Welcome to our 25th year.
It was Friday, 15th of January in 1999, and I found myself waiting on the steps of Mabini Mansion (Ermita, Manila) for Jojo Mempin to arrive.
I found Jojo's phone number in the 'Continental Railway Journal' magazine, where he was recommended as a good person to have drive you around the various railway locations of Manila.
While my first actual view of the 'Philippine National Railways' (PNR) had been the day before, having crossed the tracks at Espana while headed for Quezon City, this date would mark my first official day on the PNR, and I guess Jojo my first official contact.
The day would see us take in Tutuban yard, the Caloocan Workshops (which he was unaware of at the time), as well as an interesting walk through Tondo to Triangulo.
While I took photos, had I known the massive impact the Philippine Railways would have on the next quarter century of my life, I would likely have taken far more.
At the time I knew nobody there, I was rather ignorant of the railways beyond the rare trip reports in magazines, and I was often told that nobody was interested in this 'old' railway system.
But I didn't believe this, and immediately decided I wish to set up a group for Philippine railfans around the world. This became the 'Philippine Railways SIG', changing to the 'Philippine Railway Historical Society' about a decade later.
This core purpose of catering to people around the world, and the original belief that nobody there would be interested, that lead to the often misunderstood 'English language' rule that applies to all our groups.
As a UK friend has often said, "Your English is better than our Tagalog". Which has been very true during all my visits.
The Year 2004
I would not return until 2004, and at the time things were very much in decline.
The railway services had dropped dramatically, with many on PNR not expecting it to struggle on for much longer.
I had met a couple of interested people, mostly foreigners, by this time. However, I also had met my first local fan, a Chinese/Filipino lady Winter Lain (spelling may be incorrect).
This expected demise drove my interest greatly, and the next few years saw me more dedicated to building the Philippine railway hobby there, than dealing with hobby ingrates back home.
I went far more crazy with the camera this trip, and made a great effort to expand what the group does when returning home to Sydney.
William 'Bill' Sullivan.
No look back on this quarter of a century would be complete without mention of this wonderful man.
How I originally met him has regretfully been forgotten, though it was most likely on our original 'Philippine Railways' egroup (later Yahoogroups) as he became a member during this time.
We would eventually meet and, over time, Bill would become one of my dearest friends, my greatest supporter, godfather to one of my kids, and a huge advocate for the railways of the Philippines.
During the brief period of our being the Australian Chapter of a former rail heritage group in Manila, his help was just immeasurable.
With the change from the 'Philippine Railways SIG' to the 'Philippine Railway Historical Society' in 2009, there was nobody else I wished more to be Vice-President.
Bill's passing in 2010 was a massive blow for me. Not only the loss of one of my closest friends but at a time when the first period of darkness existed over the hobby and many of those in it.
RIP Bill Sullivan - PRHS Tribute
This was hard enough to endure, but witnessing the massive scrapping of proposed heritage assets in 2011, marking the failure of a proposed museum there, would see me largely take a break from much involvement until 2017.
Along Da Riles Magazine
This is our official PRHS magazine that started in 2009 and sort of exists to this day, although now very infrequent in nature.
While a voluntary publication, done to a very tight budget, it was incredibly popular and turned up all over the place in my railway travels.
It was normally black and white, though Bill Sullivan donated towards a colour front cover to appear on our March 2010 issue, while our 20th-anniversary issue in 2019 was full-colour thanks to a donation by Pegasus Printing in Australia.
While there is much interest in it becoming a regular publication again, either electronic, hard copy, or both, there is a need for people to be willing to regularly contribute to it.
Sadly, nobody really is willing to make that commitment at this time.
Heritage Preservation
Over the years I have been involved in four major plans for heritage rail heritage preservation.
The first was born from talks to Bill Sullivan during a visit in 2007. Some progress was made, I even put together a report covering what needed to be saved, while PNR allowed the marking of many items for heritage safekeeping.
This wonderful idea commenced soon after, but regretfully would later fail, and much of that rollingstock was scrapped by the time of our 2011 visit.
Since then I have been approached with three similar proposals, two official government ones and one private business operated, but despite much discussion, and a few meetings, nothing has come of any yet.
Only one looks likely to proceed, and it really isn't a railway museum in the sense of what we were looking at, with a near impossibility of rolling stock being restored and exhibited there.
I have suggested their obtaining the very small, but greatly historic, 4-wheel boxcar that remains as PNR's last. It would make a very suitable entrance piece. Thus far I have been unsuccessful in having this happen
Nowadays, the endless disappointment has seen us move away from any such major involvement in trying to set up a museum and move towards helping existing museums by donating railway information to them for future use.
Most recently we donated a DVD full of items to the Negros Museum in Bacolod, and have ongoing attempts to get donations to a new museum in Manila.
We are also often sought for advice on heritage matters related to the mass development of new railways along historic old lines. Many of these see PRHS members involved in group conference calls with the various developers.
While the preservation scene has been largely of great disappointment, it is with great honour that we are called upon for such advice.
