Last Days KTM in Singapore ( pt 4 ) - fridge magnet and His Highness Sultan Johor writes such an interesting blog entry for Singapore Straits Times.

firstly, souvenirs hunters memang go all out untuk dapat cenderamata/cenderahati kenangan. Sampai ada bahagian rel pun dijual orang beli tak salah aku.

Well...memandangkan belanja untuk hiburan dan kesyokkan diri sendiri adalah terhad...
Jadi aku cuma dapatkan ni..
Fridge Magnets tapi alrite la... aku suka..bleh taruk satu esbok kat dapur Msia, satu kat esbok dapur Spore. Meaningful pasal KTM pe haha. Satu depicts Stesen Tanjong Pagar, satu depicts Bukit Timah Station.

Yang menarik tu ialah tarikh tahun yang diprinted kat Fridge Magnets khas keluaran KTM untuk peristiwa hari dalam sejarah ni. Tahun 1915 dok.




Suratkhabar2 English dan Melayu di Singapura memang have a field day untuk occasion ni.. Siap hari sabtu lepas ada all out seperate section untuk gambo2 last kopek KTM di Singapura.

Paling menarik , dorang ikut buat liputan rumah2 flet didiami keluarga pekerja KTM dan hari dorang pindah dan kucing2 dorang terpaksa tinggalkan.

Sapa tu hari, yang anonymous ke sapa tu reply kat blog posting aku, ah beb, Straits Times siap keluar gambo tempat pusing kepala Loco untuk short end long end sey.




Ini cuma sebagian je, banyak giler gambo2 tiap2 hari dan cerita2 baik kat sokkabar Melayu atau omputeh Singapura.

Tapi satu yang sangat unusual, ialah blog yang ditulis oleh Sultan Johor khas untuk suratkhabar Straits Times Singapore. Dan serious berbual, full of humour dan sangat menarik. Pada aku, memang best giler la, informatif abis dan menarik sangat tulisan His Highness ni. Wah sey, his highness everytime masuk Singapore either drive atau bawak kapal yacht dia. Wow.



ni blog dia untuk sokkabar Singapore pasal kenapa dia nak pandu KTM keretapi terakhir keluar Tanjong Pagar, Singapura.


Why I drove the last train out
July 01, 2011 Friday, 10:00 PM
His Royal Highness, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor, on why he asked to drive the last KTM train out of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.
________________________________________
WHEN I found out last year that Tanjong Pagar Railway Station would be closed, I expressed my desire of driving the last train out of Singapore to the KTM chairman.
What the governments do has got nothing to do with me. To me, it is a sentimental matter.
It was my great grandfather, the late Sultan Ibrahim, who opened the Causeway, designed for both road and rail links. He paved the way, literally, for the first train to rumble into Singapore from Malaysia back in 1923.
I felt it was only appropriate for me, as the ruler of Johor, to drive the last train out.
Besides trains, I fly jets, helicopters, and I sail my own yacht. I am never a boring person. Everything to me is a challenge. I always like to find something new to do. Every day, I look at the weather and think to myself, what should I do today?
So when the KTM chairman said OK, the train instructor was sent to my palace.
There was no train simulator. I had to study the diagrams of the controls and learn about the mechanics of how a train moves. After that, we started the practical lessons.
The first time I sat at the controls, it felt a little funny because there is no steering wheel. There is only the throttle and the brake.
It was a little scary too because, unlike a car, you cannot swerve when you’re driving a train. If there is something on the tracks, you cannot avoid it. You will hit it. It’s not like a helicopter, where I can go up and down.
What helps is that there is a note, or manifest, that the station master hands you before you leave the station, and which you need to sign for. It describes the route you would be taking, what the speed limits are, where the crossings are, etc.
As the lessons progressed, I learnt one other thing: You cannot think only for yourself when you drive a train.
You need to feel it. You need to feel its length, its weight, the momentum and the gradient you are on.
I drove around to places like Negri Sembilan, Kluang and KL, after I received my locomotive driving licence.
Thursday night was the first time I set foot into Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. That’s because when I come to Singapore, I usually drive or take my yacht.
I was told not to go more than 60km per hour, because these are old tracks and they could be a little unsteady.
There were two safety drivers with me at the controls. One of them was my instructor, because I always feel more comfortable when he is beside me.
I also brought my iPad onto the train because I always like to find out where I am and how fast I am going (Yes, you can do that with an iPad!).
I felt a little sad that it was a night journey and that I couldn’t see what was around me as I drove.
But I also felt very honoured, because there were so many passengers. They are a testament to the bond of friendship between the people of Johor and Singapore.
I knew many of them felt sad about the station. Some of them feel that Singapore is developing too fast. But I don’t think so.
We cannot control development. It happens at its own pace. But we must always know our history.
In Malaysia and Singapore, when we go to school, we do not learn about ourselves, but about the world.
You ask a Singaporean on the street: Where is Kazakhstan? Or, say, where is Cape Town? He will probably know.
But Segamat, Malaysia? Probably not.
So this is the message I want to say to Singaporeans: Learn about the history we share.
More than anything else, that is why I asked to drive the train.



