TheCepu Forest Railway (officially branded asLoco Tour Cepu) is a1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)narrow gauge lightlogging railway that runs throughteak plantations to the northwest of the town ofCepu, inCepu district, on the boundary between Central and East Java provinces, on the island ofJava inIndonesia. It is owned byPerhutani, a state-owned forestry company of Indonesia.Steam traction is still dominant.
Along withOlean Sugar Mill inSitubondo, East Java (a candidateWorld Heritage Site[1]), Tasik Madu sugar mill and therack railway atAmbarawa (both also in Central Java), the Cepu Forest Railway is one of the four main centres of steam railway heritage remaining in Java. In fact, with four operable steam locomotives, built byBerliner Maschinenbau andDu Croo & Brauns,[2] the Cepu depot has the largest concentration of active preserved steam locomotives in Indonesia. It is therefore of major heritage importance and due to its globally significant status as an active and complete steam locomotive-powered logging railway it might also be considered a candidate World Heritage Site.
The railway was originally constructed circa 1915 and was fully operational until the late 1990s, with over 300 kilometres (190 mi) of track in the Perhutani forests. Since 1998 much of the track has been lifted, but occasional logging trains continued to operate until 2002.
Since 2002 only chartered logging trains and a tourist train have been run (Loko Tour). The railway is popular with foreign tourists, especially fromEurope, theUnited States andJapan. The main remaining line is of a distance of around 30 kilometres (19 mi) to anarboretum where there are spectacular 150-year-old teak trees along with a visitor centre where tourist train passengers are often entertained by local cultural shows.
In 2006 a bridge just outside Cepu was damaged by flooding. In late 2007 this was repaired, and tourist trains were restored to the arboretum in December 2007. Since then there have been numerous tours and chartered logging trains. There were also reportedly 'real' logging trains run early in 2010 when otherwise inaccessible trees brought down by storm damage were removed using steam trains.
Tours and charter trains are marketed and run by PT Palawi, a subsidiary of Perhutani, in Jakarta.[3]
Class | Unit number | Image | Axles (Whyte) | Builder | Builder no. | Year built | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BMAG locomotives | Madjoe (M) | ![]() | 0-10-0T | ![]() | 8834 | 1926 | Preserved at Manggala Wanabakti Museum, Central Jakarta |
Augustus (A) | 9408 | 1928 | Non-operational as 2018[6] | ||||
Bahagia (B) | 9409 | Non-operational[7] | |||||
Tudjubelas (T) | ![]() | 9410 | Non-operational as 2018[6] | ||||
D&B locomotives | n/a | ![]() | 0-6-0T | ![]() | 388, 389, 390 | 1950 | At least 2 units were preserved at the facility[8] |
C25 | 02 | ![]() | 0-6-0Tr | ![]() | 6800 | 1913 | Transferred fromPJKA, derelict by 1987,[9] presumably scrapped |
C26 | 07 | ![]() | 0-6-0T | ![]() | 18631 | 1921 | Transferred fromPJKA, derelict by 1987,[9] presumably scrapped |
C29 | 02 | ![]() | 0-6-0T | ![]() | 9790 | 1922 | Transferred fromPJKA, preserved as monument atTaman Seribu Lampu, Cepu[10] |
Class | Unit number | Image | Builder | Builder no. | Year built | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ruston LHT | n/a | ![]() | ![]() | 441931,[11] n/a | 1970s | 1 unit operational, 1 unit derelict[12] |
Sujayanto, G. (2001). "It's a Nice Day bersama Loko Tua".Intisari. September 2001:34–35.
7°8′16.2″S111°36′21.32″E / 7.137833°S 111.6059222°E /-7.137833; 111.6059222