Shengxing 勝興 🚂

⭐️ If you miss the feeling of a childhood outing

⭐️ If you love to people watch

⭐️ If you love old streets and good local food

Google Maps

Gallery

There’s a sense of home baked into the old infrastructure and streets of Shengxing. Its once-active railway found a second life as a giant, sunlit playground for the dogs, kiddos, and elders today.

The local balloon that holds a zero-percent pass rate for anyone under 4 feet tall 😆

1) Shenxing Old Street 勝興老街 🍲

Old street packed with traditional flavors for those who love a late Taiwanese night market stroll.

2) Shengxing Station 勝興車站 🚂

I was curious so I did some reading.

Once upon a time...

Tucked into the mountains of Miaoli, Sanyi used to be nothing but a wild forest packed with camphor trees. To harvest the oil, early settlers set up 16 distillation stoves, hence the station’s original name: Shiliufen (十六份), "sixteen portions."

Then came the trains.

In 1912, during the Japanese colonial era, the Japanese built a wooden train station in the valley without a single iron nail or drop of glue.

The station sat low in the valley surrounded by nine mountain peaks. Local feng shui beliefs saw the formation as a “tiger’s den,” where villagers feared the railway would be cursed with accidents and destruction.

To ease these fears, the architects added wooden spikes under the roof, as “Tiger Teeth,” to ward off evil spirits. And as it did, the nail-less, glue-less wooden station went on to survive both the 1935 and 1999 earthquakes!

For 86 years, the station was a lifeline, carrying lumber, charcoal, and local Hakka goods to the cities. But overtime, the steep slopes and tight tunnels became too slow for modern high-speed trains.

On September 23, 1998, the very last train blew its whistle and pulled away from the platform. Hundreds of people came to the station that day to say bye bye 👋.

But a place with this much magic couldn't stay asleep forever. Today, families pedal the rail bikes, kids walk the tracks like a balance beam, and dogs skitter the rock pebbles like a sand pit. The retired tracks have found a second life as a playground for everyone 😊

🚨 Heads up! For pedaling rail bikes at the Old Mountain Line Rail Bike Shengxing Station 舊山線鐵道自行車-勝興站, buy your tickets beforehand, they sell out quick in person!

3) 3 Hills Cafe 三丘

Right along the tracks, with half-outdoor seats perfect for lunch 😋

The End 🧘‍♂️

The feeling of hanging around this place is what I try to convey to people when they ask me what Taiwan feels like to me. Like the bustling but comforting noise at grandma's house during New Years.