Lost Roads – Lorong Panchar

Take a look at this photo. Do you know where it was taken?  The next time you travel along Sixth Avenue, from Holland Road towards Bukit Timah, look out for this place. It is near a bus stop before you reach the junction with Jalan Haji Alias and Laurel Woods Avenue.

(Former) Junction at Sixth Avenue

Did you know that this is actually the start of a road that used to run from Sixth Avenue to Holland Road? The other end of this ‘lost road’ was at the winding stretch of ‘old’ Holland Road, between Holland Green and the unnamed canal that flows from Bt Timah Canal to Ulu Pandan Canal. This second entrance has just been erased by ongoing construction; presumably to widen the canal as part of the Bt Timah flood alleviation project.

Former junction with Holland Road

And the name of this ‘lost’ road? Lorong Panchar.

 

A section of Lorong Panchar (From 1981 Street Directory).Click on image to see an enlarged view.

Lorong Panchar probably did not exist for long because I could not find it in my 1963 street directory. In fact, at that time (1963), Sixth Avenue was only a tiny side road that branched off Bukit Timah Road and did not join to Holland Road. And in my 1993 street directory, only a tiny section of Lorong Panchar was left. Hence I conclude that Lorong Panchar only existed for about twenty years or so. Unfortunately, even though I have been living in the Sixth Avenue area since 1986, I don’t have any recollection of this road.

From 1963 Street Directory. Lor Panchar not shown.

From 1993 Street Directory. Only a tiny section left.

A couple of year ago, my neighbour and I tried to bash through the forest that had covered Lorong Panchar, starting from the Sixth Avenue junction. He told me he had seen some durian trees there and also the remains of a huge tomb. Unfortunately the vegetation was too thick and we never found anything interesting save the shed skin of what must have been a pretty large snake. We finally emerged from the forest at a point near the canal next to Holland Plain.

 PS - Read about two other lost roads that I have blogged about in the past:

1) Lorong Jodoh off Farrer Road

2)  A stretch of Pioneer Road.

GMY Book Contest #3

The first person to identify this place wins a copy of my book, Good Morning Yesterday. Just post your answer in the comments section. Sorry; only local readers can win ….. for obvious reason.

Thanks to Geoffrey Pain for sending me this mid-1960s picture some time ago. I did not post it earlier because I could not find the time to visit this place to confirm if I myself know the correct answer. Anyway, I still am not 100% sure. Which means of course, the judge’s decision is not final.

Old roads quiz (3)

Here are two photos that I received from my UK friends, Russ Wickson and Geoffrey Pain. Photo number 1 should be easy because of the famous landmark in the background; but number 2; taken in the mid-1960s, is a bit tough. I think it is a street nearby. What do you think?

Can you make out the name of the building on the right in the above photo?

Update (23 Jan 2012)

Below are two more photos of this area contributed by Tim Light. That building at the end of the street in Photos 2, can now be seen from a different angle. It looks like my Old Roads Quiz has turned into an Old Buildings Quiz.

Old roads quiz (2) - Bus terminus

I think some of the readers who have been making comments at this blog lately should have no difficulty identifying this place. Hope it triggers more memories for you.

Photo courtesy of Peter Chan

This is a photo of the former Princess Elizabeth Estate School taken in in 2007. Is this the same place as that in the black and white photo? Hope readers can provide more details.

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But how about this one? I think this one is not so easy.

Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Pain. Below is a close up on the ticketing hut - where bus conductors submit their collections and collect their tickets. The words say, in both English and Chinese; "Tay Koh Yat Bus Co. Ltd". The sign on the white bus says "12" and "Shenton Way".

The words on the side of the front bus says; "Paya Lebar Bus Service".

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Just received this photo from Russ Wickson (16 Nov 2011)

Old roads quiz (2) – Singapore’s newest road

About a year ago, I saw them building this short stretch of road. They cleared the trees, leveled the surface, paved it and put up the lamp posts. I thought; surely the road would be opened to traffic soon. But one year down the road, it is still barricaded at both ends.

Anyway, I am not complaining. It is ideal for my brisk-walking exercise – lots of greenery and fresh air, and zero vehicular traffic ….. that is until one of these noisy machines come along and churn out tons of black smoke. Thankfully since a couple of months ago, this has become a thing of the past.

Question. Do you know where is this place?

Old roads quiz (1)

When lazy old buggers bloggers (like this chap) are too busy to update their blogs, what do they do? They put up a quiz lor!

But I am not so lazy as to simply ‘plagiarize’ somebody else’s ideas. So I have come up with a new category of quiz called Old Roads Quiz. You have probably seen my Old Beauties quizzes, Old Roundabout quizzes and Old Building quizzes. So what is an Old Roads quiz?

You know; our Singapore gahmen is so hardworking. When they are not digging up the new roads which they have just re-dug a few months before, they like to straighten them or even totally remove them so much so that many of the roads that were once so familiar to oldies like us seem to disappear overnight. But sometimes we are lucky. They leave behind a short deserted stretch for us to blog about. One example is this short stretch of (Old) Holland Road which I blogged about here.

Here is another example. Can you please tell our readers what was the name of this road. Hint: It is in the Western part of Singapore.

Hint #2: (now surely Philip Chew will know the answer) - It is quite near to the Second bridge that I 'blew' up

Hint #3: I took this photo from the entrance of a petrol station.

Remember this stretch of the road is no longer in use. In fact it is fenced up. I took the shot from an opening in the fence. It used to run in front of this petrol station and it was a very busy road with lots of heavy vehicles using it!