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The Coastal Railway Five Treasures (海線五寶)

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time as of late making my way up and down Taiwan’s Western Coast Railway visiting a handful of historic railway stations, taking photos, and then researching and writing about them. Many of you might wonder why I spend so much of my time visiting a bunch of old train stations, but if you’ve read any of my articles about them, you probably have your answer.

The reason I’ve written about a select group of them is because they’re going to be celebrating their centennial year of operation this year (2022), and with so little information about them available in English, I figured it was a good time to tell their story. Even though I realize that a bunch of one hundred year old train stations isn’t all that exciting for most people, it is a tremendously rare thing for buildings of this nature to have lasted so long in Taiwan, and even rarer to find them still in operation today. 

In many ways, Taiwan’s rapid modern development has been great for the people of this beautiful country, but for all of the pros, there are obviously going to be some cons; One of the unfortunate aspects of all of Taiwan’s growth over the last few decades is that much of the history of this beautiful island has been bulldozed in order to make way for modernity. If I were to focus only on the topic at hand, there were originally sixteen of these railway stations along the Coastal Railway Branch. Today, we celebrate the five that remain, but its important to keep in mind that seventy percent of them have already been lost to history.

Of course, in some cases the rapid population growth of communities around the country has necessitated such actions with these smaller stations unable to handle with the amount of passengers passing through on a daily basis, but its still a shame that so many of these important pieces of Taiwan’s history have disappeared over the years.

Fortunately, the five remaining stations that I’m going to briefly introduce below have been designated as protected heritage buildings, which should help to ensure that they will continue to exist for quite some time. 

Known locally among railway aficionados as the “Coastal Railway Five Treasures” (海鮮五寶), each of these wooden Japanese-era railway stations date back to 1922 and have been fortunate to last as long as they have mostly because they serve small communities where there was never really a huge growth in population.

That being said, even though they continue to remain in operation today, they are also considered by many as living museums given that they do an amazing job of putting local history on display. 

To tell their story, I will first have to introduce a bit about the history of the Coastal Railway where they’re located, and then I’ll follow by providing a brief introduction to each of the stations with links to their individual articles and a map where you’ll be able to find them. 

If you have any interest in Taiwan’s history, the Japanese-era, or the railway, it’s a pretty good year to take a bit of time to visit one, two or all of these beautiful train stations.

The Coastal Railway (海岸線 / かいがんせん)

The history of the railway in Taiwan dates back as far as 1891 (光緒17), when the last Qing governor, Liu Mingchuan (劉銘傳), attempted to have a route stretching from Keelung (基隆) to Hsinchu (新竹) constructed. The construction of the railway however came at too high of a cost, given that the Qing rulers cared very little about what was happening in Taiwan as well as the fact that they were contending with war (and revolution), so plans to have it extended any further were put on hold.

A few short years later in 1895 (明治28), the Japanese took control of Taiwan, and brought with them a team of skilled western-educated engineers tasked with developing proposals to have the already established railway repaired as well as to come up with suggestions for extending it all the way to the south and beyond.   

The Jūkan Tetsudō Project (縱貫鐵道 / ゅうかんてつどう), otherwise known as the ‘Taiwan Trunk Railway Project’ sought to have the railroad pass through each of Taiwan’s established settlements, including Kirin (基隆), Taihoku (臺北), Shinchiku (新竹), Taichu (臺中), Tainan (臺南) and Takao (高雄). 

Link: Taiwan Railway Museum (臺灣總督府鐵道部)

Amazingly, the more than four-hundred kilometer railway was completed in 1908 (明治41), and connected the north to the south with a transportation route for the first time ever. Taking just over a decade to complete, the railway would become instrumental in changing the landscape of Taiwan’s modern development, but was ultimately the key to the colonial regime’s master plan of ensuring that Taiwan’s precious natural resources would be able to be processed efficiently and sent back to Japan.

Once completed, the Railway Department of the Governor General of Taiwan (台灣總督府交通局鐵道部) set its sights on constructing public and private branch lines across the island, as well as expanding the railway network with a line that spanned the entire eastern coast. 

Note: Privatized Branch Lines refer to those used by companies engaged in the extraction or production of commodities such as timber, sugarcane, tobacco, coal, gold, etc.

However, after almost a decade of service, unforeseen circumstances in central Taiwan necessitated changes in the way that the western railway operated with issues arising due to typhoon and earthquake damage. More specifically, the Western Trunk railway in southern Miaoli had to pass through mountains and required climbing up a steep incline in sections before eventually crossing bridges across the Da’an (大安溪) and Da’jia Rivers (大甲溪). Due to these geographic limitations, and flaws in the original design, issues caused by natural disasters created a tremendous amount of traffic congestion, and periodic service outages when the railway and the bridges had to be repaired or rebuilt. 

Link: Long-Teng Bridge (龍騰斷橋)

To solve the problem of passenger and freight congestion, the team of railway engineers came up with a solution, known as the “Kaigan-sen” (かいがんせん / 海岸線), or the Coastal Railway Branch Line.

With construction of the branch line planned between Chikunangai (ちくなんがい / 竹南街) and Shoka (しょうかちょう / 彰化廳), or what we refer to today as Zhunan (竹南) and Changhua (彰化), the line would divert from the already existing railway and follow a route closer to the coast where the mountains could be avoided.

Link: Western Trunk Line | 縱貫線 (Wiki)

These plans however met with consternation from residents of Taichung who considered the Coastal Railway a dagger to the heart of the economic development and growth of the city. They figured that with the Taichung Port (located on the opposite side of the mountains) processing most of the freight coming from central Taiwan, the city would become a ghost town as the new line would shift development to the coastal side of the mountains

In spite of the protests taking place in Taichung, Governor General Akashi Motojirō (明石 元二郎/あかしもとじろう), who is remembered today as one of the most consequential governors of the Japanese era (thanks to his significant contributions to the economy and infrastructure development projects), held steadfast and made sure that construction on the Coastal Railway came to fruition.   

Note: Even though Governor General Akashi Motojiro held his post for just over a year before he fell ill and died, he is credited with the creation of the the Taiwan Power Company (臺灣電力株式會社), the massive Chianan Irrigation System (嘉南大圳), the Sun Moon Lake Hydroelectric Power Plant, and of course the Coastal Railway.

The Governor’s foresight and planning for the future helped to ensure that the island could continue its rapid development, and he used his political influence to ensure that funding was made available from the Japanese government back home. 

Link: Akashi Motojiro | 明石元二郎 (Wiki) 

Kiyomizu / Qingshui Station (清水車站)

Construction on the ninety kilometer Coastal Line started in 1919, and amazingly was completed just a few short years later in 1922 (大正11). Servicing sixteen stations, all of which (as I mentioned above) remain in service today.

What many people are unaware of though is that within a year of the project starting, the first section, known as the ‘Oda Branch Line’ (王田支線) between Oda Station (王田驛) and Kiyomizu Station (清水驛) in southern Taichung opened for service on December 25th, 1920 (大正10年). In today’s terms, the branch line essentially started at Chenggong Station (成功車站), and curved north with a final stop at Qingshui Station (清水車站), where freight could be more efficiently transported to Taichung Port.

To this day, the opening of the Oda Branch Line is interpreted by many as a method of appeasing the people of Taichung. who were weary of the Coastal Branch, but quickly took to the new line as it provided a means of visiting the nearby beach on the weekend. Similarly, it was also seen as a practical move to ensure that freight could be transported to the Taichung port on the western coast as soon as possible.

