Wang Po railway station, Burma Railway

The theme letter for our ‪‎travel pics this week is R – for Railways.

To end this week, a sombre reflection – from near Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

This railway station is in the village of Wang Po, just a few kilometres from the JEATH museum (which memorialises Allied POWs who were imprisoned there), the Bridge over the River Kwai, and is on part of the infamous Burma Railway – a line which Japanese invaders wanted built to supply their soldiers across South East Asia.

The whole line was never completed – but parts of it have been, and its possible to travel along it while in Kanchanaburi, paying respects.

The sign at the station’s a reminder that for every sleeper laid on the line, a man lost his life .. Allied POWs, Thai ‘indentured servants’ (read slaves), and Burmese peasants forced at gunpoint to build the railway.

(For an earlier blogpost on Kanchanaburi, and on sacrifice, click here …)