July 17th
The tour will begin in Jakarta. If you wish to visit the
railway museum at Taman Mini – or want time to acclimatise or recover from
the long flight consider arriving a day or two earlier, we can assist with
accommodation etc.
Overnight is in Jakarta.
July 18th
The morning will be spent moving on to Cirebon. In the afternoon,
we will visit Tersana Baru where when I last visited in 2008, the
mill was slowly being modernised. By then one of the two (steam) mill lines
was history and many small pumps had been removed. Just what is left remains
to be seen. Until the end of the 2007 season the yard outside was operated by diesels and at least half a dozen steam locomotives (0-8-0T by Orenstein &
Koppel, Du Croo & Brauns, Jung) but the steam part is now history and will
most likely be found stored in the shed.
Overnight is in Cirebon.
July 19th
Our first mill visit today will be to Karangsuwung, one of the
best ‘steam’ mills on Java with a wide range of stationary steam engine
equipment although the small railway system is entirely tractor operated.
Afterwards there will be a short visit to Sindanglaut which has steam mill
engines and some stored steam locomotives.
Overnight is in Cirebon.
July 20th
We shall spend most of the day at Pangka, where the
mill itself has traditional stationary steam engines in quantity. After a
lunch break in Tegal (for those who can tear themselves away), we shall
continue our visit in
the afternoon. When you get bored inside, outside there is plenty of attractive yard steam loco activity (Jung
0-6-2T, OK 0-8-0T).
Overnight is in Tegal.
July 21st
In the morning we shall visit Jatibarang which is very steamy with an excellent range of
steam engines. Outside
until recently, there was some steam yard work but these days the best we
can hope for is one or two kept in reserve.
Sumberharjo is a sleepy mill whose steam locomotive
allocation (OK and DB 0-8-0T) does little in the daylight – they do
most of their work on overnight trains. However, the mill itself contains some
large stationary steam engines and is spacious and well lit for photography,
the mill engines are a treasure and the Werkspoor combined vacuum pump, water
injection pump and condenser is simply unbelievable, although 2009 visitors
reported it out of use.
Overnight is again in Tegal.
July 22nd
Today we leave the north coast area to transfer
southwards. There will be a visit to the recently re-opened mill
at Cepiring, but it has been extensively modernised but just a single dual drive steam mill engine will survive
active in the
new regime.
We then travel on, skirting Semarang to Ambarawa which is home to one of Java’s
two railway museums although in truth it is more a locomotive park than
anything else. More than twenty iron dinosaurs are preserved here in the open.
There are two working steam locomotives here, both B25 0-4-2T (rack tanks) and we shall have
a special train on the line south with one of them up the rack to Bedono.
Overnight will be at the nearby hill
station of Bandungan.
July 23rd
The main steam attraction today is Tasik Madu, some distance
away on the other side of Solo. Inside the mill, since 2006 juice
clarification has changed from carbonatation to sulphitation. There are some wonderful steam pumps
(of the three CO2 compressors in use in 2006, one has been removed
and the other two converted to air compressors) and they even have a preserved vertical boiler steam roller.
Outside, up to six steam locomotives were at work in the yard in 2009.
Overnight is in Solo.
July 24th
Today is stationary steam engine heaven, Gondang Baru has
the oldest mill engines in Java (including a Corliss engine kept in reserve)
and a supporting cast of more than a dozen more assorted stars. The lime kiln
for the mill's venerable carbonatation clarification has its own narrow gauge push system, but the mill’s steam locomotives are
stored out of use in the shed and a couple more are preserved in the on-site
Central Java sugar museum.
Overnight is again in Solo.
July 25th
Visits for 25th to 27th July are subject to rearrangement as
we are unable to visit Rejosari.
Moving east, we shall make morning visits to two marginal
'steam mills' at Mojo and Sudhono. The main visit today will be to Purwodadi
where the many stationary engines inside are particularly photogenic and well laid
out in contrast with many mills which are quite gloomy and cluttered.
Outside there is a busy road yard
operated by up to three OK 0-8-0T steam locomotives.
Overnight will be in Madiun.
