PJKA1985SS

South Sumatra, 1985.
I flew from Padang to Palembang on the afternoon of 4th August, arriving there at around 5pm. I made my way to Kertapti station and found there was a train to Lahat later that evening and several the next day. I then went to the shed to find it was full of diesels and I was told that all remaining steam locomotives were at Tanjungenim. I decided to take the evening train to Lahat so that I could visit Tanjungenim the next morning. While we were standing in Prabumulih station at around 9.30 pm I could hear a "wheezing" noise outside and suddenly 2-8-2 D52004 rolled by with a single coach, proving there was indeed active steam in this area still. The journey on to Lahat was extremely slow and it was long after midnight when we arrived and all the hotels were closed. I stayed with a local family near the station. Early the next morning I went to the works which was securely locked and deserted. I could see a D50 and D52 inside. Dumped in the yard outside were several D50 2-8-0s and C30 2-6-2Ts. I took a few photographs and then made my way to Tanjungenim. On arrival here smoke could be seen coming from the shed - 2-8-2 D52029 was in steam beside an almost empty coal loader. There were several more locomotives of classes C11, C30, D50 and D52 in and around the shed but none were in steam and some were obviously dumped. I moved on to Prabumulih which was devoid of steam but my train was already in the station so I had no time to look for the shed. The only other steam locomotive I saw was a very derelict B50 2-4-0 at Baturaya.
Links to other pages on this site.
Yogyakarta 1976 Madiun and Surakarta 1976 Ambarawa and north coast 1976 Jakarta 1977 Cirebon 1977
West Sumatra 1985 Java 1985 Java 1987