Luodong Forestry Culture Park

There are two main entrances to the park: one from Zhongzheng North Road and one from the north side. Inside the park, you will find Zhulin Station of the Luodong Forest Railway, the locomotive depot, staff dormitories, the timber yard, and log ponds. Since there are no fences around the park, visitors can also enter from other access points.

This is a restored hand-pushed timber rail, which was originally used for transporting logs. Many lumber mills were located around the Luodong Forestry Bureau, and rail tracks were laid to connect them. A section of these tracks has been reconstructed within the park, and displays show the operations of lumber merchants across different time periods.

The Forest Railway Museum is located inside a preserved former locomotive maintenance shed from its operational period. On display are the No. 7 diesel locomotive, manufactured by Kato Works and used on the upper tracks beyond the timber yard, and the No. 15 steam locomotive built by Taiwan Ironworks. The museum also exhibits tools and historical documents related to railway operations. When the Luodong Forest Railway was first opened between Zhulin Station and the timber yard, it handled only timber freight. However, at the request of local residents, passenger services and transport of agricultural products were added in 1926.

A total of five steam locomotives are preserved in the park. On the upper row of the display, the left locomotive is No. 8 and the right one is No. 9, both built in 1941 by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Although the information board for No. 9 states it was made by Taiwan Machinery, this is incorrect. On the lower row are No. 11 and No. 12, which were built in 1958 by Taiwan Machinery as copies of the Kawasaki design.

This is the restored Zhulin Station, which still retains the atmosphere of the Japanese colonial period. Some of the staff housing buildings nearby also reflect Japanese-style architecture. Although a small station building, Zhulin was once a bustling starting point of the Luodong Forest Railway. Two passenger cars are also preserved on-site. The sturdy passenger car washing platform located behind the passenger cars, made of brick covered with concrete, is an original facility from the operational period, not a modern reconstruction. The rails within the station area were removed after the railway was closed, and the current tracks were laid during the redevelopment of the cultural park, meaning the present track layout differs from the original design.

Arriving logs were unloaded from the platform into the log pond for storage. This method prevented rapid drying, which could cause cracking or warping, and also helped reduce mold and insect damage.

The park also exhibits non-rail forestry equipment. For transporting logs to the railway, a “log slide” (kinma or kiuma) was used, where logs were laid at intervals to create a sliding path, and timber was moved over it using sleds. Workers worked in pairs—one pulled the sled with a rope slung over the shoulder, while the other pushed from behind. This exhibit is a small-scale reproduction; in reality, it was used for transporting large logs.

The “timber slide” (shura or sura) was constructed by laying cut logs on a mountain slope, creating a chute for sliding down subsequent logs. On long slopes, these slides were built in a zigzag pattern. Once logging in the area was complete, these structural logs were also retrieved.

In deeper mountain areas, “aerial cableways” (yaen) were used to transport logs across valleys. Workers also used small cable cars on these lines to travel into remote areas. These were valuable original relics, but by 2025, they were no longer preserved.

Pillboxes are small fortified defensive structures made of reinforced concrete. These are believed to have been built as part of the “Anti-Communist Defense Line” during the period of the Chinese Civil War (1947–1949) and into the 1950s. They were equipped with observation and firing positions, constructed to guard against invasions from mainland China. The pillboxes inside the park remain preserved, but those along Zhongzheng North Road were removed due to road expansion projects and no longer exist.