Railway track and sleepers from the notorious wartime Burma Railway have been offloaded from a Royal Navy frigate in preparation for their inclusion in a new national monument.

The 30 metres of track and sleepers was put on HMS Northumberland while the Type 23 frigate was visiting Bangkok in Thailand for a Defence Industry Day, when ten UK companies displayed equipment for more than 100 visitors.

The ship returned from her Gulf and Far East deployment just before Christmas, but the track was put ashore yesterday under the watchful eye of David Childs, Director of the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas in Staffordshire.

It will eventually form a unique tribute to the suffering and endurance of those who worked on the so-called Death Railway, as well as others who were held as prisoners-of-war in the Far East.

Members of the ship's company of the frigate took the chance to visit the railway while they were in Thailand, and also took in the Bridge over the River Kwai.

Ships of the Royal Navy - HMS Northumberland