There are many other reasons to visit than the steam trains of course. It’s a beautiful place and one of my favourite train journeys out of Bangkok. I nearly missed my train this time – an hour and half in a taxi with a driver who had no idea where Thonburi station was. But I made it with a few seconds to spare, bundling my big bag up into the carriage with superhuman adrenaline pumped strength.

My HQ on the banks of the Kwae Yai was the perfect peaceful location for a week of trains and relaxation. With a copy of the railway timetable and the show timetable I was able to organise my days between relaxing by a lovely pool, drinking cold beer in the mad heat of the day and even taking a few train trips.

Of course I’d been up to Nam Tok before, so this time tried a few others stops on the line.

The oldest of the Thai (ex Japanese) steam trains usually run up here for steam week, but this year they were declared unserviceable, so the slightly newer (1949-51) Pacific locos were sent up in their place. Thailand is lucky to have five working steam engines.

The evening shows are popular and they are also free. Much effort has gone into telling a story of a local Thai hero amidst the backdrop of Japanese occupation. But the acting is upstaged by the lighting and fireworks, culminating in the steam train being blown up on the bridge. You can also visit the pair of locos at the station in nearby Kanchanaburi.

Richard Barrow joined me at the weekend, and we were able to use his car to get to a few places that would have been hard by just rail. There are not many trains, so travelling on one means it’s not possible to get a photo at the scenic spots.

But all was fixed by Richard with some extensive pre trip research and Google maps. This also allowed me to reach the end of the line at Sai Yok without use of the excursion train, the only one that can travel this far – the DMU does not need to change ends like the other ‘ordinary’ and local trains.

The week flew by and I was sad to leave. It’s definitely on my list again for the next time I am in Thailand. Even without steam week it’s a wonderful place to travel by train.

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. Richard was an indispensable part of the trip as he managed to get nearly all the tickets in advance.

In a strange feature of international relations, Singapore did not own or operate its own railway. The two stations on the island were operated by KTM, the Malaysian railway until 2011. Today the two historic stations of Bukit Timah and Tanjong Pagar are preserved, but no longer operational. The challenge at the start of this journey is leaving Singapore. Today there is no direct train service, you have to get a five minute shuttle train from Woodlands across the causeway to JB Town (Johor Bahru). This isn’t as easy as might be, as it is busy and gets sold out, so you have to buy tickets well in advance.

Downtown JB is a bit of a building site at the moment as a new MRT is being built in the city, and one day a line extension will run over to Singapore. Alongside the new station we found the old one and a few interesting trains on the platform.

A few cold beers, another early start and we were off. A train first to sleepy Gemas and a connection two hours later to Kuala Lumpur where we overnighted. A chance to meet local train author David Bowden here as well.

The next morning a platinum service train took us to Butterworth where we took the ferry over to Penang for a relaxing day. Georgetown is home to one of the original grand hotels, the E&O, set up by the legendary Sarkies brothers. It was declared the best hotel east of Suez in the 1920’s.

Here I met with local travel blogger Ian Pash, and we spent a fun evening visiting some local watering holes, not all paying tax on their beer..

Back at Butterworth the following day we took a local train up to the border at Pedang Besar and waited for the crossing to open. Things are slowly getting back to some normality after COVID, and it is now possible to get onto a sleeper carriage here – one that is connected onto another train at Hat Yai. The sleeper was one of the older Korean carriages, now a little past its best, but once the air con was fixed we settled down to a reasonably cozy night heading north, albeit one without any cold beer, but lots of famous local fried chicken.

After a spectacular sunrise around Hua Hin (80 minutes late here) we arrived at Bangkok’s KTW station on time the next day at just after noon. This journey will be getting several hours faster in just a couple of weeks time as the new double tracked line will open from Bangkok most of the way to Hat Yai.

The journey with stops overnight in JB, KL and Penang took four days and nights. It’s a cheap and relatively comfortable way of connecting overland between Singapore and Bangkok, as long as you are not in a hurry.

