SINGAPORE – Five years after they were launched, Singapore’s cable cars were featured in an episode of the original American detective drama Hawaii Five-O, in which a drug smuggler zips down the cables to escape arrest.

       That was one tidbit of the cable cars’ history shared at the National Library Board’s (NLB) Cable Cars: A Ride Through Time exhibition launched on Aug 12 at VivoCity.

       The 2m-by-22m exhibition space, located on the first floor of the shopping mall, delves into the history of Singapore’s cable car system, from its launch in 1974 to recent developments such as the new fleet of seven SkyOrb cabins, which boast large porthole windows and glass floors.

       A decommissioned and refurbished second-generation cable car is one of the highlights of the exhibition. Visitors may sit inside the cable car to experience the original journey from Mount Faber to Sentosa through the National Archives of Singapore’s collection of archival footage displayed on a screen inside the cabin.

       The exhibition is part of the NLB’s Libraries and Archives Blueprint 2025. Under this initiative, various “nodes” are installed in public spaces to showcase NLB’s wealth of services and collections.

       According to the NLB, 16.1 million visitors – up from 1.62 million in 2022 – visited such nodes in 2023 at more than 100 locations in Singapore, including at transport hubs. Previous nodes explored topics like comic books, environmental sustainability and how pandemics such as Covid-19 were managed.

       Speaking after the launch of the cable car exhibition, NLB deputy director of planning and development Winston Tan said: “If you come here to shop, you might not know there is an exhibition. But you might think it is interesting, as the cable cars are a key icon that Singaporeans young and old remember.

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       “We want to use that as a ‘hook’ to get visitors to come look at the exhibition. We want to feature the National Archives of Singapore’s collection.”

       At a cable car-themed photo booth, visitors can customise their backdrop with a selection of four images of Mount Faber and Sentosa from the past and present.

       Five exhibition panels describe the evolution of Singapore’s cable cars over five generations. Beyond serving as information boards, the panels demonstrate the cable cars’ evolution as each panel, built in the style of 3D pixel blocks, resembles a cable car from each generation.

       The exhibition does not shy away from sharing the lows of cable car history, such as the 1983 tragedy that resulted in the deaths of seven people, after oil drilling vessel Eniwetok struck the cableway when it was unberthing from the wharf nearby.

       Ms Jennifer Wong, Mount Faber Leisure Group’s deputy director of sales and business development, said: “Singapore is 59 years old. Singapore Cable Car is 50 years old. There aren’t many attractions in Singapore that have celebrated their golden jubilee.”

       She added: “(The cable car system) played a pivotal role in shaping Singapore’s tourism scene. At that point in time, when Singapore was around nine years old, to accomplish such an engineering feat was to present our capabilities – being the first in the world to span across a harbour.”

       The cable car exhibition follows the launch of NLB’s Rediscover Rediffusion node at Chinatown Point on Aug 5. The exhibition features retro-themed pop-up booths modelled after a radio studio.

       Visitors can learn more about Singapore’s first commercial and cable-transmitted radio station Rediffusion, which started broadcasting in 1949.

       They may also listen to a selection of Mandarin and Chinese dialect Rediffusion programmes, including an interview with Singaporean comedian Wang Sha and Cantonese storyteller Lee Dai Soh’s telling of the popular Chinese classic Journey To The West.

       The node also features StoryGen, a generative artificial intelligence prototype jointly produced by the NLB and Amazon Web Services. Using StoryGen, visitors can put their own spin on well-loved stories such as that of Chinese folk heroine Hua Mulan, by using inputs like genre, setting, main characters and ending.

       Less than an hour after its launch, the cable car node was visited by two-year-old Florence Wilson, who climbed into the refurbished cable car.

       Her mother, primary school teacher Ciara Wilson, 36, said of the cable cars: “We live nearby so she can see them overhead when we’re walking here or at night when they light up. This is her first time seeing one on the ground.”

       The Cable Cars: A Ride Through Time exhibition is open from 10am to 10pm until Aug 25 at VivoCity West Boulevard 1, Level 1. The Rediscover Rediffusion node is at Chinatown Point’s Indoor Atrium from 10am to 10pm until Aug 18.