It would take another two years for the rest of the Coastal Line from Chikunan (竹南 / ちくなんぐん) to Shoka (彰化 / しょうかぐん) to be completed, with the official opening ceremonies taking place on October 11th, 1922 (大正12年) at Tsū-shou Station (通霄驛) in southern Miaoli.

Fortunately for the residents of Taichung, the economic disaster that was predicted never took place, and the city continued to grow thanks to the new line - Even better, the Coastal Railway connected communities in Miaoli and Taichung that had yet to have access to the railway, allowing them to grow as well as ensuring that their own agricultural products would be able to be shipped around the island, as well as being exported back to Japan, providing a tremendous economic opportunity for them.

This was especially true when it came to agricultural products such as watermelons from northern Miaoli, and the ‘Emperors Rice’ cultivated in southern Miaoli. That being said, there was also a considerable amount of coal, camphor, clay, bricks and other products originating from the sixteen stations along the railway. 

The sixteen stations along the Coastal Railway, including the two termini stations are as follows:

(Japanese-era romanization / kanji / hiragana / current name) 

  1. Chikunan Station (竹南驛/ちくなんえき) / Zhunan (竹南車站)

  2. Tanbunmizūmi Station (談文湖駅 / だんぶんみずうみえき) / Tanwen (談文車站)

  3. Oyamagashi Station (大山腳驛 / おうやま あしえき) / Dashan (大山車站)

  4. Kōryū Station (後龍驛/こうりゅうえき) / Houlong (後龍車站)

  5. Koshiryo Station (公司寮驛 /こうしりやう) / Longgang (龍港車站)

  6. Hakushaton Station (白沙屯驛/はくしゃとんえき) / Baishatun (白沙屯車站)

  7. Shin-ho Station (新埔驛 / しんほえき) / Xinpu (新埔車站)

  8. Tsū-shou Station (通霄驛 / つうしょうえき) / Tongxiao (通宵車站)

  9. Enri Station (苑裡驛 / えんりえき) / Yuanli (苑裡車站)

  10. Nichinan Station (日南驛 / にちなんえき) / Rinan (日南車站)

  11. Taikō Station (大甲驛/たいこうえき) / Dajia (大甲車站)

  12. Kōnan Station (甲南驛/こうなんえき) / Taichung Port (台中港車站)

  13. Kiyomizu Station (清水驛 / きよみずえき) / Qingshui (清水車站)

  14. Sharoku Station (沙鹿驛/しゃろくえき) / Shalu (沙鹿車站)

  15. Tatsui Station (龍井驛/たついえき) / Longjing (龍井車站)

  16. Daito Station (大肚驛 / だいとえき) / Dadu (大肚車站)

  17. Oiwake Station (追分驛 / おいわけえき) / Zhuifen (追分車站)

  18. Shōka Station (彰化驛/しょうかえき) / Changhua (彰化車站)

Interestingly, when the Japanese-era came to an end in 1945, and the Chinese Nationalists took control of Taiwan, the vast majority of the stations maintained the same names, save for a pronunciation change from Japanese to Mandarin. The only stations that went through a name change were the fifth station, Koshiryo Station (公司寮驛), which was changed to Longgang Station (龍港車站) and the twelfth station, Kōnan Station (甲南驛, which was changed to Taichung Port Station (台中港車站).

In the first case, the name change was a bit strange given that ‘Gongsiliao Fishing Harbor’ (後龍公司寮漁港), a short walk from the station uses the Mandarin pronunciation of the Japanese-era name.

The name “Longgang” is a abbreviation of ‘Houlong Fishery Harbor' (後龍漁港), which makes sense.

In the latter case, I don’t see much issue with the name change as the station is used primary for those wanting to reach the Port of Taichung, although the freight services that were once the bread and butter of the station have pretty much dried up as the Port of Taichung has grown and modernized.  

Over the past century, the Coastal Railway has remained an important route for passenger service and transporting freight, however when the Mountain Line (山線) was widened into a dual-track system, the amount of trains traveling along the line gradually reduced. These days, the Coastal Railway is most frequently serviced by Local Commuter Trains (區間車) that stop at each station along the route.

Like the Mountain Line however, the Coastal Railway has also gone through a similar period of modernization, including the widening of the tracks into a dual-track system, allowing more trains to travel back and forth as well as the electrification of the entire network.

Link: Qiding Railway Tunnels

Express trains are now able to their way through the Coastal Railway, but they only stop at larger stations such as Zhunan, Houlong, Tongxiao, Yuanli, Dajia, Qingshui, Shalu and Changhua.

Admittedly, when traveling or returning home, I’m always excited when I discover that my ticket displays that my train will travel along the coastal route, which is the more scenic of the two lines. I’m sure for many locals the feeling is mutual as you really get to enjoy Taiwan’s beauty along the route.  

Unfortunately as the railway has modernized over the past century, so have many of the stations along the line, which have been completely rebuilt, replacing the original stations constructed in the 1920s.

Today, only a handful of stations constructed during the Japanese-era remain in operation, known as the “Coastal Railway Five Treasures” (海線五寶), these historic stations (as well as the coastal railway itself) will celebrate their one-hundred year anniversary this year (2022).

Fortunately, as I mentioned earlier, now that they’ve all been designated as Protected Historic Properties by either the Taichung City Government or the Miaoli County Government, they will be preserved for future generations to enjoy - and will hopefully also remain in operation for quite some time.  

Below, I’ll briefly introduce each of those five stations and provide links to their individual articles for you to learn more about them.

Coastal Railway Five Treasures (海鮮五寶)

Known locally as the ‘Coastal Railway Five Treasures’ these five railway stations along the Coastal Railway between Zhunan and Changhua are historically significant for quite a few reasons, but most importantly are part of a select few stations around Taiwan that have remained in operation for the past one hundred years. 

Writing this article, I may be accused of political bias as there is a bit of contention with regard to the proper nickname used to describe the stations. 

When most people talk about them, its natural to refer to them as the “Coastal Railway Five Treasures”, but if you’re from the ‘sovereign nation’ of Miaoli-kuo (苗栗國), you’d probably prefer to refer to use the term “Miaoli Three Treasures” (苗栗三寶), completely disregarding the two stations located in Taichung. 

The notion that Miaoli is a country of its own is an interesting one, and I’m sure someone could (or probably already has) write an entire thesis on this running joke and how it originated. What I will say is that in the Chinese language, the term Three Treasures (三寶) is a much more auspicious and meaningful number than five, so linguistically it has more sway.

Note: “Three Treasures” (三寶) linguistically refers to “the Buddha”, “the Dharma”, and “the Sangha” (佛寶, 法寶, 僧寶) in Buddhism, also known as the “Three Jewels” or the “Three Roots” and is a term that has significant meaning throughout Asia. That being said, the term “三寶” (sān bǎo) has taken on a number of meanings ranging from Hong Kong style of bento box that features three kinds of meat (三寶飯), or an idiot driving on the road (馬路三寶), among others. 

But if you’re not from Miaoli, you should probably include the two stations in Taichung, because they deserve the same amount of respect!

All five of the so-called ‘treasures’ were (more or less) constructed with the exact same architectural design, although they may appear slightly different today, due to their age or modifications that may have taken place over the past century. One might argue that if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, but that would be a bit misguided as there are some pretty important architectural differences found within the stations that you’ll be able to enjoy if you visit each of them. Similarly, the area that surrounds each of the stations has grown over the past century, so while exploring you’ll be able to get a feel of what the area was like a hundred years ago.

For railway enthusiasts, these stations are pretty important attractions, but for the rest of us, only a few of them might be attractive tourist destinations. Nevertheless, if you find yourself in the area, I highly recommend stopping by to check them out.

