“Clockwise Orange”
TRA R66, a vintage G12 built by GM in 1966, pauses at Zuoying while making a very rare passenger appearance working train 3532 from Fangliao to Xinzuoying on Saturday 29/03/2014.
Despite recently returning from China, I had a chance to join Richard Lea and Andy Sutton on another Asian adventure. The plans changed a few times, mainly due to receiving some info on Taiwan railways from Dave and Jon, including news about some impending electrification work. Richard agreed to sort the flights and hotels which gave me a chance to compile the beer and rail gen to take with us.
All opinions and comments in this report are my own unless otherwise stated and I make no apologies for any typos or grammatical mistakes! As usual, new loco’s are marked in bold, late running is highlighted red and unscheduled stops are shown in italics. A review of the hotel, beers and railways follows at the end of the report.
Sunday 23/03/2014
With a long journey ahead of me I decided to start off with a relaxed Sunday lunch in Beer in Hand with June before making my way to Birmingham where I met up with Sutty, Rich and Sarah in the Post Office Vaults. After a quick half we walked to the Craven Arms, a cracking pub with a good range of beers which today included Mulberry Duck “Copper Bottom” (local for me!) and Magic Rock “Chipotle Punchline”. Two drinks later it was time to head back to New Street for a Vomiter to International where we said cheerio to Sarah and made our way to the terminal to check in. The bags were checked through to Taipei and we had boarding passes to Hong Kong where we needed to pick up the ones for Taipei.
A very tasty pre-flight tipple courtesy of the excellent Craven Arms pub in Birmingham.
After a wander round duty free for some free smells and Boots to pick up some water we made our way to the gate. The short hop to Paris Charles de Gaulle was on time but we then had a long winded transfer even though the arrival and departure gates were fairly close together. Despite only being transfer passengers, we had to go through more security where we were denied our water – not impressed!. We now had a twelve hour long haul to Hong Kong so I was relieved to see it was on time. I was less impressed to see a brat far too close but luckily mum and brat got moved to other seats - phew! After the evening meal and watching a film (Lone Ranger) it was time for some doss.
Air France F-GRXK 19:55 BHX Airport - CDG Airport 22:15 AF1565 19:55 BHX Airport - CDG Airport
Air France F-GSQG 23:20 CDG Airport - HKG Airport 18:15 AF188 23:20 CDG Airport - HKG Airport
Monday 24/03/2014
As usual I didn’t sleep very well as I woke everytime we hit turbulence or staff worked in the galley but at least there was another meal and another film (Last Vegas). It seemed very odd to have breakfast and then open the blind to find a sunny afternoon! The weather was surprisingly poor in Hong Kong and I hoped that it would improve during the next flight. Rich and I had both taken some Hong Kong dollars with us and we had enough for a meal before heading to the gate. Rather annoyingly considering the length of our journey and late arrival into Taipei, our final flight was late due to waiting the inbound flight. I emailed our hostel using the free airport Wi-Fi to advise that our late arrival would now be early – morning that is! We eventually pushed back fifty late and I was surprised to get full meal on such a short flight. We landed at 23:45, then got delayed at security as we hadn’t filled in landing cards (because they weren’t handed out on the plane!). Luckily the bags turned up straight away so after finding an ATM we bought tickets for the 00:20 bus to Taipei main station. I’d originally thought that it was an easy metro ride into town but that was from the domestic airport – the international airport is 40km West of Taipei. The bus was very quiet and a good run complete with gearbox crunches and only one drop off meant that we were dropped off alongside the station just before 01:00. It took us a few minutes to get our bearings and find the block with our hotel (as the name has changed!) but the security bert led us to the lift and swiped us in. The hostel had an open plan reception area and there was a bloke sat there but he was a guest using the internet. With no sign of anyone else and the desk/breakfast area locked up we pressed the bell several times but with no response Rich resorted to phoning him up. Bert answered then emerged a few minutes later looking very sleepy – he didn’t read my e-mail then!! We collected towels and sheet sleeping bags then headed back down to the 18th floor to our room, finally dossing out at 01:30!
Our China Airlines Airbus A330 waits at Hong Kong aiport but a late arrival meant a fifty minute delay to our flight.
