Philippine Railway Historical Society News and History!

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Brad Peadon (PRHS)

It occurred to me last week that the 'Philippine Railway Historical Society' had reached another milestone, this time being the PRHS blog ticking over 200,000 views (not including my personal views).

The blog started in 1999, primarily based on the Tripod website platform, and lasted until Tripod decided to make themselves a paid service should you wish to continue.

We are a group that aims to 'freely' share Philippine railway information with the world and grow the hobby. There was no way we were going to go down the paying path, so an alternative needed to be found.

So it was that we came across Blogger (Google), where you are reading this today. We had already surpassed 60,000 viewers on Tripod, a figure (rounded down to 60,000) that we use in our counting to this day.

Our blog site has been the one constant in this endless world of change. While our websites, and our forums especially, have changed. Our blog continues on, sharing information and helping build a community of like minded fans who share a passion for the railways (and other local transport) of the Philippines.

There has been the usual ups and downs over the years, with trouble-making railfans being a worldwide phenomenon. But they come and go, eventually realising that their efforts to destroy others are futile.

The blog did suffer from some disinterest, thanks primarily to the haters in the hobby, between 2012 and 2017, this meaning it has taken just over twenty years to reach this milestone.
However, renewed interest in 2017, saw it relaunched and it now is aimed at being a major part of new heritage and hobby promoting plans currently in the formation stage, as well as a conduit for Philippine transport information.
This revival is in no small part due to my dear friends Arvin, Mark and Reynante, who showed me that there really is good in the hobby.

The hobby is what we make it.

From here the PRHS blog will continue on, expand into new areas and ideas, but will continue on it's prime mission of promoting, and supporting, the 'Philippine National Railways', other Filipino rail operators and taking the hobby to the world.
We will continue to widen what we do and continue to publish items of interest.
If you have any contributions, photographic or otherwise, please do email us.

As part of the aim to build a Philippine hobby, last year we partnered with the local 'Philippine Association of Rail Enthusiasts (PARE)', a locally based group started by Justin Torrejas.
This is a first for the PRHS. we have been involved with many groups over the years, but, until now, have never felt an official partnership was in order.
Justin, like myself, has been the subject of ridicule and attacks in the past. Yet he moved beyond that and set up a local railfan group that promotes the same ideals that the PRHS has always tried to.

I have achieved much since starting out on this journey, but seeing a local group like PARE really justifies all that I have gone through.

In 1999 I was told that I would never start a railfan hobby in the Philippines.

I took it as a challenge :-)
I am pretty proud of what I have done in a country that I never knew until I was 30, and a country that has become my second home.
Mahal kita Pilipinas.