What Remains of the Old Sentosa Monorail?

A short documentary about what remains of the former Sentosa Monorail (1982-2005)
Music:
Vivaldi - Concerto for Two Violins in A minor, Op. 3, No. 8 - 1. Allegro
Licensed under: CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
royalty free Music by Giorgio Di Campo for @FreeSound Music
freesoundmusic.eu
/ freemusicforyoutube
/ freesoundmusic
original video:
• Tuesday Stroll - easy...
Images:
Photo 1: Sentosa, Singapore, October 9th 2018
www.flickr.com/photos/4017267...
Photo 2:
Sentosa, Singapore, November 26th 2003
www.flickr.com/photos/4017267...
Both photos licensed under: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:27 Gateway
2:34 Ferry Terminal
3:45 Monorail Depot
4:19 Ficus
5:09 Palawan Beach
5:46 Track Remnants I
7:01 Cable Car
8:25 Track Remnants II
8:52 Fort Siloso
10:13 Track Remnants III
10:45 Underwater World
11:54 Conclusion

[@SentosaIsland]

This is amazing! Thanks for creating this awesome video! ❤

[@AjPlayz1000]

hi

[@zanderbusedits2626]

The sentosa mayor has spoken

[@RetroAnts]

This video is now officially "Sentosa Island approved!"

[@BaileyChap]

The ISLAND has a youtube channel?!

[@Boypogikami132]

INSANE

[@RonnieTay-sx1gn]

I was the first batch of this monorail operator. I work there after my O level while waiting to go yo polytechnic

[@Putt-Putt]

THIS IS THE TYPE OF LOCAL QUALITY CONTENT WE SHOULD HAVE MORE ON

[@wilwahabri]

Very nicely done Sir! Glad to see someone has made an attempt to retain a record of the Monorail. I visited Singapore off and on from the late 1970's to 2008 when I took up residence for 10 years. I saw the changes. I feel that the development of Sentosa has been to it's detriment, an example of corporate greed. I rode the monorail a number of times, and really it would not have cost that much to upgrade it rather than demolish it, certainly less than the cross island cable car has cost. Whilst the cable car does give amazing views of the island, the monorail was more intimate with the surroundings with equally absorbing views. Demolishing the ferry terminal and all the other colonial buildings has weakened the attraction for tourists in my opinion.

[@NijiKonohana]

As sad as it is to admit, I do agree with you on this. I remember when Sentosa felt like a magical escape from city life back when I was a child, and how the magic slowly vanished over the years as USS, Resorts World, and private properties began to spring up over the island. Now, even the entrance to Sentosa from Vivocity feels like a ghost town, when in the past it was busy and crowded. All of the spaces that used to be filled with shops are now empty, dilapidating voids. The saddest change for me was the demolition of the giant Merlion. THAT is the Merlion that tourists rave about, the one that you can actually enter and view Singapore from, not the tiny disappointing one that spews water opposite Marina Bay.

[@PrograError]

@@NijiKonohana even that is disappointing these days... apparently more trouble than it's worth, having just had an upgrade before shutting it again

[@eugenechin2863]

@@NijiKonohana WTF, that Merlion is gone??!!! When did that thing disappear. Although i havent visited Singapore in ages, i remember my grandad bringing me to see that merlion all lighted up every weekend night. It felt so magical then as a 8 year old.

[@lmr6085]

While I also feel the nostalgia for old Sentosa, the reality was that before the re-development Sentosa was badly managed and just not viable as a tourist attraction. The new Sentosa is a bit tacky, but it is certainly more lively and commercially viable. It's important to remember most of even the old Sentosa were not historical buildings. The ferry terminal is a gorgeous looking structure, but it was built in the 70s. It's not true colonial building.

[@2710cruiser]

I love the older one since it travels around the island and brings you to places

[@Schrottkralle]

As former flight attendant with Lufthansa German Airlines, flying to Singapore almost once every month from 1982 - 2015, the old Monorail brings back countless memories about countless visits to Sentosa Island the way it used to be: a very beautiful, natural place where I spent countless days of my layover in Singapore. Enjoying home made, freshly prepared fried rice right next to the beach. Auntie and uncle who ran their small food stall always welcomed me with a warm hearted smile when coming back to have lunch. I really miss them. Those days are gone. I do not reject new developements, but Sentosa was over-developed, like many other places in Singapore. Today, when sometimes visiting Singapore as a retired flight attendant and as a ordinary tourist, I never visit Sentosa again.

