"ALONG DA RILES"

The first issue of the Philippines first all-railway newsletter is now available via membership to the RIHSPI-ANZ.
Chock full of railway guff related to the Philippines.
It is just the start, so it will gradually get better and possibly bigger.
That is not to say this one is the dogs bollocks :-)

Sections include: Powertalk, Rollingstock-Rollcall, Society News Australia and Philippines, Coverage of the new railcars being unloaded, Rail-Mail and news briefs from around the Phils.

For people in the Philippines, please contact the local chapter of RIHSPI!

UGLY

OR

NOT?

The fact is PNR is entering a new era with the arrival of their first new railcar from Korea (the south one - now the rather psychotic northern version).
The RIHSPI group visited there on Sunday March 29th and MithrilCloud snapped this piccie of it.
President Arroyo will soon be braving a ride on the new beast.

~~ NAGA 2009 - A VISUAL THROSBY ~~

PART 1

Recently my good friend Paul Hornby had the good fortune to spend a couple of weeks around Manila and Naga, the later place being where his lovely fiancee lives.
During this drip he partook in much time foaming around railway locations and has shared his many, MANY shots with me.
Over the next few weeks we shall take a look around Caloocan and Tayuman, but first we are going to have a peepsie around Naga, a railway yard that has stood still since the passing of Typhoon Reming in 2006, a storm which closed the line.
Paul also catalogued all identifiable rollingstock at Naga and this will soon be updated on our PHILIPPINE FLEETLIST website.

I thank Paul for sharing all these awesome shots with us.
Paul is the marketing officer of the 'Railways and Industrial Heritage Society Phils. Inc (Australia and New Zealand Division)'.

Sadly we are unable to identify this tankers coding, it having long since worn off.

If anyone is back in the area and can take a look, they often weld the numbers into the underframe on one end of each side.

We think this is the only PNR tanker south of Tayuman.

Don't entirely know to much about this thing. It shows all the trains that were running to Naga years ago and the dots all appear to be lights. Did they light up to show which stations the next trains stopped at, or could it have shown exactly where trains were?

A very interesting item - I have never seen one like it.

Naga station and the train that has sat there since late 2006.


TOOL CAR BC557 sitting amongst the trees at Naga.
The blue with yellow banding seems to be a Naga thing, it is also applied to the unidentified carriage in the previous post, which now appears to be a 7C (no actual number has yet been forthcoming).


922 patiently awaits the reopening of the Bicol line, now expected to be by September this year, at least as far as Naga.

922 posing again!

Finally we have 922s partner in crime.

918 is also awaiting her chance to do another run back the the nations capital.

~~ ANOTHER MYSTERY CARRIAGE ~~

Can anyone identify this carriage currently captive at Naga?

Seems to be part of a local departmental train, a BC (557) wearing the same livery and labeled TOOL CAR.

Paul Hornby recently visited this interesting location down in Bicol and took a listing of all wagons present.
These will appear on the 'Philippine Fleetlist' website shortly.

* THE BOSS GIVES AN ORDER *

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has given orders for train service between the Bicol region and Metro Manila is restored before her term ends in 2010, an official of the Philippine National Railway (PNR) said Wednesday.

Work has already commenced on this important project,but it is unclear whether or not this includes the Sorsogon extension or the Batangas branch.