So, without further adieu, let me briefly introduce each of the Five Treasure: 

Tanwen Railway Station (談文車站)

Original name: Tanbunmizūmi Station (談文湖駅 / だんぶんみずうみえき)

Current name: Tanwen Station (談文車站)

Opened: October 11th, 1922

Traveling south of Hsinchu, Tanwen Station is the first of the five treasures that you’ll come across. The station is located in a strange spot just off of the coastal highway in Miaoli’s Zaoqiao Township (造橋鄉). The station is considered to be in the worst shape of the five treasures, but it is arguably also one of the most beautiful as it maintains its century-old appearance, and is most often a pretty quiet place to visit with only tourists visiting at various points throughout the week. 

Address: #29 Ren-ai Road, Zaoqiao Township (苗栗縣造橋鄉談文村仁愛路29號) 

GPS: 24.656440 120.858330

Dashan Railway Station (大山車站)

Original name: Oyamagashi Station (大山腳驛 / おうやま あしえき)

Current name: Dashan Station (大山車站)

Opened: October 11th, 1922

Traveling south past Tanwen Station, the next stop along the Coastal Railway is Dashan Station, one of the best preserved of the five treasures. Dashan is located within a small coastal community in Miaoli’s Houlong township (後龍鎮) with views of the coast within sight of the platform.

The community near the station is pretty quiet, like the station itself, but don’t let that fool you, Dashan Station was once an extremely important stop along the railway as it was where they’d load copious amounts of delicious watermelons onto the trains bound for port in Taichung. 

Address: #180 Mingshan Road. Houlong Township (苗栗縣後龍鎮大山里明山路180號)

GPS: 24.645670, 120.803770

Xinpu Railway Station (新埔車站)

Original name: Shin-ho Station (新埔驛 / しんほえき)

Current name: Xinpu Station (新埔車站)

Opened: October 11th, 1922

The sixth station along the coastal railway, Xinpu Station is probably the least busiest of the bunch as it serves a very small community. It’s also geographically the closest station to the coast on the western railway. The station remains in pretty good shape, but the space around it is quite cramped due to a lack of space and the widening of the railway into a dual-track system.

The area near the station these days is home to a pretty popular bicycling route that follows the coast of Miaoli and Hsinchu. Most of the tourism these days involves people getting off the train with their bicycles and heading back up north on a bike ride. 

Address: #57, Hsinpu Village. Tongxiao Township (苗栗縣通霄鎮新埔里新埔57號)

GPS: 24.539850, 120.700350

Rinan Railway Station (日南車站)

Original name: Nichinan Station (日南驛 / にちなんえき)

Current name: Rinan Station (日南車站)

Opened: October 30th, 1922

Rinan Station is the ninth station along the line, and the first of the five treasures in Taichung. Located in the city’s Dajia District (大甲區), famed for its giant Mazu Temple, the station and the area around it has received a bit of attention over the years, allowing it to remain in pretty good shape.

The community that surrounds the station has similarly grown into a relatively busy place over the years, and having access to the railway helps to connect its residents to the rest of Taichung, making this the station one of the busiest of the five. 

Address: #8, Alley 140, Sec 2 Zhongshan Road. Dajia District, Taichung. (臺中市大甲區中山路二段140巷8號)

GPS: 24.378320, 120.653780

Zhuifen Railway Station (追分車站)

Original name: Oiwake Station (追分驛 / おいわけえき)

Current name: Zhuifen Station (追分車站)

Opened: October 11th, 1922

The sixteenth station on the Coastal Line, Zhuifen Station in southern Taichung City, located near the Dadu River where the railway crosses into Changhua is probably the most well-known of the five treasures.

The station is a popular attraction for tourists, students and young couples. Thanks to a play on words within the Chinese language, a ticket from Zhuifen Station (追分車站), and its next door neighbor Chenggong Station (成功車站) has become a local good luck charm with the “追分” and “成功” translating as ‘Making your dreams come true!’ (追分成功) or ‘successfully finding a partner for marriage’ (追婚成功).

The iconic trip has become just as well known in Taiwan as any Matchmaking God or God of Literature temple, and it is even mentioned in students history books. Zhuifen Station is located in an industrial area of Dadu District and there’s always some sort of construction going on nearby.

If you visit there will be volunteers there who are very happy to help introduce every special aspect of the station - certainly an experience that you won’t get at any of the other stations along the Coastal Railway.  

Address: #13 Zhuifen Street, Dadu District, Taichung City (臺中市大肚區追分街13號)

GPS: 24.120540, 120.570160

Getting There

On the map above, I’ve marked the locations of each of the five treasures in addition to the other stations along the Coastal Railway as well as some other railway-related locations in the area.

As with any of my articles about Taiwan’s historic train stations, if you ask me how to get there, it should be pretty obvious that I’m going to recommend that you take the train. The railway in Taiwan is one of the most convenient ways to travel, and if you’ve set out to visit a train station, why would you take another method of transportation?

I’ve listed the address and the GPS coordinates for each of the five treasures above, but if you’d prefer greater detail on how to get to each of the stations, I recommend clicking on the individual links where you’ll find a more detailed description.

Finally, if you’re asking for recommendations for the best method to visit the stations, I have a few opinions on the subject: I’d argue that traveling to all five of them in a single day is a bit excessive, especially since there is so much to see and do in the areas around the stations. Instead, I recommend splitting the trip in two and checking out the three in Miaoli on one excursion, and the two in Taichung on another day.

The great thing about both Miaoli and Taichung is that there is quite a bit to see and do, so if you’re in either area, you probably don’t want to spend the entire day chasing trains. 

If you don’t really care and insist on visiting all five in a single day, I recommend you take the High Speed Rail from wherever you are to Taichung (高鐵台中站) where you’ll transfer to Taiwan Railway’s Xinwuri Station (新烏日車站), which is coincidentally in the same building.

From there, Zhuifen Station is only two stops away and then you can make your way back up north along the Coastal Line stopping at Rinan, Xinpu, Dashan and Tanwen before heading back to Hsinchu.

If on the other hand you’re traveling from the south instead of the north, I recommend taking the train to Zhunan Station (竹南車站) and from there transferring to a southbound train on the Coastal Line.

Either way you’ll get to visit each of the stations while making your way back to where you’ve started. 


Xinpu Train Station (新埔車站)

One of my local photographer friends is someone who most people in Taiwan would refer to as an “auntie,” one of those strong-willed, no-nonsense types who says what she thinks and never holds back. As the boss of a noodle restaurant that people around here swear by, she’s used to shouting orders and controlling a well-oiled kitchen. So whenever we meet up, my Mandarin skills are put to the test because she speaks at about a mile a minute. 

We’ve been meeting up for a few years at a local craft beer bar where we chat about photography, cooking and lots of other subjects. She’s always interested in the places I’m visiting and the photos I’m taking, because for her (and I guess a lot of other local photographers), I have a different perspective on things here in Taiwan. 

Coincidentally, one of her absolute favorite things to shoot is trains, and she travels all over the country to these amazing locations to take beautiful photos of trains crossing bridges, coming out of caves, etc. She’s also taken this hobby on the road and traveled to Japan countless times over the years that I’ve known her to do exactly the same thing.

Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of trains - Back home in Canada it’s uncommon for us to take a train, and before leaving the country, I probably only took a train once in twenty years.

That being said, as my interest in searching out and researching remnants of the Japanese Colonial Era in Taiwan has grown, I’ve also started to look for anything rail-related from that era. 

This is something that my friend is having a good time with, because I’ve often teased, “Why don’t you find something else to shoot other than trains?” to which she now says: “Why don’t you find something else to shoot other than train stations?” 

