Seoul Survivors

December 1977 in South Korea was very cold and grey. There wasn't much incentive to spend time outdoors, but I did manage to pay a brief visit to the 2'6'' railway line in Seoul, which went from Suwon to Incheon, built in the 1930s. I say 'went' because it had been closed since about 1973. I took the suburban service to Suwon and soon located the narrow gauge loco shed, on the edge of big standard gauge freight yards, where I could hear, but not see, a steam loco shunting (reports suggested some 2-8-2s were in use) . It was quiet and the few staff around didn't seem bothered that I was there, so I took some photos in less than ideal conditions light-wise.

The shed contained three of the line's oil burning 2-8-2s, Nos. 12, 13 and 14, which used to work freight and mixed trains, the main passenger service being diesel railcars. No.14 was the only one with smoke deflectors, whilst No.12 had a sloped back rather than a squared back tender. Interestingly neither the smoke deflectors nor sloped back tender were in evidence on Nos. 12 and 14 when they were photographed working by Ziel and Eagleson in 1972.

There were narrow gauge wagons on adjacent sidings and over in the standard gauge freight yard, I could hear, but not see, a steam loco shunting - no doubt a 2-8-2. But I decided not to risk trying to find it, as the security situation was pretty tight, with a midnight curfew in the city when powerful searchlights scoured the skies for signs of an airborne invasion.

The trackbed from Suwon has been converted to standard gauge and incorporated in the Seoul subway network.