{"id":250,"date":"2011-06-19T22:34:45","date_gmt":"2011-06-19T14:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/?p=250"},"modified":"2011-06-28T09:49:48","modified_gmt":"2011-06-28T01:49:48","slug":"a-walk-from-bukit-timah-railway-station-to-bukit-panjang-level-crossing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/2011\/06\/a-walk-from-bukit-timah-railway-station-to-bukit-panjang-level-crossing","title":{"rendered":"A Walk from Bukit Timah Railway Station to Bukit Panjang Level Crossing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inspired by the posts on Jerome Lim’s The Long and Winding Road<\/a> and Tan Kar Gee’s A Journey Till the End<\/a>, as well as the walk<\/a> by the Green Corridor<\/a> last week, I decided to explore the south side of the railway, looking for the bridges and level crossings.<\/p>\n

So, after re-visiting the Bukit Timah Railway Station<\/a>, Gilbert<\/a>, Steve and myself took a bus to Upper Bukit Timah Road, near the place where the Courts used to be.<\/p>\n

An interesting find is this half-chopped overhead bridge outside the Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. This used to link the shopping centre to the row of shophouses opposite.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The remains of what was once an overhead bridge at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We walked a short distance to the girder bridge at Hindhede Road. While fooling around trying to take self-portraits near a concave mirror, a train passed by over the bridge, which meant we missed capturing a shot of it. Oh well.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Girder Bridge at Hindhede Road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After this we began a long trek to shoot the other bridges and crossings. First to be seen is another black truss bridge across Upper Bukit Timah Road, near the Rail Mall.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A black truss bridge across Upper Bukit Timah Road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Underneath the bridge is an arched pedestrian walkway with the outer walls are covered with crawlers.<\/p>\n

\"\"
One of the arches of the black truss bridge across Upper Bukit Timah Road, near the Rail Mall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
A road leading to an area behind the Rail Mall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We crossed the overhead bridge to get to the other side of Upper Bukit Timah Road and to get another shot of the black truss bridge.<\/p>\n

\"\"
View of the black truss bridge across Upper Bukit Timah Road from the nearby overhead bridge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A while later, we arrived at the Hillview Road bridge. A yellow Lotus sports car happen to zoom by at this moment, giving a contrast between modern and old transport.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A Lotus sports car passes under the railway bridge at Hillview Road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Continuing our journey, we come across the very uniquely designed St. Joseph’s church. The church has a 33m tall tower featuring a pagoda-styled roof, giving the classic “east meets west” feel to the building. The main church building itself also has the Chinese styled roof, which gives the church the unique look.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The unqiue architecture of the St. Joseph's Church featuring a pagoda-styled roof at the top of the 33m tower.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A short distance ahead is the Gombak level crossing across Gombak Drive right outside the MINDEF building. This still has manually-operated gates which close the road to the traffic to allow the train to pass.<\/p>\n

Shortly after we arrive and started taking pictures, a KTM worker shouted at us that no photography was allowed, and that we had to get permission from the Bukit Timah station master, which we sort of did. Steve, who knows bahasa melayu<\/em> managed to talk to him to allow us to continue shooting.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A KTM staff stands at the door of the KTM Control Hut at the Gombak level crossing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
KTM control hut and gate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
The barrier at the north side of the Gombak level crossing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
After years of use\/abuse, the gates at the sound side of the crossing are now mis-aligned.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the north side of the crossing are some abandoned KTM buildings. Together with the HDB flats in the distance, the form a contrast of old and new. These buildings will no doubt eventually give way to new developments sooner or later.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Abandoned KTM buildings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before long, that KTM staff started shouting at us again, and not wanting any trouble, we left. By now, we are semi-tired and so decided to take a short bus trip to Ten Mile Junction, which the Bukit Panjang level crossing at Choa Chu Kang Road is near.<\/p>\n

As luck would have it, shortly after we arrived, we saw the KTM worker come out of his hut to lower the barriers and close the road to traffic.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A KTM worker prepares to close the barriers for an approaching train at the Bukit Panjang level crossing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
A train travels across Choa Chu Kang Road at the Bukit Panjang level crossing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’d have been great to capture the passing KTM train crossing Choa Chu Kang road and a LRT train passing by on its tracks above, but we didn’t have THAT much luck.<\/p>\n

Crossing the road towards the control hut, we see that it’s in a nice landscaped surroundings. This looked a little nicer than the one at Bukit Gombak.<\/p>\n

\"\"
KTM control hut at the Bukit Panjang level crossing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a very fruitful trip, and we were all glad we did not cancel the trip due to rain to sleep in. It has been worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inspired by the posts on Jerome Lim’s The Long and Winding Road and Tan Kar Gee’s A Journey Till the End, as well as the walk by the Green Corridor last week, I decided to explore the south side of the railway, looking for the bridges and level crossings. So, after re-visiting the Bukit Timah… Continue reading A Walk from Bukit Timah Railway Station to Bukit Panjang Level Crossing<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[141,143,138,140,129,128,137,62,127,21,139,135],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288,"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions\/288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ckphoto.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}