July 26th
First stop in the morning will be at Kanigoro where the mill has the usual
selection of stationary steam engines inside and probably one steam locomotive will be in use
outside. In the afternoon, I had hoped to go to Rejosari where stationary steam inside the mill is again present in
quantity and extremely photogenic, however, the current mill engineer is
unwilling to entertain visitors.
Overnight will again be in Madiun.
July 27th
In the morning there will be brief visits to Pagottan
and Rejoagung which both had limited stationary steam in 2008, outside the
former we should expect to
find one or two steam locomotives at work, including a Luttermöller geared
0-10-0T. In the afternoon, we will visit Merican which still has some stationary steam
inside and where a couple of steam locomotives were at work in the yard in 2009,
including Java's (and the world's) last Mallet.
Overnight will be in Kediri..
July 28th
The group will have brief visits to Cukir and Jombang in
the morning and a
longer visit at Watutulis which had many stationary steam engines in 2008
but which is thought to be slated for modernisation..
Overnight will be in Mojokerto.
July 29th
Today there will be visits to the very steamy sugar mills at Krembung
and Tulangan although there are no steam locomotives at either site. I have
not included the former steam mill at Candi in the itinerary as I have
been told by the management that there is no longer any steam power left here.
Overnight will be in Probolinggo.
July 30th
Today will be spent visiting three mills east of
Probolinggo; Wonolangan, Gending and
Pajarakan all of which have steam milling engines and some other engines,
particularly vacuum pumps.
Overnight will be in Situbondo.
July 31st
By 2008 the number of mills which still used steam on railways
outside the immediate mill area was very few and Olean was the best place to
observe such activity. However, reports from 2009 indicate that such
activity was much reduced. Nevertheless, the interior of the mill rivals
Gondang for its variety of ancient steam power some of it dating from the
19th century.
Overnight will be in Situbondo.
August 1st
We shall start at Wringinanom – the latter probably running Olean and Gondang
close for the title of the best on the island. There should
be some steam power in use at
Panji and a brief mill visit will be made to Asembagus where against
expectation two steam milling engines should be in use - the loco tour may
well have a steam charter here in the afternoon if everything goes to
plan.
Overnight will again be in Situbondo.
August 2nd
After breakfast the group will disperse. For those who
need it, transport will be provided to Surabaya (airport) from
where most will fly out to Jakarta (or Singapore or Kuala Lumpur) in good time for onward
connections home.
About travelling...
I am scathing about the 'Lonely Planet effect', I have been quietly running
tours to Java for nearly 20 years in which time our regular destinations have
remained 'unspoiled'. The peoples of Java are uniquely hospitable, helpful and
friendly and I respect them and their traditional lifestyle. Apart from paying
for what is now an official agro-tourism programme in the sugar mills, this tour
will continue my policy of taking the sugar mills as we find them and not
turning them into a circus.
This tour is designed for the kind of person who says 'normally I don't join
tour groups but....'. It is intensive but not at the expense of being
'fun'.
Over the years many people have extended their visits with me to travel
independently afterwards and I can offer practical advice, Java is not a
difficult destination despite what the media implies. We can advise how best to
do this. By the same token, I have
always welcomed independent travellers who wish to join the tour for activities
like the Ambarawa special trains.
Practicalities
Java is equatorial, it will be hot outdoors in the daytime, but not
excessively humid as sugar cane is harvested in the dry season. The evenings
will be pleasantly warm. Every few years we seem to get a slightly wet 'dry
season', this is most likely to affect the Ambarawa area which is inland and in
the hills, but there is no need to bring a rain coat!.
Hotels will be 'good local' as opposed to 'international', all
with air-conditioning (except in Bandungan which is a hill station) with
en-suite facilities including western toilet, normally with a hot shower or even
a bath.
Breakfasts will be a mixture of local and continental. Lunches
will be simple rice or noodle dishes. Dinners will be substantial Chinese style
meals.
Bottled water and international soft drinks are readily
available. Finding cold beer is now a major logistic exercise. If you enjoy a
stronger tipple from time to time, best bring your own.
The tour is definitely 'non-smoking' and if (unlike me) you
have a mobile phone or similar toy, it should be kept switched off in public.
There are internet cafes in most towns, but the connections will be slow. If you
have a laptop computer, WiFi is slowly spreading through the island, a few
hotels may offer Ethernet connections.
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