An area of the former rail corridor I did have some interaction with back in 1986 was the area just north of the level crossing that goes across Choa Chu Kang Road, up to Stagmont Ring. That was during a stint lasting several months that I had at Stagmont Camp while doing my National Service. The quickest way to get from camp to the bus stops at Woodlands Road was down the hill on top of which the camp was perched, past what then was left of a village, across the Pang Sua canal (which we had to down into to cross it), over the railway tracks and out to the main road.
A missing link in the vicinity of Stagmont Camp, the girder bridge at the 10th mile, one of the rail bridges which since been dismantled and returned to Malaysia.
A southward view down to the level crossing across Choa Chu Kang Road. The LRT line is a more recent addition to the landscape.
A wooded area where the village through I took a shortcut once existed.
The Pang Sua Canal which I would have to cross … a plank was laid across the recess through which water normally flowed.
The area of the railway tracks we used as a shortcut.
The proximity of the tracks to the camp, which housed the School of Signals, meant that it also made a convenient location for signal line-laying training – which as a trainee at the school during the latter half of my stint, I was to be involved in, often finding myself, in the company of one or two of my fellow trainees, trudging up and down the area of the tracks, oblivious to the danger being by the tracks did pose. The training exercises required us to lay the lines, and then carrying out fault-finding and maintenance on the lines.
Evidence of line-laying exercised before the tracks were removed in August 2011.
On one occasion, the training exercise involved a desperate search for a missing rifle – one I myself had left behind, somewhere along the tracks. It was probably a good thing that it was along the tracks that I had left it, as much to my relief, I did manage to recover the rifle after just half an hour of backtracking and groping in the dark with the help of the two other members of the detachment I was in. I shudder to think of what the consequences might have been if I had not found it – word was that it could mean seven years in the detention barracks.
The rail corridor in the area before the tracks were dismantled – the tracks was a convenient place to conduct signal line laying training.
One of the areas we did find ourselves on our exercises was the Stagmont Ring area where the Mandai Gate Crossing was. As it was mostly in the dark that we did see it, I don’t quite have much of a visual picture of the area and a set of photographs I did came across recently is a godsend and does quite clearly show the area as it might then have been. The photographs are ones taken by Henry Cordeiro, a frequent visitor to the area in the second half of the 1980s – around the time I was based there. The photographs, which Henry has given his kind permission for me to post do show the gate hut (and the gateman’s quarters) on the side of the tracks across from the most recent gate hut which was demolished early this year.
The road bridge over the Pang Sua Canal at Stagmont Ring Road with the crossing and gate hut seen beyond it in 1989 (photograph used with the kind permission of Henry Corderio).
A view of the road bridge and former crossing site today.
The gate hut in 1989 (photograph used with the kind permission of Henry Corderio).
The more recent gate hut seen in August 2011 around the time the railway tracks were being removed. The termite infested hut was demolished early this year.
The crossing and hut seen in late 2010 while the line was still in operation.
The crossing on the side of the road opposite the hut in 1989 (photograph used with the kind permission of Henry Corderio)..
A provision shop on the side of the road opposite the hut in 1989 (photograph used with the kind permission of Henry Corderio).
Another view of the hut in August 2011.
The crossing on the side of the road opposite the hut already paved over in August 2011.
A trolley loaded with gas tanks – used for the cutting of the tracks in August 2011.
One in Henry’s set of very valuable photographs is a rather interesting one from 1986. That shows metal framework on concrete supports built to carry pipes across the canal which we still see today. This and the road bridge are one of few reminders left of the sights around village. In the same photograph, we can also see the roofs of huts belonging to what Henry refers to as “Stagmont Ring Village” (or Yew Tee Village). If we look at the same area today (a photograph of which follows Henry’s photograph), we do see how the village rather than the trees then towering over the village huts, has “grown”.
Parts of Yew Tee Village seen across the Pang Sua Canal in 1986 (photograph used with the kind permission of Henry Corderio).
The same area today – showing how the village has “grown”.
The old photographs do show that much has changed. The zinc roofed wooden huts that once were common in an area I had up to then always thought of as the countryside, have all disappeared, replaced in a large part by new dwellings and flats which are part of one of the more recent “villages” of modern Singapore, Choa Chu Kang. The new housing estate is made up mainly of towering Housing and Development Board flats which extends the spread of what did start off as the Teck Whye Estate, close to Stagmont Camp. Despite the developments in the area, there is still a substantial amount of greenery left in and around the former rail corridor. It may be a matter of time before much of that does get developed as well, but as long as it hasn’t been developed, there is hope that considerations are made to incorporate what has in the last two decades or so developed into a lovely piece of woodland into the developments being planned for the rail corridor (which will be retained in some way as a continuous green corridor) that will certainly be of great benefit to the wider community.
The woodland along the Pang Sua Canal close to Stagmont Ring Road today is a lovely green area.
The former Yew Tee Village – now dominated by the towering blocks of the new Singaporean village.
The area around the rail corridor is still very green.
It would be nice to see the now very green areas adjoing the former rail corridor also included in some of the rail corridor development plans.
The Long and Winding Road 