Lebong Tandai Gold Railway, Indonesia, 2015

Gerard be Graaf has revisited this splendid and isolated system. If you are unfamiliar with it, you'll need to read his earlier article and also the account by Allan Goode.

The railway features heavily in an amazing documentary about Sumatra - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBh5cai24Yo - compulsive viewing showing how some of the poorest people in the country are battling to scratch a living from its rich natural resources (28th November 2024).

In October 2015 I visited for the fourth time the 600 mm railway that was opened in 1910 by the Dutch gold mine company Simau. In the last 30 years little has been done by way of maintenance. An earthquake in 2013 destroyed a bridge on the 33km long railway. Since then, passengers have to go down, cross a river and climb up again, their luggage is transported across with a rope. The Sumatran jungle is breathtaking, but more and more oil palm plantations can be found along the railway. I will go again in 2016, then have a look at the remains of the connecting railway with the former gold mine at Ketahoen in Lebong Sulit.

At this point the Railway is interrupted due to the earthquake

We continued our trip with another lorry to Lebong Tandai.