The International Steam Pages


Steamy Java Sugar Mill Tour 2010, Water Power

This series of pages from July and August 2010 records our travels from China to Malaysia and on to Java, Indonesia where we were hosting the 'Steamy Java Tour 2010'. Click here for the main Winds of Change index page.


We spent a little less time at Tulangan than expected but with a long journey to Probolinggo at the end of the day, we agreed to skip lunch to maximise time at Krembung which is probably the most attractive 'steam' mill in this area. As seems to be the case in all the mills, it faces modernisation to survive, the alternative being closure like Krian some 10 years ago.

The mill line is dominated by a large 350HP Werkspoor twin drive engine:

However, for me the adjacent small twin engine is an absolute delight and far more interesting, there is simply no other engine like it on the island. The only shame is that 'the other side' is almost impossible to photograph:

The third engine is a standard Stork, behind it is a convenient bagasse pile from which one can get a fair bird's eye view. It replaced another Werkspoor engine a few years ago:

Not surprisingly, one of the boilers also bears the Werkspoor name and it seems that they had the contract to equip this mill. Next to the bagasse pile are the boiler feedwater pumps, two vertical engines (the single cylinder one is a common Weir) and one unusual Duplex from Schafer and Urbach which was reportedly formerly at Lestari.

Halle seemed to be particularly good at making air compressors judging by the numbers remaining compared to their other products. There are two more here, unlike Tulangan these are near identical and again there is a third different machine which is disused.

Two unidentified duplex pumps remain active, the smaller one is under the evaporators, the larger one is near the vacuum pumps where it is used to pump the mill's water supply from a nearby stream:

There are three vacuum pumps here, two are standard Storks (left and right, upper) and in regular use, frustratingly the more interesting and best placed third engine (lower) is spare - the regulator shown is a 'remote control' for one of the Storks:

However, the real treasure at Krembung is a double twin engine water pump, built by Werkspoor in 1911, which drives the main centrifugals - only Purwodadi still uses a similar system.

And here are some views of the centrifugals themselves, made by Watson, Laidlaw and as usual in two halves with a water rinse first.

This is followed by a water and steam rinse which is why the centrifugals have lids. Before the sugar is discharged, the cap has to be lifted clear.

I was pleased to have a full three hours at Krembung, yet be able to leave by 15.00 so we could arrive in Probolinggo just as it was getting dark. The loco group had beaten us there as expected as their afternoon visit was at Kedawung just down the road. The restaurant had lost our booking which caused us to be parked in a barn in the annexe where the meal was served as a buffet. This meant that the food vanished at a ridiculous rate and the soup was so late it was almost untouched; once again I was reminded that you can never relax as a tour leader/organiser. Anyway my voice has come back even if I am still coughing up yellow muck. The tour group seem happy enough but there are just three nights to go and I am looking forward to a couple of days afterwards relaxing on the beach. In the meantime, here's the latest volcano, a distant view of Welirang (right centre), it's another of the 3000m collection I climbed some years back, what appears to be the smaller peak just beside it is probably Arjuna which is actually rather higher. The other prominent small cone (left centre) is actually a side peak of Penanggungan and no great height


Rob and Yuehong Dickinson

Email: webmaster@internationalsteam.co.uk