Takao Railway Museum

The Takao Railway Museum was formerly Kaohsiung's earliest railway station. Kaohsiung's urban area, port, and railways all began their development here. Thanks to the efforts of dedicated individuals, it became Taiwan's first regularly operating railway museum and a practical base for the "dynamic preservation" of railway rolling stock. On November 29, 1900, Takao Station officially opened, and with the completion of the southern section of the Trunk Line Railway, it marked the beginning of Southern Taiwan's modernization. For example, the Ciaotou Sugar Refinery could import materials and equipment and export sugar via the railway. At that time, the station was located next to the coastal area, with extremely limited space. The Railway Department began planning land reclamation, using dredging vessels to excavate seabed sand and mud, starting to fill land towards the south. Simultaneously, they dredged the inner harbor waters to improve the port's navigation channels. The outline of modern Kaohsiung Port began to take shape from this period. After nine years of construction, the Trunk Line Railway finally opened its entire length on April 20, 1908. The scope of Takao Station also expanded southward into the wider, newly reclaimed land, with new station buildings and platforms, among other passenger facilities. This platform has been preserved to this day, and now, with the operation of the Hamasen sightseeing train, the old platform has resumed its original function. In 1920, Takao was renamed Kaohsiung, and the station was renamed accordingly. In 1941, in line with urban planning, Kaohsiung Station relocated to its current site at Dagang. The old station was renamed Kaohsiung Port Station and continued to handle freight operations. Until the opening of the highway, the railway's advantage diminished, and Kaohsiung Port Station was eventually abolished in 2008. Two years later, the Kaohsiung City Government adopted the idle space, establishing a railway museum in the old station building and transforming the station area into the Hamasen Railway Cultural Park. This case later directly influenced the designation of the entire Taipei Railway Workshop as a national historic site and the establishment of the National Railway Museum. In 2014, Taiwan Power Company donated a decommissioned train, which became the museum's first dynamically operational train. However, over more than a decade, the park's tracks continuously deteriorated. Coupled with existing bicycle path obstructions and the impact of light rail construction, the initial operational track length was less than 100 meters in front of the platform. After years of advocacy and coordination, and with the museum volunteers manually “hand-building the railway,” by early 2024, a 540-meter track length was finally achieved, with three usable sidings. Many turnouts are operated by levers from the dynamically preserved North Signal Box, and overall, it has attained the basic scale of a heritage railway. The three dynamically preserved trains within the park were all acquired by the resident operational team and related organizations through purchase or donation, becoming important assets for promotion and demonstration. On November 30, 2024, the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Kaohsiung City Government launched the “Hamasen Departure” project. Curated by Gu Ting-wei, director of the Takao Railway Museum, the project, spanning one and a half years, combined official and private efforts to complete park upgrades. These include establishing a vehicle collection strategy, creating the Hamasen sightseeing train, increasing the number of displayed vehicles from 14 to 31, building old platform scenes and a new northern entrance to the park, and promoting the city government's establishment of “November 29 as Kaohsiung Railway Day.” The Takao Railway Museum and Hamasen Railway Cultural Park are now entering a new phase.