A Farewell to the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station

Along with a huge crowd of others clamoring to get a few last shots before the Railway sent out its last train on July 1st, Pris and I headed down last weekend, but were so busy through the week we're only now getting a chance to post our own pics (actually, we've been running from site to site all over Singapore so we've got lots to blog about in the near future). It was a lot busier than we expected, but considering it was the last weekend the trains would be running it was also pretty expected. The station itself will remain open two weeks after the 1st according to a press report, so anyone who'd still like shots of the tracks should be prepared to get their shots in soon before the doors are closed for good.

The Tajong Pagar Railway has been one of two checkpoints islandwide leading from Singapore into Malaysia directly. Now that this station is closed the only option left is the Woodlands Train Checkpoint, though the routes and times there aren't anywhere near as extensive as that just shut down.

The outside of the building is worth the trip alone, just based on the fact that you don't see old architecture like that in modern Singapore often. There are four statues posed on the building with the letters F M S R overhead, for Federated Malay States Railways and an impressive entrance, though if you go now you can expect to have lots of heads blocking any decent pictures.

I guess it's a little late to be talking about the services that used to be provided since it's not like anyone can make use of them by now, and especially since we can't say much about it since we never did make any trips on the rail anyway, so instead I'll just post the time-table for anyone interested:

 

In any case, we did manage to brave the crowds and head down by the tracks for a few quick shots of what will soon be closed to the public. There were no trains coming or going while we were there, but the tracks themselves were nice to look at, and knowing we were going to be some of the last few able to head in was exciting.

Alright, truth be told, it's pretty difficult to sound as excited as I'd like about this visit, not because it wasn't nice to look at or boring, but just because there's not much to say about railroad tracks in general, especially those that we can't recommend for a visit since they aren't running and will soon be closed even for a visit.

I'll just leave it to say if you have time in the next week make it a priority to stop down and take a last look at a national monument (since this year, actually) which has been running since 1932 and which holds fond memories for countless people.

(what's happening, i haven't had anything snarky to say this whole post!)

NLB: Garden Walk

The Garden Walk is held by volunteers at the National Library twice every month, on the first and third Saturdays, respectively. It's free of charge and starts at 4pm, all you need to do is show up at the information counter on the first floor and they'll let you know where to stand to wait.

 

The building itself isn't terribly difficult to find and only a short walk from the Bugis MRT station, so location shouldn't be a problem for anyone. However, watch the sky closely before you head out. The walk isn't covered at all and umbrellas are not provided, so if it does start pouring much of the walk will essentially be canceled, the guides will only point things out from inside the building. This was the problem on our trip, as we were lucky enough to have a storm begin only about 15 minutes before we were to head out.

We're going to be pretty honest here and say if you really have nothing to do it's worth the trip just for a day out, but you probably shouldn't go out of your way to make it. The volunteers are obviously very interested in what they're doing and very helpful, but don't expect to see many actually interesting plants or flowers, as most of what you will see can be found outside any government building in the Garden City.

The walk itself takes place both in and around the library building itself, as the 10th floor has a garden space open to the public. Unfortunately, this is an outdoor garden and is also not covered.

 (eventually our party decided to brave the rain)

Though the tour guide was very knowledgeable, we ended up getting bored after only a little while and wandering around to take some photos ourselves. Many of the plants were interesting enough, but we were disappointed at the lack of flowers.

(sour orange tree)

 (banana plant, though there was only one tiny little pre-banana about an inch long)

 

(swiss cheese plant! this one was very cool, there are natural holes in the leaves!)

 (close up)

 (we're not sure what this one is called, but the dual colored leaves were quite pretty)

After we finished doing the rounds on the upper floor we spent a little while exploring the plants outside the building, but overall there weren't many as interesting as those higher up.

(except this one, which somehow looks like each section should be a different plant)

 (the prettiest plant of the whole tour was a potted orchid in the lobby)

Overall, we're glad to have made the trip to see the National Library building if nothing else, but it's probably not something we'd bother taking our friends or family to. The tours run pretty frequently so if you're at a loss for how to spend an hour and a half of your Saturday by all means go for the tour- just don't forget your umbrella.

 

(pris was pretty excited to put her photography skills to work though)