I was up early for this. I didn’t want to be late. This approach paid back massively as I arrived at Hua Lamphong at about 6.30 am and as the sun rose behind the station, I found the train on platform 5 with just a handful of equally enthusiastic rail fans. An hour later there were hundreds of people swarming all over the train and it’s twin steam locomotives up front. This pair are the Japanese post war engines, positioned front to back to haul the 16 carriages to Chachoengsao. Most were open window 3rd class fan, but there were a few carriages offering dining options. Third class was just fine for me. My carriage was just two back from the locos and their evocative sounds and smells.

I was so amazed to see how much the residents of Bangkok like their steam trains. Thousands of people waving and photographing the train as it chugged down the line at about 40 kph.

Chachoengsao turned out to be a much more interesting place than I had assumed, and after a boat trip, an tasty lunch and a few other stops we headed back to the station , just in time to witness the shunting of the locos.

Our return to Hua Lamphong was delayed by about an hour, but who cared. It was an wonderful day on the rails!

But at the other end of the excitement spectrum was my connecting train, the Khao Yai Express. Sadly it’s not a real train, but a vision of what train travel once was – or could be again – created by architect Bill Bensley for the Inter Continental resort at Khao Yai, located in a beautiful national park 3 hours away from Bangkok.

My room turned out to be a heritage rail car villa, a whole 60 foot carriage all to myself. There are several of these, all up-cycled real carriages, but now with a very different look inside. Pictures hardly do justice to the stunning interiors each with its own style. Mine was number 428, ‘Ayutthaya’.

A place like this is all about the detail, and everywhere I looked I found clever touches of railwayana and retro memorabilia. The guests at the hotel may not be railway enthusiasts, but they spend hours taking photographs of the rail theme for their instagram accounts. I’ve never seen so much time and effort go into this practice before. What a strange world we now live in.

Every day my fantasy train departed Khao Yai station at 17.57. That is 3 minutes before happy hour starts in an amazing bar carriage called ‘Papillon’. Behind it, the restaurant carriage ‘Poirot’, and at the back the kitchen car. There may be no E&O Express train in Thailand next year, but this has to be the next best thing.. or even better!

I spent several days lounging about taking in the rail inspiration of the resort before heading back to The Big Mango for some book events. I’m looking forward to returning!

My train on Saturday was to the Pasak Chonlasit Dam, a huge reservoir that at the end of the rainy season is so full that the train appears to ‘float’ across the water just below the tracks on both sides of the line.

The only downside of this train (for me) is the 6am departure time, but on the plus side it is from Hua Lamphong rather than the new Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal. I’m still wondering how to shorten that for taxi drivers.

The train is 16 carriages long and will soon expand even more, much longer than most Thai trains, and so long that at the front and back of the train there is not always a platform, so you need to move down inside the train. It’s an eclectic mix of 3rd class, commuter style 3rd class, second class and seated first class. Even more than one dining car some weekends. Up front however was my carriage, one of a pair of Japanese sleeper carriages running in daytime configuration. Lots of space, but a little uncomfortable compared to a normal seat as the backs are upright and the berths have little padding without a mattress.

The atmosphere on board was great, a real feel of people heading off on a holiday trip. Most of the passengers were Thai, but a few other nationalities were there too. I shared with a friendly Taiwanese couple, and Richard Barrow, my partner in crime for the weekend. Three and a half hours sped by looking out the window and drinking coconut smoothies from the restaurant carriage.

We made one stop near the final reservoir, at a station that had been turned into a market. Our arrival was slightly delayed after an unfortunate collision with a cow. The train was undamaged, which is more than be said for the cow.

Thai people love sunflowers, and they were not disappointed on this trip. There were a couple of tours by van to local farms and places to eat.

We had a few hours at the dam before hoping back onboard for the return trip, which was a bit more low tempo. I even got told to be quiet by someone in the carriage who thought it was intended to be a real sleeper!

My journey finished at Ayutthaya, where I changed trains for Lopburi, home of the annual monkey festival the following day. I have to be honest and tell you that I’m not a monkey person, but it was still a fun day out.

I’m grateful to Richard Barrow, my travel companion this weekend, who runs the Thai Train Guide, for grabbing the tickets – they sell out fast – and making everything go smoothly.

I’ve had a few questions about the book from readers of my other books, so I have shared some of them here.

Why is it called Bang Sue Junction, and who is Sue?

