In the very near future I'll be back over in Korea for a few weeks, so if anyone has anything he'd like for me to check out, please let me know soon and I'll do my best to include it in my travels.

Many are probably familiar with the story about the old, war-wrecked steam locomotive in the Korean DMZ. In 2006 it was recovered from the DMZ and put on display at Imjingak, the last station on the rail line before crossing the Imjin River and reaching Dorasan, where KORAIL links with the North Korean rail system. Here is the story of its recovery from the DMZ:

http://www.stripes.com/news/korean-war- ... ed-1.57121

And here is a picture of the old locomotive now on display:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/88338684

Also on display nearby is this Japanese-built locomotive. I first saw it in late 1987 when it was resting on display on the old right-of-way. With the restoration of a rail link between north and south, it was moved a short distance to one side to allow the tracks to be relaid. This is that locomotive:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/20463681

Years ago ex-Erie 2524 was rumored to be on display here, but during my last visit to Korea in 2011, when I sat down with the director of the Korean Railroad Museum in Uiwang, I learned that 2524 was never displayed anywhere and it appears to have been scrapped long ago like so many others. The director also told me that no US-built steam locomotives remain anywhere in the country, and there are no operational steam locomotives in all of South Korea. At one time there was an operating Chinese-built steam locomotive running between Seoul and Uijongbu, a short distance north of Seoul, but by the time of my visit in April 2000 it had already ceased running.

I'll return to Korea in the near future and will report back on any new findings.

Tim, the follow up and story links are much appreciated. Thanks!

Since I’ve been back from Korea for over four months, it’s high time I posted an update on the status of preserved steam locomotives in that country as listed at

http://www.steamlocomotive.info

No. 244 is located a few blocks west of the Imjingang (Imjin River) Station, shown here:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/30751425

This is No. 244 itself:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/13389578

The war-damaged locomotive that sat for years in the DMZ was recovered four years ago, its deterioration stabilized, and it was put on display a few blocks west of No. 244. You can see it here:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/58487791

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/82208507

Director Son Gil-shin of the Korean Railroad Museum told me that the locomotive once located at a motorway service station in Kangnung (modern spelling is Gangneung), located in the northeast part of the country near the coast, no longer exists. Apparently it was scrapped some time ago.

No. 11, the Chinese-built locomotive used for excursions, has not been operating in that capacity for quite a few years. I asked about it at the Seoul (misspelled as Seol on the website) main station during my April 2000 visit and by then it was already out of service. Director Son told me it has been placed on display in the central part of the country by the KORAIL station at Jeomchong, as seen here:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/30786297

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/30786409

In the photographs the number has been changed to 901, but this may have been PhotoShopped over its old number.

Two locomotives, one standard gauge and one narrow gauge, were located in the Grand Children’s Park in Seoul, where I photographed them in May 2009. They appeared to have been coated with some sort of tar to prevent deterioration but were not otherwise restored. During this year’s visit Director Son said the locomotives were not being properly cared for at the park so they were moved to the Samsung Transportation Museum in Yongin. He noted that unfortunately that museum is not located near a rail station, so anyone wishing to visit it must drive to it.

I visited No. 28 at the Science Museum in Seoul in May 2009. It’s under cover and preserved well and, if I recall correctly, it’s a narrow gauge locomotive.

Director Son confirmed that the locomotive listed as being at a shed in Suwon is gone, apparently scrapped like the narrow gauge line on which it ran.

The number of the locomotive in Taejon is 129. This website provides detailed information about it:

http://jikimi.cha.go.kr/english/search_ ... idoCode=25

The significance of this locomotive is that it was used in mid-1950 in an attempt to rescue Major General William Dean, commander of the 24th Infantry Division, during the initial North Korean drive to overrun the South. The platoon-sized unit of US soldiers sent on the mission to recover him is described (depending upon the website you visit) as a “special attack corps,” “commandos,” or “Special Forces,” all of which are inaccurate. All of the WW II ranger battalions, the 1st Special Service Force, etc., had long since been inactivated by 1950. The ranger companies of the Korean War era had yet to be formed, and the first SF units were not activated until 1952. This is an example of misinformation being put out and often repeated by those who don’t know any better.

To see No. 700 at the Korean Railroad College, ride south from Seoul on Metro line No. 1 to Uiwang. Here’s a picture of the east side of the station:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1043790

Note: There is a Dunkin Donuts on this side of the station, and about a block or two to the east is a fast food restaurant similar to a Burger King or a McDonald’s if you’re not in the mood for Korean food.