Fortunately for her, the railway is something that will be a part of Taiwan for a long time to come.

I’ll probably run out of train stations to take photos of within the next year or two (depending on how quickly I visit them all). So, I’ll eventually be the person looking for other things to take photos of.

Today, I’m going to be introducing the third (and final) of Miaoli’s Japanese-era railway stations. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, Miaoli County (苗栗縣) in Central Taiwan is home to three century-old stations along the Coastal Railway that amazingly continue to remain in operation today. 

Known as “Miaoli’s Three Treasures” (苗栗三寶), these three historic stations have defied all the odds in a quickly modernizing Taiwan, and have stayed open forfar longer than anyone has ever expected. 

Given that I’ve already introduced Dashan Station and Tanwen Station, this will be the last piece with regard to the Three Treasures. In the future however, I’ll be expanding from the “Miaoli Three Treasures” to the “Coastal Railway Five Treasures” (海線五寶), because there are actually two more of these historic stations just across the river in Taichung - and likewise there are a couple of other stations along the Mountain Line as well.

Before I start introducing Xinpu Railway Station, I should probably first briefly mention a bit about the history of the Coastal Railway. If you’ve already read about it in my previous posts, feel free to skip it.  

Coastal Railway (海岸線 / かいがんせん)

 The history of the railway in Taiwan dates back as far as 1891 (光緒17), when the Qing governor, attempted to construct a route stretching from Keelung (基隆) all the way to Hsinchu (新竹). Ultimately though, the construction of the railway came at too high of a cost, especially with war raging back home in China, so any plans to expand it further were put on hold.

A few short years later in 1895 (明治28), the Japanese took control of Taiwan, and brought with them a team of skilled engineers who were tasked with coming up with plans to have that already established railway evaluated, and then to come up with suggestions to extend it all the way to the south of Taiwan and beyond.   

The Jūkan Tetsudo Project (ゅうかんてつどう / 縱貫鐵道), otherwise known as the ‘Taiwan Trunk Railway Project’ sought to have the railroad pass through all of Taiwan’s already established settlements, including Kirin (基隆), Taihoku (臺北), Shinchiku (新竹), Taichu (臺中), Tainan (臺南) and Takao (高雄). 

Completed in 1908 (明治41), the more than four-hundred kilometer railway connected the north to the south for the first time ever, and was all part of the Japanese Colonial Government’s master plan to ensure that Taiwan’s precious natural resources would be able to flow smoothy out of the ports in Northern, Central, and Southern Taiwan. 

Once completed, the Railway Department of the Governor General of Taiwan (台灣總督府交通局鐵道部) set its sights on constructing branch lines across the country as well as expanding the railway network with a line on the eastern coast as well. 

Link: Taiwan Railway Museum (臺灣總督府鐵道部)

However, after almost a decade of service, unforeseen circumstances in central Taiwan necessitated changes in the way that the western railway was operated, with issues arising due to typhoon and earthquake damage. More specifically, the western trunk railway in southern Miaoli passed through the mountains and required somewhat of a steep incline in several sections before eventually crossing bridges across the Da’an (大安溪) and Da’jia Rivers (大甲溪).

Issues with the railway in the aftermath of a couple of devastating earthquakes created a lot of congestion, and periodic service outages in passenger and freight service when the railway and the bridges had to be repaired. 

Link: Long-Teng Bridge (龍騰斷橋)

To solve this problem, the team of railway engineers put forward a plan to construct the Kaigan-sen (かいがんせん / 海岸線), or the Coastal Railway Branch line between Chikunangai (ちくなんがい / 竹南街) and Shoka (しょうかちょう / 彰化廳), or the cities we refer to today as Chunan (竹南) and Changhua (彰化). 

Link: Western Trunk Line | 縱貫線 (Wiki)  

Construction on the ninety kilometer Coastal Line started in 1919, and amazingly was completed just a few short years later in 1922 (大正11), servicing eighteen stations, some of which (as I mentioned above) continue to remain in service today. 

Those stations were: Zhunan (竹南), Tanwen (談文湖), Dashan (大山), Houlong (後龍), Longgang (公司寮), Baishatun (白沙墩), Xinpu (新埔), Tongxiao (吞霄), Yuanli (苑裡), Rinan (日南), Dajia (大甲), Taichung Port (甲南), Qingshui (清水), Shalu (沙轆), Longjing (龍井), Dadu (大肚), Zhuifen (追分) and Changhua (彰化).

(Note: English is current name / Chinese is the original Japanese-era station name)

The completion of the Coastal Railway was incredibly signficant for a number reasons - most importantly, it assisted with moving freight between the ports in Keelung and Taichung much more efficiently, especially when it came to moving things out central Taiwan given that one of the stations was located at the port in Taichung. Although the railway was primarily used for moving freight back and forth, another important aspect was that the railway allowed for the smaller communities along the coast to grow and become more economically viable.

On that last point, the construction of the railway along the coast not only provided passenger service to the communities that grew along the coast, but it also allowed for entrepreneurs in those areas access to a modern method of exporting their own products for the first time. If you know anything about the relationship between Japan and Taiwan, one of the things that the Japanese absolutely love about this beautiful country is the wide variety of fruit that is grown here.

The coastal railway helped to ignite that passion with the coastal area in Miaoli exporting massive amounts of watermelons and other produce.

Shin-ho Station (新埔驛 / しんほえき)

Coinciding with the official opening of service along the Western Coastal Railway, a number of railway stations simultaneously opened their doors for passenger and freight service, one of them was Miaoli’s Xinpu Station (新埔車站 / しんほえき).

Officially opened on October 11th, 1922 (大正11年), the station was originally named ‘Shin-ho Station’ (新埔驛 / しんほえき), and is geographically located closest to the coast of any of the stations along Taiwan’s Western Coast Trunk Line.

When you arrive at the station and look out the front door, the ocean is literally a short walk away. 

In fact, as you look out the door there is a sign pointing you to the beach.

These days, when you mention “Xinpu Station,” most people around Taiwan are likely to think of the MRT station with the same name located in Banqiao (板橋), just across the river from Taipei. So lets get that out of the way first - this certainly isn’t an MRT station - it’s a century-old railway station in southern Miaoli, and as mentioned earlier is one of the nation’s oldest (still-in-operation) stations. 

The interesting thing about Xinpu Station is that it was constructed in an area that only would have ever served a very small fishing community nestled along the coast while most of the other stations along the coastal line served practical purposes with regard to the export of fruit, produce and other goods.

I haven’t found any evidence that points to Xinpu Station serving any other purpose than acting as a mid-way point between ‘Hakushaton Station’ (白沙屯驛/はくしゃとんえき) and ‘Tsusho Station’ (通霄駅 / つうしょうえき), known these days as Baishatun Station (白沙屯車站) and Tongxiao Station (通宵車站).

One of the reasons why I think it’s so safe to assume that the station was never used for loading freight is because the road in front of the station is too narrow and the rear area of the station is home to a hill that would have prevented anything from happening there. If we look at both Dashan and Tanwen Stations further north, we can still see the areas where the freight would have been loaded on trains.

Anyway, despite being a century old, not much has really happened at Xinpu Station over the years - The Japanese era ended in 1945 and when the Chinese Nationalists took control, things pretty much stayed the same at this quiet little piece of Miaoli’s southern coast.

Compared to the first two of Miaoli’s “Three Treasures” that I’ve posted about, the timeline I’m providing below is evidence of how little has happened there over the years.  

