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Even a dyed-in-the wool steam enthusiast like me cannot fail to appreciate
that Java's narrow gauge diesels almost all now qualify as 'heritage' since
they were delivered at least 25 years ago, indeed some of those around today
have notched up half a century of service. I have never totally 'cursed' the
mills' diesels as in many cases the field lines would have closed much
earlier if the service had had to be maintained by steam alone. And with
'real' narrow gauge railways around the world in full retreat, Java's estate
railways today offer an unparalleled concentration of traditional 'Decauville'
railways, complete with temporary track to connect remote cutting areas with
the permanent way.
During my own early visits from 1975-9, money was short, colour slide film
was expensive and there was steam everywhere. Even on later visits into
the 1980s and beyond I rarely paid much attention to the diesels
and I was amazed when I discovered that over the years I had built up a
reasonably comprehensive coverage!
This article is in three parts:
I am very grateful to Ray Gardiner for providing me with a copy of his 'All
Indonesia Loco List' which has provided much of the information which
follows. Ray's researches continued until his untimely passing.
The other kind of Orenstein and Koppels
Perhaps not surprisingly given the number of their steam locomotives in
Java, quite a few OK diesels came here too - the earlier ones were from the
Montania arm of the company - see Part 1.
A
number of sugar mills have had 4wDM and 4wDH locomotives, one of the former,
13 at Rejosari, was built as long ago as 1952 and was working on 14th
September 2003:
This
4wDM loco at Mojopanggung on 16th August 1994 has no visible identification
mark. There were two such OKs delivered here in 1955 and 1960:
Similarly
unmarked but almost certainly a 1952 4wDM is this locomotive at Krembung, if
so it was actually built by Schoema under licence:
Another
4wDM loco is this 1961 built example at Pagottan on 18th August 1997
This
is 1955 built 0-6-0DM Kebonagung C5 in 1999, photograph is courtesy of Joachim
Lutz.:
This
is 1963 built 0-6-0DM Asembagus 8 on 14th September 2002:
Rejosari had several OK diesels, 17, photographed on 24th
August 1984 is a similar but
slightly larger 1963 model to that above:
Tasikmadu V is a 4wDH part of the last batch of OKs
delivered to the sugar mills in 1966. This picture taken on 10th July 2005 is
courtesy of Joop Versluijs.
Lokomotivbau Karl Marx
The
former East Germany supplied a complete sugar mill to Indonesia in the
mid-1950s which was erected at Madukismo and a batch of 18 0-6-0DH. This was one
at the mill on 10th July 2003:
One of them was later sold to Trangkil and is seen here
working a mud train on 29th July 2003:
Maschinenfabrik Fritz Schöttler (Diema)
With
two Schöttlers building diesels in Diepholz, people like me can be excused
getting confused. Someone once told me the relationship between them, but I
have long forgotten what it was. I believe Diema is now out of business and there were
always fewer of their locos than Schoemas. (There is a picture of a cape
gauge Diema on my page about the Forest Railway at
Bojonegoro.) Panji 7 is a typical 4wDM Diema built in 1954,
seen at the mill on 30th July 1984.
This
Gending loco is another 4wDM Diema, seen at the mill on 29th July 1984;
although there is no number visible it will be one of two 1956 built locos.
Rejoagung 5 is a larger 1969 4wDM, photograph is courtesy of
Ray Gardiner:
Like Schoema, Diema produced centre cab diesels, this is a
1969 built 4wDM at Rejoagung, however, it was almost certainly delivered with
a cab at one end and had a major rebuild at some stage, photograph is courtesy of
Ray Gardiner:
Pesantren 12 is a 1972 built 6wDH, this picture taken on 10th
August 2008 is courtesy of Joop Versluijs:
Ruhrtaler
Not strictly narrow gauge in the context of Java is this
1954 cape gauge 0-6-0 loco from Ruhrtaler at Tasikmadu. Previously it was
used (very occasionally as steam loco X was the preferred power) on the
connection to the main line at Kemeri. Despite its apparently good
condition, it has not been used for the best part of 20 years or more:
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