Railway Museum partners with theater troupe to recreate classic train exhibit

The National Railway Museum has recently launched a highly anticipated cross-industry collaboration with the renowned performing arts group, Greenray Theatre. This partnership has written a new chapter in the preservation of Taiwan's railway culture and the arts scene. In 2024, Greenray Theatre remade the stage play "Escorting," which is an adaptation of a classic novel by renowned author Duan Caihua. The play received a warm response in the theater circle. Observant audiences and railway enthusiasts may have noticed that the blue-skinned train scene on stage, which was meticulously recreated with a strong sense of era, was not solely the product of imagination. Instead, it was made possible by the National Railway Museum's profound historical research capabilities and professional technical support.

To give the public a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes secrets of this cross-disciplinary creation and the contemporary interpretation of railway culture, the National Railway Museum has officially launched a new special exhibition starting from the 8th. The exhibition showcases the entire process of combining literature, theater, and railway history. The core highlight of this exhibition is the display of how the blue-skinned ordinary train, a railway vehicle with a rich shared memory of Taiwanese people, was "reborn" into a breathing, soulful performance space on the modern stage with the museum's professional assistance.

In the past, the blue-skinned train was the primary means of transportation before the electrification of Taiwan's railways, accompanying countless Taiwanese people throughout their growing years. Its deep green exterior, openable windows, and nostalgic interior design have long become part of Taiwanese folk culture. However, recreating such a transportation tool on the modern stage, which not only carries symbolic meaning but also meets the requirements of stage scheduling, is no easy task. The National Railway Museum boasts a rich collection of railway artifacts and in-depth historical research data, making it the perfect partner for this collaboration. The museum's professional expertise ensured that the blue-skinned train on stage was not only visually realistic but also withstood strict historical scrutiny in terms of era details.

In this cross-industry collaboration, Greenray Theatre's stage production team worked closely with the National Railway Museum's research staff. The play "Escorting" itself has a strong era background and a narrative structure similar to a road movie. The train carriage was not only a space for the characters to move around but also a crucial stage for driving the plot forward and triggering conflicts. The museum's experts provided a wealth of information about early railway vehicles, including blueprints, historical photos, and detailed data on actual vehicle parts. Every detail, from the seating arrangement and material of the luggage racks inside the carriage to the way the windows opened and the color of the paint on the vehicle body, underwent rigorous verification.

This approach of transforming historical artifact research into contemporary performing arts materials not only added a high level of realism and depth to the play but also brought the cold historical artifacts to life through theater art, making them accessible to the general public. The National Railway Museum has long been dedicated to preserving, researching, and promoting Taiwan's railway culture. The question of how to connect railway history with contemporary society has always been a key area of consideration for the museum. This collaboration with Greenray Theatre broke the traditional stereotype of museums being serious and static, demonstrating the endless potential of railway heritage in the contemporary cultural and creative industry.

The special exhibition not only showcases the reference materials and design drafts used in the production of the stage props but also explains the importance of the blue-skinned train in Taiwan's transportation history through vivid images and text. Visitors to the exhibition can witness the sparks generated by the intersection of theater art and railway research, as well as deeply appreciate the reinterpretation and appreciation of Taiwanese railway culture in different fields. With the official opening of the exhibition, this cross-industry collaboration provides an excellent example of success for Taiwan's arts scene and cultural heritage preservation efforts. It proves that historical research and contemporary art creation are not parallel lines that never intersect, and that cross-disciplinary dialogue and cooperation can stimulate astonishing cultural energy.

The National Railway Museum hopes to attract more theater art enthusiasts to visit the museum through this exhibition, while also allowing railway enthusiasts to appreciate the unique charm of the blue-skinned train from a different perspective. This special exhibition, which combines literature, history, railways, and theater, is not only a tribute to the past but also a concrete practice of showcasing Taiwan's diverse cultural soft power.