Timeline:

  • 10/11/1922 (大正11年) - Shin-ho Station (新埔驛) opens for service.

  • 06/01/1986 (民國75年) - The station is reclassified as a Simple Platform Station (簡易站) under the operational control of nearby Baishatun Station (白沙屯車站).

  • 06/07/2005 (民國94年) - The station is recognized as a protected historic building (歷史建築).

  • 06/30/2015 (民國104年) - The station switches to the usage of card swiping services rather than issuing tickets.

  • 09/16/2017 (民國106年) - The station is reclassified as a Type B Simple Platform Station (乙種簡易站) and operational control is shifted from Baishatun Station to Tongxiao Station (通宵車站)

  • 10/11/2022 (民國111年) - The station will celebrate its 100th year of service.

The Interior of the Station Hall

Over the past few decades, ridership at the station has gone up and down, but as it goes now the number of people getting on or off the train at Xinpu Station is on the decline. In 2021, for example only 41,527 people passed through the gates, making the daily average just a little over a hundred people per day. 

While the daily ridership at Xinpu Station seems low, it is actually comparable with many of the other smaller stations along the Coastal Line, so it’s not like the station is close to death. Fortunately, even if ridership does continue to fall, the station will likely remain in service thanks to the fact that it is located directly next to the coast where you’ll find the popular Miaoli Bike Way (綠光海風自行車道) tourist bike path. 

Before I get into the architectural design of the station, I should probably mention that the the area is home to a bit of a strange neighbor in the form of the Qiumao Garden (秋茂園). The semi-abandoned amusement park is full of all sorts of creepy sculptures and in the past was an attraction for a lot of tourists who were passing by with their children. These days the park has been gated off, but it remains popular with urban explorers, who hop the fence to take photos. 

Click the link below to check out some photos from the park from almost a decade ago. 

Link: 通霄秋茂園 ‧ 墓園變樂園也太妙了吧 (烏秋的天空

Architectural Design

Interestingly, when we talk about the stations that make up Miaoli’s Japanese-era “Three Treasures”, the architectural design of each of the stations differ only slightly. I suppose this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given that they were all smaller stations, each of which opened in the same year, meaning that they obviously saved some money when it came to architectural design and construction costs. These buildings are about as formulaic as you’ll get with Japanese architectural design, but don’t let that fool you - the simplicity of these stations still allows for some special design elements. 

Compared with the other two stations, Xinpu remains in relatively good shape, but it certainly does show signs of age in a few areas. Tanwen is obviously in the worst shape of the bunch while Dashan probably would have been the best of the bunch, if it weren’t for a drunk driver driving his truck through the front doors. 

The station was constructed in a fusion of Japanese and Western architectural design, and one of the reasons it stands out today (apart from its age) is that it was built almost entirely of wood (木造結構), more specifically locally sourced Taiwanese cedar (杉木), making use of a network of beams within the building to ensure structural stability. The base of the building, and portions of the wall however make use of concrete to help reinforce the building. 

The architectural design fusion in many of the buildings that were constructed during the Taishō era (大正) borrowed elements of Western Baroque (巴洛克建築), with those of traditional Japanese design. In this case however, the architectural design is somewhat subdued, which makes the traditional Japanese design elements stand out more. This was likely in part due to cost-saving measures as well as ensuring that the construction period of all the stations along the Coastal line would be completed between 1919 (大正8) and 1922 (大正11年).  

The station was constructed using the traditional Irimoya-zukuri (入母屋造 / いりもやづくり) style of design, most often referred to in English as the “East Asian hip-and-gable roof,” one of Japan’s most common architectural styles, and is one that you’d commonly find used for Shinto Shrines, Buddhist temples, Martial Arts Halls, etc. However, even though the design of the station makes use of irimoya, it isn’t comparable with those other more official buildings, which would have been more grand in their architectural design (and the amount of money spent on their construction). 

Nevertheless, keeping with the irimoya architectural style, the building was constructed with genius a network of beams and trusses located within the interior and exterior of the building that work in conjunction with the concrete base to allow the roof to (in this case slightly) eclipse the base (母屋) in size, and ensure that its weight was evenly distributed.

The genius in design, if not already obvious enough has allowed the base of the building to support the weight of the roof for a century. 

The roof was designed using the kirizuma-zukuri (妻造的樣式) style, which is one of the oldest and most commonly used designs in Japan. Translated simply as a “cut-out gable” roof, the kirizuma-style is one of the simplest of Japan’s ‘hip-and-gable’ roofs. What this basically means is that you have a section of the roof (above the rear entrance) that ‘cuts’ out from the rest of the roof and faces outward like an open book (入), while the longer part of the roof is curved facing in the opposite direction.

The roof was originally covered in Japanese-style black tiles (日式黑瓦), but similar to both Dashan and Tanwen Stations, the tiles were replaced at some point (I haven’t found a specific date) with imitation cement tiles that appear similar to the original sodegawara (袖瓦/そでがわら), munagawara (棟瓦 /むながわらあ), nokigawara (軒瓦/のきがわら), and onigawara (鬼瓦/おにがわら) elements of traditional Japanese roof design.

Closed up ox-eye window

One of the most notable ‘baroque-inspired’ elements of the building’s architectural design is the addition of the round ox-eye window (牛眼窗), located above the ‘cut’ section of the roof near the arch. The window helps to provide natural light into the station hall, and is one of those architectural elements that Japanese architects of the period absolutely loved. 

The interior of the building is split in two sections, much like what we saw the former Qidu Railway Station, with the largest section acting as the station hall while the other was where the station staff and ticket windows were located. Given that the station remains in operation today, only the station hall area is open to the public.

That being said, the daily operation of the station is (currently) coordinated out of nearby Tongxiao Station (通宵車站), so as I mentioned earlier, the only employee you’ll find working there is likely to be a volunteer hanging out. The station office is completely closed as is the ticket booth (the station shifted to card swiping for ticket purchasing) so you can’t even take a look at what the office looks like. 

Given that the ticket booth and the office are closed, the station hall has been more or less stripped down and is pretty much empty, except for a few notices on the walls. The relative emptiness of the interior however allows you to appreciate the design of the building a bit more as you are free to walk around and look at everything very closely. 

Interior of the station

Personally, while I did appreciate that the station hall was empty, I thought its size, the open windows and the natural afternoon light made it a really comfortable experience - especially in comparison to the modern stations you’ll find throughout the country today. That in addition to the beautiful planted flowers in the station front, and the sound of the nearby ocean waves, make this a pretty cool place to visit. 

Getting There

 

Address: #57, Hsinpu Village. Tongxiao Township (苗栗縣通霄鎮新埔里新埔57號)

GPS: 24.539850, 120.700350

As is the case with all of my articles about Taiwan’s historic railway stations, I’m going to say something that shouldn’t really surprise you - When you ask what is the best way to get to this train station, the answer should be pretty obvious: Take the train! 

Xinpu Railway Station is the southernmost of Miaoli’s ‘Three treasures’, so getting there from the north takes a bit more time than the other two stations. There are two important things to remember about taking the train: The first is that the station is located south of Hsinchu Station on the Coastal Line (海線), and the second is that the station is only serviced by local commuter trains (區間車). What this means is that if you take an express train from Taipei, or anywhere north of Hsinchu, you’ll have to switch to a commuter train once you’re there.

Be very careful about this, because the majority of trains leaving Hsinchu will take the mountain line, and that’s definitely not where you want to be (on this excursion anyway). That being said, if you planned on visiting this station and then making your way back up north, you could take a faster express train (on the coastal line) to Tongxiao Station and from there transferring to one of the local commuter trains mentioned above to backtrack northbound from there. 

