Background information

Photography from the platforms didn’t seem to be an issue. The only time anyone said anything was when I was photographing the signals at Mong Kok East station: someone came down and asked me (in English) what I was up to photographing the equipment. I said I was one holiday and interested in trains, they said that was okay and let me continue.

During my trip I spent a few afternoons lineside along the East Rail line: most of the time I was catching the train and walking, but one afternoon I borrowed a bike from my cousins and rode from near University station up towards Tai Po. The area around Tai Po Kau is nice, but at long way away if you were to walk from a railway station. (more about bike rental at the HK Cycling Alliance website)

As for timetables for the Through Trains, the MTR website doesn’t list intermediate times – only Hung Hom. I usually allowed 15 minutes for Hung Hom – Sha Tin, and another 15 minutes for them to reach Fanling. Timekeeping is rather loose, so I made sure I turned up earlier than I expected the train to turn up. Sometimes they seemed to be 30 minutes or so late. The Guangdong train is run by either the KTT push-pull set, or the loco hauled carriages. The printed timetable I had said if the KTT was operating a given service. Usually the SS8 electric locos were used, I did see the DF11 diesels a few times back in December 2010, but I was told seeing diesels is not normal.

There are also the Beijing and Shanghai trains, the alternate day to day. Timekeeping for them is even worse, probably because they travel so far to get to Hong Kong. The main difference from the Guangdong train is the carriages: the Beijing / Shanghai carriages have side skirts, and look more white than blue. You can find the timetables on Wikipedia:

• Beijing-Kowloon Through Train
• Shanghai-Kowloon Through Train

If standing on the platform, the next train displays will tell you when a non-stopping train is coming. Most of the time it will be a through train. The Chinese version of “not stopping” is 5 characters, the usual station names are only 2 or three.

Another thing to keep an eye out for is the ex-KCR locomotive fleet. You can usually see one loco stabled at the way and works depot near Fo Tan station.

Exit Fo Tan station at the south end, take the east exit, cross the road towards “Fo Tan Railway House” and cross the foot bridge that heads east.

You can also find diesel locomotives lurking around the depot at Hung Hom: exit the station to the bus interchange, then look over the edge of the station deck onto the track below, where the freight yard is.

One chance to see the diesels out on the main line is between 3pm and 3.30pm each day (I’m not sure if it is just weekdays, or weekends as well). A light engine move leaves Hung Hom around 3pm to 3.30pm for Fo Tan station, the locos get serviced at Hung Hom but the works trains are based out of Fo Tan.

Now for photo locations

Shooting from the “opposite” platform can be troublesome: with the normal MTR EMUs running so frequently they will probably block your shot, which is a pain.

Hung Hom is pretty constrained, lots of overhead stanchions and buildings in the way.

Either end of the Mong Kok East northbound platform works, but you will need a telephoto lens (100mm or more). The shot is pretty “head on”.

Kowloon Tong is rather tight for getting any photos.

Tai Wai is a boring straight platform.

Sha Tin has a footbridge at the south end which isn’t too far to walk. I didn’t try it myself.

The stretch of line between Sha Tin and Fo Tan is walkable, and there are a number of footbridges across the line you can shoot from. The walls on the bridges are rather high, I am about 6 foot tall and had a bit of trouble seeing over. A highway parallels the railway on this stretch. I took a number of photos from there.

Just south of Fo Tan is a spot at ground level. The metal picket fence is about 5 foot high, you can either shoot over the top, through the bars, or step back from it. Exit the station to the south, take the east exit, instead of crossing the road to Fo Tan Railway House, follow the footpath south. It goes downhill, and you end up at the railway.

Just south of University station is a footbridge above a curve: exit the station to the south-east, follow the footpath along the railway, there will be steps up to after a while.

There is another footbridge a bit further south from the previous spot, but I’m not a big fan of it – the road gets in the way.

At University station itself you can get a shot in either direction, there are sharp curves at each end. You just have to be lucky to not have a train on the other track.

