Saturday 24 July Gondang Baru mill and Prambanan

This mill has only one diesel working in the yard (and a few tractors).




























However, the mill plant includes a great selection of working antique machinery. The oldest mill engine was built in France in 1884.

There is also a short hand-worked 400mm gauge tramway used as part of the process to convert limestone to lime for use in the sugar mill. The skips are hauled to the top of the processing plant on a hoist.

Following the visit, we took time to call in at the World Heritage Hindu temple complex at Prambanan.

Friday 23 July Bandungan to Solo via Amberawa and Tasik Madu mill

Bandungan is a nice cool hill station nestled amid volcanoes.















It appears to be scene of operation for a well-known Australian real estate agency.

We rode the Amberawa rack railway again. Two groups of students from nearby schools were marshalled by their teachers to see us go by, presumably for some legitimate educational purpose. Note the student who has cunningly substituted the Fernando Torres Spanish football kit for his school uniform.

Unfortunately, there was no time to look around the Amberawa Railway "Museum" which contains about 20 corroding government railway engines.

We then travelled to Tasik Madu mill. There are quite a number of 750mm gauge steam locomotives kept in nice condition here but only one is normally in use for cane transfers from the unloading yards to the mill, alongside three diesels.















Because of a failure we were fortunate to see the amazing Orenstein & Koppel "Lüttermoller" 0-10-0 tender locomotive in use as well as a vertical boilered steam roller.

Thursday 22 July Tegal to Bandungan via Cepiring Mill and the Ambarawa rack railway

Starting off from Tegal it took an hour to negotiate the first 5 kilometres of road works. No wonder the bus crews had to stop for refreshments.
















We called at Cepiring Mill which has recently been reopened after being in mothballs for some time. We received a formal welcome with refreshments and were then able to photograph the twelve 600mm gauge locomotives that have been put on display there, including this Brookville.
















From Cepiring we drove to Ambarawa which is home to the Indonesian Railways museum and the terminus of line that includes 11 kilometres of rack railway up to Bedono.

A number of the local boys hitched a ride on our special train.

This hill country features terraced rice fields and it marvellous to see the hydraulic systems that are used for irrigation.

Wednesday 21 July Sragi and Sumberharjo

Today we tackled the bad roads and the traffic to travel to Sragi Mill, another stronghold of steam locomotive operation between the unloading station and the mill, with eight 600mm gauge locomotives in steam as had been the case in 2008. The livery has changed to two-tone green. The trains are propelled from the truckyard. The first train we saw on arrival was a "triple header" of two Hartmann   0-8-0Ts and a Berliner 0-10-0T.

































My favourite is the Jung tender engine that looks after the empties at the unloading station.

We also visited the closed mill at Comal which was an out-depot of Sragi. The loco shed there still contains a number of locomotives and there is also what appears to be a Jung 0-6-0WT on display in a children's playground.

Following lunch, we made our way back to Sumberharjo to in search of more field trains. Thanks to our guide 'TC' and Google Earth we were successful in finding a location where we found (after some exertion) three steam locomotives and water buffalo hauling trucks on portable track. Most of the party also rode on a locomotive for about a kilometre.

Not all of this was recorded by me because of a camera battery problem. It was another extremely hot and uncomfortable day but it is amazing how much the temperature drops after 3.30pm.

Tuesday 20 July Pangka

Today was another very steamy day.

The mill at Pangka uses a combination of 90-year old steam locomotives and 60-year old diesels on 600mm gauge track to haul cane from the unloading point for road transport to the mill. This mill is notable in that nearly its entire all-time roster is present, and most of it is still available for use.


























Things were pretty much the same as they were in 2008 with one out of three serviceable Jung 0-6-2Ts, both Orenstein & Koppel 0-8-0Ts, two Moës diesels and two Schöma diesels in use. However, the steam locomotives were probably in marginally inferior condition to that noted on 2008. Nevertheless, the present system seems quite well-run and reasonably efficient. It would be a lot more efficient if the track was improved to reduce the frequent derailments at the top of the yard where the full trucks are propelled back over some extensive point work.

Monday 19 July Cirebon to Tegal and Sumberharjo Mill

It was another long road trip to Sumberharjo Mill via Tegal, where we are staying for three nights.
Sumberharjo was a complete contrast to yesterday, with seven steam locomotives in use, more than on the 2008 visit.
Sumberharjo is one of the few mills left in Indonesia to operate field lines. The area is low-lying and obviously flood-prone, with extensive drainage works having built through what were once swamps, so the future of these tramways is quite optimistic.

We were able to see locomotives working on the field lines. Empties are taken out in the mid to late morning and the loco then sits for an extended period of time awaiting full trucks to return to the mill. This means that the loaded trains operate while it is dark.

We went to a spot where domestic water buffalo were being used to haul cane trucks over temporary track laid into the fields (although we didn’t actually see them hauling any trucks).

We had lunch at a roadside staff near the mill weighbridge and very nice it was too – peanut biscuits, ginger tea, and fried green banana fritters.

We also saw some action at the mill.

Sunday 18 July 2010 Jakarta to Cirebon and Tersana Baru Mill

We made a 6-hour road trip on the bus from Jakarta to our hotel in Cirebon but traffic conditions were not too bad and the minibuses comfortable.

We stopped at a service station and observed some of the local colour.

The first sugar mill visited was Tersanu Baru which had cane trucks shunted in the yard in 2008. This was very disappointing. Here we found that all the rail tracks had been ripped up and the locoshed largely vacant with two-thirds of the locomotives gone.

As it arrives at the mill, the cane that is not being crushed immediately is now removed from road vehicles in the traditional way at the unloading station but now is heaped up by large new front end loaders adjacent to the cane carrier.

Saturday 17 July Jakarta

Following an overnight flight and change at Kuala Lumpur, I arrived in Jakarta, meeting up with Scott Jesser from Mackay, and made my way to the Batavia Hotel in the old Dutch commercial and administrative district.

I am joining Rob Dickinson's Java steam tour together with about 30 enthusiasts for steam locomotives and steam machinery, mostly visiting a selection of Java's sugar mills.

Jakarta is a busy megalopolis that is permanently shrouded in a light smog, contrasting significantly with the much more pleasant country areas of this densely-populated island that we will be visiting.

After a short rest we headed off to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, a massive project of the Sukarno era. It is a kind of recreation park and multi-museum complex that features the culture of every province of Indonesia.

Taman Mini has a 600mm gauge train that runs every 30 minutes and takes about 25 minutes to traverse its circuit, with a top speed barely above walking pace.

It also has a railway museum (that I visited in 2008) and wonderful reproduction buildings from every part of the country with monumental construction (usually timber) and beautiful carving featuring bright colours.