[@weesowhow9156]

So sad to see this video. Bring back the memories when I was the operator of the old monorail from year 2000 to 2005. It was so enjoyable to operate the monorail because of the round island view.

[@lmrell]

Same here, although shorter from 2002-Jan 2004… which means we should have been acquainted, although no memory of it 😂 used to skip JC classes and come drive the monorail instead. Most awesome thing I’ve ever done in my life to date..taking the empty train around to the depot at night, struggling with a fully loaded and always weak Golf train to climb from station 3 to 4 …

[@kayjaylaw]

This is some top-tier editing - clever use of different audio tracks to segue into a new station, interweaving between modern and documentary footage at the same location, and clear enunciation with good cadence. Thanks for this very informative and high quality production!

[@engardepostsg]

Nicely done! You even went into more details about the monorail than we did in our SG Lost Railways episode!

[@suressh]

I loved your video on the Sentosa Monorail! The SG Lost Railways series is wonderfully produced

[@PrograError]

@@suressh no wonder I thought I was seeing double...

[@LeeJcc]

I was in my teens when the Sentosa Monorail was running. For me, it was a foretaste of the MRT system, where we had to wait at the station for the train to arrive.

[@ColdPrata]

this was the guy you wanted to be in a group with when you had an assignment

[@dfisherii]

Thank you for making this! I remember going to Sentosa just to take the monorail on it's last day of operations. Even tho the monorail was not air-conditioned and travelled rather slowly, it was always enjoyable and relaxing to ride around the island. How sad that they decided to replace it.

[@killerrexz3616]

So nostalgic..i remembered my father was looking out to see when put his head in the shutter drop in...my old man almost lost his head...but that time the monorail is not as stuffy as the now monorail...

[@ernesthetic]

Thank you for the memories.

[@hipposamadesu]

This is a remarkable documentary on the past Sentosa. It should be archived and protected for our future generations.

[@axan50transportproductions]

These kind of videos are really good in showing the transport history of Singapore in an understandable way. Do continue to make more of these.

[@AmbientWalking]

I have so many memories of the old Monorail. Thank you for this video!

[@WDWCentral]

We need more videos on Sentosa!

[@evohaz]

A totally interesting and good way to learn about history apart from textbooks in school.

[@johanea]

In the past, Sentosa had a charm to it. That is gone today. Just a pain to go there and pay for it some more.

[@matthewjbauer1990]

I don't live in Singapore, I live in the US, but remember going there many times to visit Mom's family. I remember the last time I went to Singapore, back in June or July 2018, my cousins taking me to Sentosa with my brother (and his now wife) along with our sister. It was not what I remembered as a kid in the 90s and 2000s. I do remember going to Underwater World, a shame that they closed it. I've got pictures of everyone sitting on the Sentosa letters. This video was awesome and brought back nostalgic memories. Thanks!!

[@ashwinrajashekar]

I've never been to singapore nor know much of any geographical/demographic changes the city-state has gone through but thoroughly enjoyed watching this documentary. It feels good to know that history is being preserved through videos like this and I hope the remaining structures remnant of the old monorail continue to stand as time passes. I certainly hope to visit and enjoy walking around sentosa in the future. Thank you for the video

[@nexa_s]

Thank you for unlocking a forgotten core memory for me, and perhaps many of us. Got extremely nostgalic watching this :)

[@kelvintang4173]

Nice, it reminded me when I was young after a long day spent these I will take the monorail around the island before heading home by taking the ferry back to Singapore island . Nice memory..

[@bok6446]

this really bring back memories.... thank you!

[@emptyangel]

Absolutely stellar video and great narration. Thanks!

[@bbsonytv]

Well done. Very very very emotional watching this. My memories when I was young. Thank you so much

[@HilsonSo-mx8gr]

Why did they demolish old stuff, you need to leave remains so future people can remember and see

[@cynthiasoolihua2410]

Wow thank you so much for capturing our history like this! Very beautifully done

[@eateatseesee5793]

Very well made video . The best thing ever for Sentosa , the ride was so relaxing and enjoyable . I missed the ride . Especially the small door sliding open and close . So cool !

[@py03]

So many childhood memories on the monorail! Thank you so much for this amazing video

[@WelcomeToMyLife888]

awesome video! thanks for bringing back so many happy memories.

