Tramping on Tracks

Like everyone else, we also spent some time walking the old KTM tracks before they were closed to the public.

Noey was most excited when I told him about our little excursion. "We can pretend to be the Fat Controller!" he said, amongst other things.

I feel no nostalgia for the discontinuation of the line except in one respect. Back when we were staying in our previous apartment, the railway line ran along one of the perimeter walls. When we first considered buying the place, that was in fact one of the negative factors, and we were relieved that our unit was one of the furthest from the railway tracks.

Then we had a little boy who absolutely loved trains.

Everyday when he heard a train come rumbling and trundling down the tracks, he would make a dash for the window. I believe "choo choo" was one of the earlier words/sounds he could verbalise. And if a train was to pull in while we were downstairs playing, you would see him absolutely riveted to the spot, staring. Seeing the train is one of the things he misses a lot, I'm sure, since we have moved.

Since there are no longer any trains, I figured it would be fun for him, and us, to go walk on the tracks and visit our old neighbourhood.

All smiles! This excursion gets the Noey stamp of approval.
Thanks Aunty Debra for the tee! It fits great and I heard a few passerbys comment on how cute it was!

Even Naomi came along for the trek! Not a squeak from her the entire time.
We met a couple of church mates who helped us take a family photo, one of the rare few we have.

Me: Choo choo! Here comes the Noey train!
Noey: Noey's not a train! I am a person!
My son is really too serious sometimes.

DD managed to find the hole in the shrubbery through which we could spy the train from the hall window of our previous apartment.

"The station is over there!"
I feel like a doofus for not realising that there was an actual station right there in Bukit Timah while the line was still running. It might have made for an interesting excursion with Noey on the countless times we'd walked past to go to King Albert Park!

One with the signage of the station that I did not know existed.

I'm not sure what they've decided to do with the land, though there's a movement ongoing to keep this a green corridor. I also heard that the metal bridge would still be retained, which is a happy thing. Hopefully after development plans are worked out, we'd still be able to walk this short stretch and retain this little link with Noey's childhood and his (and our) first home.

Upon coming home, Noey (not surprisingly) felt a need to play with his trains for a bit!