[Thursday Art & Culture]Taipei Railway Culture Festival: Explore Lucy Taipei Railway Workshop

Written/Compiled and Reported by the Editorial Team of MOOK Scenic Spots Home Travel Life Network

Built in the 1930s and known as the "train hospital," Taiwan Railways' Taipei Railway Workshop is hosting its second Railway Culture Festival. Themed "Glamour. North Workshop" this year, the event runs from September 27 to October 26 for a month. Visitors can see a steam hammer from the Liu Mingchuan era of 1889 during the Qing Dynasty, a technician training institute, the train repair and inspection process, as well as two large-scale installations: "Aurora Frontier" and "Sound Journey." There will also be multiple art and cultural activities, railway lectures, factory tours, and free miniature steam train rides available on weekends.

Located in the diesel-electric workshop, "Aurora Frontier" uses light projections from track carts to present the interplay between railways and the city; "Sound Journey" documents sounds along Taiwan's railway lines, paired with thirty large suspended images showing full-factory maintenance operations, presenting the railway journey.

The original Taipei Machinery Bureau was the predecessor of Taipei Airport. After the Japanese arrived in Taiwan, it was used as an artillery factory before being taken over by the Taiwan Governor-General's Railway Department. Later, due to expanding transport needs, it was relocated. In the 1930s, as part of the largest railway factory relocation project in East Asia, it moved to the current "Taipei Airport" site on Section 5 of Civic Boulevard, covering 19 hectares and earning the nickname "train hospital."