Hello everyone! This weekend marks the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and is commemorated by Christians worldwide. We wish everyone a fruitful Easter Weekend! Unfortunately, with the weekend almost cover it’s time to get back to work/school/ bumming around (eh heh).
This week, we visit an old landmark in Singapore’s history, and it has to do with trains! The Tanjong Pagar Railway Station was built in 1932, and as the former main train station in Singapore, trains took passengers to and from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The railway station was eventually closed in 2011, and it was gazetted as a national monument. Woodlands Checkpoint still has train services, so don’t fret if you need your ‘quick’ getaway to Malaysia or simply wish to try out a train that doesn’t run on MRT tracks (eh heh).
Since 2015, the railway station is open (yes, admission is free!) during public holidays, and occasionally hosts activities such as flea markets, carnivals and private events. During one of Singapore’s numerous public holidays, we decided to pay the station a visit. We brought our trusty equipment (Damian’s Canon and Sandra’s Fujifilm, and our favourite Lomo’Instant) and put it to good use; so join us on our epic photo-journey below!
Sandra, stocked up with food and drinks for a fun day ahead! On the left side of the station, you can see an old clock, which reminded Sandra of the one she had seen in Winchester, UK!
The initials ‘FMSR’ stands for ‘Federated Malay States Railway’, which Singapore was part of in the 1930s. Also, the four statutes was sculpted by Rudolfo Nolli, who was an Italian artist working in South East Asia.
We loved the stone arches, complete with intricate designs of octograms.These wall murals depicted commercial and residential life in Singapore in the 1920s, including the kampung life and maritime trade!The emblem of the Federated Malay States is seen clearly; two tigers hug the emblem, which possibly harks to Singapore’s own Republic logo!Wandering in wonder.It is no surprise that many visitors and tourists were keen to explore the old station; obviously with such modern technology operating our transportation, steam and diesel trains have been rendered otiose.We caught these two gentleman taking a comfortable seat on the low brick wall, clearly contemplating life in some measure.Damian peeping through a brick wall; wonder what’s inside…The first-person view: an abandoned sofa…?Perspectives of an ancient place.
“Er, hello? Anyone in there?”Sometimes, a ‘random’ snapshot can capture coincidences so well, like the person standing in the middle of the gap of the walls!Sandra loved the metal grill gates, which we don’t always see in modern Singapore!This was a surprise discovery while walking through the empty rooms.A lone flower, lying conspicuously for us to take a photo 😉Surprise!!
Someone’s happy while taking photos and exploring the railway station!
Moments like this inspire us to take creative photos; the rectangular hole in the wall looked like a portrait frame, giving us the opportunity to ‘model’!
Two happy and satisfied photographers!Here, we played around with the multiple exposure function on Sandra’s Fujifilm camera. The lack of a tripod obviously meant it would be difficult to create photos with ‘multiple’ subjects, but the result was quite unique!Here, we have a closer attempt at trying to line up two shots without moving our hands (Damian); so close!
Tonkatsu, watch out for trains!Tonkatsu found a new resting place!
Of course, we simply had to take the opportunity to go crazy with the beloved Lomo’Instant Camera. Check out our results below!
Multiple Exposure: Here, we made used of the splitzer to show TWO Damains in one frame!
Multiple Exposure: Again by using the splitzer, we split the image into four frames! Damian is everywhere! Sadly, we did not hold the camera very steadily, and the roof is clearly unaligned. A tripod is definitely needed!Multiple Exposure: Shooting along the tracks, this instant film turned out quite well! The tracks are now covered with grass and proper drainage were installed!
Playing around with the close up lens! Because the viewfinder does not reflect how the instant film turns out, we had to gauge manually by looking through the lens first. Hello Tonkatsu!!A friendly tourist helped us to take a shot with our Lomo’Instant 🙂
This post is notably photo-heavy, and for good reason: there is simply so much to take while at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station! We were definitely not the only photographers around, and everyone was enjoying themselves, basking in an unknown environment which formed an important point in Singapore’s history!
As mentioned, the railway station often hosts events during the public holiday, and turns out there was a bazaar during the Good Friday holiday! It is a pity we did not manage to go there, but nevertheless the Tanjong Pagar Railway Stastion is a must-visit!
Damian with Sandra 
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