SengkangBabies: Railway track along Upper Bukit Timah Road

** updated 04Jul - train has since stop running, but avoid going on weekends, track is packed with people, look at our facebook album link**

Last Sun, Daddy brought Wei to participate in a railway trek along Upper Bukit Timah. Organized by TheGreenCorridor, who hope more people will be aware of Singapore's rich Flora and Fauna Railway corridor.

There are three treks available - "Old Jurong Line", "Upper Bukit Timah", and "Bukit Timah". Over 100 participants met up at RailMall for our Upper Bukit Timah adventure. Jerome (the train-guru from The LongAndWindingRoad blog) will be our guide today. This will be the last weekend trek, before KTM ends it's runs on 30Jun2011.

The Highlights along our track : (copy and paste from Fanpage GreenCorridor )
(1) Truss bridge at Upper Bukit Timah Road (start point)
(2) Girder Bridge at Hillview Avenue
(3) Gated Level Crossing / KTM Huts at Gombak Drive
(4) Widest Level Crossing at Choa Chu Kang Road / Site of the former Bukit Panjang Railway Station

Walking along our trail is also a lesson on history. This bank has been standing here since 1957's !! (Click to read Jerome's link)

We hear a distant Horn, and we quicken our pace to await the approaching locomotive.
Everybody waves and gesture spontaneously when the train pass us by. Even the passengers and driver wave back enthusiastically :)

If you have been reading the news, you will know :
- people are queuing up to buy the last Nasi Brani at Tanjong Pagar (some say Singapore's best Kopi)
- there is a farewell party on 30Jun when the last train pulls into Tanjong Pagar (click for Fanpage)

**Click to read full party-story here**

On 01Jul, Tanjong Pagar operations will ceased, and trains will depart from Woodlands instead. To some, this will mean a closure to their youth memories, when railway was still a popular mode of transport to reach our relatives in Malaysia.

**We heard this bridge along Hill View will be demolished.....

Have you ever try walking on gravel paths along the Railway track? Wei loves to kick the pebbles !

Kids' walk, a lot of parents brought their kids along, and we saw a sausage dog too!
Not many (modern) Singapore kids have a chance to walk on Railway track. But Daddy heard from a friend in those olden days, children studying in schools near railway regularly dash across the track everyday :)

As we had more than 100 participants today, it was not wise to walk on or along the track. Some sections are quite narrow, and the crowd might fall when they try to stay clear of approaching train. (the train is actually very fast, and we do not want any incidents to happen)

When the locomotive rush pass, you can feel the ground trembles, and a gush of wind! This is the third train we spotted this morning, CooL !!

Video : walking down Upper Bukit Timah

.. Walking down History...

**Very soon we saw a gantry blocking us. This is the level-crossing at Gombak, Mindef.

The gate-keeper uncle is responsible to stop all vehicles when a train is approaching.

Jerome explain to us that station master sometimes work long hours, and in the old days, their families will be housed in these buildings. These buildings are now uninhibited.

Crowd waiting to cross the junction.

We are advised to walk on the main road, as we have a big crowd today.

We went past a beautiful Indian temple.

..and a oldies overhead bridge. Is this one of the last remaining old bridge?

**We reach Choa Chu Kang's level crossing, the widest in Singapore (six lanes)

We could not resist paying a visit to our friendly gate-keeper :)

In theory, we are on Malayan land keke

We see LRT and bikes intersecting the railway track at this junction.

The trek last slightly over two hours. This is an experience which money cannot buy. Daddy hopes Wei will remember his "historic" walk along Upper Bukit Timah railway line.

It was unfortunate that Daddy could not squeeze in more time to bring our kid/s to more GreenCorridor treks. Daddy would recommend Upper Bukit Timah for families with younger kids (from age four and above), and you may refer to GreenCorridor's maplink.

If you should be interested to know more about trains or GreenCorridor, do drop by and support TheGreenCorridor's mission. We hope the GreenCorridor (or at least some portions) will remain undeveloped, allowing us to enjoy Nature and it's inhabitants.

Daddy wish more guided tours will continue after 01Jul. There are still so many things for our younger generation to learn about our rich Railway heritage!