Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
followed today by road, becoming a distinct thoroughfare of its own after Rama
IV
Road
ends, and after the tail end of the old Hua Lampong canal emerges briefly into daylight
to disgorge into the river, for there is a long thoroughfare here named Thanon Thang Rot
Fai Sai Kao, “the road that skirts the railway line”. There is almost nothing to see now, as
the rails were torn up, except for a spur that heads into the port area at Klong Toei, which
for some reason has survived. One of the original Kraus locomotives has recently been
installed near the Paknam terminus, although enthusiasts say that it actually ran on the
Mahachai-Mae Klong line that was built from Thonburi to Samut Songkhram at about the
same time, Kraus supplying the engines for both ventures.
Laying of the northern and northeastern railway lines, under the newly formed Royal
State Railways of Siam, began in 1891, and the terminus for both was built near to the
Bangkok terminus of the Paknam line. The Royal State Railways built their maintenance
yard nearby, but the railways proved to be such a success that a much larger station was
soon required. The maintenance yard was moved to Makkasan in 1910, where it can still
be seen, much of it in a state of picturesque industrial ruin, and the building of Hua Lam-
pong station began. Mario Tamagno, one of the Italian architects who has left such a dis-
tinctive mark on the city, and who was under a twenty-five-year contract to Siam's Public
Works Department, undertook the design. Before coming to Bangkok Tamagno had stud-
ied and taught in Turin, one of Italy's great industrial centres, where new architectural
styles were emerging for the factories and the company buildings.
Built by Dutch engineers, and with fourteen platforms, the station opened on 25
th
June
1916. Standing in front of the station today, one can see how Tamagno drew inspiration
from his Turin background. That vaulted iron roof with its girder design, combined with
the blue, green and clear-glass skylights, somehow sits easily in architectural terms above
the Greco-Roman columns of the portico and the Renaissance-style wings on either side.
Enter the station and the dimensions are a delight: despite its size, Hua Lampong is still to
a human scale. The iron girder design of the frontage is followed throughout the building
to support the roof, and the skylights, orange and clear glass at the far end, give the in-
terior a light and airy feel. The offices on the upper level still have their window shutters,
enhancing the European style of the era. Tamagno's design initiated a style that later came
to be known as Thai Art Deco, used in grand buildings such as the General Post Office and
Chalermkrung Royal Theatre, as well as in smaller premises such as shophouses in Chin-
atown. Take a short walk from the station along Rama
IV
Road and over the canal bridge
to the Maitri Chit Junction, and you will see how, with a clear view of Hua Lampong in
