A 'Prospector' railcar ready to depart from Midland Station.

For keen viewers, this railcar design is based on the famous 'Budd Railcar'. Unless, they replaced the cab with streamlined one, and using 'MAN' engine (later replaced by Cummins), instead of GM.

In fact, there are several railcars in Australia who had similar design with Budd railcar, as the actual Budd railcar was once used in Australia. This 'Prospector' railcar will be retired in 2003, as the new railcar will replace them.

A stewardess awaits her passengers, bound for Kalgoorlie.

Or is she waiting for the brand new 'Prospector' railcar? Her railcar is nearly 30 years old! And it's already looked aging!

'Indian Pacific' trains passing through Midland station. The train didn't stop there as it is too long for Midland's platform. This picture show you why, even the carriages in the background is part of the same train!

Note: the land in front of this picture was once the standard gauge platform of Midland Station. It was demolished when the standard gauge rail was realigned and incorporated to the line on the main station building.

The Wegmann built carriages was used for Indian Pacific's predecessor: The Trans Australian. It was introduced in early 1950s. Although it was later used for Indian Pacific too, until 1980s.

The carriages was built in Germany, but the finishing touch was done in Australia. Although they already retired, it doesn't mean they no longer in use. Some of them are still used for crew car on freight train. And some other were used for tourist train (like the one in the picture). A few of them ended up in museum, and hardly any in scrapyard.

A dual gauge point near Midland station. The reason behind the using of three rails, is to allow both 1067mm and 1435mm trains to use the line. As the West Australian's official size is 1067mm (but they have a large number of standard gauge rolling stock fleet), whereas the Australia's standard gauge is 1435mm.

For Indonesian rail buffs, the railway line between Surakarta and Yogyakarta was once similar with this. It was standardized to 1067mm by Japanese Imperial Government during Second World War.

This is what was left of the once-famous dual gauge line between Surakarta and Yogyakarta. Note the holes beside the rail on the left, used to bolt the standard gauge rails.

During the Japanese occupation in WWII, the outer third rail was removed, but the sleeper was retained until late 1990s, when the rails between Surakarta and Yogyakarta was replaced with the new heavier rails, and the dual gauge sleeper was replaced by concrete sleeper.

This gate keeper had never been a famous figure in Indonesian railway industry.

But he, and a lot of other gate keeper, had played an important role of securing the railway line from wandering pedestrian, so the train (like this Argo Bromo Anggrek) can pass through without problem.

So, this photo is a tribute to those unsung heroes of Indonesian Railway World.

A view of CC203 locomotive.

This CC203 loco (number 38) came from the last production batch, and only three years old when this photo was taken.

Even the horn handle on B-side console (left) is still covered with plastic.

Closer view of the A-side driving console.

The red handle is used to control the train brake, whereas the blue handle in the middle is for the dynamic brake. The throttle is the blue handle beneath the dynamic brake. The speedometer of this loco is still functional, as most CC203 no longer have its speedometer functioning.

A diesel railcar is visible in the background.

CC20304 (left) prepare for late afternoon departure to Jakarta, whereas a BB301 have just arrived back after working on a local train from Cianjur.

What makes this photo special is that the equipment door on CC203's nose was left open while its driver failed to notice it. It was later closed when the co-driver arrived.

My train passed the Argo Bromo Anggrek train bound for Surabaya.

This train is currently the fastest train in Indonesia, yet it went through the unprotected line where tresspasser could enter the railway premises easily.

You could hardly find a situation where several locomotives queueing just to enter the depo!

But it did happen in one holliday eve in Bandung, when a surge in traffic activity led to excessive rail traffic density

Hidden deep inside the John Forrest National park, is the remain of Western Australia's only railway tunnel.

Prior to Second World War, going through this tunnel was the only mean of getting in and out from Perth to East Coast.

But after an accident in Second World War, an alignment was built around the hill, and the tunnel were used by the descending train only.

A closer look at the tunne'sl facade.

When the building of standard gauge/1435mm railway line was commenced in 1960s, it was decided to built an entirely new route to the North of John Forrest National Park, which bypassed this route completely, as this route was too steep and circuitous, and the tunnel was too small to accomodate the new standard gauge rolling stock.

This railway line itself was closed in 1960s, and the rails were lifted soon after. And nowaday, there's very little remains of the old railway line in the site. And the object (probably used for signalling purpose) at the bottom left of the picture is the only sign that there used to be a railway line in this place.

The interior view of 'Argo Bromo Anggrek' of Indonesian State Railway.

This train is the fastest and the most luxurious train in Indonesia. But, judging by leather seat's state, the train seems to had a better days...

Oh, the person who wore blue shirt and carrying the suitcase is my sister. She went to Jakarta for an assignment.

These leather seats are no longer exist, as they have been replaced by fabrics.

This massive stone-arch bridge is the Cikuda bridge, which is located near the town of Jatinangor.

Perhaps, the most beautiful stone bridge the Dutch ever built in Indonesia, this bridge was once a part of the Rancaekek-Jatinangor branch, which had unfortunately been pulled up by Japanese Imperial Army during Second World War. And the line is among the dismantled railway lines in Indonesia which had never been relaid after Indonesia's independence in 1945.

Top view of the bridge, with the author sitting on the left. Although narrow, this bridge once accomodated a 1067mm railway line to Jatinangor.

There were some rumours that the Dutch Colonial government did actually want to extend this line all the way to Sumedang (the only large town in West Java which have never been connected by railway line). But that plan never materialized. And since the independent Indonesian government never bothered the national railway system, as much as the road network, it is unlikely that we would ever see trains passing this bridge anymore.

Adding to that, the former right-of-way had been encroached by the surrounding villagers. Even some of them have been turned into a dormitory complex of the nearby Padjajaran University campus.