ROTEM TRIALS 2009

 Way, way, back in 2009, the Philippine National Railways had taken delivery of their six new Hyundai-ROTEM sets from South Korea and were in the process of testing them.

One of these tests was to see how they would perform at speed, this being conducted around the Pasay Road area.

After all these years, I cannot quite recall the fastest speed we got up too. Looking through all the photos I took on the day, the highest shown is 60km/h, however I seem to remember us passing that mark.

I came across some of the photos while cataloguing the archive recently. Thought there may be some interest in seeing them. 

The first lot of photographs show around the cab of our ROTEM set prior to departure from Tutuban station.

Ooooh, if only they had really let me drive it :-)

Time to roll!!

Tutuban yard, including the rolled over 7A that would seen be scrapped prior to a visit from President Gloria Arroyo.

Espana Boulevard at Espana station. It recently took me a while to work out this location, such is the massive change in the background now.

Train order issues at Pasay Road for the section BIC, which I assume is Bicutan.

Our ROTEM set sitting at Pasay Road station.

Not the track machine on the disused third platform road.

Busy analyzing the results of the tests.

Another train order, this time from Espana to Pasay Road.

Holding on tight while we conduct a test.

The ROTEMs put on an impressive show.

Alas, all good things must come to an end.

With the day testing completed, we headed home to Tutuban station.

In completion, I would like to thank the Philippine National Railways for allowing me to take part in this very interesting day. It gave incredible insight into the testing process of these diesel multiple units.

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Philippine Railway Historical Society Group

PRHS - Philippine Jeepney

PRHS - Panay Railways Group

PRHS - Sucat Railway Station

PRHS - Lucena Rail Heritage Committee

PLEASE URGENTLY NOTE: 

To avoid the regular confusion, the 'Philippine Association of Railway Enthusiasts' is the only group that we are officially associated with. We have an agreement of working together, and open sharing, between both groups.

The 'Philippine Railway Historical Society' has no other links to any other group and, as such, should not be linked to them (as is often the case).

SEMI RETIRED FOAMER TV

A channel devoted to transport (and occasionally other things) around the Philippines and Australia. New content added regularly, with much footage of the Philippines during the recent festive period.
  Come check us out and please consider subscribing so you know when every new video becomes available.

Salamat and enjoy.

A MILESTONE IS REACHED!

This week we finally reached the 1000 member mark on our main 'Philippine Railway Historical Society' forum. It is a number we could have only dreamed of on Yahoogroups, or the Egroups service that preceded it.

With us fast approaching our second decade of existence, this gives hope that the future of the PRHS will be one of growth.
Yes, it has not been without its hard times, a few very hateful people sought to bring us down, on the odd occasion this still tends to happen (Hi Arnel A  and Bobby R), but we move on and usually become stronger. We cannot let these sad lives destroy the great hobby we have built up over nearly two decades.

You are welcome to join our group on Facebook.

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Bicol Express at Pasay Road station.

I'M BACK

  Yep it has been a long time since I last posted here.
  Trouble makers just seem to make it all to hard at times. Sadly there are a number of them in the Philippines rail hobby.

  However, eventually I see them for the fools they are and, well, I guess I have reached that point again now.

  To start with, lets look at some photos from back in 2011.

PASAY ROAD

OPERATION ADOBO #6

A November 2011 Trip To Manila.

I know I have been slack with my blog posts again.
I've been busy with my Filipino shop since my recent return, along with a couple of new projects to build a PNR database and the long planned HO scale model railway based on Manila.
I have also been working hard to get a new PRHS service up and going to help modellers in the Philippines avail themselves of cheaper modelling options. This being by way of free freight to the Philippines through an occasional Balikbayan box. Obviously every peso counts for the locals, so why not give the chance to help with zero freight cost and the ability to buy second hand models for far less than brand new?

I am always looking for new ways to help my wonderful railfan friends in the Philippines and, along with local British ex-pat Phil Clark, am very proud of this new idea.

ANyway, enough rabbiting on with excuses, below is the first lot of shots from our recent trip.
Sadly the weather was a bit chronic at the start, but they do get better.

The railfan day certainly got off to a dark, gloomy and wet start.

It was a day to meet lots of new friends and catch up with many old ones.
Roberto, Mark, Rodney and Adrian I have know since the last trip, while Phil and Tessie (above), Brian and Michael (Philippine Railways Railfan Group) and many other new people also turned up on the day.

I consider myself extremely lucky to have so many great friends so far away. Many people are lucky to have one or two locally. You guys are all much cared about.

Wooohoo finally got to see one of PNRs new twin-level sleepers.
Great looking beasts and part of the new PNR lineup.
Also got to meet PNR boss Mr Ragragio, Mr Nierva (head of the Transportation division) and the lovely Ms Emma Papa. All do a wonderful job with the nations railways and all true examples of how wonderful Filipino people are.
Thank you so much guys - I miss you.

Heavy rains delayed trains at Pasay Road.

Another highlight, getting CMC-201 out on the tracks on perway duties.

CAR-2 on the Bicol Express. Last time I saw her was 2010 on the Bicol Commuter Train to Sipocot and Ligao.

Linkage Project: Latest Piccies!

Hi all,
These latest photos of the Linkage project were taken by Mithril Cloud.

They show an incredible amount of work occuring here, while reports from Northrail seem to suggest work still remains stalled.

Major work is currently being undertaken at Buendia station. While progress has been slow, it will be a very different looking station when complete.

Pasay Road is also getting a major facelift from the platform up!

While this doesn't show any station rebuilding, it does show track work through the ground zero of 'Conspiracy Theories' Paco.
Right behind the photographer was the location where the embankment had collapsed causing trains to lurch dangerously to the side. It is unknown if this was fixed during the work.