Museum Island

Establishment Purpose

• After the Taiwan Trunk Line started service in 1908, the "Takow Station" was then established as the terminal station in southern Taiwan; at that time, it was a wooden structure. In 1920, Takow was renamed as Takao (Kaohsiung), and the station was also renamed as "Takao Station." In 1941, the passenger and the cargo trains were separated. The Takao Station was relocated to Taikō Village (Tai-káng-tsng) on the east side of the Love River, and the original location was renamed as Kaohsiung Port Station featuring the development exclusively for cargo. In January 1945 at the end of World War II, the US army began a large scale and intensive bombing in Taiwan. Kaohsiung was the target due to its being an important industrial and military town. Kaohsiung Port, which was the land and sea transport hub, was severely damaged after the war. In 1947, Taiwan Railways Administration rebuilt the.Kaohsiung Port Station on a new site, which is to the south of the original location. The new structure was built with RC (reinforced concrete), bricks and wooden roof trusses. The roof was covered by cement roof tiles in the dormitory-style (Four Roof-Flashing), but it's not as flashy as the old construction. "Kaohsiung Port Station" was registered as Kaohsiung City's historic building on Feb 26, 2003.

Department Introduction

Kaohsiung Port Station is Taiwan's best-preserved cargo station. In October 2010, the station was managed by the Bureau of Culture Affairs of Kaohsiung City Government and transformed into the Takao Railway Museum that keeps and displays the prosperous atmosphere of railway transport during the 1960s and 1970s and provides visitors with time-space experience. The museum recreates Taiwan's largest cargo terminal; and on the aspects of preserving, demonstrating, and promoting the railway culture, the abandoned old train station was kept and transformed by the professional techniques into a museum; based on the reality display and research orientation, an unprecedented new interpretation of railway museum and arts museum in Taiwan, the museum presents the most prosperous atmosphere of the Taiwan railway cargo transport during the 1960s and the 1970s. Besides the exhibition area, there's an innovative railway reference room, which displays paper and book information provided by railway researchers, including the "Railway Bulletin " which provides complete 1st-hand research information starting from 1951 until now. It's hoped that the small reference room will become significant in the research of Taiwan's railway culture.

Audience Services and Facilities

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