PANAY PT7 - PASSI CITY

 

Passi City was last port of call one my day 

out with Kuya Ed.
Passi, founded in 1766, and with a population of 80,544 in 2015, is a fascinating location and still retains much of railway interest.

Passi City was also the most major location between the two railway termini 

Coming from the Iloilo direction, it is very hard to miss the historic railway bridge over the Jalaur River, apparently also known as the 'Watanabe Terror Bridge'.

The bridge was saved from removal due to it's historic value, being the site where Japanese executed Philippine guerrillas during WW2.

The Jalaur River bridge builders plate has thankfully been saved. 1908 making it around 113 years old.

Kuya Ed told me that this was the dispatchers office and that there is (was?) a roundhouse underneath.
Sadly, it is all taken over as residences, so close inspection is problematic at best.

The station itself was in use as a school of sorts.

Though I read a recent report about the town wanting to restore the derelict station. A photo with the story appeared to show the roof being totally gone.

Any more recent updates would be greatly welcome.

Following a wonderful morning of exploration, we all went for some lunch before bidding farewell to my friend Kuya Ed.

Midway Fresh Market and Restaurant.

Little did I know that this would be the last time :-(

We carried on alone for the rest of the trip to Roxas City. Other locations will be covered in this series, though much was missed without Ed's guidance.

Kuya Eduard Labadia wrote a bit of an article about 
Passi City here.

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Bring Back Our Trains - Rehabilitate Panay Railways.

Join Us Today.

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Other Parts In The Series:

Panay Part 1 - Panay Railway Intro

Panay Part 2 - NAIA To Iloilo

Panay Part 3 - Iloilo Jeepneys & Shipping

Panay Part 4 - Lapaz Station / PR HQ

Panay Part 5 - New Lucena Station

Panay Part 6 - Pototan Station

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Philippine Railway Historical Society - 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 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