English: Today the Indonesian Railways Museum at Ambarawa on Java is a major tourist attraction visited by many thousands of people each year, particularly from cruise ships docked at Surabaya.
But back in November 1988 it was a forgotten backwater that was very hard to reach and thoroughly depressing when you got there - all the track in the station area was missing and locos were randomly plinthed on short sections of track in the open air. There was ostensibly some sort of tourist train available if 50 people wanted to use it, but there were rarely enough visitors to make it worth firing up one of the two working locomotives!
I've also covered my visit to Indonesia in 1988 in Episode 3 of my Flying Scientist podcast: theflyingscientist.buzzsprout.com/1906041/9749843-episode...
This roll of PAN-F was taken in September 1989 in the rainy season after I managed to get there by hiring a taxi for the day from Yogyakarta, some 50 miles away. It cost me $17 US for the whole day!
Looking back now, I'm glad I made the trip and hope one day to go back and see the revitalised Museum in action.
This roll of Kodachrome 400 was taken in September 1989 in the rainy season after I managed to get there by hiring a taxi for the day from Yogyakarta, some 50 miles away. It cost me $17 US for the whole day!
Looking back now, I'm glad I made the trip and hope one day to go back and see the revitalised Museum in action.