Old locomotive gets new life

Anissa S. Febrina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Thursday was no typical working day for the dozen or so workers at state train operator PT Kereta Api's (PT KA) garage, Balai Yasa, in South Jakarta's Manggarai.

"Ready.. slowly, OK!" shouted a worker to the crane operator, his eyes remaining glued to a rusty locomotive pinned by a pair of giant metal hands.

Lifting up locomotive frames might be business as usual for the workers but Thursday they were lifting the old frame of Jakarta's long-abandoned first electric locomotive. And that was surely a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Lok Bon Bon -- the name given to the old locomotive because of its resemblance to a candy box -- got a new lease on life after it was lifted into the air for the restoration of its lower frame.

"We're putting on beautiful make up before displaying it to the public," said Warsidi, a technician at the train garage.

"It will take two days to wash the lower body with chemical spray and within a month it should be ready for a new coat of paint," he explained.

Several months ago, Bon Bon almost ended up being sold off for scrap metal -- for a mere Rp 1,500 per kilogram.

But the train aficionados of the Indonesian Railway Preservation Society (IRPS) found Bon Bon hidden among other unused locomotives and trains at the garage.

There is of course something special about Bon Bon that has made IRPS members willing to do almost anything to rescue the locomotive, which was manufactured in 1928.

Officially known as Werkspoor-Heemaf, Bon Bon was a silent witness to the paramount role played by railways in the development of Batavia, as colonial era Jakarta was known.

Since 1925, the Dutch colonists provided railway services along the outer periphery of Batavia and imported electronic locomotives to serve commuters.

At first, the trains carried commuters from Menteng and Weltevreden to their workplaces in what is now Jakarta's old town. Later on the service was expanded to reach Bogor, which was then known as Buitenzorg.

Last year, after getting the nod from PT KA to restore Bon Bon, IRPS members spent weekends cleaning dried leaves and dust from the locomotive.

The rest of the restoration effort needed professional hands.

"We have been welding new metal sheets onto badly rusted parts of the locomotive," PT KA's Greater Jakarta spokesman Akhmad Sujadi said.

After being strengthened, the upper body was lifted to allow workers to work on Bon Bon's lower frame, the most amazing part of the locomotive.

With the upper body lifted, one can see closely the huge and solid construction of the locomotive's lower frame.

Despite being covered in thick reddish brown rust and gray dust, the locomotives inner parts look as strong as ever.

PT KA plans to finish the restoration process in the next couple of months, before dragging Bon Bon to West Jakarta's Kota train station and make it part of its electric railway museum.

Spokesman Sujadi said funding of up to Rp 200 million would be needed to display the locomotive as well as set up a small historical railway library in Kota station.

"We hope to be able to mark Bon Bon's return to the public with a festival scheduled for early September and immediately collect funding to continue the restoration process," IRPS member Ni Komang Ariyanti said.

The festival is planned to feature family entertainment, ranging from drawing competitions for children to culinary tours for adults, to be held on board electric trains.