The Tranvia: part and parcel of Malabon's proud history

LEAFING THROUGH THE PAGES OF MALABON'S HISTORY shows us the town's importance during the Spanish era.  Not only did the Spaniards build San Bartolome Church in Malabon, considered "probably the only church of its kind in the whole Philippines, and probably the highest and biggest among all, including the Manila Cathedral;"  the first railway, the Manila-Malabon railway, was also built there.


Up to the early 1880s, different types of horse-drawn carriages -- carreton, calesa, carruaje, carromata -- served as the Filipinos' means of transportation.

In 1878 Leon Monssour, an official of the colony's Department of Public Works, submitted a proposal to Madrid for a streetcar system.  The envisioned system was to be a five-line network emanating from Plaza San Gabriel in Binondo, running to Intramuros, Malate, Malacanang, Sampaloc and Tondo.

Spain approved his proposal, but it was only in 1882 when businessman Jacobo Zobel de Zangroniz, Spanish engineer Luciano M. Bremon, and Madrid banker Adolfo Bayo formed La Compania de Tranvias de Filipinas to operate the concession granted by the government.



THE MANILA-MALABON LINE

The Malacanang line was not built as planned and was replaced instead by the Malabon line.  Consisting of four German-made locomotives and eight nine-passenger coaches, the Manila-Malabon railway was the first to be finished of the five lines and it was inaugurated on October 20, 1888.  All five lines were constructed between 1885 and 1889.

The other four lines were horsedrawn.

Horse-drawn tranvia in Manila c. late 1880s (from the collection of Dr. Leonardo Q. Leongson)

But the Malabon line ran on steam, making Malabon the first to have a steam-powered streetcar in the Philippines.

Steam-powered tranvia c. 1900s (from the flickr site of Okinawa Soba and from Old Philippines)

The rail line served Malabon, which was already prosperous because of its cigar-making factories, bangus culture and a large sugar mill owned and managed by British businessmen.

The Manila-Malabon line was approximately seven kilometers. Tondo, then the country's commercial capital, was the end of the line.  There were two other transfer points - Maypajo (in Caloocan) and Dulo, at the north end of that community.  The Tondo terminal was a simple two-story wooden structure with the first floor serving as waiting area, while the Malabon end was located at the roadside under an acacia tree where the conductor sold tickets.

According to Isabelo de los Reyes (1864-1938), writer, civic leader and senator, service originated from Tondo at 5:30 a.m. and ended at 7:30 p.m.

Trips from Malabon, on the other hand, were from 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., every hour on the hour in the mornings and every half hour beginning 1:30 p.m in the afternoons if there were many passengers.

Railway tracks c. late 1880s (from Old Philippines and also from the collection of Dr. Leonardo Q. Leongson)

Tranvia on Escolta with the sign going to Malabon  (from a Facebook friend)

The steam-powered Malabon "Tranvia a Vapor" described by Isabelo delos Reyes was almost lost from national memory after American troops captured and converted it into a troop line.  Circa 1899-1902 (from the collection of Dr. Leonardo Q. Leongson). 

According to our Tita Soledad, in the late 1930s to early 1940s she and my husband's mother Ofelia and aunt Gwen used to take the tranvia from San Bartolome going to Maryknoll College, which was then located at Isaac Peral (now UN Avenue).  By that time, all the tranvias ran on electric power and some of the stations along the route they used to take going to Maryknoll included Maypajo, Gagalangin, Lawton and San Marcelino.

The Malabon station was located right in front of San Bartolome Church, and it must have been the "Dulo" station referred to during the Spanish era.  Tita Soledad recalls that the tranvia got destroyed in 1945 when the American liberation forces were forced to bomb south of the Pasig River where the Japanese holed themselves up for a last-ditch stand.


Thanks to my brother-in-law Ramon and to a Facebook friend for helping provide the pictures and references regarding the Manila-Malabon railway, and to Tita Soledad for her personal recollections.



References:
1)  History of Malabon-Navotas, by Salvador Sevilla, Santos Tiangco, 1976.
2)  The Metro Manila LRT System - A Historical Perspective, by Gary L. Satre, published in the Japan Railway and
     Transport Review, June 1998.
3)  The Railways in Philippine History, by Augusto V. De Viana, Ph.D, National Historical Institute, 2008.
4)   Daang Bakal: Tren, Tranvia at LRT/MRT - Images of Philippine Railroad Progress from the collection of Dr. Leonardo Q. Leongson, 2003.


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