RAILWAYS of INDONESIA

This is an article written by Yuri Matsarsky, the editor of the regional section of the daily Russian railroad newspaper “Gudok” ( http://www.gudok.ru/ ). It describes the connection between the Hijaz Railways and the railways of Indonesia. (For those who do not know Russian, please use translator.) 18.09.2009 3 ноября 1920 года «Восстание в колониях» По судьбе паровозов можно изучать новейшую историю Взорванные почти столетие назад паровозы и по сей день ржавеют в пустыне Отвоевав свои земли у турок и англичан, арабы приблизили развал великих некогда империй и, сами того не ведая, способствовали развитию железных дорог на другом конце света. Осенью 1920 года «Гудок» сообщал о приближающейся победе арабов и турок над британскими колонизаторами в Месопотамии. Эти сражения были продолжением боёв Первой мировой войны, в ходе которых расклад сил был несколько иным – за свою независимость арабы воевали против турок. А британцы, как враги Османской империи, помогали им в этом. Именно британц...

Members of the IRPS bringing the WH202 locomotive out of its depot. (Photo courtesy of IRPS) Growing up during the 1950s in Surabaya, Lutfhi Tjahyadi, who is 41, said he had a classic Monopoly board game with a wonderful picture of a green-and-yellow model CC200 diesel locomotive on the cover. And as a teenager, during a rail journey from Surabaya to Jakarta, he was shocked to see the exact same train go thundering past. His heart beat faster, he said, as he craned his neck out the window to get a better look. “Emotionally, I feel like I have a tie with the train,” he said. As an adult, Lufthi took a job in Cirebon, West Java, and discovered there were three neglected CC200s in a depot near the city’s train station. Whenever he could, he would stop by the depot and run his hand reverently over the rusty parts and peeling paintwork of the glorious locomotives of the past. America’s General Electric Company had sold the state railway operator 27 of the hulking CC200 locomotives in 1953. ...

There are various aspects to the work carried out by the Indonesian Railway Preservation Society, but one of the most important is preserving state railway system infrastructure, such as train stations, bridges, tunnels and workshops, as well as trains and spare parts. “We tour sites such as former train stations that have been converted into markets, workshops and storage facilities,” said Aditya Dwi Laksana, the chairman of the IRPS. “Then we identify and document things that are considered worthy of saving as heritage assets.” In January, after months of map research and site interviews and retrieving archives from the Netherlands, the IRPS was able to locate Stasiun Samarang NIS, the first train station in Indonesia, which was established by the Dutch in 1867 in Semarang, Central Java. Other assets that fall under the IRPS radar include equipment such as dated ticketing and station telegraph machines, historical archives and documentation, including train station blueprints, railwa...