South Sumatra

South Sumatra is a rather plain part of Indonesia and attracted far fewer visitors than Java or the spectacular rack line in West Sumatra. From the southern end of the island, the railway ran to Kertapati opposite Palembang, which was an inland port and the centre for the oil industry in the area. From Prabumulih some way south of Kertapati, a secondary main line ran west to Muaraenim and on to Lahat and Lubuk Linggau. At Tanjungenim, south of Muaraenim there is a large coal mine which has always provided the bulk of the traffic for the system. By the early 1990s much money had been invested in modernisation and heavy coal trains were running.

Steam lasted until about 1984, the date of my first visit.