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International Railroad Discussion > Arrival in Saigon: Vietnam FinaleDate: 06/26/25 13:28 Arrival in Saigon: Vietnam Finale Author: NMlurker We arrived in Saigon right on time at 6:10 PM on February 21, 2025. I did not have time to dawdle but was happy to capture a vintage U8B wearing a clean version of its original 1963 paint scheme. I had seen one other of these along the way from a passing train and I do not know how many are left in service. Those that are have clearly benefited from excellent maintenance. This was also the end of the rail portion of the tour. Even though there is trackage from Saigon up to Phnom Penh in Cambodia, there is no passenger service. And even though there are two passenger routes in Cambodia, neither go to our ultimate destination of Siem Reap for Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom.
1. D9E-class U8B #219 switching at the Saigon train station. Remarkably, built in 1963 by General Electric in the US of A. The lettering below the number on the cab says "Saigon Locomotive Factory." 2. And off it goes, a little too dark for my camera. 3. It would have been helpful to post this at the start but I had forgotten about finding this map some time ago. There are more routes north out of Hanoi than I realized. One other thing I will add is that on the coach trip back from Halong Bay (east of Hanoi), we followed a rail line that appeared to be out of service but had both regular signals and the occasional semaphore! If I remember correctly, at one point there was a long, low bridge with no track or embankments on either end. While there is a train to Halong Bay, it is not direct and supposedly takes too long to have been part of our tour. ![]() ![]() ![]() |