Ambarawa is famous nationwide by the credo Palagan Ambarawa. Small
city that forgotten nowadays but became one of the important base camp
of National heroes during Dutch occupancy in World War II. A small city
in the junction of national road between Yogyakarta to Semarang and
accessible to several small cities nearby like Salatiga, Magelang and
Bandungan. Fifty km south of Semarang, Ambarawa has locomotives of
various types and ages, and it is still possible to ride on a cog
railway between Ambarawa and Bedono, a village nearby. Ambarawa Railway
Museum 50 km south of Semarang, Ambarawa is the home of Java's antique
locomotives, housed in a museum. Prior arrangements should be made for
groups. Also of interest are a collection of antique telephones and
other instrument used for railway communication.
The museum was established in the 1970s primarily to preserve a
wide selection of the steam locomotives, which were then coming to the
end of their useful lives on the 3ft 6in (1067mm) gauge railways of the
Indonesian State Railway (the Perusahaan Negara Kereta Api, PNKA). These
are parked in the open air next to the original station, originally a
transhipment point between the 4ft 8 in gauge branch from Kedungjati to
the northeast and the 3ft 6in gauge line onward towards Yogyakarta via
Magelang to the south. It is still possible to see that the two sides of
the station were built to accommodate different size trains. Ambarawa
lays some way above sea level and was an administrative centre for the
Dutch colonialists. Now the provincial Government of Central Java is
increasingly taking an interest from the point of view of its heritage
significance and its potential as a tourist attraction. Non-Governmental
bodies like the Semarang Heritage Society are also acting to assist and
there is also an unofficial overseas group 'The Friends of Ambarawa
Railway Museum'.
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