Books - Videos - CDs

Books, Magazines, Videos and CDs in my own collection will be reviewed.

Other books with known content will also be listed.

Books.

FAR WHEELS - Charles S. Small

Other than short articles in magazines such as the "The Locomotive" the first published works giving a taste of the Philippines were the two editions of FAR WHEELS which came out in the 1960's.  (Unfortunately mine have been mislaid among some magazines at the time of compiling this page.)

RAILS to the SETTING SUN - Charles S. Small - 1971

This book undoubtedly brought the delights of the Insular Lumber Company and Philippine sugar mills to a limited number of railway enthusiasts who were becoming starved of active steam in their home lands.

IRON DINOSAURS - Colin Garratt - c.1976

Sorry another book not to hand at the moment but this book and colour slide shows by an old school friend inspired me and others to visit the Philippines, particularly with his night shots at Fabrica, Ma-Ao etc.  Some of his classic shots being included in his subsequent books.

SUGAR MILLS OF THE PHILIPPINES - D. G. Cotterill - 1986

The title does not really indicate that the contents are only a list of Steam Locomotives found or hoped to be found in 1986 using notes from a dubious source.  Anyone who saw the Baldwin Weed Destroyer would have known it was not a boiler on a flat wagon. No further comment!

PHILIPPINE SUGAR CANE RAILROADS - Charles S. Small and Jeffrey G. Lanham - 1990

This is a reasonable publication with varying accuracy of information however the layout may have been ideal to keep track with Charles Smalls' notes but would have benefited by grouping by Island for the book. The unlikely sighting of Henschel 20990 at Tarlac in the 1980's first appears here. It does not look as though the spelling of place names were proof read and was there ever an intention to convert Victorias Milling Company's track to 3ft Gauge. Some items are acknowledged as being assumed and sometimes tend to be inaccurate.

RAILWAYS of the PHILIPPINES (Public, Sugar and Industrial Locomotive Lists) - Reg Carter - Revised Aug 1999

Reg has done a remarkable job in collating material from numerous sources to provide the starting point for the research by future generations. Unfortunately he has incorporated published inaccuracies such as the Bagnall locomotives at Victorias Milling Company being rebuilt to 0-4-2T's.  Further locomotive builders lists require checking as Heisler are known to have supplied logging and Ruhrthaler mining locomotives to name but two.

The RAILWAYS and TRAMWAYS of HONG KONG - Wilfrid F. Simms - April 1998 - ISBN 0-9528881-5-7

A well produced little book with a section on the Fanling-Sha Tau Kok Branch which was the original destination of the two Bagnall 0-4-4T's which subsequently were purchased by The North Negros Sugar Company and worked at Manapla and Victorias before returning to Hong Kong for preservation in 1995.

Henschel Lieferliste 1848 -1948 - LOK Report 1999 - ISBN 3-921980-71-2

A German Text complete listing of all locomotives built by Henschel. The original Henschel lists appear to have been updated with known sightings for some locomotives but most of those for the Philippines only give the importing agent. 21761 is given as 900mm gauge but earlier sources give it as 600mm and it is almost certainly (but not confirmed) one of the eight Henschels at Central Azucarera de Don Pedro in 1953.

Videos

Merrill's MARAUDERS - Warner Home Video - S011569 - PAL- Cert 'U' - for United Kingdom.

The year- 1944, the place - Burma. Well not exactly this action packed war film was actually filmed on Luzon with the co-operation of Sampanguita Studios. The last Jeff Chandler movie was based on fact, with 3,000 infantrymen marching 500 miles through Burma to prevent the Japanese and German forces linking together. About two and half minutes of the 90 minute film was shot at Pasumil Sugar Factory in about 1961 with glimpses of a Porter, the large Baldwin 2-8-2T and the Baldwin 'Russian' Mallet on shed.

CD's