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Back Railroad of Death
Chapters (40)
  1. FOREWORD
  2. RAILROAD OF DEATH
  3. REFERENCE LIST:
  4. Railroad of Death
  5. PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION (1948)
  6. INTRODUCTION
  7. PART ONE: SINGAPORE
  8. CHAPTER 1
  9. CHAPTER 2
  10. CHAPTER 3
  11. CHAPTER 4
  12. CHAPTER 5
  13. PART TWO: RAILROAD OF DEATH
  14. CHAPTER 6
  15. CHAPTER 7
  16. CHAPTER 8
  17. CHAPTER 9
  18. CHAPTER 10
  19. CHAPTER 11
  20. CHAPTER 12
  21. CHAPTER 13
  22. PART THREE: BASE CAMPS AND LIBERATION
  23. CHAPTER 14
  24. CHAPTER 15
  25. CHAPTER 16
  26. CHAPTER 17
  27. CHAPTER 18
  28. CHAPTER 19
  29. CHAPTER 20
  30. APPENDIX ONE:
  31. APPENDIX TWO:
  32. APPENDIX THREE:
  33. APPENDIX FOUR:
  34. APPENDIX FIVE:
  35. APPENDIX SIX:
  36. APPENDIX SEVEN:
  37. APPENDIX EIGHT:
  38. APPENDIX NINE:
  39. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  40. And The Dawn Came Up Like Thunder

BY THE time of the trip to Wun Lun, the railway embankment was complete as far up as Bangkau; and the rails had been laid as soon as it was ready, and light trains drawn by converted diesel lorries were functioning over about twenty-five kilometres of line built by our group within four months of starting. Our journey to Wun Lun was made on one of these Diesel trains, and it was in places rather like a minor switchback. The line had already been ballasted with limestone chips, and we passed safely over two bridges built by the officers; and in spite of contemptuous comments from self-styled experts, there was no doubt that up to that point the railway could serve its purpose for several years. Certainly more ballasting was necessary, and during the monsoon the embankment would often have to be reinforced and built up; but the worst difficulty would be with the timbers of the bridges – Borer beetles had already got to work – the timbers being uncreosoted and not treated in any way.

The country that separated Chungkai and Wun Lun consisted mostly of secondary bamboo jungle with large and attractive areas of a sort of Thai common-land. Wun Lun camp itself had been a good camp, suitable according to Nip standards to hold two to three thousand people; there were now less than 100 people there under the command of a major, and our party of 500, commanded by Colonel Featherstonhaugh himself, should have plenty of room.

We arrived at the station after a trip of about 20 minutes. The station consisted of a raised earth bank with a small atap shack on it where a telephone continually rang, and there were a couple of sidings each perhaps 100 yards long. The camp was actually adjoining the line and we could see the rows of huts built on a lower, squatter model than those we had been used to; no Nip designed hut ever had an entrance door of more than 5 ft. 4 in. high, so that we bowed and banged our heads eternally. To get out of a hut at night by one of the few doors was quite a work of art. The troops had now plenty of room in the empty huts, and the officers moved into what had once been a Nip soldiers’ hut, where we each had about a yard and a half’s space.