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 Island Adventure Part 3

 

Hello and welcome to part three of my 'Panay 2017' series.

Unfortunately, this part starts on a bit of a sad note, having recently learnt of the passing of my friend Eduard Labadia from Iloilo City.

Eduard (far left in photo) was a local area historian, with a particularly strong interest in the Panay Railway. He was also a big supporter of the railway being rebuilt.

I first met him through his 'Rehabilitate Panay Railways' Facebook group which is a great mix of history and latest news on the push to rebuild this line. It was my 2017 trip that we first met in person, first for dinner, then later for a guided tour of the line to Passi.

It was this guided tour that starts to be covered in part 4 of this series.

Eduard's friendship, and immense Panay Railway knowledge, will be painfully missed. However, I am greatly honoured to have been entrusted with keeping his 'Rehabilitate Panay Railways' group running as a tribute to a very kind and good man.

Miss you Kuya Ed.

Brad Peadon (PRHS)

August 8th 2017 was my 'first ever' full day in Iloilo City and the plan was to try to photograph as much as I could possibly fit into the one day.

Not surprisingly, a large chunk of the day was spent photographing the local jeepney types. While far removed from the classic jeepney design, which appears quite uncommon in the city area, they do have an interesting character of their own.

However, despite their rarity, we did find a few classic designs.

It is worth mentioning that, for whatever reason, the classic jeepney seem most common in the rural parts of Panay that were visited.

This seemed a bit unusual, especially given we were told that the locally produced ones seen around Iloilo City were much cheaper to purchase. 

In between jeepney photos, we visited Plaza Libertad, Iloilo Museum, SM Iloilo to visit my ol friend Sydney (his name as well as the city in which we first met him) and the harbour for a few water based craft.

I took plenty of non-transport photos during this visit and they will all eventually appear on my 'Semi-Retired Foamer' Travel Blog.

Outside the Iloilo Museum. The large building in the background is the 'Doane Baptist Church'.

Certainly one of the stranger designs getting around Iloilo. Only saw two of them, the second being a few more photos down.

Museo Iloilo (Museum)
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We then wandered forth to the waterfront.

M/V LAYSON, the history of which I have not been able to find.

OCEAN JET 9 - Built in 1997.
Formerly the M/V Paras Sea Cat.

This boat has no identifying marks, however members of 'Old Iloilo' tell me that they were originally used as ferryboats to places like Guimaras, but nowadays more commonly carry fruit and other goods.

A beautiful looking craft that quickly caught my eye.

CAPT JOHN B LACSON was originally built as a container ship, but was purchased for use as a training ship. 
Check out Google Streetscape for a look at her appearance today.

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Thank you to:

Ricky Remirez and Boy Tolentino

Members of the 'Old Iloilo' Facebook group.

Previous Articles

Panay 2017 - Part 1

Panay 2017 - Part 2

For Further Information

Philippine Transportation

Rehabilitate Panay Railways

Worldwide Transport Fans

Old Iloilo 

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