Along the Upper Brantas

The line south from Surabaya divides at Bangil with the main line carrying on east to Jember as covered in the previous section. A branch carries on south and climbs to Malang, probably the most attractive of Java's large cities. Volcanoes dominate the landscape and above the city, one of Java's longest rivers, the Brantas, rises. It takes an indirect route to the sea, flowing south, west, north and finally east before entering the Straits of Madura not very far from its source and it is possible to follow its course most of the way by train.

The D11 were the main reason to visit Malang as they were rarely seen elsewhere, being used on trips around town and on the local branches. The line on to Blitar had some attractive scenery and the trains were often hauled by F10, but it was dieselised early on.

Blitar was a pleasant small town which had an allocation of large tank locomotives, C27, C28 and F10 which were used on passenger trains to Kertosono on the main line between Madiun and Surabaya. This was always a popular area with visitors because apart from these attractions, in the plains to the north ran an amazing collection of small power on the lines out of Pare. Today all the branch lines round Malang are closed and there is hardly a trace left of the days of steam.