I mentioned Tai Po Kau earlier, where the railway exits a tunnel then runs beside a lake, then over a creek. It is a decent bike ride to get there from anywhere else, but a very scenic area.

If you ride to Tai Po Kau from University station via the Tolo Harbour bike path, there is an elevated embankment near Science Park, where you can get a clear photo over the lineside fences.

I didn’t spend any time at Tai Po Market or Tai Wo stations, so can’t say much there.

Between Tai Wo and Fanling looks nice from the train, but the area is very isolated, so I didn’t check it out.

Finally, between Sheung Shui and Fanling is a long piece of straight track, there is a footbridge to the north of Fanling that I spent a while at. Exit the station to the north-east, follow the road headed north past the sporting ground and the swimming pool, and the ramp should be right ahead.

I hope the above helps somebody else out!

Google Map

Here is a map showing each of the locations detailed above, as well as the walking / cycling route from the nearest MTR station.

View Railfanning on the MTR East Rail line in a larger map

Footnote

• My East Rail Line photos on Flickr – you can find all my East Rail photos and where they were taken on this map.

A timeline of what there is to see:

• 00:00 Intro – Kowloon Canton Railway British Section
• 00:15 Original Tsim Sha Tsui terminus
• 00:30 KCR #54 at Tsim Sha Tsui terminus
• 00:40 KCR footage along the line
• 01:10 Train passes Sheraton Hotel at the original Tsim Sha Tsui terminus
• 01:30 Passenger train arrival at Tsim Sha Tsui platform 3
• 01:50 Goods platforms 1 and 2 at Tsim Sha Tsui
• 02:05 Inside the Tsim Sha Tsui booking hall
• 02:30 Tsim Sha Tsui platforms
• 02:45 Inside the carriages
• 03:20 Down end of the Tsim Sha Tsui terminus
• 03:40 Looking out the back window departing original Tsim Sha Tsui station
• 04:15 Original Hum Hom yard
• 04:30 Passing a freight at Mongkok station
• 04:50 Former Tunnel #1 north of Mongkok (150 feet long)
• 05:20 Rear view from the back window while running along the single track
• 06:55 Original Beacon Hill Tunnel – tunnel #2
• 06:10 Track side around Sha Tin
• 06:15 Crossing the Shing Mun River
• 06:30 Sha Tin station
• 06:50 Following the shoreline of Tolo Harbour
• 07:05 Entering tunnel #3
• 07:15 University station
• 07:50 Crossing an inlet of Tolo Harbour
• 08:30 Tai Po Kau station
• 09:30 Passing a level crossing
• 09:35 Tai Po Market station
• 10:50 Crossing the Lam Tsuen River
• 11:05 Trains through rural countryside
• 11:10 Running beside the main water pipeline from China
• 11:25 Running through a level crossing
• 11:35 Junction for the Wo Hop Shek cemetery branch
• 11:45 Fanling station and yard
• 12:15 Train arriving for a cross at Fanling
• 12:45 Chinese mail van attached to KCR train
• 12:55 Departing Fanling
• 13:20 Sheung Shui station, has no crossing loop
• 13:25 KCR #59 heads past light engine
• 13:40 Distant shot in the countryside
• 14:00 Border crossing at Lo Wu
• 14:05 Semaphore distant signal
• 14:10 Inside the trains
• 14:35 Semaphore home signals
• 14:40 Train on the Wo Hop Shek cemetery branch
• 15:00 Wo Hop Shek station
• 15:15 Hand staff exchange between train crew and station staff
• 16:00 Crowds at Wo Hop Shek station
• 16:15 Around the Wo Hop Shek cemetery
• 16:40 Shunting trains at Wo Hop Shek
• 17:05 Graphic warning signage
• 17:15 Boom barriers installed at all level crossings between 1975-76
• 17:45 New engine shed at Hung Hom
• 17:55 Hi-rail vehicles and Dodge rail bus
• 18:25 New railway workshops at Ho Tung Lau (opened in 1968)
• 18:30 KCR #56 passes Ho Tung Lau workshops
• 18:55 More view of the workshops
• 19:05 KCR #60 passes beneath new bridges at Hung Hom
• 19:25 Overview of the future site of Hung Hom terminus
• 19:40 Newly completed tunnel #1A
• 20:00 Exiting tunnel #1A
• 20:15 Last passenger train with KCR #54 departs original Tsim Sha Tsui terminus
• 21:15 KCR #53 removes last freight wagons
• 21:41 KCR #51 removes last passenger coaches
• 22:00 Slewing mainline at Ho Man Tin to connect new Hung Hom station
• 23:20 Around the new Hung Hom station
• 23:30 First train to new Hung Hom station
• 24:30 Traverser in use at Hung Hom to release locomotives from the dead end roads
• 25:00 Hung Hom station concourse, escalators and platforms
• 25:55 Trains departing Hung Hom
• 26:50 Freight trains along the line
• 27:20 Hung Hom freight yard
• 27:35 Demolishing the typhoon damaged Shing Mun River bridge in 1976
• 28:10 Replacement bridge operational in six weeks
• 28:30 Push-pull train, temporary platforms and bus connections in use during the bridge replacement works
• 30:00 Temporary freight handing facilities
• 30:15 First through train from Canton on 4.4.1979 hauled by Chinese DF3 diesel
• 31:00 Chinese DF3 diesel running around and on turntable
• 32:00 Chinese DF2 diesel hired by the KCR during a motive power shortage
• 32:30 View of track duplication works in the late 1970s
• 32:40 Early stages of electrification works at Hong Hom
• 32:50 Temporary station at Mongkok
• 33:00 New station at Kowloon Tong
• 33:10 New Beacon Hill Tunnel at Kowloon Tong
• 33:35 New stations at Sha Tin and Racecourse
• 34:30 Diesel train passes new Metro Cammell EMUs
• 34:50 Metro Cammell EMUs at Ho Tung Lau depot
• 35:00 Final KCR diesel passenger train departs Hung Hom with KCR #51 and #52
• 35:55 Through train in the New Territories
• 36:10 Last diesel special passes by, double headed
• 36:50 The End