PRHS Expansion
With the move to the 'Philippine Railway Historical Society' name, we also gradually expanded what we do to cater to the growing interest in other types of transport.
Everything from Buses and Jeepneys, to Aviation and Ferries.
We have also found ourselves running a few local heritage rail groups.
To make this a far shorter post, I shall just list some of these after this article. You are always welcome to be part of our family.
2017 - 2023
Two trips in 2017 led to the interest begin to reignite, with involvement ramping up greatly again.
These years have been fascinating, with the changes during the term of GM Ragrario, then followed by amazing development under GM Magno, both of whom I have had the pleasure of meeting, the later on numerous occasions.
Our 20th anniversary was celebrated in 2019 with the printing of a special 'Along Da Riles' magazine for distribution to local Manila railfans and rail employees.
An electronic copy of our 20th-anniversary issue can be found via the link above.
Sadly, the darker side of the hobby rose faster than the rail modernisation projects. Whether intentional or not, the newer generation of railfan has worked hard to damage the many years of hard work building trust between the hobby and the various rail operators.
Rumours, lies, blackmail, and defamation leading to legal advice, have put the railfan hobby back many years. The result means that access has become far harder for everyone again.
Regardless, the march forward continued, and we have been able to cover the start of massive change.
New railcars, passenger rollingstock, and locomotives all arrived under the term of GM Magno. An extensive refurbishment of many 900 class was also commenced during this time.
By the end of 2023, much of this stock moved south to Calamba as part of the biggest change ever. The planned 5-year closure of the line from Manila to Calamba for the building of a new modern elevated system.
The first stage would see the ripping out of track from Alabang to Calamba, and a gradual increase of services between Calamba and Ligao (Legaspi in 2024).
A strange move given the track removal has isolated a large amount of operational (and otherwise) stock in Manila, which will now need to be road-hauled south for further use on the remaining PNR system once it is all closed early in 2024.
Given the lack of any heavy engineering facilities on the remaining section of the south line, it is assumed that road haulage will be required every time any real workshop work is needed. This assumption is fueled also by recent talk that the Caloocan Workshops are to remain, but reduced in size.
We plan to make a special effort to cover all this development on the PRHS blog in the coming years.
2024 & Beyond
Despite the contraction of our beloved PNR system in favour of a dreary overhead operation into the capital, the group goes on, and is actually expanding.
As mentioned above, we are now concentrating on approaching various local heritage groups and museums, and evaluating their interest in railway-related information.
If you are involved in either, you are invited to email us so we can see how we can assist.
Apart from our ongoing research, museum activities, and operating of numerous pages/groups, we are immensely excited to be part of the new era in modelling the railways of the Philippines.
With so much now gone, modelling gives a wonderful ability to recreate the past for everyone. This in turn opens many opportunities, not only for private modelling, but especially for the various local museums/groups who want to move beyond just showing photos.
Last year also saw us meeting up and discussing the idea of setting up a proper model railway club in the Philippines, based on the way many groups operate here in Australia.
This would involve a possible small club layout, modelling nights, layout visits, and other activities of interest to railway modellers there.
This is all currently in the idea stage, but we would very much like to hear your opinions regarding such an idea here in our group.
Along with all this new activity, we will continue to do our occasional free publications, including the possible semi-regular return of our well known 'Along The Riles' magazine, and a possible modelling newsletter in conjunction with 'MRR Models'.
Thank you
Obviously after a quarter of a century, I have met a huge amount of people in the Philippines, some becoming close friends, employees/managers who have helped me with my passion for the railways of the Philippines, and others who share the dream of a greater hobby.
It is impossible to list them all, but let's give it a crack.
Firstly those who have become my closest of friends.
Reynante Bulaon (MRR Models), Mark Chua (PNR), Roberto Cordoba, Graham John Corry, Arvin Danganan (PNR), late Eduard Labadia (Panay Railways advocate), late Bill Sullivan (PRHS VP) and John Tickvar.
Thank you also to.
Edwin Aguiwas, Michael George Cacho, Romeo Caincol (PNR Naga), Paul Nicholas Domingo Cabalhin, Cesar Capellan (Panay Railways GM)Dirk Paul Celoso (Historian), late Ben Exconde, Marvin Garjardo, Alan Hicks, Lyn Paragas-Janeo (LRT), Guillermo Karlo Angelo Juan III, Esterlito Nierva (former PNR Management), Jun Magno (former PNR GM), Edward Manapol (former PNR management), Nigel Menzies, Jen Mitch (LRT), Alberto Nual, Jun Ragrario (former PNR GM), Eng Esperedion Regulto (former PNR managment), Aris S. Soriente and Brian Young.
Philippine National Railways (management and staff).
Panay Railways (management and staff)
LRT1, LRT2 and MRT3 (management and staff)
DESCO Engineering.
Philippine Railway Historical Society (members)
Further Details/Information
Philippine Railway Historical Society.
Philippine Railway Historical Society Website.
PRHS: Philippine Transportation.
PRHS: Bring Back Our Panay Railway.
Run On The Behalf Of (Or With) Others:
Lucena Rail Heritage Committee
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