With not much time left before the impending closure, and Sunday being the last weekend of operations of the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, Boon Hwee and I decided to make a trip down to the station after the morning’s Green Corridor walk from Railway Mall to Bukit Panjang Crossing. This was my 2nd visit to the station, the first being just a day before.
The large crowd is still at the station, making full use of whatever remaining time left to take photos for posterity. A souvenir stall has also been setup since a week ago to sell souvenirs and other station-related memorabilia to the visitors. Business looks brisk and the stall owners look happy to be having such good sales.
The food stall owners, like the day before, are also enjoying their increase in business as visitors come in hordes to savour their food. I didn’t manage to get a good shot of the chapati maker at Bambai Food Catering, I decided to try again. He’s happy making and flipping the chapati as I happily shoot away.
We originally wanted to take a photo of the 4:40pm train arriving at the station, but it’s running kind of late. Not wanting to waste time waiting, we decided to explore the back of the station were a nice little abandoned house is.
Along the way, we saw the train at the departure platform, waiting to depart. At this time, there were nice subtle strips of light falling on the train which attracted us.
Further up, a section of the train features colourful images of Malaysian tourist destinations.
Walking along, we also saw this supposedly homeless man taking a nap on pieces of cardboard. According to this Instagram post by aikbengchia, he’s no longer there today, leaving behind the cardboard sheet and water bottle.
Eventually we reached the end of the platform. Lifting my camera up above the fence, I aimed it in the general direction of the train and grabbed a few shots. This is the successful one. I did some post-processing here to give it that old-world look in Lightroom.
Just before the 4:40pm train finally arrive, a KTM worker drove by and seeing several visitors on the tracks, he blew up and chased everyone away. During all the commotion, I missed it. Not a big deal, as we knew there’ll be a train departing at 6pm.
After he drove off into the distance, we continued on, keeping a lookout for him. Walking towards the depot which I skipped yesterday, we came across some old and now abandoned machinery. The place still has that old-world, kampung feel to it.
The depot itself is very old by now, and with the view of modern developments of Singapore including the newly built Pinnacle at Duxton in the background, forms a very stark contrast between the old and the new.
Seeing the angry KTM worker in the distance again, we decided to head back towards the station before he comes to us. Along the way, the 6pm train left the station.
We had a surprising discovery when another photographer who was nearby told us that a KTM worker will be handing the driver a key token here as well. I always thought that Bukit Timah Railway Station is the only one in Singapore where this is still being practiced. Unfortunately, I don’t have a long enough lens to get a closer shot.
As the train leaves, we tried to replicate the shot by Tan Kar Gee, only to realise we are on the wrong side of it. Oh well.
With that, we ended our shoot for the day. For more photos of the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, check out my Flickr Photoset.
Tomorrow, after the last train leaves the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, all will be quiet. We will no longer see the old style KTM trains or tracks.
Let’s hope the Green Corridor proposal is successful. Show your support by liking the We Support the Green Corridor page on Facebook.
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