On 29 January, the first year Literary Arts students embarked on a field trip to visit the major milestones of the Singapore-Malaysia railway corridor. The field trip was part of the Literary Arts Experience and Exposure Programme to glean some inspiration for a non-fiction writing project that required them to write an opinion piece based on a site of history and memory.

The weather for the field trip was less than clement, but it did little to dampen the energetic spark of the Literary Arts students as they travelled from the Woodlands Waterfront Park to the Wallace Education Centre at Bukit Timah and finally, the abandoned Tanjong Pagar Railway station. At each of the pit stops, an experienced guide explained the significance of the site and gave them a lowdown on the major historical milestones associated with the site.

Unsurprisingly, it was the abandoned Tanjong Pagar railway station that was the pièce de résistance of the trip. The Literary Arts students marvelled at the gothic architecture of the station and for the first time in their lives, stepped onto the antiquated railway track. While not all of the Literary Arts students would write about the historic railway station for their project, the experience was something that would stay with them for a long time to come.