To reach the Korean Railroad College, just walk south, parallel to the KORAIL tracks, for about ten minutes and you’ll see it on your left, adjacent to the north side of the Korean Railroad Museum. No. 700 faces west and its south side is cut away to reveal its interior components. Actually, “cut away” isn’t accurate because it was built this way as an educational prop, not a real, functioning locomotive. In any case, it’s under shelter and protected from the elements, but it is rather dusty.

Here’s the front wall at the entrance to the Korean Railroad Museum:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4617016

This is the entrance to the KRM:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14040757

Snacks and drinks are available here, right by the ticket office at the entrance:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14040701

And this is the main building at the KRM:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14040579

This is the view west from the front of museum. An employee said this stretch of KORAIL is the busiest on the entire system, and you never need to wait more than a minute or so for a train to pass. It’s an excellent location to watch trains go by, and no one ever bothers you about taking pictures here or anywhere else.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/2538625

Here are pictures of No. 23:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14040526
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1371857

That odd, pointed piece of metal on the stack keeps the rain out. During earlier visits I noticed the rolling stock at the museum looked rather weathered, but this June the cars and locomotives looked freshly painted. The small building behind the locomotive in the second photo is Director Son’s office.

Here is a picture of No. 161:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14040365

Director Son said this locomotive was used as the basis for constructing a mock-up locomotive for the epic 2004 Korean War film called Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386064/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

There was a scene in the film in which hordes of freezing, miserable refugees crowded onto a train in late 1950 following the entry of Chinese forces into the war that drove UN forces out of the North and back into the South. The director needed a steam locomotive for the scene but there wasn’t an operational one in the entire country, so he had a mock-up made that hissed, puffed and looked just like the real thing. Since it was going to be expensive to build, others involved in making the film advised him to simply cut the scene from the script, but he was intent on filming an unforgettable image of the war that mirrored what took place, one that would resonate with those who were there. The end result was a film that was the biggest blockbuster in Korean filmmaking history.

To give you an example of just how truly cold and miserable it was then, here’s an excerpt from the book Soldier by Anthony Herbert, an infantryman in the US 2d Infantry Division: “We were herded like cattle onto boxcars and shipped south to Pusan. The only warmth in the cars was from oil heaters and the smoke produced a thick, black phlegm in your throat. At one stop we made, I went outside to urinate. There were Koreans frozen to the outside of the train. Trying to escape the invasion from the north, they had grabbed the train at one stop or another and now they were dead, frozen stiff. They gave us crowbars to pry the bodies loose. We stacked them at the siding and continued toward Pusan, where, after we got off the train, we had to do the same thing again.”

Back to steam locomotives… There is also No. 13 at the KRM, a narrow gauge locomotive, but I’ve yet to locate a photo of it online. I took several of my own during my visits.

I asked Director Son about the steam locomotive listed as being at the Everland theme park in nearby Yongin but he said there is no preserved steam locomotive there. Perhaps there is an amusement park locomotive for kiddie rides, but there is no retired steam locomotive. I had planned to ride the new line from Giheung to Yongin to reach the park and see this locomotive, but Director Son saved me from a fruitless trip. The new line, by the way, was apparently ill-conceived because it has few riders. See:

http://kojects.com/2013/06/02/no-passen ... -everline/

In the southwest part of the country there is a rail theme park in Gokseung; however, this is mainly a children’s park and not necessarily something to attract a railfan. The “steam locomotives” there are just mock-ups. Here’s a picture:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/54423809

To the left of the train are rail bikes. Rail bike rides are available in various parts of the country where stretches of old lines have been made redundant by the construction of new, straighter lines. Often the old ones are winding, single-track routes that were replaced by double-tracked, electrified lines that pass through mountains, cross over valleys on bridges and offer fast, frequent service.

Here are descriptions of the park:

http://2012expo.wordpress.com/2012/08/0 ... eosu-expo/

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/ ... earBy=site

Here’s another. This one features pictures of people on the rail bikes mentioned above.

http://www.everydaykorea.com/2013/07/go ... d-pension/

I haven’t been to Gokseung and its rail theme park yet but perhaps I'll go when I return in 2015.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/82208507

Shame on them, displaying a locomotive with it's jacket on. (kidding!)