tapi kan, memang, aku lalu immigresen Singapore, tengok tempat KTM baru, ada kejong sikit..haha. Nanti mesti gerek punya kalo dah lama sikit.

last days KTM in Singapore (pt 3) - Bukit Timah Station

I think not many people in Malaysia and Singapore are aware of how meaningful and historic this station is.
Originally it was built in 1915 or something. Dah tua giler.




The Malaysian and Singapore flag fly side by side. I always think its hilarious and pathetic that I regularly read and hear of soothsayers, doom merchants and prophet of disasters always talking negatively and with a sense of deep hatred and grudge about the relationship between these both countries and all that is exaggeratedly evil and bad about each other, and to constantly maliciously provoke emotional response from each other,
but the real people that matters, people who criss-cross the immigrations to be with families, relatives, friends, to work, to go to school, or to visit socially, and there are hundred thousands DAILY from both countries, have no problem at all.
I believe, some of these people may not even know what they are talking about, maybe sort of a 'nodding donkey'?

LOOK HERE! huhu.




Keretapi nye daredevil.. I'm going off the rails on a crazy train haha.





Aku tak tahu untuk satu Semenanjung ke tak, tapi kat Singapura, KTM pakai sistem Token sebagai petanda keretapi mana yang berhak lalu kat sesuatu track tu pasal ada tempat kan single track aje. Mau kang takde sistem ni berlanggar la siot kalo semua main rembat jalan menonong je kan? haha.
So tengok gambo ni...ni penyerahan token ok.





I dont know about the whole peninsular Malaysia but in Singapore , KTM is using the Token service to give right of way to the one in possession of the token on a single track.
Sort of A Lord Of The Ring concept.











In this post I will share some useful details I learnt from the friendly but operationally disciplined KTM Staff that manned this station that may interest some of you..






in English KTM terms - Main which is the track nearest the platform, Loop which is the center track and furthest from the platform is called Siding.
In KTM's Bahasa Malaysia or Bahasa Melayu the term is refered to as 'ibu'
, 'gelong(gelung)' and lastly 'sisian'.




Actually there was a train derailment at the Siding last year, and the point leading from Tanjong Pagar is still not workable, so a short length train or a loco can still enter the Siding but must be from the Johor direction.



I have always wanted to ask the KTM staffs , especially the older experienced ones about their job, and its really interesting talking to staff who had been around for 30 years and had seen it all and done it all.

I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to take some photos of the interior of the station master room with the staff's permission.



radar token used to communicate about the passing and handling of the token.






the safebox of this ktm station.



the phone with no dialing number I think used to communicate with the Tanjong Pagar Station staff.




I did talk about the signalling system of the KTM last post, I think I got a slightly better idea. To throw a point, you have to activate the corresponding lever twice. I think the blue color is the lock system, and it will also indicate Green or Red ( KTM pakai hijau ngan merah tak salah aku ) to the train driver.



Jadi standard la, hijau bleh masuk, merah tak boleh.



More pics....KTM bridge at Bukit Timah Dunearn Road. Jambatan ni kalo kena remove, mesti rasa lain sekali.



Trackwork.. pakar wooo yang kerja buat trackwork ni, ngah alignment ngan grinding ngan apa je la..




