Click here
for the 'Those were the days' index page.
The old Cepiring mill closed at the end of the 1997
season although remarkably it has recently re-opened as a re-equipped
state-of-the-art mill. This was yet another mill where the best chance to see
trains in the field came with the inevitable foul ups that occur on an outdated
system....
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My first visit to Cepiring was on 9th June
1978. We had called into the regional HQ in Semarang to get permission to
go to their mills. To say that the hospitality for two ragged foreigners
was overwhelming would understate the welcome. We had no option but to
accept a ride in the company's Merc and a night in the guest house at
Sragi... At Cepiring most of the steam locomotives were in the field but
yard pilot Henschel 0-4-0T #6 posed for a mug shot.
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One special feature at Cepiring was that the
shed was connected to the main part of the railway by a turntable which
exited at a right angle. On 9th August 1986, DB 0-8-0T #5 prepares to make
its exit.
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A timeless scene viewed from the
office at the top of the weighbridge on the morning of 8th August
1988. OK 0-8-0T #1 is in the foreground with a diesel and two more steam locomotives
fussing around in the yard.
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On 23rd August 1994, an
overnight cane train with OK 0-8-0T #1 derailed on the river bridge south
of the mill. Wisely, staff waited till the following morning to clean up
the mess...
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OK 0-8-0T #8 was trapped behind
and a few minutes after #1 restarted, it followed its sister engine home.
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Cepiring's mud train is
propelled out by DB 0-8-0T #5 on 27th August 1995, as a carbonatation
mill, it would have produced more mud than the average mill which by then
would have been using sulphitation for clarifying the raw juice.
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Click here
for the 'Those were the days' index page.
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