[@Ridz2812]

This was fantastic to watch. Thank you

[@christopheryongmenglee7569]

I miss the old sentosa monorial

[@christopheryongmenglee7569]

But now we have sentosa express connection NE1/CC29 HarbourFront in Vivo City

[@starsaber100]

​@@christopheryongmenglee7569 but it's not as helpful as the old monorail despite being nice, luckily there's a sentosa line cable car and buses

[@leonel1982]

I remember the Sentosa monorail! Lived with my family in Singapore from 1982 until 1989. My dad even took me on the cable car over to Sentosa.

[@BigPaul62]

I remember riding round the old monorail back in 1993 which was the first time I visited the magnificent country of Singapore. Sentosa was really beautiful back then. I need to visit again!

[@nerdkidleo]

awesome video. i grew up in the 90s and I remembered the times i spent on the old monorail and the short scenes of the old monorail stations really brought back memories.

[@glitchFan2428]

Excellent work. Very well researched and presented, I enjoyed the whole video!

[@arkhera4375]

This is brilliant, thank you so much!

[@2306mljj]

Wonderfully done! Definitely miss the OG monorail and the quieter times of Sentosa :)

[@wongxinhao1996]

Loving your channel. Please continue producing such good content!

[@gavinlew8273]

I remember taking the monorail in primary school as part of a school excursion. I was thinking to myself "What a slow motion rollercoaster ride!" ☺

[@HL0905]

Liked your video very much. It brought back memories of my teens days. I used to take the round trip monorail with my Walkman volume to full blast, listening to the 80s songs enjoying the light breeze. A big thank you for this video :)

[@chesszz]

Can only imagine the amount of time you spent into researching, walking the ground and choosing the right music!! 😂 great job! Looking forward to your next work!

[@charlesgoy1668]

Thank you for doing this awesome video.

[@joyridejoyce1735]

Thank you so much for sharing my childhood favorite monorail 🚝

[@padrian2297]

very good video. Love watching it. Bring back a lot of good old memories of Sentosa 🥰🥰 Good effort in doing up the video 💪

[@CaptainsChannel58]

Great video. Thanks! 👏

[@SpyDatCake]

Educational, Great editing and dry British humour. This was a delight, I subscribed and I'm looking forward to more!

[@karthik448]

Ashamed to say I'm just finding out what the green track visible from the canopy walk was. Amazing to know even small things we don't give a second glance to have a history to them. Please share more such fascinating history bits. This was a great video.

[@DouglasDC10.30]

I’m not Singaporean, but this is a good video! There’s someone who makes similar videos to yours except they’re about the city of Perth in my home country, Australia. Love from Adelaide, South Australia!

[@quinzainyann7503]

Thank you a lot for the documentary, remember a lot of things, really happy time the boom of Spore and also the boom for our job

[@libanberry]

Love this! Looking forward to more brother

[@forrestyau2413]

Very well made documentary of our forgotten past.

[@nombreaqure3401]

love how clear your voice is. very articulate! comforting amongst many that talk far to similar to another with limited vocabulary 😅

[@plymouthmechanic3423]

Great video! So sad they demolished so much of the monorail. It's nice to see they used a part of the track for pedestrians

[@afba502]

Very informative video. Thank you for making it. :)

[@Nebarus]

I have had the pleasure of using the new monorail during Sentosa visits. But never knew there was an old "around the island" monorail. Wonderful to watch the video and knowing I learned something new today about amazing Singapore :)

[@andyhay1262]

Really interesting, very well done!

[@jklam00]

👍 nicely done and well researched!

[@kevinkwa]

Ooo this is interesting. Didn't know about it. Thanks for sharing!

[@lucasakachubby8694]

Nicely Done! Great choices in Background music and you have a nice voice too

[@nmarks]

Top notch video, mate👍

[@quakingpig]

Your video made me look back all the great memories in Sentosa and Singapore back in 2002. I remember one of the rides had to stop because monkeys were on the way. It was my first time seeing wild monkeys. I always thought of going back to Singapore and getting on the monorail once again, but Sentosa has developed so much from what I remember!😢

[@ihackstv]

Excellent video!

[@letterZach]

The landscape has changed so much. Wow!

[@cw8]

I used to take back to back monorail trips around Sentosa back then. It was very memorable. Sentosa was magical back then

[@MrShok888]

Thank you for the memories :)

[@exoskeletal79]

Kinda sad they didn't preserve the network or buildings

[@BaySean]

Grew up going there and so many replacements in this island.

[@krayfishj3910]

Well done!!!

[@wilddragonchase]

i love videos like these!

