Gondang Baru & Ceper Baru

Here is some more Java sugar mill footage for Indonesian (and other) fans.

This is pre-digital footage from Java which I converted to digital on mini DV tapes in 1999. Most of the footage dates from the early 1990s although it may have been shot as late at 1998 before I go my first digital camera. Technology has moved on again and I had to use my old Sony digital video camcorder along with my old Apple desktop and a firewire cable to capture this footage to disk. This just goes to show how important it is to copy material on older formats to the latest version before you lose the ability to do so.

I have not as far as I know used this footage in the past on any Java DVDs. Given the recent announcement about more sugar mill closures (for 2017) to add to the loss of filed work, mills and steam locos between the 2014 and 2015 season, this is all unrepeatable material as much as 25 years old. I am making it available with few edits and with just basic titles to give the names of the mills.

I was mainly with Rob Dickinson when I shot this material and I recommend his pages on Java sugar mill steam to anyone who would like to research this topic further - http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/i...

My own reports don’t go back far enough to cover this footage but I am happy to try to answer questions if you have them. Either ask a question on YouTube or email [email protected] and let me know the name of the video and the point in the playback (if relevant) you want to ask about.

I don’t initially intend to make specific comment about these individual videos but if there are interesting questions and replies I will make sure that they posted with the relevant videos.

To give you a taste of what is to come, mills featured include Pakis Baru, Trangkil, Gondang Baru, Tasikmadu, Kebonagung, Pagottan, Merican, Pesantren, Semboro, Wringinanom, Olean and in all cases with real working steam and in most cases with steam-hauled field trains.

John Raby
8 October 2016