Train Trip, Busan-Daegu, Korea, March 1981

Train Trip, Busan-Daegu, Korea, March My Air National Guard unit sent some of us to Kimhae Air Base, South Korea, for Team Spirit 81 in March 1981. Kimhae is near Busan in south eastern Korea. One day, I decided to take a train ride. I went to Busan station and discovered that pretty much everything was in Korean. Someone saw me looking perplexed and offered to help. I told him I just wanted to take a ride of an hour or two and he suggested a trip to Daegu, the next major city on the main line to Seoul. I thanked him and bought a round trip ticket. My trains to and from Daegu were pulled by EMD export model GT26CW units. I remember seeing a Hyundai builders plate on at least one such unit, which is where I learned that Hyundai built EMDs under license. Other EMDs were American built, as were the Alco DL532s that I saw en route. My 1981 Cooks International Timetable says that trains took about 1:20 between Busan and Daegu give or take a few minutes. I have no idea what trains I rode, other than that they would have been through Seoul-Busan trains, probably around midday, as I doubt if I got up at the crack of dawn on my day off, and the light on the cloudy day looks pretty much the same in all the photos. I pretty much just stuck my head out of the door of Daegu station, maybe wandering a couple blocks away before returning and getting the next train back to Busan. I think the trains were pretty much the same both ways, but our diesel heading north was in the older orange-black paint, while the southbound was in newer blue and white. What look like observation cars on the through trains were guards vans, with that nice observation section for the train guard/conductor. The coaches were air conditioned with sealed windows. I see that some of the local trains appeared to be steam heated and the SDP38s and SDP28s had steam boilers. A couple of the Alco DL532s that I saw had been given EMD 8-645 engines. There 251s were oddballs in the mostly EMD fleet. I remember the trains as being clean, comfortable and on time. Today, a high speed line using TGV style trains connects Seoul, Daegu and Busan... https://www.flickr.com/photos/10813293@N08/45101187192/in/photolist-2bHrnDJ-fbE3sN-9jy4s5-4HS7jJ-ihvban-9QWhTD-6CFcap-ejaUWn-MeM3qU-HSyKg-bo4y61-21Q5DSU-2UgVjW-nBAgDn-hgKMjE-2cYyE8d-cEXEwS-ejenCS-7EcQsh-m7yqp4-m7zMQj-m7zSYf-m7yFLX-bmeBL4-6bgmjL-fbE1QS-Vm82B9-jaLnpF-jaLrwt-kaSdLv-56Arbw-rauhw2-m7xTt8-2aTG5im-eYQzqg-kqoLYR-cEXsrL-kqpkcZ-976Sby-2bpSKVz-RUTq9Y-8zmKRV-27rKkqE-s8aaZo-m7zNfN-9mWn2F-29UdGE7-dnxsLk-U2RMSG-5EE7UC