International Railroad Discussion > When life gives you lemons...

....make lemonade, or so the saying goes. Last week in Taiwan I received an email that my 9:50am flight back the US had been moved to 6:00pm due to a crew issue. My "lemonade" was a day trip by train from Taipei Nangang Station out to Fulong beach and an opportunity to bike the 17Km Old Caoling bike way around the island's easternmost point. An interesting aspect of the trail is a 2-km transit of the abandoned Caoling railway tunnel, now paved and fully lit for bike and foot traffic. Unfortunately, when I reached the western entrance to the tunnel it was closed despite the signs showing opening hours of 8:30 to 5. So instead I rode clockwise on the loop to Sijiaku point and returned the same way. It proved to be a beautiful coastal ride, albeit very hot and humid. I was back on the train to Taipei by noon, arriving in plenty of time to pack up and head to Taoyuan Airport for that delayed flight home....with an unexpected day of rail fanning, biking and sightseeing under my belt. A few pictures:

1) An Eastern mainline express ducks into the new Caoling tunnel, located adjacent to the original.

2) Near the west portal of the bike tunnel is a small display of railway relics, including this industrial switcher.

3) A map of the Old Caoling bike way.

Dave

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A few more at Fulong station:

(4 and 5) An express races through without stopping.

(6) My return local was made up of Daewoo-built EMUs. Travel time to from Nangang to Fulong is about 80 minutes.

Train travel in Taiwan is quite easy, with a surprising amount of English-language signage and English on-board announcements. Enough station employees speak at least "traveler's English" to get basic information of train times, locations, fares, etc.

Dave



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/17 10:15 by DavidP.

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Good story and great photos! In 1969, I was in the Army and stationed in South Vietnam. When R&R time came around, I went to Japan for a week. I spent 90% of my waking hours riding trains/railfanning. Early on the morning that we were to return to South Vietnam, we were notified that our plane was grounded for at least 24-hours due to mechanical issues. We were released for another day in Japan.....just had to be back to R&R HQ by 6:00 AM the next morning for further instructions. I put that day to good use by doing more train riding and railfanning! Unfortunately, the following morning, our aircraft had been repaired and we headed back to South Vietnam.

lynnpowell,Thank you for your service! !
wag216 (was a RA 55-61)