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| Norwegian-American document history at National Taiwan Museum |
| [29.01.2012, 08:25pm, Sun. GMT] |
As Norway News reported last year, Loren Aandahl published rare Taiwan railway photos in a book last year in Taiwan. National Taiwan Museum found the photos so interesting it is now running an exhibition called, “Impressions of Taiwan’s Railways.” The showcase will include more than 20 of Loren Aandahl's pictures with added photos made by Huang Hsu-min (born 1918). Hsu-min is a former Taiwan Railway Administration employee with a great love for photography.
Both photographers were at the opening of the exhibition just before the Chinese New Year welcoming the Year of the Dragon. Loren Aandahl was born in the Year of the Dragon and turns 60 this year.
- An awesome achievement for Loren, says his friend Bruce H Moore, Director of Development at Morrison Academy, the dormitory school Aandahl attended in the 1960's. Moore invited Aandahl to visit the school's three campuses to talk about his railway interests and to take the 7th grade students on railway field trips.
- The students of my former school are no longer mainly missionary kids, but mostly Taiwanese families with American passports, said Loren Aandahl. It has been nice to be together with the students and share my interest in Taiwan with them.
-My first printing of 2,000 copies of "The Taiwan Railway: 1966 -1970" will soon be sold out, a few are even sold in Norway, I have done a lot of research for my 2nd Taiwan Railway Book and hope to have it released by the end of July. It will cover the period from 1970 to 2002.
A group of volunteers, mostly former railway staffers, have collected materials for the exhibition. The photo shows some of the volunteers together with NTM Director Hsiao Tsung-huang, Taiwan Railway Director General Frank Fan and the photographers Huang Shu-min (94) and Loren Aandahl (60).
Some items at the showcase are courtesy of Council for Cultural Affairs. At one of the display pieces, a model of the DR2600 type diesel railcar train, Loren Aandahl shows the reporter Kwangyin Liu where he used to stand at the front on the train.
Her report can be read on http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?ctNode=445&xItem=185121&mp=9
Photo exhibit documents Taiwan’s railway history (By Kwangyin Liu, Taiwan Today)
“Impressions of Taiwan’s Railways,” a photo exhibition currently running at the National Taiwan Museum, features precious railway images from the 1970s and provides a rare glimpse into the nation’s past, according to NTM Director Hsiao Tsung-huang.
“The railway played a pivotal role in creating Taiwan’s economic prosperity, and is an unforgettable memory for many people of my generation,” Hsiao said during the exhibition’s opening Jan. 18.
On display are some 60 photos of steam trains, past train models, locomotives and train stations, including the last remaining roundhouse in use in central Taiwan’s Changhua City.
Nearly all the photos were taken by Huang Shu-min, an employee with the Taiwan Railways Administration for 40 years, and Loren Aandahl, an American who spent his teenage years taking pictures of Taiwan’s railways.
“I loved taking photos of trains and passengers,” said the 95-year-old Huang. “It’s my seventh photo exhibition and I hope to have more in the future.”
Aandahl, the son of Norwegian-American missionaries who came to Taiwan and settled in Hsinchu City in 1954, spent 16 years in Taiwan with his parents. He fell in love with trains as a boy and had to commute by train between Hsinchu and Taichung on weekends between 1959 and 1970. He began to shoot railway scenes using slide film in his high school years.
“I have fond memories of lingering on the head car of a ‘Fei Kuai Che,’ the then express train, and conversing with the conductors,” said Aandahl, who is turning 60 this year.
The photos are precious for their rarity, said Teng Chih-chung, a member of Taiwan’s Railway Cultural Society, who noted that during the 1970s, when Taiwan was still under martial law, it was forbidden to take photos of railway facilities because of their potential military significance.
“Huang had access to the trains when he was on TRA duty, while Aandahl could take photos freely probably because of his foreign nationality,” he said. “Both of them are important witnesses of history.”
The exhibition is scheduled to run through April 15 at the museum, located inside Taipei’s 228 Memorial Park.
Geir Yeh Fotland – Taiwan National Correspondent NORWAY NEWS.com
geiryeh@gmail.com
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