[@PublicTransportboi]

Well done on this video! brilliant work. Do other places in sg

[@galihxtreme]

I cannot believe 1994 was already 30 years ago. Back then we used to stay either in YWCA or sharing an apartment flat around Orchard rd. To get to Sentosa there are 2 options, the manual-door monorail or the cable car, in which both started around WTC area

[@GreenBoxMedia]

I love this! I had no idea!

[@SamsonOhsem]

Wonderful! I didn't know Singapore also got monorail.

[@elsongs]

Oh wow, I had no idea the old monorail is no more! I rode it in 2001 and 2003 during my visits to Singapore. I think I have a field recording of the monorail announcements.

[@ray135135135]

Good documentary

[@johnlacey155]

Great video thanks - I didn't know that there was an 'old monorail' on Sentosa! And surprised to find that I've even been in one of the stations (Fort Siloso)

[@skylineXpert]

My dad sailed for maersk on Hong Kong-Singapore-Bangkok & was around when sentosa was starting to take shape & they filled sand in here & there... He told the construction was crazy... My visits in 22' & 23' taught me one thing: might as well walk back to vivo when universal is closing.

[@yatsumleung8618]

Aww... I rode on the old monorail in the 90s. I still remember the sliding doors and "di-du-di-du" warning sounds. After the ride we had dinner at the terminus and sat under the monorail track. And as a young child I was fascinated by all the wheels riding on the track, all the string of blinking LED lights on the train towards nightfall. Oh and the paper ticket had 2 tear off tabs on the upper and lower corner, but the station staff decided to punch a hole instead of tearing it off. I kept it as a souvenir for a long time, always tempted to tear off the tabs but never did.

[@ian-nator2685]

very very RMtransit-esque. nice work!

[@MilkTeaLessSugar]

Thank you for this! The most I remembered when I was a young boy, was about the monorail was the sliding doors that shut quite loudly. Always told to quickly put my legs in 😂

[@syamriothman4298]

I am glad I get to ride it during my younger years from childhood to teenager. 😊

[@brixtonoh]

i love to ride the monorail around the island. when it rains you need to pull down the shutters located above your head . those are fond memories of island during the 90s

[@xr6lad]

Remember using it on holidays. Was a nice circuit. Nice and cool on a hot day. Saved a lot of walking up and down hills (although I think there was also a courtesy bus that did a similar circuit as well). Tbh they have ruined Sentosa with their over development now. Much greener back then and felt less part of the city.

[@AkaixJK]

When I was a young boy, I was more interested in getting on the Sentosa Monorail than going to the former Underwater World and Fantasy Island! The only thing I hate about the old monorail is lack of fans and the useless ceiling which didn't shelter us from the rain as the raindrops keep getting in.

[@azleeabdullah7972]

Uncle luck manage to ride it twice. Love the scenery and fresh air

[@disudopwn]

I really miss the Sentosa monorail, memories as a kid

[@JasonDevadason]

Visiting Sentosa Island was a must every time my family visited Singapore. As a kid in the 90s, the monorail was the highlight of my trip. Very sad to know it was removed totally and not upgraded or replaced. Are there any surviving train on display or storage?

[@charlesbrenan6269]

Oh what a skame - I didn't know. Went on both this monorail and the now deceased one in Sydney in 1996. Lot of water under the bridge since then. 🇸🇬🇦🇺

[@hengmaggie6845]

I still miss the round trip on the old train. Just with aircon i feel its still good to go. Now, sadly it no longer had the rustic feel.

[@redshoe02]

Watching this video almost made me cried.. i am so sad it was replaced with RWS.

[@toyjapz3444]

This is so legend man , i rmbr when i was 11 years old my dad bring me to sentosa and the only thing i enjoy about Sentosa is taking the monorail.

[@A380_Flyer]

why did they switch from clockwise to anti cw? does it wear the machinery less or something?

[@suressh]

The direction switch was made so that stations like Underwater World and Fort Siloso, which were main attractions on Sentosa, would come earlier in the train journey, making it easier for visitors to visit them, whereas stations like Gateway and Ficus, which were not points of interest, would be pushed to the end of the journey.

[@Ampax-ju9wh]

The first time I traveled to Sentosa I noticed these tracks in the forest, I initially thought they were just poles.

[@murtadzayusri2452]

Still remember when it rains, we have to close the shutters, there's no windows. But back then, everyone's happy.

[@jordiartiagacomas8662]

What memories!! I did the complete route in August 1989, I remember horrible heat.🥵🥵

[@Zul_H]

oh my it closed, well that bring me memories, as a child when i went to sentosa island in 1989

[@MosesGTC]

ah i miss the monorail