Things to see and do

Hong Kong has more to see and do other than look a trains – here are a short list of the touristy things that I recommend, ordered by how much I enjoyed them. You can find more information about the sights at the regularly updated and reliable “Hong Kong Extras” website.

Victoria Peak
- Catch the Peak Tram to the top.
- Head up in the afternoon, and watch the sun go down and the city lights come on.
- When I was there, if you have an Octopus Card you can skip the line at the bottom station, and walk straight up to the turnstiles.
- You can also get a bus to the top: it’s a bit cheaper but takes longer. The view is different, but not that exciting compared to the tram.

Star Ferry
- The Star Ferry crosses Victoria Harbour, which separates Hong Kong Island and Kowloon.
- Worth going upper deck one way, lower deck the other – you will see things a bit differently.

Hong Kong Island lights by night
- Catch the Star Ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui, take a right out of the ferry terminal, and follow the promenade.

Temple Street night market
- Kowloon side has plenty of night markets, but they all sell the same stuff, so only need to visit one.
- You can take a slow walk from north end of market to the waterfront at Tsim Sha Tsui in an hour or three.
- Otherwise start at one end and walk along, then take MTR back to where you started.

Big Buddha on Lantau Island
- Visiting the Big Buddha will take up an entire day.
- See the big Budddha statue at the monastery, as well as the sights from the Nyong Ping 360 cable car, and view the Hong Kong International Airport from the hills high above.
- Take MTR Tung Chung line to Tung Chung and change to the cable car.
- The queue to board will be massive in the morning, possibly go in the afternoon then head home just before closing time.
- There is also a bus up to Nyong Ping, but takes a while to wind through the mountains.

