The old, rundown, derelict, dusty, decaying (but fascinating) Taipei Railway Workshop 臺北機廠, which officially closed in 2012, is being transformed into the National Railway Museum. It was officially opened over the summer, so now that the kids have gone back to school and it’s not quite so hot, now is the time to visit! Now, also, because it is still a work in progress. There are still plenty of old, decaying workshops and empty shells of buildings on site, all boarded up and not yet restored, so it still has the feel of the past – it’s prime industrial heritage, kind of living history. You can still see and feel and smell all the dust in the air, look over the old rusting machines, sit in the old carriages and in the old bathhouse, and imagine what life was like for the 2,000 men who worked there. Yes, it was largely a men’s world, though some women joined later, mostly working in the offices. It’s still as hot and humid as it was then, though some huge fans are whirring around. There are now 24 restored historic trains on display, all gleaming in their bright new paint. So there’s a nice mix of old and new, all combined. Must visit!

I visited the old, original Taipei Railway Workshop on an overcast day in April 2019 – check out my blog post here – I’ve posted a few of those photos below, so you get a good idea what it was like in 2019. That overcast day added to the dark atmosphere of the old, decaying workshops. At the time, it was open twice a week for tours, and it was exciting to see and hear what they had planned for the site. Now, it’s six years later, and it’s clear they’ve accomplished a huge amount. A few photos from my visit in 2019…

Now it’s 2025, and the huge 17-hectare site has become the National Railway Museum, open every day except Mondays, very popular with all ages, and very reasonably priced; the admission ticket is NT$100 with plenty of discounts available. Most of the displays are in Chinese and English. There are also rides available on an old diesel train that pootles up and down; those tickets are separate and can be booked in advance, usually sold out for the weekends. Despite being right in the middle of Taipei City, not far from Taipei 101 and the upmarket financial district, it’s been in its own cocoon for so long that nobody ever went there, so even now, there’s no parking on site, not many buses, and the nearest MRT Stations are a hot 15-minute walk away, there’s no shade or shelter for sun or rain en route. If you can get there, though, it’s well worth it, just take an umbrella! There is a new UBike Station opening at the north gate, which will make it easier, but there’s still a long walk in the hot sun to get to the main area. Be prepared!

Visitors who come to Taiwan from overseas have often read up on Taiwan’s history beforehand, and so they know that Taiwan was a colony of Japan from 1895 to 1945. Expecting the worst, they are often intrigued to hear Taiwan people say how much they admire and respect Japan, and how much they value the development brought by the Japanese. One such development was the building of Taiwan’s railways. Even today, Taiwan cars drive on the right side of the road, but the trains still follow Japanese convention and run on the left. The Taipei Railway Workshop was one of 3 built in Taiwan; this one is the biggest, opened in 1935. It was from here that trains were built, maintained, repaired, and sent out to take people and goods up and down and around Taiwan, enabling people to travel, and so bringing connection, development, prosperity, all opening people’s eyes to the wider world.

Taipei has another new railway museum (officially called the Railway Ministry Park and administered by the National Taiwan Museum) not far from Taipei Train Station, and that one is much smaller, but excellent if you want to know the history and geography of Taiwan’s railways and about the kinds of trains, and where they went, all that sort of thing; there are lots of displays. This new National Railway Museum is much bigger, and it’s heaven for engineers who are seriously interested in trains and how they work. That’s not me, I am not an engineer, so I happily passed by all the display boards introducing the details of the motors and engines, but I still spent about 2 hours wandering around, looking at the beautiful trains and absorbing the atmosphere of a bygone age. And it’s not just engines. There are exhibitions about the culture, music, and art of railway life, also the manager’s office, a restored restaurant car, models of the bento lunch boxes, and of course, the famous bathhouse – with its semi-circular roof, there’s even steam coming up in the circular baths.

I went on Saturday afternoon, which was busy with families. It’s the kind of place that parents think their kids will be interested in, and they are, to a certain extent, but from what I saw, it was largely the fathers who lingered behind to look longingly at all the display boards of trains and engines and motors and diesels and machines and cranes etc etc, wishing they had more time to look at everything, while the kids ran off to see the next big thing, and poor mother was left somewhere in between, keeping eyes on everyone!

According to this article, about the opening of the museum in July, it was designated a national historic site in 2015, with a project to transform it into a museum through three stages – this is just the first stage of the preservation and restoration efforts, which covers one-third of the 17-hectare site, so there’ll be plenty more to see in the years ahead. Definitely a work in progress, all the more reason to come and visit now – and often!