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Kadhipaten Sugar Mill |
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Kadhipaten was the westernmost mill in Java situated at the point where the wide plains end and the hills rising towards Bandung start. Whereas most mills were happy to take their time collecting and delivering their cane, the trains here traditionally ran in the daylight. Ross Sadler tipped me off about this, in stark contrast to those down the road at Jatiwangi. In turn, Ross tells me that he was tipped off by the staff at Jatiwangi! Probably this was because the mill's principal line crossed the main road from Cirebon to Bandung in the middle of the nearby small town of the same name. From there, it was a short but steep climb to the mill, however the alignment was on the west side of the road, usually totally wrong for the light. Until shortly before the mill closed, loris were brought up the temporary track by groups of coolies ('snigging' in 'strine' or Antipodean English). This was a unique hangover from colonial times. Like the other mills west of Cirebon, it was never modernised and was full of 'steam power'. From the early 1990s, the mill fell into decline, mainly because a large new mill had been built at Jatitujuh not far to the north. The last season was 1999 and it was so short that it was over before I arrived for my annual visit. Sadly, like the other two as well, it was dismantled in 2002 before I had a chance to record it properly. |