Outlying Islands
Another destination that will take up an entire day, but it shows a different side of Hong Kong. The easiest islands to get to are Cheung Chau or Lamma.
- Cheung Chau is the more touristy of the two, but is a holiday resort aimed at Hong Kong locals – lots of restaurants, and you can go walking up in the hills.
- Lamma Island is much quieter, a bit more Westernised because lots of foreign workers live there.

Aberdeen, Stanley and Repulse Bay
All three are on south side of Hong Kong Island, and can be reached by bus.
- I’ve never visited Aberdeen. Known for fishing boats and the floating seafood restaurants.
- To me Stanley is overrated: the market is just the same as all the other markets around Hong Kong, and there isn’t much else there to see or do.
- Repulse Bay is just a beach and a temple. I wouldn’t bother with it either.

Trains, trams and other transport

Hong Kong Tramways
- Runs along the north side of Hong Kong Island, with narrow gauge double deck trams.
- The full trip takes 1.5 hours, but unless you have heaps of time it isn’t worth riding end-to-end, as the outer ends of the route are much the same – interchangeable 1960s apartment blocks.
- My suggestion: start at Western Market terminus in Sheung Wan and head east to Causeway Bay or Happy Valley, a trip of around 30 minutes.
- To ensure you snag the best seat (front row of the upper deck) head to the tram terminus where the empty trams turn around.

Suggested short Mass Transit Railway tours
Two suggested routes that give you the ‘essence’ of the MTR:
- Tsuen Wan line from Tsim Sha Tsui, change to Kwun Tong Line via the cross platform interchange at Mong Kok. Change to East Rail at Kowloon Tong. Change to West Rail at Hung Hom. Take train to Tsim Sha Tsui East, where you wander through even more underground subways.
- Head along the Island Line between Sheung Wan and Causeway Bay stations, possibly combined with a trip back on the Hong Kong Tramway. Don’t get confused by Chai Wan Station at the other end of the line!

MTR interesting bits
- Island Line is mostly bored tunnels, with the platforms being London-style tubes.
- Everything else is cut and cover, so the platforms are much bigger.
- See those two types of station design, you’ve seen it all!
- Trains mostly the same across the network, except for for the MTR East Rail, which runs 12-car long EMUs.

Busiest bits of the MTR
Some interchanges where you will see massive crowds of people during peak times are:
- Kowloon Tong platforms, above ground
- Mong Kok, cross platform interchange
- Admiralty, cross platform interchange

Platforms without full height gates
The majority of station on the MTR now have full height platform screen doors, which makes taking photos difficult. The exceptions are:
- Island Line: Heng Fa Chuen + Chai Wan.
- Kwun Tong Line: Kowloon Bay, Ngau Tau Kok, Kwun Tong.
- Tsuen Wan Line: Kwai Fong, Kwai Hing, Tsuen Wan.
- Entire Ma On Shan and East Rail Lines.

Above ground railways
There are a few places where you can get lineside to take photos of MTR trains:
- Kwun Tong line from Kowloon Bay to Kwun Tong stations.
- Tsuen Wan line through Kwai Fong and Kwai Hing stations
- Island line at the eastern end.
- Majority of the Tung Chung and Airport Express lines.
- All of the East Rail and Ma On Shan lines.
- New Territories end of the West Rail line.

Disneyland Resort Line
- The only 100% driverless line of the MTR network.
- You can see out the front window of the train due to the lack of staff.
- Located out of the urban area of Hong Kong, it so takes 20 or so min to get out there.
- If not going to Disneyland, then you can still do an out and back trip using your Octopus card, and pay nothing much for the privilege.

Chinese locomotives
- Try Mong Kok East (not Mong Kok) station to see the intercity trains pass through.
- The extreme ends of the platform are the best locations to take photos from, just stand away from the platform edge.
- When I was there I didn’t have any trouble with station staff.
- Platform announcements will tell you when a ‘non stopping train’ is approaching.
- The train timetable is here – ‘Guangzhou East’ is the Chinese end of the trip, and ‘Hung Hom’ is the Hong Kong end.
- Trains usually leave Hung Hom on time, with Mong Kok East being 5 minutes down the line.
- Southbound trains can be rather late, depending on delays elsewhere.
- Services marked ‘Ktt’ use a different double deck train set, but all other services are Chinese stock.

