PANAY PT5 - NEW LUCENA

 

New Lucena, a municipality in the province of Iloilo (Panay Island) was founded as Jimanban in 1877, later changing it's name to Lucena. Later again, in 1955, the 'New' was added to the name.
So, for some years, the Philippines had two Lucena stations, although they existed on different islands.

New Lucena was our first port of call on our journey across Panay from Iloilo to Roxas City.

There is nothing a history minded railfan loves more than to be out exploring old formations in search of any surviving railway relics.
Here Kuya Ed Labadia guides me around the formation through New Lucena.

Former railway formation at New Lucena.

Was happy to see lots of traditional jeepneys around New Lucena, so I set about photographing them as well :-)

Railway formation just beyond the New Lucena station site.

This is where the station stood. Kuya Ed seemed to be surprised that it had pretty much disappeared, so I suspect it was a more recent development.
I wonder where locals stand when they decide to just demolish railway property? Did they get permission, or just carry out the vandalism regardless?
It is interesting to compare it to the 2019  Google image at the bottom of this article. There has obviously more of this development going on.

Looking into New Lucena town proper.

Google Streetscape image of the former New Lucena station site, two years after my visit.
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New Lucena - PhilAtlas

New Lucena - iloilo.net.ph

Philippine Railway Historical Society Website

Philippine Railway Historical Society Group

Philippine Jeepney

Revive Panay Railways Group

PANAY PT4 - LAPAZ (PANAY RAILWAY HQ)

Now we get to the part of the series that involves the trains which, I guess, is the main reason most of you are visiting this site.

On our first day in Iloilo City, we decided to pay a visit to the Panay Railway Headquarters in Lapaz station.
The plan was to check out how historic locomotive 114 (3503) was fairing, and hopefully get to meet someone.

Upon turning of Huervana Street, the first thing I noted was that locomotive 114 (3503) was missing. At first I thought I had the wrong spot, but that fencing below looked familiar, appearing in shots from my first visit.
I had hoped that it had just been removed for display, but would soon learn that it had actually been scrapped.
This was significantly devastating as she was the last genuine Panay Railway locomotive, along with the last of her class in the country.

Formation from the station, looking back towards the former Iloilo terminus.

Unlike my first visit in 2007, this time I wanted to go inside the head office and see if I could meet one of the local railway staff.

This was very interesting to see.
It is what we in Australia call a gradient diagram, showing all the railway grades and curves along the system. While I've seen many in printed form, this was the first I have seen on a wall, and of such an impressive size.

Panay Railway official van.

The last remaining part of locomotive 114.
Nippon Sharyo DD13 2330 of 1963

During the visit, I as lucky enough to meet Mr Renato Elvas Hortillas of the Panay Railways.
A really nice guy who I greatly enjoyed chatting with about the railways, past and future.

114 (3503) back in 2007.

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The next installment will see use visit New Lucena, followed by numerous other locations as we travelled to Roxas City.
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Philippine Railway Historical Society
Facebook Group.

Philippine Railway Historical Society
Facebook Page.

Bring Back Our Trains-Rehabilitate Panay Railways
Facebook Group (PRHS Admin)
In Memory Of 'Eduard Percival Labadia'.
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Panay Island Adventure Part 2

 

Howdee, part two of his series starts my journey 
to Panay back in 2017.

The whole series will primarily cover the transport parts of our trip, while the bulk of the coverage will be the former railway from Iloilo to Roxas, it will also showcase a small selection of the planes, jeepneys, taxis and other transport related items noted along the way.

For less transport, and more tourist/scenery orientated posts, please drop by my 'Semi-Retired Foamer Travel Blog' which showcases many parts of the Philippines and elsewhere.

If you're here for train content, there is a little at the end of this entry. It will mostly start in part 4, when we visit Lapaz station and follow the old railway alignment through to Roxas City.

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To start, we find ourselves at 'Ninoy Aquino International Airport' with hours to spare before our flight.

Here is a small selection from three hours of endless plane photography. They don't make photography easy at NAIA, but, with a little effort, some great shots can be got from Terminal 3.

Cebu Pacific - Airbus A320-214 - RP-C4108

Plane has been parked since August 2020

PAL Express - Airbus A320-214 - RP-C8393
Plane has been parked since September 2020.

PAL Express - Airbus A320-214 - RP-C8398
Plane is active at time of posting.

Air Asia Philippines - Airbus A320-216 - RP-C8971

Plane has been parked since March 2020.

Air Asia Philippines - Airbus A320-216 - RP-C8974

Plane has been parked since March 2020.

Air Asia Philippines - Airbus A320-214 - RP-C8975

Plane has been parked since June 2020.

Cebu Pacific - Airbus A330-343E - RP-C3341

Plane has been stored since March 2020
I've no idea what the Cebu Pacific bus is now doing, but suspect it is 

unchanged in it's status.

Cebu Pacific - Airbus A320-214 - RP-C3277

Believed to currently be in traffic.

This was our bird to Iloilo City.

Thankfully a short journey, short trips are the only way to endure this airline.

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Iloilo City has a large amount of non-traditional looking Jeepneys plying the streets. In fact, it took quite an effort to actual capture a traditional one, I think the only time being the day we were leaving for Roxas.

Of course, soon after we checked into the Go Hotel, I was back outside capturing the local Jeepney action.
The following shots were all taken on the corner of Ledesma and Mabini Streets, outside the Go Hotel.

Again, I took a lot of shots of the local Jeepneys.
I don't wish to inflict all of them upon readers here, so, if your interested in photos and news of Jeepneys, we invite you to the Philippine Jeepney group. 

While I did photograph a couple of taxis, I really have no real interest in them.

 I do believe there is a hobby interest in them. Each to their own I guess.

To finish off part 2, we headed forth to Plaza Libertad to photograph the only locomotive believed to still exist on Panay Island.
Number 888 is a former canefields locomotive, which is sometimes promoted, incorrectly, as being from the Panay Railway.
The last genuine Panay Railway locomotive was 114 (ex 3503) which was semi-preserved at Lapaz Station. It was seen there in 2007, but had been scrapped by 2017.
Lapaz station will be covered in a future installment. 

Sources: Airfleets.net

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Panay 2017 Posting - Part 1
Philippine Railway Historical Society Website

Philippine Railway Historical Society Group

Philippine Railway Historical Society Page

PRHS - Philippine Transportation

PRHS - Philippine/Australia Aviation Fans

PRHS - Philippine Jeepney