Despite all of the press about the IP Santa Cruz trains, as a Santa Cruz native, i have yet to photograph these train, because I am in Thailand! So here is a shot from my recent railfan trip to the Death Railway.

[www.flyerguide.net]

The Death Railway, properly called the Thai-Burma Railway was built by the Japanese during 1942-1943 to support their invasion of Burma and India. They used 100,000 POWs mostly British and Australian as well as a few American to build the line through the harsh jungles and steep mountains of western Thailand into Burma. Over 12,000 POWs died building the line mostly from jungle diseases and the harsh beating meted out by the Japanese guards and engineers. The Death Railway was immortalized in the 1957 movie the Bridge over the River Kwai.

Nowadays, the Thai portion of the railroad is run by the State Railways of Thailand as far as Namtok, the site of a massive waterfall and multiple national parks.