Philippine Railway Historical Society News and History!: September 2021

Sunday, September 26, 2021

LUCENA STATION - SEPTEMBER 2021

Many would be well aware of the heritage disaster that is Lucena station (Quezon Province, Philippines).

The demolition of this beautiful structure being well advanced before Mayor Roderick Alcala called a halt to the vandalism.

He also requested that the building be, as much as possible, restored to its former condition.

Recently, local photographer Maurice Joseph Almadrones took some photos of the station some six years later.

He has generously allowed us to show them here.

Lucena Rail Heritage Committee

Transport Heritage - PRHS

A lovely selection of photos, showing a very sad sight.

While the destruction has not proceeded, there has not yet been any restoration progress since our visit in 2018.

Lucena Station on Wikipedia.

Despite the damage, it is still plain to see what a lovely structure it was. But, beyond those looks, it is a major part of Lucena history and it's restoration is of the utmost importance.

Philippine Transport Heritage - PRHS

Lucena (Eco-Tourism Road Crossing)

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Our roving reporter Mark Chua was also in Lucena City this month.

He stopped by for photos of the restored locomotive shed and rollingstock BC-581, GC-2 and GC-128

A huge thank you to Maurice and Mark for the latest updates from Lucena.

If anyone finds themselves passing through, we would always appreciate the current rail photos of Lucena.

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

A couple more images of the new North-South Commuter Railway rollingstock.

There is also a brief (5 second) video view from the simulator.

If you wish to share, please respect the copyright of the owner and do so by using the site URL.

https://philippinerailwayhistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/2021/09/new-nscr-emu-sets-pt2.html

Many thanks and enjoy.

Note: If you wish to make contact, you will have more success using accounts with real names. As opposed to fake Welsh ones.

Excited to be able to present an internal view.

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

TUTUBAN CONTROL TOWER

A visit to the old control tower (signalbox) at Tutuban gives a great indication of exactly how extensive the yard once was.

The panel upstairs, while largely disused for more than two points at the time, gave a wonderful look at how extensive the yards were in years past.

I am lead to believe that the tower is in the way of 'North-South Commuter Railway' construction and is expected to be removed.

Given the incredible heritage nature of the control panel, it is hoped that it will be retained and maybe placed on display at a suitable location.

At the time of this visit, the massive area on the eastern side of the yard (partly seen above as the grass area) was being cleared of many old shanties. During this process, a number of old rollingstock items were uncovered from their many years of entombment within the illegal structures.

Examination of the panel revealed an access to this area that I had not previously known of (marked in red on the map), branching off the mainline (yellow) to the north of Tayuman Street. The right of way was likely along where Imaculada Street is today.

The flash glare would roughly mark the location of Tayuman Street. The points at far left likely being for the junction at Triangulo.

Above you can see the two yards, turntable and locomotive shed.

The above shot shows the present day locomotive shed with the current mainline below, and the earlier mentioned access to the other yard (red on map) above.

The above shows the panel as a whole, along with the windows giving an amazing view of the whole yard. This is from where I took a number of the shots recently appearing in our 'Philippine Railway Historical Society' group.

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Thanks: Chris Reyes

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PRHS: Transport Heritage Group