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Tasikmadu Sugar Mill |
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Tasikmadu was a grand institution with an imposing mill structure and other buildings in its own compound, largely enclosed by a high wall. As the pictures show, standards here were high and field trains survived here until the late 1990s despite the loss of traditional growing areas. Thereafter, the fact that the main road delivery yard was outside the mill complex meant that trains had to be worked several hundred metres along a roadside section and then reversed into the mill offered plenty of photographic opportunities. The death knell for steam was the mill's conversion from carbonatation to sulphitation which freed up the area used for storage of limestone needed for the mill's lime kiln. This meant that trucks could now access the mill directly although necessarily at busy times the smaller road gantry next to it could see some use. The mill survives in use, for many years much of the area adjacent to it has operated as a theme park, among its attractions are train rides some of which are steam powered. However, it operated for a single week in 2021 and reportedly will not mill in 2022... Click here for a video of the actual mill in operation. |
