Click here
for the 'Those were the days' index page.
Tasik Madu was (and is) the flagship mill of the
Yogya/Solo area, being built in grand style for the then Sunan (Sultan) of Solo.
Steam survives in quantity here for yard work and the tourist operation but the
field lines and the main line connection are long gone.
Click on a thumbnail to see a larger 750x500 (or
similar) image then use the back button or links to return here.
|
I first visited Tasik Madu on 25th May 1979,
it was an extremely smart operation with all locomotives jet black, an
unusual livery in Java where green, yellow and blue were a much more
common choice. OK 0-4-2T #XV was shuffling around some loris loaded with
bagasse.
|
|
6th August 1984 was a brilliantly sunny day.
BMAG 0-4-0T #XIII posed with Gunung Lawu behind poking out of the
cloud. Shortly after we got an even better picture of #1 here but that
can't be included here as it is still active and the line still exists
just outside the mill compound although #1 would need a serious repaint
from its tourist livery!
|
|
Out in the fields afterwards, we tracked
down OK 0-10-0 #VI coming in on a long train that seemed to stretch for
ever. It was like trying to photograph a long, thin sausage.
|
|
Independence Day, 17th August
1988 was another great day for photography. Cape gauge Henschel 0-6-0T #X propelled
up some box vans from the main line connection at Kemeri.
|
|
Earlier in the afternoon,
Henschel 0-8-0T #2 and OK 0-8-0T #3 had brought in a long train of
immaculately presented cane from the south line.
|
|
On 26th August 1990, I was
staying in the mill's guest house so it was no problem to wait in the
fields as OK 0-8-0T #V was in no hurry to return to the mill. As the sun
sank lower and lower and finally vanished, I was able to take full
advantage of the situation.
|
|
Don't believe everything you see
on the internet! On 23rd August 1993, our small hotel in Solo had put out
a banner to welcome us and I had to have it as a souvenir. The temptation
to string it along #VI on our last morning was impossible to resist...
|
|
Everything comes to he who waits
(patiently). In all the excitement earlier on 6th August 1984, one of the
party had dropped a camera accessory and we had to return to look for it.
Leaving the mill we admired the view of Gunung Merapi (left) and Gunung
Merbabu (right) and even better there was a train coming! Everyone in the
group piled out for a totally memorable picture of #XV.
|
Click here
for the 'Those were the days' index page.
|
|