Bang Sue is a district in Bangkok, and it is home to one of the city’s oldest stations. It is now next door to the newly built Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal. If you are looking to find a promiscuous character called Sue, this might not be the book for you.

What’s the book about?

At the back end of the COVID pandemic I decided I needed to escape lockdown and travel to improve my mental health and well-being. Train travel fixes both my mind and my soul. The problem was that the land borders were all closed. My plan was therefore to spend time on a slow adventure on the rails around Thailand visiting its frontiers. What came out of this approach was a much stronger connection to the railway stations and the people I met compared to some of my past whistle stop long-range adventures.

Did it all go according to plan?

Mostly, but I found myself in a few sticky situations along the way. Fortunately, I avoided ending up in prison or a hospital. The latter was a particular risk owing to the prevailing quarantine rules at the time of travel, possibly linked to the profitability of private healthcare.

Do you like Thai trains?

I love Thai trains. They might not always travel on time, but if you are not in a hurry they are safe, fun, and have real character. High speed is coming, but now is a golden time to enjoy slow speed and life at an open window whilst you still can.

Are the railways very old?

Queen Victoria gave a model steam train set to the King of Siam in 1855, possibly providing inspiration to the King and his young son who later became King Rama V. The first private rail line opened in 1893, and a network began to develop rapidly in the early 1900’s. Today there are over 3000 miles of tracks across the kingdom.

Are there any particular themes in this book?

A few. The cult of trainspotting and time travel from the old to the new underpin my rail journeys. Beer was also an ongoing source of joy in the incredible heat at this time of the year (April – June).

Was the food good?

It was epic. I discovered Hat Yai fried chicken and also learned how to cook some wonderful curries in Chiang Mai, where I became addicted to Khao Soi, a coconut based noodle curry.

What was your favourite journey?

It’s the journey up to Nam Tok from Bangkok’s Thonburi Station. Third class only, open windows and wonderful scenery. The history of the line is also something to be very mindful of as it was part of the infamous ‘Death Railway’. You can easily do it in a day, but there are many great places to stay around Kanchanaburi and on the banks of the River Kwai. It costs just 200 baht (£4.50) for the return trip.

Would you recommend Thailand as a place to travel by train?

Without question. The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) has a variety of rolling stock that makes travel very interesting. One express train might have four different classes of carriage. The modern sleepers are incredibly comfortable and clean. Travel is also good value. Stations are calm and peaceful, the total opposite of many other countries.

What’s next?

I’m back in Thailand shortly to finish off a few adventures and also to talk about the book. The Asian launch event is at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Bangkok on 22^nd November. Tickets are still available on their website.

Where do I buy the book?

It’s on sale over at Amazon as both a paperback (£9.89) and Kindle book (£4.89).

Was there really a Sue?

You will have to read the book to find out!

Much of the Makkasan depot was bombed during the second world war, but a few buildings survive, and today it is the home of much of Bangkok and Thailand’s railway heritage. Some good news and some bad news here. The bad news is the the depot is not open to the public most of the time. The good news is that it sometimes opens for special holidays, and its also possible to get an invite if you visit the museum at Hua Lamphong station and buy the book about its history. A sort of pre emptive history test to ensure that you know all about Makkasan before you arrive!

As we were there at the weekend, most of the operational workshops were closed,  but we were still able to see the preserved locomotives, some of the original buildings, and most fun of all to me, a graveyard of trains from the Royal Railway of Siam through to the present day. There is also an impressive silver shrine in the grounds of the depot that stands amongst amazing tall trees.

Richard and I could have spent an entire day here, but as we expanded our search for more stuff, the heavens opened and we had to retreat under cover, where we sat next to the locomotives eating lychees and chatting about railway issues and news until the storm passed over.

If you have an interest in Thai railway history this place would certainly be your Holy Grail!

My private tour was made possible by Richard Barrow and Dr Siriphong from the museum at Hua Lamphong. I’m very grateful to both of them.

My plan is a cunning one. This train stops at Hua Hin after around 5 hours, my destination for the day. This train has air conditioned second class sleeper carriages, a very comfy way to travel during the day, at a cost of 282 baht (£7). The only snag to the plan is that for short journeys you can only buy the ticket 24 hours before departure, so I have to risk doing this on the day.