Front portico of the station.

If on the other hand you’re in the area and you’re driving a car or scooter, but still want to stop by and check out the station, that’s okay as well. You should be able to easily find the station if you input the address provided above into your GPS or Google Maps. That being said, my English translation of the address above isn’t likely to show up on your preferred GPS - This is because there isn’t actually a ‘street address’ for the station, so I strongly recommend you copy and paste the Chinese-language address so that you won’t end up getting lost.

The funny thing is that this address problem is something that happens quite often in Japan, but is a little less common here in Taiwan. The Hsinpu Station however is quite a small neighborhood, and the area where the station is located can be considered more or less the middle of nowhere. 

The station is located along the side of a very narrow road near the beach in Miaoli’s southernmost Tongxiao Township (通霄鎮). If you’re driving a car, you’ll have to cross the train tracks on a very small country road, so its important to remember to drive very slowly in case you come across some oncoming traffic. 

When you arrive at the station, you’re free to walk around and check it out, it’s likely that you’ll only come across a volunteer keeping watch. Even if you’re not getting on the train, you can walk through to the back of the platform area without purchasing a platform ticket. So, you’ll be able to freely take photos of the front and back. That being said, the rear of the station is quite cramped as the original designers probably never figured that there would eventually be a sky walk platform constructed next to the station.

This makes taking photos there isn’t a little more difficult than Dashan and Tanwen Stations. 

Of the so-called Three Treasures, Xinpu Station is probably one of the easiest to visit and is where you’re likely to find the most tourists. This is probably due to the fact that it is so close to the famed Baishatun Mazu Temple (白沙屯拱天宮), and the popular Cape of Good Hope (好望角). It is however probably safe to say that it is the less photogenic of the three century-old stations even though it does have its own unique charm.

If you’re going on a tour of these old Japanese stations, then it’s one that you have to visit. Otherwise, unless you’re in the area, its probably not one of those places that many would go out of their way to visit.


Tanwen Train Station (談文湖車站)

I’ve probably never mentioned this, but both my father and my grandfather are pretty highly-skilled carpenters. Growing up, I never really had much respect for what they did, especially when I got dragged out to one of their work sites to ‘learn the family trade’. This is because, where I live in Canada, it’s pretty much the norm to find houses constructed almost entirely of wood, so I never really considered what they did to be all that special - and what kind of kid wants to hang around a construction site anyway?  

Looking back, I wish I took a bit more interest in what they were trying to teach me - not because I regret the decisions I’ve taken in life, but more so because I see a lot of their expertise in some of the articles I write about today. Similarly, after living so long in Taiwan among all of these concrete buildings, it’s easy to feel a bit nostalgic for those things that I thought were far too common in my youth.  

Here in Taiwan, architectural design and construction techniques are concepts that have evolved considerably over time. If you’ve been here long enough, I’m sure you’ll probably have noticed that at some point someone came to the conclusion that the best way to protect people’s homes (from the harsh tropical environment) was to simply pour copious amounts of concrete, and hope for the best.

It wasn’t always like that though - As you might have seen from my various articles about the Japanese period, the architects of that era employed highly-skilled carpenters to assist in the development of the newly acquired colony. Granted, the environmental issues faced by the architects of that era were similar to what those today have to deal with, but they found a way to deal with it, and amazingly many of the wooden buildings that were constructed more than a century ago are in better shape than concrete structures half their age.  

That being said, while there are quite a few of these heritage buildings that remain in great shape, and others that have received a bit of restoration - there are many that can be best described as ‘having seen better days’, and today I’m going to be introducing one of them. 

In a recent article, I introduced Dashan Railway Station (大山火車站), a small train station in central Taiwan’s Miaoli county, which is nearing almost a century of operation. I explained in detail in that article how the small station located along Taiwan’s Coastal Railway (海岸線) is known as one of the Coastal Five Treasures (海線五寶), or the Coastal Three Treasures (海線三寶), depending on who you ask. 

Links: Dashan Railway Station (大山火車站) | Xiangshan Railway Station (香山車站)

I don’t want to spend too much time re-hashing information that I’ve already provided, but each of these so-called “treasures” refers to century-old wooden train stations along the coastal railway line, three of which are located in Miaoli, while the other two are in Taichung. In each case, these historic stations are considerably smaller than what you’d expect from most of Taiwan’s other train stations, but have amazingly remained in operation for a century.

Given their age, each of these train stations has been afforded the designation as a protected heritage building, and at some point they’ll all (probably) receive the colloquial fresh coat of paint that they deserve, but as they’re set to celebrate their centennial in 2022, you’d be excused for wondering why they haven’t already received the attention they so desperately require.

Especially in the case of this particular station. 

Of Miaoli’s so-called ‘Three Treasures’, Tanwen Station (談文車站) is probably in the worst shape of the bunch, but even though it looks as if it is falling apart, it has fortunately remained faithful to its original architectural design. Likewise, the materials used to construct the building almost a century ago remain in relatively good shape meaning that if you’re able to visit before they restore the building, you’ll get to see it in its original glory!

Coastal Railway (海岸線 / かいがんせん)

An illustration of the separation between the Mountain and Coastal Lines.

The history of the railway in Taiwan dates back as far as 1891 (光緒17), when the Qing governor, attempted to construct a route stretching from Keelung (基隆) all the way to Hsinchu (新竹). Ultimately though, the construction of the railway came at too high of a cost, especially with war raging back home in China, so any plans to expand it further were put on hold.

A few short years later in 1895 (明治28), the Japanese took control of Taiwan, and brought with them a team of skilled engineers who were tasked with coming up with plans to have that already established railway evaluated, and then to come up with suggestions to extend it all the way to the south of Taiwan and beyond.   

The Jūkan Tetsudo Project (ゅうかんてつどう / 縱貫鐵道), otherwise known as the ‘Taiwan Trunk Railway Project’ sought to have the railroad pass through all of Taiwan’s already established settlements, including Kirin (基隆), Taihoku (臺北), Shinchiku (新竹), Taichu (臺中), Tainan (臺南) and Takao (高雄). 

Completed in 1908 (明治41), the more than four-hundred kilometer railway connected the north to the south for the first time ever, and was all part of the Japanese Colonial Government’s master plan to ensure that Taiwan’s precious natural resources would be able to flow smoothy out of the ports in Northern, Central, and Southern Taiwan. 

Once completed, the Railway Department of the Governor General of Taiwan (台灣總督府交通局鐵道部) set its sights on constructing branch lines across the country as well as expanding the railway network with a line on the eastern coast as well. 

Link: Taiwan Railway Museum (臺灣總督府鐵道部)

The Mountain and Coastal Line circuit between Zhunan and Changhua.

However, after almost a decade of service, unforeseen circumstances in central Taiwan necessitated changes in the way that the western railway was operated, with issues arising due to typhoon and earthquake damage. More specifically, the western trunk railway in southern Miaoli passed through the mountains and required somewhat of a steep incline in several sections before eventually crossing bridges across the Da’an (大安溪) and Da’jia Rivers (大甲溪).

Issues with the railway in the aftermath of a couple of devastating earthquakes created a lot of congestion, and periodic service outages in passenger and freight service when the railway and the bridges had to be repaired. 

Link: Long-Teng Bridge (龍騰斷橋)

To solve this problem, the team of railway engineers put forward a plan to construct the Kaigan-sen (かいがんせん / 海岸線), or the Coastal Railway Branch line between Chikunangai (ちくなんがい / 竹南街) and Shoka (しょうかちょう / 彰化廳), or the cities we refer to today as Chunan (竹南) and Changhua (彰化). 

