The Road to Bali

By the time most visitors left Surabaya, fatigue was beginning to set in. Ahead, the eastern tip of Java was rarely visited and then only briefly. Of course, this route was followed by more 'normal' tourists because the express train east from Surabaya terminated at Banyuwangi from where the ferry ran to the fabled island of Bali. However, I doubt they bothered to notice the ancient steam power let alone photograph it.

Bangil never failed to produce an interesting locomotive as pilot, but all too often it was just simmering outside the shed waiting for visitors so it could pull out C5317 which was stored here for many years.

Jati (Probolinggo) also had an interesting roster including the skirtless C25 trams which shunted the docks, but I think I am the only visitor who made it down the coastal branch to Pajarakan in 1976. This was probably just as well as by the next year it was closed as being 'too dangerous'.

Jember was the last shed in Java to use the D50 class and this was an area where the F10 could be seen on trains, although by the time I first got here, diesels had taken over. In all probability it would have been possible to photograph C12's on the back line between Klakah and Jember via Lumajang as I saw such a train in passing as late as 1979 when a diesel had failed.

Undoubtedly, though, the most spectacular steam operation would have been east of Jember where both the main line to Banyuwangi and the branch north to Situbondo were very steeply graded, but no-one seems to have got here in time.