The Taipei Railway Workshop, which played a key role in the nation’s industrialization, is to open to visitors on July 19.
Previously owned by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), it is now under the maintenance and management of the Ministry of Culture after it was declared a national historic site in 2015.
The workshop was built in 1930 and is the largest and oldest non-operational railway workshop in the nation. The facility was used to maintain, assemble and repair TRA trains before it was shut down in 2012.
Photo: Pan Shao-tang, Taipei Times
To prepare the workshop for its new role as a permanent public exhibition, the ministry said it divided the facility into different sections and began restoring one section at a time this year, adding that it would open certain sections to visitors after restoration work is complete.
In the initial stage, the workshop would only open on Wednesdays and Saturdays for guided tours, for which visitors need to make reservations in advance.
The ministry said it had found retired TRA personnel who had worked in the workshop for 34 years and invited them to return to give guided tours, during which visitors would first be shown the history of the workshop and its value as a cultural asset.
They would then visit the factory, a Modernist building in which large machines were put together and adjusted.
Visitors would also see the diesel-electric depot in the workshop, which marked the beginning of the diesel-electric train service in the nation.
They can also walk on the old railway track of the branch line connecting the workshop and the old Songshan Railway Station, which was later turned into Songshan Cultural and Creative Park.
Other highlights of the guided tour include the steam hammer that was made in 1889, the “English Lady” EMU-100 locomotive and a Roman-style bathhouse that was opened exclusively for TRA personnel.
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