarded.

Thai tank
Tiny Thai tank (slightly bigger than a go-cart).

Danny O'Hara of Danny O'Hara's Weird Wars informs us that it is a Vickers Carden-Loyd 2-man tankette (of which about 60 were imported to Siam/Thailand during the 20s). His website has some excellent info on the early twentieth century Thai military (the site seems to be offline though).

Harold reports: I need to let you know that it is not the above mentioned tank, but rather the French Renault UE 2 armored-carrier and tractor. You can see the similarities to the real thing here.

Pklykoom writes: The tankette in question is indeed a Carden-Lloyd Mk IV tankette, designated the Type 71 by the Thai army (below).
More pictures can be found here.
The Chenillette looks nothing like it; the second picture (below right - taken at the RTA's Ordnance Museum) is an example of one among the few captured from the French during the Franco-Thai War.
Thai tank interior
Tank interior - It was powered by a Model-T engine! Imagine how hot it would get sitting next to it! In the upper left is a oblong metal plate with a line of holes to look out through.

(Photo: Pklykoom)
(Photo: Pklykoom)
Train interior
The museum has two beautiful railroad cars from the Rama V era. One has been restored, the other has been left unfinished.
Thai-style stove
The small food preparation area on the train was modified with Thai-style hot pot cookers. Hot coals would be placed in the opening in the front to heat food.
Sink goes up
An elegant and functional fold-down sink in the railcar.
Sink goes up.
Sink goes down
Sink goes down.


A few odds and ends arranged in an old boxcar.

For more views of the Thailand Railway Hall of Fame see the Bangkok Tramways page.

What Kind of Plane is This?

This is the wreckage of a Japanese general's plane that was used to survey the construction of the Death Railway in western Thailand during World War II. It crashed a week before the railway opened. The first thing Dr. Sanpsiri Viryasiri asks visitors to his museum is "do you know anything about aircraft?" Dr. Viryasiri dug up the parts from a field in Kanchanaburi and has been trying to identify the make and model.

Update! - March 6, 2001
 Sakuma, a member of Rao Lack Rotphai in Japan, informs us that "this plane is Japanese army's heavy bomber, type 97, judging from the two engines (14 cylinders)." Sakuma has also seen the wreckage in person and spoken to Dr. Sanpsiri about it.
(Conor Bracken writes concerning the phrase Rao Lack Rotphai: This is obviously meant to be the Thai phrase for "we love trains" which I would transliterate as "rao rak rot fai". As is common "rak" became "lack.")


A closeup of one of the engines.


The plane's two engines.


Some stacked wreckage. On top is a wing.


The struts inside one of the wings.