MTR Light Rail
- A modern light rail network located in the New Territories.
- It operates with a fleet of modern single-directional trams on mostly reserved track.
- Catch the MTR West Rail line to get there.
- If you’re interested in trams then head out there for a look, but for anyone else it isn’t worth the effort.

Hong Kong Railway Museum
- Located way out in the New Territories, to get there is a 30 minute train ride, followed by a 15 minute walk.
- There isn’t much out there other than a “non-refurbished” TL class, some carriages, and a some informative displays.
- If you are only in Hong Kong a few days, it is probably not worth the trip.

Other tips

Arriving at Hong Kong
- Catching the bus into the city is much cheaper than the Airport Express train.
- Make sure you buy an Octopus Card (I’m pretty sure you can buy one from the airport – otherwise head to the customer service window at any station)

Heading back to airport
- Take the Airport Express train because of the in town check in – drop off your bags at the railway station, and don’t worry about them until you arrive at your destination airport.
- Have a look at the automated train in the airport basement when you get there. It runs out the the far end of the gates in one direction, but you can always walk back to your gate if it is in the other part of the terminal.

Travel tips
The Octopus card has a 90 minute time limit on train trips. This means if you enter station ‘X’, ride the MTR network without passing through any ticket barriers, then exit at the station next to ‘X’ within the time limit, you only get charged the minimum fare.
This trick works well if you want to explore the MTR network without paying through the nose. Just keep in mind that if you take longer than 90 minutes you will be locked inside the station: to get out you’ll need to talk to a customer service officer to be let out, after explaining what station you travelled from and paying the relevant fare.

Footnote

Don’t forget about the “Hong Kong Extras” website when planning your trip – they’ve got details of how to get almost anywhere a tourist would want to go.

Compare that with my 2004 trip to Hong Kong, where I took only 242 photos, and uploaded 50 of them. My next project will be uploading the handful of photos I took during my 1998 visit: so far I’ve only gotten around to scanning a handful of prints.

Thankfully I took a number of other photos about 30 minutes either side of this one, and once I visit somewhere, I’m usually able to find it again on a map with a bit of digging around. In the case of the photo above I was travelling on a bus between my 姑媽’s (father’s elder sister) house in the New Territories and Tsim Sha Tsui, crossing the Kowloon Hills via Tai Po Road.

With that in mind, I jumped on Google Maps and followed Tai Po Road down from the hills towards Kowloon, looking for side streets that faced a hillside. After a bit of scrolling around, I finally found the same street as my photo – Wong Chuk Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

View Larger Map

On closer inspection the same grey and white van is parked in both photos, and the price of carpark is the same – $12 an hour or $55 per day.

Some additional photos of the wreckage can be found on the blog of a local railfan

The Wikipedia article on the East Rail line has the following to say about the accident:

On 25 November 1984, a train derailed between Sheung Shui and Lo Wu station. The incident occurred when the driver, preparing to back the train up to Sheung Shui station, failed to follow a speed/stop signal while the train was exceeding the speed limit. The train crashed into a boulder buffer with the first two cars piling on top of each other. The degree of damage was so extensive that the cars never returned to service. Passengers were unloaded prior to the crash, while the driver sustained only minor injuries.

Given that that details in Wikipedia sounds like poorly translated English, I went over to the Chinese version of the same article, and ran it through Google Translate.

My interpretation:

• Sheung Shui station was the terminus of a down service,
• All passengers leave the train so that the train can change direction,
• To head back towards Hung Hom, trains proceed into a turnback siding at the down end of the station,
• After changing ends the driver brought his train back towards Sheung Shui station,
• The train failed to negotiate the crossover back to the main line, instead continuing along the siding into a dead end,
• The train hit the buffers at a high speed, with the leading two carriages being written off due to the damage inflicted.

