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The Philippine National Railways, along with its predecessors the London-based Manila Railway Company, Limited, and the Manila Railroad Company of New Jersey, owned hundreds of passenger railcars or railway coaches (UK) throughout its history. Unlike the locomotives, the coaches were given less documentation.

Manila Railway Company (1880-1916)

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A typical Manila Railway-era consist in the 1890s. The first-class coaches are in the front while third-class boxcars are at the rear end of the train.

There were only two classes aboard the Manila–Dagupan Railway according to a 1904 issue of Railroad Gazette. There were first class and third class coaches on the line without a second class in-between. During this time, around 120 first-class cars and 556 freight cars were in use. It was unknown how much of the 556 freight cars were used as third-class coaches. The count also does not include those that were destroyed during the Philippine–American War being three years after its conclusion in 1901.[1]

First-class coaches (c. 1888)

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First-class passengers were the only ones given proper coaches aboard the Ferrocarril de Manila a Dagupan. There were no air conditioning units on the coaches being built in the late 19th century. These coaches were also very small in size, roughly two-thirds the size of the Metropolitan coaches that replaced them. The coaches also had small windows and not all seating rows have window seats.[1]

A number of revolutionary leaders were seen using these coaches after their escape during the Philippine–American War. Some of these were also destroyed by the revolutionaries in 1899 to sabotage the American advance to northern Luzon.

Boxcars (c. 1890)

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Modified boxcars that were meant for freight trains were used for third-class passengers. They also had a small footboard outside the car because of the limited space, suggesting the boxcars were also small.[1]

Metropolitan cars (1910)

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The poor reception of the first-generation coaching stock made the Manila Railway ordered several wooden coaches from Metro-Cammell in 1910. Their arrival also led to the company introducing second-class accommodations. Third-class coaches were also added later on.

The first class seating had a mix of longitudinal and row seating. Both longitudinal and row seats on the first-class were similar to modern hard seat trains used by China Railway. The second-class seats were wooden benches arranged with a longitudinal seating arrangement, with another bench without backrest in the middle.[2]

Manila Railroad Company (1916-64)

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The Manila Railroad continued using the Metropolitan coaches during its earliest runs. Later on, they have also ordered their own coach classes.

MC class (1932)

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The MC class was a railmotor. It was the first class of streamliners and diesel-powered trains in the Philippines and were partly reconstructed from older locomotive-hauled railcars by the MRR. These were mostly used on short-haul services and were eventually retired after the arrival of the Japanese-built JMC class.

Dining car (1940)

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A new dining car was added to the MRR fleet in 1940. It had a large rectangular table in the center of the railcar.[3]

Pullman cars (1949)

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There were Pullman sleeping cars on the Manila Railroad donated alongside the 4-8-2 100 class locomotives upon inauguration of a new sleeper train service on July 23, 1949. These were inaugurated by War Damage Commission chairman Frank Waring, commissioner John O'Donnell, and Philippine Constabulary General Alberto Ramos.[4]

7A-100 class (1949)

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The Japanese offered locomotive-hauled coaches as part of war reparations to the country. Based on the , it was the first of two types of 7A first-class cars. Most of these were deployed on the South Main Line when the class was documented in the 1960s. Despite its supposed prestige and featured air conditioning, the sets were criticized due to its lack of overall comfort and poor maintenance of facilities. The MRR continued running these cars into the PNR era, in which the first batch was replaced by later 7A coaches and CMC class diesel multiple units.

Presidential Car 777 (1960, 1965)

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Then-president Ferdinand Marcos ordered the Manila Railroad to build a new presidential railcar which will replace the aging ABB-1. The result was the refurbishment of a 7A-100 class restaurant car built in 1960 as the PC-777 executive car. It was later renamed as PC-286 after the 1986 People Power Revolution although this unit was never used after the Marcos era and remains in storage in Caloocan, awaiting repairs since 2000.

Philippine National Railways (1964-present)

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DEL 917 with former JNR 203 series cars. The locomotive has been refurbished in 2019.

The Philippine National Railways' fleet was dominated by diesel multiple units from Japan for most of its early days. Most of its were used on the popular Bicol Express services between Tutuban station and Legazpi station in Albay. Since inter-city rail services have been indefinitely suspended since 2014, the only locomotive-hauled railcars in service were repurposed 203 series EMUs acquired in 2012.

7A-100 class (1960s)

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Another batch of 7A-100 class was ordered in the 1960s and the 1970s. It was meant to replace the older 7A class from the 1940s.

Madras coaches (1970s)

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PNR ordered 30 ICF coaches from Integral Coach Factory located in Madras (now Chennai), India. These were used as economy cars on the South Main Line, and in the 2000s were also used alongside the 7A-2000 coaches for the PNR Metro Commuter Line service, then known as Metrotren and Commex. The class was retired in 2009 and most of them were scrapped between 2010 and 2012. As of March 2020, all ICF coaches of the PNR have already been scrapped.

7A-2000 class

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PNR acquired thirty-six second-hand 12 class coaches from Japan. These were classified as the 7A-2000 class. This class is almost nearly extinct, with the class started its scrapping in 2012, when they were replaced by the new PNR Hyundai Rotem DMUs and second-hand 203 series push-pull cars.

14 series

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For the reopening of the intercity section, a number of single-level and bilevel 14 series sleeping cars were acquired in 2011. They had the PNR Bicol Express livery on the trains. These were shelved in 2014 following the closure of the service. There was however a single-level car that was briefly used for the PNR LSI train during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.

203 series

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PNR acquired twenty-nine 203 series electric multiple units from Japan in 2012. Due to a lack of electrification on the PNR Metro Commuter Line, they became locomotive-hauled coaches. They are the only locomotive-hauled coaches of the PNR in active service.

K3 class

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The K3 class is PT INKA's builder classification to the PNR 8000 class and PNR 8100 class diesel multiple units, and the upcoming coaches hauled by the CC300 locomotives.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Rolling stock of the Manila Railroad Co. 1904". Railroad Gazette. Vol. 35. 1904. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  2. ^ Lane, George (May 19, 2017). "Interior of 1st and 2nd Class passenger cars on Philippine Ry. - 1910". Flickr. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  3. ^ "Modern dining car". Commerce. October 1940. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  4. ^ "MRR Pullman Train". Evening News. July 23, 1949. Retrieved October 27, 2020.