Thomas the Train is DEAD

You guys gotta remember thomas the train from Thomas and friends? The show with the plastic talking trains? One of my memorable shows as a kid.


Anyway, LomoManila oraganized a walk to the old railways for a shoot. Pretty cool and Cheap. Old vintage stuff back from the day always excites me. Welcome to the.....

Established during the Spanish Colonial peroid in 1892 but the modern PNR was developed only in 1984 . It currently operates around 479 kilometers of track on the island of Luzon, where most Philippine rail infrastructure is located.

[all photos were taken with a yashica electro 35gsn]

[loaded with a lomography redscale film]

[trying to get that vinatage look]

An old man walking to the station, on his way back to the provinceToday, only the Southrail is open, as the northbound rail services ended in the late 1980s.

The people of LOMOMANILA

before the ride

During

and After followed by a filling dinner to end the trip

The ride itself was an experience, the train had no fan whatsoever, its windows were its only source of ventilation. Most of its seats were loose that sometimes you had to hold it so you wont fall down. As we passed the streets of Manila, we saw the hidden slums of the city. Where small children would jump into the piles of garbage looking for broken toys or just anything they can play with, Where most men would just be sitting around waiting for jobs to come and the women would be seen either washing and drying their clothes or walking around carrying things to sell.

Whats funny is that everytime we would raise our cameras to take a picture of them, they would be all smiles. Laughing, shouting and smiling as if their problems never existed. Its sucks that my film tore during that part of the trip, so sorry guys..no photos. But even with pictures or not it was a sight to remember. To remind ourselves that it IS possible to smile even in the worst situations.

"so Smile like you mean it"