I had a minor disaster on the way to Hua Lamphong, something I’m not going to write about here, but the result was I was quite late arriving, so no time for messing about, buy water, get on train…and then slowly dry out in the air conditioned carriage after being thoroughly soaked with sweat from the incident. Never try to run in 33 C heat and high humidity unless you are in real trouble!

We set off on time, and carriage 13 fills up after a couple of stops. I have been lucky to get a seat here, but next door in the second class fan carriage there are not so many passengers, and they have the bonus of opening windows, or ‘fenster auf’ as we say in the rail travelling community.

The train swarms with vendors all the way – smoothies, industrial quantities of egg fried rice, snacks, phone chargers, sweets.. it’s all on sale. With the cries of what’s on offer every 30 seconds it’s hardly tranquil, but at least we won’t starve.

The rains come and go outside Bangkok, and I recognise many of the stops on the line from other journeys I have made before we turn south.

I believe this carriage to have been manufactured in South Korea, maybe in the late 1980’s. In second class there are big luggage racks beside the seats that convert into two berths on each side. The seats fold down to form the lower berth and the top one drops down. The attendant does this on request, and some people are retiring for the night even before the sun has set.

There aren’t many clues here when you are going to arrive, and as the guard had made a note that I was getting off at Hua Hin I half expected him to come along and give me the nod – but he doesn’t appear until we arrive as I’m getting my bags down onto the platform. I actually used my phone to give me a 5 minute warning of our arrival as we passed the airport to the north of the town. Handy if you have a signal.

Arriving at Hua Hin is a very special experience. On the platform is the Victorian era royal waiting room and the brightest shiniest station bell that I have ever seen. Behind the old station you can see the raised new tracks and a new station currently under construction. It’s being built in a style in sympathy to the original building, just 30 feet higher in the air.

I’m ready for the usual game finding transport outside – I’ve got all my luggage today so there is no alternative, and the touts can see that I know that too, so all I can do is smile behind my mask and try to be a charming farang. In the end I find a taxi for just 50 baht more than the correct fare to take me to a nearby hotel. A quick shower and an icy beer to finish the day. This looks like a nice place, and a few days to relax before getting back on the rails.

Anyway, back on the plot. After an orientation day with Richard Barrow travelling around the city by BTS (sky train) and MRT a couple of weeks ago, we agreed to meet up to see if we could get into the museum at the station, which rumour had it, may now be closed. A few days later I had a message from Richard that a private tour had been set up, which turned out into a great day. I’ll talk about our trip to Makkasan depot in another post, this one is about Hua Lamphong.

Our host for the day was the amazing Dr Siriphong, the deputy governor of the State Railway of Thailand, together with a couple of members of his team. I’d just arrived on the sleeper from Chiang Mai and was badly needing caffeine, so I met Richard at the coffee shop on the first floor, a great place to look down on passengers waiting for trains – actually quite similar to Kings Cross in that respect.

Our first stop was the museum at the front of the station. It’s actually still open to the public most of the time, the snag is reaching it. The door from the main hall is locked and shuttered, so you have to get through the gates from the road outside which look a bit off putting if you don’t know the drill. Except that today security guards open up the door for us, as guests of Dr Siriphong.

The museum is set over three levels of the station, the last up a winding iron staircase, and contains a huge number of artefacts. Clocks, crockery, ticket machines, and telegraph equipment make up just some of the exhibits on the ground floor. It’s a small space, and hopefully the museum will be able to expand as part of the plan for the station after Bang Sue Grand has opened.

On the second floor, another door is opened up and we step outside onto the roof at the front of the station. It’s a big selfie stop as you get to see close up the Italian Neo-Renaissance style, with decorated roofs and stained glass windows. Front and centre is the big electric clock. They say it’s based on Frankfurt station, but it also reminds me of St Pancras. Quite a view!

After lunch across the street (great if you are waiting for a train) we reconvened with a tour behind the scenes. Looking at the station from the outside the first point to note is the fountain. During the Second World War, this was actually an air raid shelter. The MRT line station is now directly underneath it.

