Bamboo train

This picture shows what happens when two trains on the bamboo railway going in opposite directions meet!The carriage with the lighter load gets dismantled and lifted off the rails to allow the heavier load to pass. The carriage is then re assembled and continues on it's way until the next encounter!
The railway was started after the Khmer Rouge had been over thrown . The roads had been wrecked so the Cambodian people built small carts of bamboo resting on the axles of rescued rolling stock which were powered by a small engine to run along the narrow single track railways that criss crossed the country . The passengers sit at the front and the driver at the back It's noisy, fast and bumpy but great fun The railway used to be used to transport produce and people but is now largely a tourist attraction. There are plans to re introduce trains to Cambodia and it is rumoured that the bamboo railway will go. I hope that they keep at least a short distance as bamboo railway as it is so unique and to me demonstrates the ingenuity that is so typical in Cambodian people when dealing with the damage and turmoil they have endured