JiMong, thanks for the comment. Although 남행열차 is set in 전라, it’s nevertheless also quite popular in 경상 as well! Good to hear you sampled to local specialties!

Although I didn’t had a chance to visit 고모역 while I visited Daegu this time, I had a chance to drank soju with Daegu’s famous 막창 & 꼼장어 and sang “남행열차” in Noraebang. ^^;;

BTW,
Thanks for the link KimcheeGI.

Charlie,
The KimcheeGI

Anyhow, I had a heck of a time finding 고모령 the first time I looked for it, because even the Korean-language information on the place is scanty, and directions are impossible to come by. Even looking for the place on a map, it’s hard to figure out how to get to it. So if anyone reading this wants to find it, hopefully these directions will help.

Caveat: I wouldn’t recommend to anyone that they go especially out of their way to find this place. The station is nice and the walk is good exercise, but the whole experience will be anticlimactic if you’re expecting anything special.

망우 공원 is on the 금호강, bisected by 화랑로 (일반 국도 4) which crosses the river via 화랑교. If you drive due east from 중앙 네거리 to MBC 네거리 then continue to the Y-intersection just beyond and bear left, going past 동부 시외 버스 터미널, you’ll eventually end up passing through 망우 공원 and crossing over the bridge.

East of the bridge is 영남 제일관, moved from its original location (one of the Daegu city gates) and restored, overlooking the river. South of the gate, on the southeast corner of the nearest 네거리, close to 화랑교, is a 노래비 (-碑) erected to commemorate the song 비 내리는 고모령. East of the gate and 노래비 are the 호텔 인터불고 and 대구 파크 호텔, squeezed in between the river and the railway tracks.

Leading east from the 파크호텔 driving range is a road along the north side of the railway tracks. If you drive or walk along it, you’re actually passing over 고모령 (which in and of itself is admittedly not very impressive). When you come out on the other side of the pass, you’re in the small farming village of 팔현 마을—and suddenly, you’re in the countryside!

The road continues east, then crosses under the tracks, and continues along the south side of the tracks to 고모역.

From there, the road continues, crossing under a bridge and ending up in another small village. If you bear to the right, the road will eventually intersect with 달구벌 대로, the main east-west road along which the subway line 2 runs, a bit west of 고산역 (as I recall).

There is almost certainly a bus that runs through 팔현 마을 and past the station, though I don’t know the route number offhand.

A lot of 앚줌마s and 아저씨s cross over the railway tracks near the 대구 파크 호텔, then bear east to a trail that goes up over the hill just south of the tracks (one of the three 봉s—either 형봉 or 재봉, as 모봉 appears to be closer to 담티역 on Line 2). The trail leads over the crest of the hill, past a small exercise area where there’s a small food and drink stall set up, then down into a small valley where there’s a restaurant and a couple of houses (along a street called 고모로 which is more like a gravel path than a road). From there, there are trails that will lead you eventually to the 남부 시외 버스 터미널 or 담티역 on Line 2. Another alternative for exploration is a road that runs north from 달구벌 대로 near 담티역 and the nearby high school, past the Daegu prison or detention centre, down a hill and past a reservoir, then curving around through a beautiful farming valley, eventually coming out near 고모역, intersecting with the road that serves the station.

Hope this wasn’t information overload…!

I agree with your sentiments. And thanks for the tip on the museum in Mungyeong…if I’m ever that way again, I’ll try to check it out.

Your user name…that’s a Chinook word, isn’t it? Do you hail from the Pacific Northwest?

Sonagi:

Yes, there are at least a couple of old unused railway stations in the Vancouver area that have also been transformed into local community museums.

Huge, old, largely abandoned stations are creepy: the sense of what once was, contrasted with the empty ghostliness of such places today. Especially a place like KC, which was probably a major railway junction in the old days.

Time just doesn’t stand still in Korea at all. It’s been nonstop change since about 1865 or so, it seems! Even things that are not really all that old—yeontan or metal-roofed farmhouses, for example—seem exceedingly old now by comparison, as time has passed them by. (The same could be said around the world of typewriters, rotary telephones, or black and white TV, though, I guess!)

This is quite true - there’s a museum in Hogye-myeon in Mungyeong-shi that has in it some old typewriters and big calculators, even some computers that are 10 or 20 years old. They look quite archaic, just as does the home-made or locally-made old-fashioned farming equipment that is also on display.

I’m glad they will be preserving the Gomo Station building though, even if it won’t be used for trains. We need to have some of the recent past visible, not just the remnants of Shilla and ancient times.