As I was travelling along Upper Serangoon Road on a bus, I spotted this little piece of transport heritage:
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5d1c05_bc8ac365cd884b9f8bf0c7dae5a6e62f~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/5d1c05_bc8ac365cd884b9f8bf0c7dae5a6e62f~mv2.jpg)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5d1c05_f00842e3c00a44eba1cfac2774ece2f2~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/5d1c05_f00842e3c00a44eba1cfac2774ece2f2~mv2.jpg)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5d1c05_b799a5b9c3c84827940604ab0a661b60~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_380,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/5d1c05_b799a5b9c3c84827940604ab0a661b60~mv2.jpg)
This electrical substation (I assume it is one, please correct me if I am mistaken) between Jalan Naung and Jalan Payoh Lai in Hougang town is still named “UPP SERANGOON 7 MS”, referring to the former 7th Milestone of Upper Serangoon Road. This harks back to when Singapore used milestones, not kilometres, to measure road distances, a practice that ceased in the 1970s. I guess the substation was installed before then, and there was no incentive to rename it since.
The historic region of Au Kang - which later became Hougang, after it was pinyin-ised - used to be from the 5th to the 7th milestones of Upper Serangoon Road. I’m glad that this sign has survived as a humble marker of the original location of Au Kang. For now.
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