Philippine Railway Historical Society News and History!: SPOTLIGHT: GE U14C 916

Locomotive 916 (General Electric 41850 of 1979) is a rather interesting locomotive,
with an interesting history.

In my early years of researching Philippine diesel locomotives I was with the mystery of where 916 came from. In official GE listings (which many local fans chose to ignore), there was no 916 delivered to the Philippines. Everything suggested that units delivered were numbered 901-915 and 917-922.

The gap in the numbers also was quite the mystery.

In subsequent visits I was lucky enough to have meetings with 'Philippine National Railway' officials who had an interest in such things and went on to unravel these mysteries.

The mystery 916 begun life as the first 908, but during the course of operations it was involved in an incident that involved the killing of the son of an officer (I was told of military background).

Obviously being a bit deranged, the officer started to blame the locomotive (not uncommon there when peoples family are killed due to their illegally trespassing) and would routinely throw things at it whenever it passed.

This eventually escalated up to the use of a grenade, which meant something had to be done. This something would lead to the renumbering of 908 as 916.

With the second series of U15C locomotives being delivered after this renumbering, we are also given the reasoning for the 916 delivery gap. It would be safe to bet that the last delivery would have otherwise been 916-921.

Before moving on to some photos, it may be worth noting that U15C 904 was later renumbered 908. Presumably the officer was no longer a threat, however I have not yet found out why this numbering took place.

916 graced the third version of our 'Philippine National Railways: Fleet Update' which is compiled occasionally for the benefit of PRHS members.

They are free for download here.

1999: Back where it all began.

After a meeting with then PNR employee Edward Manapol, I was granted permission to have a look around Tutuban/Tayuman yard for my first ever time.

As luck would have it, both 916, and the second 908, were in attendance on the day.

Photo: Brad Peadon

916 sitting just outside the Tayuman locomotive shed in Manila. At the time she was still wearing her gold PNR disk and nose stripping.
The gold whiskers would later become red, while she will soon be in the Magno-era orange following her current rebuild at DESCO.
Photo: Reynante Bulaon

916 sitting in the soon to be redeveloped Caloocan Railway Workshop.
Photos: Brad Peadon

916 with a couple of flats at 10th Avenue.
Photo: Mark Chua
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These images are all detail shots I took in Lucena (Quezon, Philippines) back during a trip in 2009.
The detail shots were for a planned modelling project, one that has not progress much in the fourteen years since :-)
Photos: Brad Peadon

The next stage of her existence will soon commence, with DESCO currently rebuilding her. It is expected she will come out in the current orange livery.

PNR 900 Class Appreciation Group

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