I got a few more photos, I think I will upload all on my deafeningforever.blogspot ( which miraculously I got back the password ) when I got the time.

last days KTM in Singapore (pt 2) - Tanjong Pagar Railway Station

An artist painting the railway tracks and platform of the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station before its closure this Thursday.




Stesen KTM Tanjong Pagar atau sebagian eja Tanjung Pagar ni, selain dari tempat naik turun ketapi , tapi tempat makan, tempat lepak untuk sapa2 kerja area sana.

So makin hangat tempat ni pasal dah nak dekat last train, dah tu ngan pengumuman His Majesty Sultan Johor akan pandu keretapi terakhir KTM tinggal stesen ( train kul 10malam hari Khamis ni ), maka makin meriah la.

Tiket? Forget it la aku rasa.. Bayangkan berapa hari lepas aku mendanok kul 9 pagi nak carik tiket kul 1 hari yang sama pun dah sold out. Semua nak naik last kopek train KTM.


Queueing up to buy tickets for the last KTM train rides out of Singapore.


Ada mat salleh PR ni borak2 ngan aku so dia cakap " this is end of era ", cam sedih gitu la, aku jawab la " you can take KTM anytime in Woodlands to any part of Peninsular Malaysia what ", dia jawab " not the same ". Mungkin dorang ni semua regulars yang naik KTM all the way sampai Tanjong Pagar to parts of Malaysia. Well...naik sampai Woodlands je la dorang lain kali.

Untuk korang yang cuma tengok Tanjong Pagar KTM Station ni kat filem2 jenis P.Ramlee dulu, these are some photos of the place.

Exterior of the KTM Station Tanjong Pagar.


Exterior of KTM Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.
The facade featuring these four giants represent Agriculture, Commerce, Industry, Transport - cakap melayu dia aku rasa - pertanian, perniagaan, perusahaan, pengangkutan.






Lawa arch dia...bangunan2 lama memang pengsi2 .














To all the Prophets Of Disaster, Merchants Of Doom,
Malaysian Goverment got a deal out this agreement by obtaining plots of PRIME land in central Singapore area, and the Tanjong Pagar Station itself will not be demolished as its gazetted as sort of a National Treasure. I think the same goes for the Bukit Timah Station. The interior may be changed for whatever purpose,but the exterior remains.
Meh, aku cakap Melayu lak - Kerajaan Malaysia tak kasi ni tanah KTM kat Singapura semua percuma. Dorang dah buat deal dan negotiation yang mungkin terbaik pada pandangan mereka yang berunding.


Sebelum aku lupa...makan...
tempat makan split into dua kedai kopi gitu.. ni yang dekat dewan utama gitu..


Tapi ramai orang lagi prefer sini yang bawah ni, yang sebelah lagi satu tu kat sikit ngan rel ketapi tu, apa aku tahu la kalo tengok dan dengar cakap kawan2 aku yang regulars kat sini.. Sambal Sotong dia sedap lak haha. Capati..then goreng udang or what ever kueh mueh yang aku tak tahu nama tapi aku tahu makan je.
Anyway, aku kalo datang sini aku makan nasik campur dia. Lain2 gerai aku tengok2 je haha.


These food stalls at this KTM Station have built up loyal customers all thru the years, people who work in the area or those who just visit the place for the food and ambience. So its a hunt now to find where all these shops will move to next.

anyway I got to stop about the food or I will go on and on..

So these rooms will be no more..
" Bilik Orang Kenamaan " - VIP Room



Polis Bantuan KTMB Singapura



Signboards... papan tanda.







Interior pulak








To be continued..next Bukit Timah Railway Station including interior or the station master room... haha. GUA AMBIK MINTAK IZIN DULU OK. Aku pun belajar2 jugak, mintak abang bertugas ajar aku terms dan sebutan ikut BM dan Melayu... ye la kot lain kali aku carik kerja KTM pulak..

Altogether now - IBU, GELONG, SISIAN. Chewwaah.. excited siak aku dapat belajar the proper terms. Kalo salah sorry la, maklum telinga aku ni.

Last pic for the day... Buffer Stop KTM. haha.



ooo one really last pic, sort of an old railway track vehicle.