Link: Western Trunk Line | 縱貫線 (Wiki)  

Opening ceremonies for the Coastal Line on October 11th, 1922

Construction on the ninety kilometer Coastal Line started in 1919, and amazingly was completed just a few short years later in 1922 (大正11), servicing eighteen stations, some of which (as I mentioned above) continue to remain in service today. 

Those stations were: Zhunan (竹南), Tanwen (談文湖), Dashan (大山), Houlong (後龍), Longgang (公司寮), Baishatun (白沙墩), Xinpu (新埔), Tongxiao (吞霄), Yuanli (苑裡), Rinan (日南), Dajia (大甲), Taichung Port (甲南), Qingshui (清水), Shalu (沙轆), Longjing (龍井), Dadu (大肚), Zhuifen (追分) and Changhua (彰化).

(Note: English is current name / Chinese is the original Japanese-era station name)

The completion of the Coastal Railway was incredibly signficant for a number reasons - most importantly, it assisted with moving freight between the ports in Keelung and Taichung much more efficiently, especially when it came to moving things out central Taiwan given that one of the stations was located at the port in Taichung. Although the railway was primarily used for moving freight back and forth, another important aspect was that the railway allowed for the smaller communities along the coast to grow and become more economically viable.

On that last point, the construction of the railway along the coast not only provided passenger service to the communities that grew along the coast, but it also allowed for entrepreneurs in those areas access to a modern method of exporting their own products for the first time. If you know anything about the relationship between Japan and Taiwan, one of the things that the Japanese absolutely love about this beautiful country is the wide variety of fruit that is grown here.

The coastal railway helped to ignite that passion with the coastal area in Miaoli exporting massive amounts of watermelons and other produce.

Tanwen Station (談文湖車站)

When the Western Coastal Railway opened for service, a number of railway stations simultaneously opened their doors, marking a historic day for passenger and freight service along Taiwan’s western coast, and more importantly improving upon to efficiency of the already existing railway. One of those stations was Miaoli’s Tanwen Station (談文車站 / だんぶんえき), which officially opened on October 11th, 1922 (大正11年).

Originally known as ‘Tanbunmizūmi Station’ (談文湖駅 / だんぶんみずうみえき), or ‘Tanwenhu’ in Mandarin, you might notice that at some point over the past century, one of the characters in the name seems to have disappeared. Currently referred to as “Tanwen” (談文), the character “湖” (mizūmi / hú / lake) was removed shortly after the Japanese-era came to an end.

The original name was derived from the fact that the low-lying area where the station was constructed was once home to a freshwater lake, part of an estuary of the nearby Zhonggang River (中港溪), which flows from the mountains and empties in the ocean. 

That lake however seems to have disappeared, much like the character in the original name.

If you visit the station, you’ll likely notice that beyond the railway platforms there are a number of rice paddies, so I’m assuming that the lake that once existed there was at some point absorbed into the agricultural network set up by local farmers. Nevertheless, a few years after the Japanese-era came to an end, the Chinese Nationalist-controlled Taiwan Railway Administration officially renamed the station “Tanwen Station” (談文車站), removing mention of the ‘lake’ in the original name.  

Unlike most the nation’s railway stations, Tanwen Station isn’t located within a town, village or even a community - It sits quietly along the Taiwan #1 Highway (台1線 / 縱貫公路), and it’s safe to say that most of the out-of-towners who pass by in their cars aren’t even likely to notice it. One of the reasons for this is because the station is also uniquely located down a hill just off of the highway. To reach the front door, you’ll have to walk down the narrow pathway, which is only really wide enough for scooters. 

As mentioned above, one of the main reasons for the construction of the Coastal Railway was to alleviate congestion on the main rail line between Hsinchu and Taichung, but another reason that the railway could similarly offer freight access to the farmers along the coast, who most notably were in the business of exporting Miaoli’s famed watermelons to the ports in Taichung and Keelung for the market back in Japan.

So, if you’ve ever heard someone claim that the coastal railway was constructed to essentially get those precious watermelons back to Japan faster, they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. If you’ve ever eaten a Taiwanese watermelon (or any fruit grown here), it shouldn’t really surprise you!

That being said, when you visit Tanwen Station today, you’d likely come to a conclusion (similar to my own) that that the station doesn’t really seem like it was set up in an optimal way for loading freight. Amazingly though, given the station’s location, and being the first stop along the Coastal railway, it was a prosperous one, given that neighboring Zaoqiao (造橋) was in the business of exporting acacia (相思木) and charcoal while Gongguan (公館) was producing red tiles (紅瓦) and Nanzhuang (南庄) was mining coal, all of which would have been loaded on freight trains at Tanwen to be sent south to the port in Taichung. 

Waiting area outside of the station

Having visited the station, I found it a bit difficult to believe that so much freight could have passed through there over the years. Taking a look at the satellite view on Google Maps however provides an explanation as to how this was actually possible - While the station itself was located in a low-lying area off of the (current) highway, another road was constructed on the opposite side of the tracks to facilitate the processing and loading of freight onto trains. While also quite narrow, the road would have serviced one-way traffic in and out, and looks as if it would have been an efficient set up with passengers entering through the station on one side and the freight being processed on the other side of the tracks.

The economic prosperity created by the station ultimately only ended up lasting a few decades as when the Japanese-era ended, so did much of the exporting of goods that went with it. The Coastal Railway continued its regular service, but as time passed, the number of freight trains running through the area gradually decreased, and today they have become almost non-existent.

Official figures state that in 2020, 24,242 passengers got off and on the train at Tanwen Station, which means that on average fewer than fifty people pass through its gates everyday. To offer a point of comparison, the next station over, Zhunan Station (竹南車站), records almost 15,000 daily passengers, which should go to show just how quiet it is at Tanwen Station. 

Covered walkway around the side of the station

Before I get into the architectural design of the station, I’m going to provide a brief timeline of events that took place at the station over the past century:

  • 10/11/1922 (大正11年) - Tanbunmizūmi Station (淡文湖駅) officially opens for service.

  • 3/10/1954 (民國43年) - The name of the station is officially changed to Tanwen Station (談文車站).

  • 5/30/1976 (民國65年) - A head-on collision near the station results in 29 dead and 141 injured.

  • 3/15/1991 (民國80年) - The station is reclassified as a Simple Platform Station (簡易站).

  • 3/21/2008 (民國97年) - The station is recognized as a protected historic building (歷史建築).

  • 06/30/2015 (民國104年) - The station switches to the usage of card swiping services rather than issuing tickets.

  • 10/10/2022 (民國111年) - The station will celebrate its 100th year of service.

Architectural Design 

Interestingly, when we talk about the stations that make up Miaoli’s Japanese-era “Three Treasures”, the architectural design of each of the stations differ only slightly. I suppose this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given that they were all relatively small stations, each of which opened in the same year, meaning that they obviously saved some money when it came to architectural design and construction costs.

These buildings are about as formulaic as you’ll get with Japanese architectural design, but don’t let that fool you - the simplicity of these stations allows for some special design elements. 

Obviously, as mentioned above, this station is currently in pretty bad shape compared to its contemporaries in Dashan and Xinpu, but even though the paint is chipping and parts of the station look like they’re falling apart, it is remarkably still in pretty good shape - especially when you take into consideration how old it is and that it has been completely open to the elements for a number of years.

Constructed in a fusion of Japanese and Western architectural design, one of the reasons these stations stand out today is that they were built almost entirely of wood (木造結構), more specifically locally sourced Taiwanese cedar (杉木). Another reason is because the architectural design fusion in the stations that were constructed during the Taishō era (大正) borrowed elements of Western Baroque (巴洛克建築), with that of traditional Japanese design.

