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Purwodadi Sugar Mill |
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When the first visitors came to Madiun for the B50s in the 1970s, Purwodadi had a large but plain fleet of yellow locomotives which worked a field system east and west of the road between Maospati and Ngawi which was part of the Solo - Madiun main road. Apart from visits to the mill, trains were photographed in passing as field lines ran next to the road and this is reflected in the somewhat mediocre quality achieved. From 1980 onwards the mill ditched its field lines and took most of its steam fleet out of action. I have no pictures from the 1981 and 1982 seasons, during which the locomotives were repainted blue. Thereafter, it operated road deliveries from a yard to the south-east of the mill across the main road which naturally frequently brought traffic to a stop during the milling season. For the enthusiasts' delight, trains ran across an adjacent large river bridge although how there was never (to my knowledge) a traffic fatality I have no idea, especially as buses would dodge around the trains at near full speed until the level crossing was completely obstructed. This operation continued almost unchanged as time took its toll on the steam fleet. Eventually, tractors joined the odd diesel and steam finished at the end of the 2020 season, the final use of conventional steam on the island. Click here for a video of the actual mill in operation. |
