Sunday, October 18, 2009

Tansui to Hokuto

From Tansui to Hokutō, the single-rail line winds along the bank of the Tansui river, passing the stations of Chikui 竹囲 and Kōtō 江頭 before meeting the Shin-Hokutō 新北投 branch line at Hokutō 北投.



The line runs between the river and the hilly terrain further inland, and skirts the large wetlands fed by the river. This map seems to use different names for the towns along the route, perhaps they had changed by 1944 or these were the designations that the Chinese government had decided upon for the towns.



In the model, this portion is reduced to a broad curve leading through a tunnel toward Hokutō station and the junction with the branch line. The river, along with a boat, is represented as are the wetlands. The hills will be forested with a few scattered buildings, as they would have been in 1937 and as they mostly remain today, as building on the hillside on an island known for its heavy rains and earthquakes is still not completely safe.

The line has a highway that runs parallel to it for most of the way, except where it climbs the mountains rather than tunneling under them. It would be possible to model the omitted Chikui station, but as it would have to be on the curve and so close to the other two, I'll probably just leave it out.

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