Don Khon—the more-southerly of the two islands—in 1893, when Laos became part of French Indochina (the French colonial empire in Southeast Asia). Its route stretched four kilometres, from the southeastern corner of the island (near the village of Ban Hangkhon) north-west to the northern part of the island near the village of Ban Khon. The railway was temporary for its first four years, laid in segments which could be lifted when the train had passed and relaid in front. The gun-sloops Lagrandière, Ham Luong and Massie were the first to cross the island by this method, followed by the Garcerie, Colombert and Trentinian in 1896; the latter sank in the Mekong River after a 1928 gasoline explosion. Imported Vietnamese labour hauled wagons which carried sections of the vessels. A permanent railway was laid by 1897, and a wood-burning steam locomotive replaced manpower for traction. The first seven-tonne steam locomotive was christened Paul Doumer (Governor-General of French Indochina from 1897 to 1902), and equipment was supplied by Decauville via Cochinchina. Trains could have a maximum of 12 cars (consisting of a steam locomotive, open-topped wagons and carriages), and it took an average of two trains to load a vessel. At the northern terminal, passengers transferred to a steamship on the river channel dividing Don Det and Don Khon. As the vessels could only travel when the river was in flood, during the 1910s the railway was extended to Don Det and it terminated at a pier near Ban Khon. The outbreak of the Second World War apparently sealed the railway's fate, and the last train reportedly ran in 1940. The French started to build the bridge in 1917 and it was delivered to the "Compagnie des Messagerie Fluviale de Cochinchine" on January 1, 1923, for operation. It was finished between 1920 and 1921 but as they receipt the railway for the Don Det extension on October 1922, the inauguration was delayed. Due to the WW1, they had huge material supply problems (mostly on cement and steel). Contemporary account Although there are few accounts of the railway–written or pictorial—Marthe Bassenne, a physician's wife, travelled between Phnom Penh and Luang Prabang in 1910: Present-day route Although the railway—including the concrete viaduct—remains largely intact and can be walked or cycled (except for short stretches in a maintenance yard), its rails have been removed. The trackbed, consisting of compacted ballast and sand, is used to