Railway spike : Hellfire Pass, Burma Thailand Railway

Places
Accession Number REL/11872.002
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Heraldry
Physical description Steel
Maker Unknown
Date made Unknown
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Description

Steel railway spike with an oval shaped head. Shank is square in cross section and is curved from previous use.

History / Summary

Taken, post Second World War, from Hellfire Pass, a railway cutting 500 metres long and 25 metres deep constructed by Australian prisoners of war between Hintok and Konyu, on the Thai section of the Burma Thailand railway, Hellfire Pass was so called because work continued on it night and day. At night most of the illumination for the work came from fires lit at 6 or 7 metres along the cutting. The light, movement and noise at night was said to resemble a scene from Dante's Inferno.