Java Sugar Steam 1999 - Madiun Area Mills

The Madiun mills are operated by PTP Nusantara XI.  There is clearly room for rationalisation in this area.  I would not be surprised if a couple of these mills did not open in 2000, Kanigoro and Soedhono (even Rejosari) would seem to be the most likely candidates. 1998 proved to be a disastrous year for steam around Madiun, and 1999 looked to be even worse, the number of active locos is much less than half what it was three years ago. Taking my group round these mills in mid-August gave me my most depressing experience ever in Java. Visitors are supposed to be charged the equivalent of U$5 per head per mill visit but I have found that this is usually only enforced for groups.

19. SOEDHONO Mill Index

Nobukazu Furuhashi was here in late June and reports: "3 and 10 working, 6 spare, 2 and 9 stored." I drove past on July 27th at 10.00 and found 6 at work with 3 and 10 cold outside the shed. At 07.30 on August 12th, I found all steam locos cold on shed and the whole mill very quiet, what little traffic there was could clearly be handled by the diesels. We returned on August 24th to find the mill had finished on August 14th

20. PURWODADI Mill Index

Nobukazu Furuhashi was here in late June and reports: "5, 10 and 11 working."   Rod Clarke was here in early July and reports: "Four locos in steam working from exchange yard". I drove past at 09.45 on July 27th and found 11 and 15 by the road yard. On August 12th, the yard was quiet at 08.00 so we went to visit a nearby Gamelan factory. We returned by 09.00 by which time trucks were arriving at the road yard. The quality of cane on offer was so bad that mill workers swarmed all over the cane loris removing large amounts of trash before they could be taken into the mill. 5, 11 and 15 (together with one diesel) were working the shuttles as normal.  The first two trains of the day ran at 09.30 and 09.45 and it seemed it would be at least another hour before more ran. It was still working on August 24th and the mill staff expected the season to continue to mid-September.

.21. REJOSARI Mill Index

Rod Clarke was here in early July and reports: "Only Henschel 12 in steam in yard." Nobukazu Furuhashi was here in late June and found the same. On July 27th, I popped in to prepare for my group visit and found 10 and 12 at work - a situation I asked to be repeated on August 12th. When we arrived, it would seem that the mill had so many problems with lack of cane that they had forgotten we were coming and what little action there was was in the hands of diesels. However, the staff promised to get 10 and 12 ready for us the following morning. They duly did this and after lining up outside the shed the locos shunted the delivery yard and then each worked a train into the mill. Mill management said the season would finish around August 21st because of the crisis in the industry - another headache for me as my second tour was due to visit on August 24th! In due course the mill did finish then and I had to make a long detour to Tasik Madu.

22. KANIGORO Mill Index

Nobukazu Furuhashi was here in late June and reports: "Only 4, 5 and 11 working". I dropped in on July 26th in the late afternoon. The operation looked very run down compared to previous visits although some of the field lines were still in use. 4, 6 and 11 were in steam and D-3 was assisting in the shunting. 4 was again burning coal. We arrived here on August 12th and the sight of just 6 in steam was most depressing as was the news that the season was expected to end on August 15th. By August 24th, we were told at Purwodadi that the season was indeed over here.

23. PAGOTTAN Mill Index

I spent 5 minutes here on July 26th in the late afternoon. Two diesels were bringing in cane from the road yard and 8 was working the crusher.  All the other steam locomotives looked serviceable but were out of use in and just outside the loco shed. Staff at Rejosari suggested one of their locos might be transferred here but there seems no reason for this with so much surplus power available.

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