Unfortunately I can’t find a diagram showing the track layout of Sheung Shui station circa 1984 – presumably the turnback siding was removed when the Lok Ma Chau spur line was opened in 2008. From what the news footage shows, the turnback siding was located on the eastern side of the line at the down end of the station.

Finding out which carriages were scrapped as a result of the collision is also difficult – Google Translate and the HKRail.net website says the following:

E45 (145-245-445) scrapped after the accident at Sheung Shui in 1984

It appears that the remains of carriage 145 were used to build a display at the Hong Kong Railway Museum, but by the time I visited in 2010 it was gone – so here is an older photo of the mockup by Gordon Graham.

Other accidents

The Chinese version of Wikipedia lists two other major accidents oon the East Rail line page. They are, via Google Translate:

1923 Ma Liu Shui derailment

On June 14, 1923 at 11:00 am a southbound train encountered a landslip at Ma Liu Shui, the locomotive and first car derailed, fortunately no one was injured. The locomotive was repaired and re-entered service, but was scrapped after it was involved in a second accident in 1931.

1931 Ma Liu Shui derailment

In the afternoon of April 20, 1931 heavy rain caused streams to burst near No. 22 bridge south of University Station. About 17:10 a Kowloon-bound train approached the damaged bridge which overloaded and collapsed, leading to the locomotive and the first four passenger carriages derailing and falling 20 feet below the roadbed. Carriages 3 and 4 telescoped into each other.

After the incident, railway bureau, police and the fire brigade were immediately deployed to carry out the rescue, nearby residents have rushed to help, but because of the remote location, the lack of suitable tools and inclement weather, the work is very arduous. The accident caused a total of 12 people were killed, the highest death toll of any Hong Kong railway accident.

The locomotive involved was the same one as the 1923 derailment, and was scrapped as a result of the accident. Damage to the railway resulted in the service not resuming until June.

With only one fatal accident in the 100 years of railways in Hong Kong, I reckon their safety record is very good.

Completed in 1979 as the “Prince of Wales Building” to serve as the headquarters of the British military forces in Hong Kong, the 28 storey tower stands 113 meters above the ground, with the unusual ‘building on a stick’ design chosen so that it was difficult to climb or attack (or so the rumours say).

Meanwhile on the other side of the work on the streets of Sydney, stands a slightly more curved version of the same building.

Called ‘Civic Tower’ and standing 132 metres above the ground, this 35 story building was completed in 2004 and belongs to an organisation almost as secretive as the Chinese military: the Sydney Masonic Centre.

So how did the two buildings built three decades apart come to look so similar? This article from the Sydney Morning Herald describes…

It’s probably one of the most controversial buildings in Sydney, squatting for decades as a big, brutal presence on the corner of Castlereagh and Goulburn streets, and until now, unfinished. By next month, however, 30 years after it was built, the NSW Masonic Centre will finally be completed with a 24-storey tower that was designed in 1974.

When Nick Lucas, Grocon’s head of development for NSW and Queensland, bought the rights to the air space above the Masonic Centre, they came with plans for a contemporary glass curtain-wall tower “but we preferred the original design”, he said this week. In fact, said Lucas, “we believe the ’70s are back in fashion”.

The original 1970s design for Sydney’s building was completed by architects Joseland & Gilling, with the firm of Peddle Thorp and Walker using them as a basis for what was eventually built.

Finding out who designed the Prince of Wales Building was a lot more difficult, with the only relevant hit being this page from a Hong Kong surveying firm:

Mr. Pun How Wai, Nelton

- B. Arch. in Architectural (Hong Kong University)
- Member of The Royal Institute of British Architects
- Associate of Royal Australian Institute of Architects
- Architects Registration Board

Mr. Pun joined the Architectural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government in 1965. He then been working with the Government for over 23 years and held the position of Chief Architect before leaving the Civil Services. Over the years, Mr. Pun had involved in many projects including the Kowloon Police Headquarters, the Prince of Wales Building as well as the development of Shatin New Town.

