File:A Japan built steam locomotive plinthed at the River Kwai bridge 2004-01-01.jpg

English: Having checked out the rather tatty JEATH war museum in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, and after walking the walk (so to speak) on the current steel bridge on the River Kwai, it was now time to check out the railway vehicles plinthed by the roadside, just before the river Kwai Bridge. These railway vehicles are two locomotives and an adapted truck on rails with trailer cars, all of which were used during the difficult construction of the Death Railway by the Japanese during WW-II. This is one of the two locomotives plinthed there- this is a Japan built steam locomotive class C56 23, once used on the State Railway of Thailand, where she bore the number SRT 719. The Class C56 is a type of 2-6-0 steam locomotive built by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR) from 1935 to 1939, and later operated by Japanese National Railways (JNR). They were numbered C56 1-C56 164. A very popular class of engine on their home turf- Japan- a total of 164 were built from 1935-1939. The C56 locomotives bearing numbers C56 1-C56 90 and C56 161-C56 164 resectively were sent to other countries in Asia during the Second World War . This class of locomotives were retired in 1974. (not sure if this is in Japan or here on the Thai railways). Note that the Thai SRT used chopper type couplers in the days of the war. Thailand has since standardized on the CBC buck eye 'knuckle' coupler which is now in use all over the SRT today. Detailed notes about the Death Railway appear throughout this album. (see previous and subsequent pictures). (Kanchanaburi, Thailand, Oct. 2008)