Virtual Railfan Tour - Philippines Sugar Railways - La Carlota Mill

 

The three foot gauge La Carlota operation was pretty busy when we went to visit. We spent the morning around the mill itself then went out into the country in the afternoon,

There were a number of trains coming into and leaving the yard

This loaded train was following closely the train shown above. There didn't seem to be any dispatching system and train movements were basically line of sight with everything being within yard limits.

A fleet of small locomotives kept the mill supplied with cane

There were a number of dumped derelict steam locomotives

Maintenance was in the open air. The building having fallen down or been destroyed on some manner.

Ready track

We were given freedom to explore. I spent some time trying to identify the specific locomotives, (i.e. trying to tie the builder's number to the road number).  Most, if not all, were Baldwins. The builders plate, shown here is a good start but this can be misleading. The motion parts, in particular, were stamped with the original builder's number but parts had been swapped around frequently over the years so that a locomotive bearing a builder's plate might have parts from several other machines. An impossible task in some cases but lots of fun.