China Airlines B-18301 21:20 HKG Airport - TPE Airport 22:55 CI924 21:20 HKG Airport - TPE Airport
Tuesday 25/03/2014
Not surprisingly we decided on a relaxed start and after a “make your own” breakfast of tea and toast with peanut butter (it took ages for the bread to toast in the mini ovens) we then had to do the washing up. The owner was friendly but a bit of an oddball and the breakfast area was little more than a chaotic kitchen. We walked over to the station, got our bearings and bought our five day TR Passes (Rich had the gen written in Mandarin printed off the TRA website to avoid confusion) and made the compulsory seat reservations for train 52 on Thursday.
No wonder Richard looks happy with that lot on the table! The impressive taster selection in the Jolly (Taipei Hengyang) taphouse.
I hadn’t realised that the main city section of the railway was underground so we started our moves with a bout of tunnel bashing. The moves weren’t especially intensive as trains had a habit of crossing at Taipei main station. We grabbed some snacks at various times as most of the stations in Taipei seemed to have good facilities and I was pleased to see some sunshine at Shulin and Xizhi!
In the evening we headed down to Taoyuan with the intention of ending up back at Banqiao for a trip to Le Ble d’Or but we unexpectedly made a dead connection onto a train back to Taipei. Unfortunately, after piling on I realised that I’d misread the timetable and we didn’t stop at Shulin which blew up the planned move so the required electric won out over our first beer stop. There was an unknown “train 1” due off Taipei main station at 18:50 which turned out to be a regular electric on load four “coloured” coaches running as a charter and not in the timetable. We called it a day at 21:00 and made way via the underground passages into the Q Square mall adjacent to main station to visit another branch of Le Ble d’Or. It was a real mix of cultures – a French/Canadian name, German styling, owned by a Taiwanese man but with some American meals on the menu! The beers (taster tray of three) were better than than the food but nothing special for the price although I think it was worth a visit.
After making our way back to the main station and out into the open air we decided to try one of the Jolly taphouses for a nightcap as one wasn’t far from our hostel. We noticed that the road leading to the presidential building was all cordened off and guarded, ironically alongside the Peace Park! Jolly was very quiet but we ordered another taster tray (six beers this time including the seasonal American Dark Wheat Ale) and the beer was excellent although it was a hike up three floors to use the loo afterwards. We took a slightly different route back to the hostel, noting that there were two narrow gauge steam locos in a glass building at the northern edge of the Peace Park, part of the National Taiwan Museum.
TRA E1047 + E1046 09:34 Taipei - Banqiao 09:44 205 06:28 Hualien - Shulin
TRA E232 10:01 Banqiao - Xizhi 10:35 654 06:49 Xinwuri - Taitung
TRA E228 10:55 Xizhi - Songshan 11:06 551 07:40 Hualien - Kaohsiung
TRA E231 11:08 Songshan - Xizhi 11:18 502 06:10 Chiayi - Qidu
TRA E1045 + E1038 11:38 Xizhi - Banqiao 12:10 123 11:28 Qidu - Pingtung
TRA E1032 + E1031 12:41 Banqiao - Songshan 13:01 114 07:30 Pingtung - Qidu
TRA E302 13:13 Songshan - Taipei 13:20 515 12:50 Qidu - Kaohsiung
TRA E201 13:54 Taipei - Shulin 14:11 605 10:00 Hualien - Shulin
TRA E409 14:16 Shulin - Taipei 14:36 604 14:16 Shulin - Hualien
TRA E1058 + E1035 14:53 Taipei - Songshan 15:01 118 10:00 Kaohsiung - Qidu
TRA E211 15:13 Songshan - Taipei 15:20 521 14:51 Qidu - Kaohsiung
TRA E414 15:30 Taipei - Wanhua 15:36 607 07:52 Taitung - Shulin
TRA EMU 15:38 Wanhua - Taipei 15:45 1238 14:12 Hsinchu - Keelung
TRA E1003 + E1022 16:00 Taipei - Banqiao 16:10 175 13:00 Hualien - Kaohsiung
TRA E401 16:27 Banqiao - Shulin 16:35 523 15:43 Qidu - Kaohsiung
TRA E230 16:50 Shulin - Banqiao 16:58 514 10:28 Kaohsiung - Qidu
TRA E222 17:20 Banqiao - Shulin 17:27 525 16:38 Qidu - Kaohsiung
TRA EMU 17:35 Shulin - Banqiao 17:44 4232 17:35 Shulin - Su'ao
TRA E1041 + E1064 17:55 Banqiao - Taoyuan 18:19 177 14:48 Hualien - Chiayi
TRA E1008 + E1017 18:19 Taoyuan - Banqiao 18:41 130 13:30 Pingtung - Keelung
TRA E208 19:02 Banqiao - Taipei 19:11 552 12:20 Kaohsiung - Hualien
TRA E1015 + E1016 19:20 Taipei - Banqiao 19:30 181 16:40 Hualien - Kaohsiung
