We use cookies on this website.
By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings,
you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policy
and for us to access our cookies on your device.
Title:RAF REOPEN THE RAILWAY BETWEEN KOWLOON AND LO WU [Allocated Title]
Film Number:ABY 173
Other titles:ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
Summary: The reopening of the Kowloon-Lo Wu railway line gets off to a decidedly mixed start, and RAF men mix with Chinese soldiers.
Description: View looking along the carriages of a train underway. RAF airmen, European and Chinese civilians can be seen. In one of the compartments RAF airmen talk with a Chinese civilian who tries to open a nondescript can of food. At a station crowds gather. RAF airmen lean out of their carriage to drop small items to Chinese children begging below. Close-up of a middle-aged looked airman. Officers and airmen befriending Chinese children. Two men exchange their RAF forage caps for straw hats. The train pulls slowly out of the station and a few RAF men dash along beside it. View from the train as it pulls away from the platform. View from the footplate. A man in a topee surveys the scenery. The train, derailed, with Chinese civilians milling about. The locomotive with its nose buried in the ground. Two British airmen and two Chinese soldiers exchange rifles; a Chinese man handles a .303-calibre Enfield No.4 while an airman is shown the action of a Soviet 7.62mm Mosin-Nagant rifle. A Chinese soldier explains the use of a stick grenade. Another shows an officer his pistol, which is either a (German) Mauser C96 'broomhandle' automatic or a very similar Chinese copy. RAF officers watch from a carriage. Two Chinese soldiers board the train. Two others put on a demonstration of bayonet fighting. An American, British and two Chinese officers talking. Panning view over Hong Kong harbour.
Production Details: Air Ministry, Directorate of Public Relations (Production sponsor)
Royal Air Force Film Production Unit (Production company)
Layzell, R G (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Royal Air Force (regiment/service)
Chinese Army (regiment/service)
Keywords: Kowloon, Hong Kong (geography)
Liberation of Hong Kong 1945, Pacific War 1941-1945, Second World War (event)
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 361 ft; Running time: 5 minutes
HD Media:Yes
Notes: Dopesheet notes that this was the first train to run since the British reoccupation of Hong Kong, and that the derailment was caused by a failure (unattributed to any particular person) to check the points. This sent the locomotive into a siding and crashing through a brick wall. In hindsight, one might wonder what this says about the future of the British Empire.
The Kowloon-Lo Wu line was part of a rail link from Kowloon to Canton (Guangzhou) and provided an important land link between British Hong Kong (and associated territories) with the rest of China.
A photograph taken by a Royal Navy photographer credits the reopening of this railway to two junior naval officers of HMS Indomitable. Other photographs relating to this railway can be found at the references below.
