“Impressions of Taiwan’s Railways,” a photo exhibition currently running at the National Taiwan Museum, features precious railway images from the 1970s and provides a rare glimpse into the nation’s past, according to NTM Director Hsiao Tsung-huang.
“The railway played a pivotal role in creating Taiwan’s economic prosperity, and is an unforgettable memory for many people of my generation,” Hsiao said during the exhibition’s opening Jan. 18.
On display are some 60 photos of steam trains, past train models, locomotives and train stations, including the last remaining roundhouse in use in central Taiwan’s Changhua City.
Nearly all the photos were taken by Huang Shu-min, an employee with the Taiwan Railways Administration for 40 years, and Loren Aandahl, an American who spent his teenage years taking pictures of Taiwan’s railways.
“I loved taking photos of trains and passengers,” said the 95-year-old Huang. “It’s my seventh photo exhibition and I hope to have more in the future.”
Aandahl, the son of a missionary who came to Taiwan and settled in Hsinchu City in 1954, spent 16 years in Taiwan with his parents. He fell in love with trains as a boy, and when he received a camera as a high school student and had to commute by train between Hsinchu and Taichung, he began to shoot railway scenes using slide film.
“I have fond memories of lingering on the head car of a ‘Fei Kwai Che,’ the then express trains, and conversing with the conductors,” said Aandahl, who is turning 60 this year.
The photos are precious for their rarity, said Teng Chih-chung, a member of Taiwan’s Railway Cultural Society, who noted that during the 1970s, when Taiwan was still under martial law, it was forbidden to take photos of railway facilities because of their potential military significance.
“Huang had access to the trains when he was on TRA duty, while Aandahl could take photos freely probably because of his foreign nationality,” he said. “Both of them are important witnesses of history.”
The show is scheduled to run through April 15 at the museum, located inside Taipei’s 228 Memorial Park. (HZW)
Write to Kwangyin Liu at kwangyin.liu@mail.gio.gov.tw