TRA E1020 + E1025 19:41 Banqiao - Taipei 19:50 136 15:25 Kaohsiung - Qidu
TRA E230 19:55 Taipei - Shulin 20:12 527 19:17 Qidu - Chiayi
TRA E215 20:19 Shulin - Banqiao 20:27 516 13:36 Kaohsiung - Qidu
TRA E223 20:41 Banqiao - Taipei 20:55 554 14:15 Kaohsiung - Hualien
Wednesday 26/03/2014
We surfaced at the same time and I still felt a little jet lagged so I was looking forward to a more relaxed day. After another brief breakfast where we ganged up on the mini ovens, we said goodbye to our cheery host, checked out and made our way to the station for the train to Badu. Judging by the engineering work, it looked as though the HSR was possibly going to be extended (through to Hualien?). I relaxed in the sun on the platform at Badu while the other two went in search of some snacks to supplement breakfast and check on our next move. Required E216 made for a nice fot as it rounded the curve into Badu and I was surprised that the train wasn’t too full. Quitre a few bailed at Ruifang to catch the DMU to Jingtong.
There were some nice scenic coastal views as well as various work sites visible en route with pairs of diesels noted on spoil trains and we also passed a no heat E300 electric on a set of old dark blue coaches but it appeared to be a parcels service. The planned double back move at Yilan was dud so we didn’t bother with it and instead took a few fots around the station before continuing on to Hualien. Train 654 continued on to Taitung so provided our first diesel of the trip. After fotting the engine change we had a short run to Zhixue where we baled to pick up R130 on the opposite working back to Hualien. The plan was to check into our hostel and go for a bite to eat while there was a gap in the diesel timetable so we walked to the hostel only to find it locked up. Richard had to resort to another phone call where he was told that it would open at 15:00 – except it was now 15:15! The owners eventually turned up and apologised, explaining that they’d just had to take their baby daughter to the doctor so we couldn’t complain too much, especially as our apartment was excellent.
We still had time for lunch so we jumped in a taxi to a local eatery called Daiwa, specialising in Wontons. The pork filled parcels were served in a tasty broth and were very cheap! To get back to the station, we walked up to the nearest main road and spotted a couple of taxis parked up so headed to the front one only to find that the guy was doing his paperwork. He threw bits everywhere and ushered us in but when he opened the boot for us it was stuffed with junk so nowhere for our bags. We decided to give him a miss and started walking along the road instead, only for the second car to pull alongside with a grinning driver who’d seen what had just transpired. We jumped in and headed back to the station. The first train we saw was freight sector R167 arrive with train 51 which was a big surprise! The diesel came off but was replaced by E240 which was strange as it was shown to terminate. The train was also split in half and we then realised what was happening – service train 51 had now become tourist train 1, the one that we’d seen in Taipei the previous evening. R130 was turned round for train 4202 as expected so we waited for train 604 and the hoped for freight loco. We weren’t disappointed as R187 soon appeared and positioned itself at the southern end of the station ready to replace E404. Unfortunately, the genny van blocked most of the noise during the run to Fuyuan but I was hoping that the van would be on the rear of train 611.
Normally found working freight trains, Hualien based R187 backs onto train 604 at its home station for the run to Taitung.
After a short walk around Fuyuan, picking up a can of beer in the process, we were pleased to see R113 arrive with a nice empty coach behind the loco. The GM sounded pretty good despite us being in an air con coach. Back at Hualien, we rounded off the day by going for a bite to eat at one of the eateries near to our hostel that we’d spotted at lunchtime. Mo’s seemed to be a local version of the adjacent McDonald’s but there was a surprise in store – the burgers had a rice patty instead of a bread roll and tasted far better than their rival!
TRA E1024 + E1009 09:00 Taipei - Badu 09:26 212 08:36 Shulin - Haulien
TRA E216 09:59 Badu - Yilan 11:25 652 05:55 Changhua - Hualien
TRA E210 12:16 Yilan - Hualien 13:42 654 06:49 Xinwuri - Taitung