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May 4, 2010
Puzzle solved 50 years later, thanks to ST photo story
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-- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN
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I LEARNT something from the '6:39pm' picture in The Straits Times yesterday.
When I was a very little child, my parents used to take me to the railway station at North Buona Vista Road, where the Biopolis now is, to watch the train passing in the evening.
(The train station is gone now, but the track still runs there, and the area is still called Tanglin Halt.)
I used to see the station master handing a bag to the driver of the train each time it passed, looking exactly like this photo, and wondered why he did that. I never found out until now.
Today, after more than 50 years, I discover that it actually contains a brass token, and is a safety measure to ensure that the train with the token is the only one on that two-way section of track!
Lee Hsien Loong
Prime Minister
Puzzle solved 50 years later, thanks to ST photo story
<!-- by line --><!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->
<!-- story content : start -->
I LEARNT something from the '6:39pm' picture in The Straits Times yesterday.
When I was a very little child, my parents used to take me to the railway station at North Buona Vista Road, where the Biopolis now is, to watch the train passing in the evening.
(The train station is gone now, but the track still runs there, and the area is still called Tanglin Halt.)
I used to see the station master handing a bag to the driver of the train each time it passed, looking exactly like this photo, and wondered why he did that. I never found out until now.
Today, after more than 50 years, I discover that it actually contains a brass token, and is a safety measure to ensure that the train with the token is the only one on that two-way section of track!
Lee Hsien Loong
Prime Minister
