A visit to the old control tower (signalbox) at Tutuban gives a great indication of exactly how extensive the yard once was.
The panel upstairs, while largely disused for more than two points at the time, gave a wonderful look at how extensive the yards were in years past.
I am lead to believe that the tower is in the way of 'North-South Commuter Railway' construction and is expected to be removed.
Given the incredible heritage nature of the control panel, it is hoped that it will be retained and maybe placed on display at a suitable location.
At the time of this visit, the massive area on the eastern side of the yard (partly seen above as the grass area) was being cleared of many old shanties. During this process, a number of old rollingstock items were uncovered from their many years of entombment within the illegal structures.
Examination of the panel revealed an access to this area that I had not previously known of (marked in red on the map), branching off the mainline (yellow) to the north of Tayuman Street. The right of way was likely along where Imaculada Street is today.
The flash glare would roughly mark the location of Tayuman Street. The points at far left likely being for the junction at Triangulo.
Above you can see the two yards, turntable and locomotive shed.
The above shot shows the present day locomotive shed with the current mainline below, and the earlier mentioned access to the other yard (red on map) above.
The above shows the panel as a whole, along with the windows giving an amazing view of the whole yard. This is from where I took a number of the shots recently appearing in our 'Philippine Railway Historical Society' group.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Thanks: Chris Reyes
-----------------------------------------------------------
