A functioning railway market near Bangkok where the tracks of an active train line run through the center of a dense fresh produce market — eight times a day, vendors retract their awnings and pull their goods back centimeters as the locomotive passes through the stalls at walking speed.
The Maeklong Railway runs from Wongwian Yai in Bangkok to Mahachai, then resumes from Ban Laem to Maeklong in Samut Songkhram Province. The line was built in the early 20th century. The market came later, or perhaps alongside it — vendors established stalls adjacent to the tracks because the railway brought customers, and gradually the stalls crept onto the tracks themselves.
The current situation: an active railway line runs through the center of a dense fresh market selling fish, meat, vegetables, and produce. The tracks are covered with stall canopies, the space between the rails occupied by displays of goods, the rails themselves a floor for vendors and customers.
Eight times a day — the train runs eight scheduled trips — a locomotive approaches the market at walking speed, sounding its horn. Vendors have had years of practice. They retract their striped awnings on telescoping poles, pull their goods back a few centimeters from the rails, step back themselves, and wait as the train passes with perhaps 10 centimeters to spare. The locomotive''s sides brush the retracted awning poles. The engine passes through the market in about three minutes. Then the awnings go back up, the goods return to the rails, and the market continues.
The local word for this is ordinary. The thousands of tourists who visit each day think otherwise.
The market has existed in something like its current form for over 100 years. There have been no significant accidents. The relationship between the train schedule and the market operations has reached a kind of equilibrium that is possible only because everyone involved has been doing it for a very long time, with complete attention.