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Trangkil was some kind of gricing heaven in
the remote north of Java near Pati. The mill may have had just four smaller than
average steam locomotives but they did the work of four times that number at
other mills, in fact for much of the day (and they didn't work much at night for
the most part) they hardly stopped moving. For many years the mill accepted
trucks only from outside its natural catchment area but eventually the field
lines started to be cut back. The end came when the powers that be in Pati
decided that sugar cane was unfashionable and sought to charge the mill for
running trains alongside the main roads. The fact that the railways had probably
been there when the roads were dirt tracks cut no ice and so the mill simply
lifted all their field lines at the end of the 2002 season and that was the end.
Sic transit gloria!
The mill was most famous for having Hunslet
0-4-2ST #4, the last 'real' steam locomotive built in the UK. Of course, these
days it's a rich man's toy, regauged and looking like a Disneyland GWR loco
running on a
private estate railway in the UK for people most of whom
never had the interest or the balls to see it when it was 'real' but that's another matter.
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A magic moment in my long term love affair
with Java steam. I was riding out on a small bus from Pati (with Peter
Nettleship) on 5th June 1978 when we spotted #4 sitting under some bamboo
not far from the road. We got the bus stopped and dragged ourselves,
luggage and cameras across to the locomotive. It was too much for everyone
on the bus, they had had never seen such a performance and five minutes
later they were still stopped gawping... (I have not edited out
the scratch on this old slide.)
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Largest of the mill's steam locomotives was
post-WW2 DB 0-6-0 #1, not dissimilar to some of this builder's products in
North Sumatra. Although it was nominally more powerful than
its fellows, the mill thought very little of it and it was far less
intensively used than the other locomotives. Here it runs past a delicious
tree in August 1993, the road being uncharacteristically empty...
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Once again the traffic has obliged for Jung
0-4-0 #2
this time, on 23rd August 1996, for every shot like this there were at
least three totally wrecked and maybe half a dozen with vehicles which one
would rather have not been there.
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The last kilometre to the mill was away from
the main road and less likely to suffer from intruders. After the previous
shot, I caught #2 rounding the S curve preparatory to entering the mill.
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While getting pictures on the roadside lines
was more or less a lottery, gricing the lengthy rural south-east branch was simply a
matter of confirming where the cutting and loading was occurring and
sitting back and waiting. BMAG 0-4-0 #3 hustles its train through the kapok trees on 31st
July 1994. It was blessed with an extremely good 'beat'.
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There were ways of improving your
photographic chances on the main road without resort to flashing money
(heaven forbid in Java!). On 31st July 1995, the rear end of #3's train
has only just cleared the level crossing which eliminated 50% of the
traffic. Much arm flapping from the tour leader has persuaded the other
50% that they will lose very little by attempting to join the queue going
in the opposite direction.
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Compared to the rest of the fleet, #4 faced
in the opposite direction, which meant it was smokebox first only on the
lines which left the mill on the north side. Fortunately, the traffic
staff understood my preferences and by a strange coincidence when I was in
town #4 nearly always seemed to be allocated to these workings. Here it comes in
from Nguren on 24th August 1995 by which time my tour group had been sent
home safely. I was on cloud nine because I had finally quit my office job
and all sorts of freedoms beckoned. Contrary to the crap which was printed in the UK
railway press, for example 'Heritage Railway', which described it as "being
rescued from a jungle" it was stored in good order
as surplus to requirements and sold (at the mill gate) for a cool USD 100,000 to its current
owner.
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From time to time, it made sense to work the
combined loaded cane loris as a single train with two locomotives. I was
on my pre-tour bash sans gricers when I stumbled on #2 and #1 coming in on
7th July 1997. My cup overflowed with joy when I discovered there was a
Japanese tour group in the area (with expensive guide in tow) which had
followed a different train in to the mill.
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And to maintain 'balance' here are #4 and #3
coming in together, racing a more traditional form of local transport on
20th August 1986 - a year when I had the sugar mills in Java almost without
'the great unwashed' to get in the way. Truly, "Those were the
days..."
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