新北投 Xinbeitou Hsinbeitou Train Station

Sometimes, when you get on Taipei Metro Red Line to go to Tamsui, you may inadvertently enter the cars going to 新北投Xinbeitou (it should be spelled Hsinbeitou). On the map, the tiny extension, more like an appendage attaching to Beitou, can be seen up close:

Upper left, MRT Red Line extension from Beitou to Xinbeitou

This extension in fact opened for business in April, 1916, ferrying passengers to Beitou's famed hot spring resorts [*]. It was rebuilt together with Taipei Metro in 1988. Instead of demolition, the old train station itself (below) was relocated to Changhua and preserved in Taiwan Heritage Village until recently when the village ran into management difficulties.  

Today, six pieces of the structure are placed in wooden gift boxes and carried by a wedding palanquin花轎 to Changhua Station. From there, the boxes are sent off and arrive in Taipei Station where they, symbols of Hsinbeitou station, are welcomed home in a celebratory ceremony. After 26 years, the old girl has finally come back to where she belongs. The station will be re-assembled in 七星公園, 50 meters from the original site.

This is an amazing feat. Next on the agenda will the coming-home of steam engine BK24 to Tamsui, now on pointless display on the campus of 成大Cheng Kung University in Tainan.

[*]There is a passage in the British Consulate Report of 1937 (when the 2nd Sino-Japanese war broke out) recording a unique use of the train: "It has been the custom for the gayer spirits of the capital [Taipei] to motor out with their lady friends for an evening's amusement at the hot-spring resort of Hokuto [北投]. On the road there is a bridge with sentries posted. For several weeks these stopped all cars after dark, and took it upon themselves to act as censors of morals. In the cases described, it would be suggested that the pleasure-seekers would do well to reconsider their plan, and hand over to the sentry such funds as they carry, for the defence of their country. Cars are now out of fashion; the man and his lady friends go independently, the one by train, the other by bus."