Crowded Jakarta

Jakarta has never been one of more attractive Asian capitals, although near the sea there are a few remnants from the Dutch colonial days. Tanahabang station is situated in the middle of one of the city's least salubrious areas and the the railway tracks are lined with squatters' houses. Standing on the bridge at the south end of the station one had more of a feeling of being in India rather than in Java. B51 and C27 were stationed here for the local trains to Rangkasbetung, which were always extremely crowded (and equally late) and were hardly the most promising introduction to the country. Today there is only preserved TD1002 at the shed which shows signs of terminal collapse.

The main shed in Jakarta has always been at Jatinegara which had an allocation mainly of D52, C28 and D14. The D52s worked freight and mixed trains to the east until the early 1980s, while the large tank locomotives acted as pilots and worked some local trains under the wires when electric stock was unavailable. Several D14 were outstationed at Bogor from where they worked on the line to Cianjur, which itself had an allocation of D14s.

Heading east, the 600mm narrow gauge lines out of Karawang and Cikampek survived just long enough to be seen by the early visitors. Steam in the form of D52 worked through to Purwakarta and Cirebon (and on to Prupuk on the Purwokerto line).

Today, the electrified lines have been rehabilitated and see an intensive suburban service. About 20 steam locomotives from all over the country are preserved in an open air museum at Taman Mini on the outskirts of Jakarta. TC1015 is preserved at Manggarai works in Jakarta.