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 […]

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. […]

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. […]

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 […]