Once inside, if you find the public toilets on the ground floor, you might notice some stairs that are now blocked off by metal railings. You are actually at the lobby entrance to the station hotel! Up the stairs and where reception would once have been there are doors through to the hotel bedrooms along the entire length of the station. Some of these were also once offices for railway officials. Strangely the bedrooms have what look like serving hatches at ground level, something we can’t understand why. Answers on a postcard please. And at the far end, a view of the station that many don’t see –  the rear face of the roof looking out to departing and arriving trains.

The questions most might ask will be what the station will eventually become, why it hasn’t yet happened and when is it going to happen. Here is my take on it from what I learned on the day. The preferred plan is for Hua Lamphong to become an expanded museum, maybe with a hotel partner. This might also allow the continued use of the tracks, as not all trains will be able to use Bang Sue Junction, especially the preserved steam locomotives that take passengers on outings several times each year. Although Bang Sue Grand is pretty much complete, older trains with toilets that empty onto the tracks and diesel fumes do not suit the new set up – but the new Thai Chinese built ‘Ultraman’ locomotives will resolve this when they shortly come into service. This has actually been given a date (try not to hold you breath) of September 2022.

Who knows by the end of the decade it might be possible once again to stay at the station hotel and depart by steam train after breakfast? I hope so!

With thanks to Dr Siriphong and Richard Barrow – Richard is now running @ThaiTrainGuide on Twitter alongside @RichardBarrow – well worth following.

Train 31 turns out to be another one comprised of the modern Chinese carriages, despite some confusion as my ticket agent says its an older Korean train. Whilst its easy to buy tickets at the station for most trains, long distance sleepers sell out fast, so I have used an agent who physically visits the ticket office on the day they go on sale, 30 days before departure.

Despite any urge you might have as a European to head straight out onto the platform, it’s really worth restraining yourself and taking a seat in the main hall. Here air conditioned fans that look like mini jet engines blast cool air into the huge space, keeping the air moving and at a reasonable temperature. In my excitement I forget this and sweat it out on the platform for half an hour before the train gets shunted in. It’s 33C out there, and the humidity is crippling.

I’m in first class again, and I have established now that in Thai train compositions, the single first class carriage normally leaves Bangkok at the rear of the train and is numbered as carriage 13. On the way back it is numbered carriage 2 and is pulled behind the locomotive at the front of the train.

The journey to Hat Yai is my longest one and is usually delayed by weather and single track stretches of line. I’ve seen recent pictures of flooding en route at Surat Thani and will be amazed if we make it. In my bag I have waterproofs, bug spray, jungle fatigues and an umbrella. Plus of course jelly babies in case everything goes belly up.

Thanin, the carriage attendant, is super friendly and tells me to press the bell button whenever I want my bed made as long as it is before 10pm. After my picnic supper I clear up and then summon him. He is incredibly skilled and using friction resistance and neat hospital corners he makes a bed up that the Ritz would be proud of.

I have heard people grumble that these carriages can be too cold, but I don’t find that – just that precision is needed to set the controls on the ceiling of the compartment – one adjusts the amount of air coming in (which is cold) and the other the direction of the blast. In the US I use cling film or duct tape to cover these up as they are harder to control, but that is not needed here.

The night is bumpy, but not in a Trans-Siberian sense, the only concern are the wobbles that make me consider how much worse they would have to be for the carriage at the end of the train to derail.

When I open the curtain the next morning I’m greeted by the sight of palm trees, water buffalo and floods all around. It’s simple to understand weather here at this time of the year – rain, thunder, hot & humid. The same unrelenting weather every day. Flicking the monitor on, the on board navigation shows us to be around 3 hours behind schedule, just as well I have all the time in world.

Hat Yai turns out to be a modern station with lots of shops on the platform and even a hotel right at the station. Out front is one of the original Siamese locomotives, train 32. My hotel is a five minute walk away, and I treat myself to an incredibly spicy Thai-Chinese breakfast opposite in the street

.

Hat Yai is a junction station, and the jumping on point for trains heading further south in Thailand to Yala province and also once open again, the Pandang Besar border where the rails cross into Malaysia. I did this a few years ago and wrote about it in a book that became ‘The Bridge Even Further’.

If you are coming to Thailand put this journey on your list!