My first visit to Banjaratma was on 12th June 1978. The nearest volcano was now Gunung Slamet, the second largest in Java - it was to be another 20 years before I found the time to climb it. I rode out on a sand train seen below and later on my return just before sunset I passed OK 0-8-0T with its near perfect backdrop.

Subsequently, I got quite used to see wagons used to carry ash and mud out from the mill, but I never did discover quite why we had collected a load of river sand - presumably it was needed for a construction project. Having left with impossibly high light just after lunch, the return journey, in part, was in glorious late afternoon sunset...

Banjaratma had a couple of VIW 0-6-0T which were kept busier than many of the others. #6 was on the mud train in late July 1993.

Banjaratma's field lines were long and steam locomotives did not always return in the middle of the day - the crews must have worked very long shifts albeit with extended periods of total inactivity; during the same visit, #2 heads out with ample reserves of bagasse.

I was advised that trains were frequently coming in very late (after dawn) on 26th July 1996 and even though I was staying far away in Cirebon, I got up at 04.00 to drive back next morning. I was rewarded with two loaded cane trains, this is OK 0-8-0T #5 departing from a mid-journey rest just before dawn. Progress was slow and by the time we next saw the train near a road I had been overtaken by a severe tummy bug and the effort needed to photograph the train again was considerable.