Did someone involved in designing the Hong Kong building see the 1970s plans by Joseland & Gilling for the Sydney tower, and realise a skyscraper on a stick was the perfect match for a secure military facility? I guess we might never know.

Further reading

• Chinese People’s Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building at Emporis
• Civic Tower at Emporis
• Beauty of the beast: article by Geraldine O’Brien about Civic Tower

On my last trip to Hong Kong I did the same thing as every local resident, and picked up an Octopus card so that I could travel around the city by public transport. Top the card up with credit before you travel, and every time you jump onto a train, tram, bus or ferry the appropriate fare gets deducted from the balance.

Thankfully for me, my 姑媽 (father’s elder sister) went to the trouble of picking up my father and I an Octopus cards each from the local MTR station, and added some money to it. (taking care of her little brother is something close families never grow out of).

For the rest of my trip I continued using my Octopus card around Hong Kong, checking the account balance on the ticket gates when I left stations, and adding another HK$100 to the balance when it started to run low.

One thing I did notice through my travels was that the travel history for my card was all in Chinese, along with the messages on the receipts I received after adding value to my card. At the time I didn’t think anything of it, given I could still work out what my account balance was.

Things changed later in my trip when I decided to buy an additional Octopus card for myself as a souvenir, over the counter at an MTR station from the customer service staff, who spoke the same language as me: English. The interesting difference was the langauge of the receipt: it was now in English.

The other difference with my newly purchased Octopus card was the account balance message displayed on exiting MTR stations: the small LCD screen showed English text that I understood. Amazing!

So why was one of my Octopus cards displaying English text, and the other one Chinese? Doing my usual Google search trick didn’t turn up anything relevant, so I unfortunately I had to guess.

My first line of enquiry was the serial number on the card, in the format of nnnn nnnn (n). Since the serial number of one card ended with a (1) and the other ended on (2), I thought this was an indicator of card language, but this turned out to be red herring: photos of other Octopus cards online showed any digit could appear inside the brackets, with the last digit possibly being a check digit.

My current theory is that the language of an Octopus card is set at the time of issue: my 姑媽 speaks Cantonese so she was given a card set to Chinese, while English speaking me was given one programmed to English.

However they do it, it is quite the nifty feature!

Fo Tan Depot is the main workshops for the trains that operate on the East Rail line, and also serves as the base of operations for the maintenance trains. The most visible section of the depot is at the south end, where the main storage area for new rail, points and crossings is located, along with sidings used to stable diesel locomotives and various wagons. Thankfully for railfans a footbridge passes over the top, located only a short walk from the southern exit of Fo Tan Station.

The rest of the depot is hidden beneath the concrete deck that supports a large housing development, so the contents of the sidings are difficult to photograph, the only access being the platform at Racecourse Station. When speeding past by train a number of maintenance trains can be seen stabled in the labyrinth of tracks, but the more common EMU fleet fills the majority of the yard.

Another location that maintenance trains once called home was the goods yard at Sha Tin Station, which was used in the late 2000s during the reconstruction of Fo Tan Depot. During this period it was normal to see a large collection of track machines and way and works wagons stabled during the day (photo via
Wikipedia).

The final location to find maintenance trains on the East Rail line is the yard at Hung Hom, where further track machines are stabled in the former livestock siding.

A number of other sidings around the area are also used to stable non-revenue wagons such as rail flatcars.

Among the maintenance trains I was unable to photograph was the set of wagons used to maintain the overhead wires along the railway. Made up of 7 vehicles and usually hidden in the dark at Fo Tan Depot, at one end of the train is an flat wagon loaded with drums of cable, with the rest of the train being box vans with a rooftop catwalk for the use of the workers stringing up the wires. This video from YouTube shows the consist being shunted around the yard at Hong Hom.

Track machines were something else I missed out on, which this YouTube video makes up for, showing a number of different types being shunted into the goods yard at Sha Tin, including one labelled “Plasser Australia”.

