A Railway in the Clouds! Taiwan's remarkable 'Bong Bong' Train

Taiwan's recently renovated 'Bong Bong' train is located some 2000m above Yilan on the rugged East Coast where it remains the last operational section of a once vast network of 2'6" narrow gauge Cypress railways. Called 'Bong Bong' because of the unique exhaust note emanating from Kato's ubiquitous little 4.5 ton DL locomotive.

Today, our tourist train is hauled by a modern 'Taipei Iron' diesel locomotive and travels the original route of the Japanese Kato DL powered cypress trains, following the contours at a steady 2% grade from Taipingshan Villa to Maosing, a distance of about six km.

At Maosing Station, we alight to explore the land of the Giant Cypress,
rotate our locomotive on the tiny hand turntable, then hold tight while we take a scenic Cab Ride for the short journey back to Taipingshan Villa.

I'm guiding a series of small group, narrow gauge rail tours to Taiwan and Japan. Highlights of the Taiwan tour is a visit to the spectacular Alishan Forest Railway which climbs from sea level to 2.200m in just 75 kilometers and on special occasions, still operates a Shay geared locomotive!

Check out OzSteam.com for more information as well as tour departure dates.