Approaching the station from the highway

To start, the station was constructed using the ubiquitous Irimoya-zukuri (入母屋造 / いりもやづくり) style of design, most often referred to simply in English as the “East Asian hip-and-gable roof” which more or less means that the building has a roof that is larger than its base. In this style of design, one of the best ways to ensure structural stability was to construct a network of beams and trusses within both the interior and exterior of the building. This allows the roof to (in this case ever to slightly) eclipse the base (母屋) while ensuring that its weight is evenly distributed so that it doesn’t collapse.

One of the areas where you’ll find that the dilapidated state of the station most interesting is that you can find parts where the ‘bamboo mud walls’ (編竹夾泥牆) are exposed, giving you a pretty good view of how walls were reinforced and insulated in Taiwan during the colonial era. This construction method was similar to what was commonly used back in Japan, but since bamboo was both cheap and abundant in Taiwan, the style was modified to form a lattice using bamboo, which is an impressively reliable building material. 

Link: Bamboo Mud Wall (Wiki)

The roof was designed using the kirizuma-zukuri (妻造的樣式) style, which is one of the oldest and most commonly used designs in Japan. Translated simply as a “cut-out gable” roof, the kirizuma-style is one of the simplest of Japan’s ‘hip-and-gable’ roofs. What this basically means is that you have a section of the roof (above the rear entrance) that ‘cuts’ out from the rest of the roof and faces outward like an open book (入), while the longer part of the roof is curved facing in the opposite direction. From either the sky walk or the highway, you can get an excellent view of the roof as you descend either toward the building. 

The roof was originally covered in Japanese-style black tiles (日式黑瓦), but like nearby Dashan Station, the tiles were replaced at some point (I haven’t found a specific date) with imitation cement tiles that remain similar to the original sodegawara (袖瓦/そでがわら), munagawara (棟瓦 /むながわらあ), nokigawara (軒瓦/のきがわら), and onigawara (鬼瓦/おにがわら) elements of traditional Japanese roof design.

Ox-tail window under the apex of the roof

One of the most notable ‘baroque-inspired’ elements of the building’s architectural design is the addition of the round ox-eye window (牛眼窗) located above the ‘cut’ section of the roof near the arch. If you’re descending the sky walk from the platform, its likely one of the first things you’ll notice as it is facing in that direction. The window helps to provide natural light into the station hall, and is one of those architectural elements that Japanese architects of the period absolutely loved. 

The interior of the building is split in two sections, much like what we saw the former Qidu Railway Station with the largest section acting as the station hall while the other was where the station staff and ticket windows were located. Given that the station remains in operation today, only the station hall section is open to the public. That being said, the daily operation of the station is coordinated out of neighouring Zhunan Station (竹南車站), and the only employee you’ll find working there is most often found sitting within in a kiosk on the platform area. The station office is completely closed as is the ticket booth (the station shifted to card swiping for ticket purchasing) so you can’t even take a peek inside to see what the office looks like. 

The empty interior of the station hall

Today the station hall has been more or less stripped down and is pretty much empty, except for a few notices on the walls. The relative emptiness of the interior however allows you to appreciate the design of the building a bit more as you are free to walk around and examine everything closely, and at your leisure.

Personally, while I did appreciate that the station hall was empty, I thought its size, the open windows and the natural afternoon light made it a really comfortable experience, especially in comparison to the modern stations you’ll find throughout the country today. 

One of my favorite aspects of the architectural design of the station is the L-shaped covered walkway located to the rear of the station hall and around to the side. As a son of a carpenter, this is one of the areas where I was able to really appreciate the traditional Japanese-style carpentry. Even though you can find these covered walkways included within almost all of the older Japanese-era stations, out of those that I’ve visited so far, this one is my favorite as you can better appreciate its age when you’re there.

Paint chipping off of the station

Unfortunately, even though Tanwen Station is a protected historic property, it has certainly seen better days in terms of its condition. It’s unclear as to when the local government will ever pull the trigger on repairing the station, or having it completely restored - but if it doesn’t happen within the next few years, there might not be much left of the original building to restore.

One would hope that it would eventually receive the same treatment that the nearby Xiangshan Station has received, but only time will tell.

Still, I’m happy that I was able to check out the station in its original condition before it was fully repaired. If you feel the same way, and would like to enjoy a similar experience, I recommend planning a trip to the station within the near future. 

Getting There

 

Address: #29 Ren-ai Road, Zaoqiao Township, Miaoli County (苗栗縣造橋鄉談文村仁愛路29號) 

GPS: 24.656440 120.858330

As is the case with all of my articles about Taiwan’s historic railway stations, I’m going to say something that shouldn’t really surprise you - When you ask what is the best way to get to this train station, the answer should be pretty obvious: Take the train! 

Tanwen Railway Station is one of the first stations you’ll reach after passing over into Miaoli County from Hsinchu. There are however a couple of important things to remember about taking the train: The first is that the station is located south of Hsinchu Station (新竹車站) on the Coastal Line (海線), and the second is that the station is only serviced by local commuter trains (區間車). What this means is that if you take an express train from Taipei or anywhere north of Hsinchu, you’ll have to switch to a commuter train once you’re there.

Be very careful about this, because the majority of trains leaving Hsinchu will take the mountain line (山線), and that’s definitely not where you want to be (on this excursion anyway). The ride to the station should take less than half an hour (25 minutes to be precise) from Hsinchu, and once you’re there you’ll be able to check out the station at your leisure before hopping back on the train to your next destination.

And if you’re asking for recommendations, I’d suggest stopping by the other Japanese-era railway stations in the vicinity such as Xiangshan (香山車站), Dashan (大山車站) and Xinpu (新埔車站) - or hopping back on the Mountain Line to check out Zaoqiao Station (造橋車站) and Tongluo Station (銅鑼車站).

For most weekend visitors, the station acts as a starting point for the Zhenghan Trail (鄭漢紀念步道), a relatively short hiking trail that provides excellent views of the coast and the Coastal Railway. It’s also a pretty popular location for railway photographers to take landscape photos of trains coming through the coastal landscape. If you’re interested in the trail, I highly recommend checking out the link below, which provides all the information you’ll need about hiking the trail.

Link: Zhenghan Trail 鄭漢幾年步道 (Taiwan Trails and Tales)

If on the other hand you’re in the area and you’re driving a car or scooter, but still want to stop by and check out the station, that’s okay as well. You should be able to easily find the station if you input the address provided above into your GPS or Google Maps. The station is located along the side of the road in Miaoli’s Zaoqiao Township (造橋鄉). If you’re driving a car, the station is next to a busy country road where parking is somewhat awkward, although not entirely impossible - if you’re only stopping by for a short time.

When you arrive, you’re free to walk around and check it out as it is pretty much an empty shell these days with riders having to walk across the sky walk to the platforms to swipe in and out.

References

  1. 談文車站 | Tanwen Station | 談文駅 (Wiki) 

  2. 海線五寶 (Wiki)

  3. 細說苗栗「海線三寶」車站物語 (臺灣故事)

  4. 談文駅 (れとろ駅舎)

  5. 海線的老火車站 (二): 談文火車站 (Maggie’s Home)

  6. 『談文車站』苗栗縣定歷史建築~台鐵海線五寶之一的木造車站! (瑋瑋*美食萬歲 )

  7. 木造車站-海線五寶 (張誌恩 / 許正諱)

  8. 海線僅存五座木造車站:談文、大山、新埔、日南、追分全收錄!(David Win)