However the most interesting piece of gear is the Kirow KCR 250 railway crane: it can lift up to 25 tonnes with a 16 metre working radius, and head solo along the tracks at 30 km/h.

The first segment covers the history of Hong Kong and how people got around before the MTR:

• 1:00 Hong Kong Tramways
• 1:40 Star Ferry
• 2:30 Introduction to the MTR, including train and station footage
• 6:00 Hong Kong population growth
• 7:00 History of Chinese refugees entering Hong Kong

Part two covers the early planning for the MTR, up until the opening of the Modified Initial System.

• 0:00 1960s growth in Hong Kong, dragon boat racing and the motion picture industry
• 0:30 Housing and land reclamation
• 1:00 Typhoon season
• 2:15 Road network issues, and no available land for expansion
• 3:00 1970s planning for a mass transit system
• 4:30 Clichéd spinning newspapers
• 4:50 Original plans for the Initial System built by a Japanese consortium
• 5:20 Construction work starts in 1975
• 6:00 MTR Corporation to build residential and commercial developments on their land
• 6:35 Construction at ground level
• 7:10 Down in the tunnels
• 7:20 Building stations under Nathan Road in Kowloon
• 7:30 Floating out the immersed tubes for the tunnel under Victoria Harbour
• 7:20 Track testing inside the tunnels
• 8:40 Opening ceremony in 1979

Next up and we see Hong Kong enter a boom period during the 1980s, and the work start on stage 3 of the MTR network – the Island Line.

• 0.00 Introduction to Hong Kong commerce
• 0.50 MTR Island Line and the 1980s boom
• 1.40 Telford Gardens development in Kowloon Bay
• 2.10 MTR head office and workshops at Kowloon Bay
• 3.00 Tsuen Wan housing and line extensions
• 3.20 MTR Island Line planning
• 3.55 Preparation works along the Island Line
• 4.10 Tunnelling beneath Hong Kong Island
• 5.30 Draughtsmen and computers working on the design
• 6.25 A look at the different station and concourse construction methods used on the Island Line

Part four focuses on the MTR Island Line construction:

• 0.00 Tunnelling shields for the Island Line
• 2.00 Use of lasers for tunnel alignment
• 2.15 Compressed air tunnelling with airlocks, segmental linings and spoil removal
• 2.35 Removal of spoil on barges
• 3.00 Concourse works, breaking up granite with explosives to form caverns
• 3.45 Breakthrough at Causeway Bay between the concourse and platform tunnels
• 4.55 Tunnelling in firm soil using the New Austrian Tunnelling method
• 5.45 Airlocks for workers

Part five ends at 1985 and rounds out the documentary, marking the completion of the MTR network as originally planned: after 10 years of construction and a total spend of HK$250 billion.

• 0.00 Station completed and scrapping of tunnelling shields
• 0.15 Station platforms and the completion of civil works
• 0.30 Tunnel incidents, subsidence and water leaks
• 1.10 Removing a hill for the Tai Koo housing development
• 1.45 Tai Koo Station, the largest man made cavern in Asia at 250 metres long and 25 metres wide
• 2.25 1983, and work winds down on tunnelling
• 2.55 Fit out of stations, electrical works and track took 18 months
• 3.20 Escalator being inserted into an adit
• 3.25 Diesel locomotive in tunnel, as well as a rail grinder
• 3.45 Opening of Island Line, marking the end of work on the MTR
• 4.20 MTR train footage
• 4.40 End credits
• 5.15 Companies that assisted in the production
• 5.30 List of companies involved with MTR construction
• 7.50 Random historical footage of Hong Hong

The soundtrack for the documentary is in two parts – the first half covering the history elements features the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra performing Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, Op. 84, while the second portion with the constructions footage uses the tracks Horizons and Logos by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream.

Cantonese version

There is also a Cantonese version of Underground Iron – The Building of a Railway: on YouTube it is divided up into three 9 minute segments:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3