River Kwai Bridge.....

[FrankCrank]

....yes, got to see it again today, thanks to a work assignment in the area. It's around 100k from my house, and been many times, but lucky enough this time to see a passenger train passing. Didn't walk across as I usually do, way too hot - like an oven. A couple of years back I got to see another section of the infamous railway - Hell Fire Pass. It's about a 2 hour walk round trip, ferociously hot, but worth it.
Next time I'll bring a change of clothing

 

[Jaykun85]

Wasn't this bridge destroyed by obi wan kanobi ?

 

[jefmcg]

anyone else humming the Colonel Bogey March?

 

[accountantpete]

It's about a 2 hour walk round trip, ferociously hot,

Madness! Madness!

 

[FrankCrank]

The well known movie was only loosely based on actual facts as far as I know. A wooden bridge was initially built, the core of the movie, but it was only a temporary structure to enable the steel bridge to be built. This second bridge was the one that was partly destroyed by the allies - in the last picture you can see the replacement square sections in between the arched original spans. A good time to visit the bridge is the first week of December when they have a 'sound and light show'.
Each evening they do a very spectacular re-enactment of the bombing, and I won't say any more, just well worth a gander.

If you get the chance to do Hell Fire Pass, you'll walk along the channel cut into solid rock, using dynamite and forced labour, to create the way for the track to run. On one flank there is a steel drill bit sticking out of a huge slab of stone, broken off, almost as if it happened yesterday. Brings home the full horror of what these 'workers' had to go through.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I've been over that too. The nearby war museum and cemetery are very moving places when you take the time to read the headstones and see how many teenage soldiers died there...

GC

 

[Aperitif]

My uncle ran away to war as a 'boy' soldier and my Mum never knew what happened to him until she was in her 80s. I think I have one or two (pre-railway) letters and a photo somewhere.

http://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/Thailand-Burma_Railway/B/html/ba_database_189.htm
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission did a good job.