An Indonesian Steam Odyssey

An Indonesian Odyssey or Indonesian Fantasy?

Out of the blue, in December 2003, Chris Newman received an email enquiring whether he would be able to supply a fleet of steam locomotives to operate a planned coal haulage railway in Indonesia. 

At the time, Chris was living in Beijing, China, where he was working as a self-employed engineer.  Two years earlier, in 2001, he had become involved with establishing 5AT Project for which he was acting as webmaster and primary contact.  It was through the 5AT website that the Indonesian enquiry was sent. 

The 5AT Project aimed to build a high-performance express passenger locomotive designed to haul 400-tonne trains at a continuous 100 mph on level track, rendering it quite unsuitable for coal train haulage.  Chris had, however been involved in conceptualising a design for an “8AT” freight-haulage version of the 5AT.  He was also aware that China was in the process of replacing its vast fleet of steam locomotives to diesel traction, and that reconditioned Chinese QJ 2-10-2 locomotives might be the best option for operating the Indonesian railway until such time as a fleet of “modern steam” locomotives could be designed and built to take over operation of the railway.

Chris had made contact with Dave Wardale (of “Red Devil” fame) who had conceived the idea of the 5AT, and who had recently returned to the UK after 10 years living in China.  It was through David that Chris made contact with a Chinese railway engineer named Wang Li Jie who, in turn, put him in touch with a Chinese locomotive works in Mudanjiang in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.  With locomotive performance data provided by Wang Li Jie and cost estimates provided by the Mudanjiang loco works, Chris was able to put together a Feasibility Study for the use of steam traction on the proposed Indonesian coal haulage railway.  In doing so, he demonstrated that the overall cost of steam traction would be significantly lower than that for the diesel and electric alternatives.

This book briefly tells the story of what Chris calls his “Indonesian Odessey”.  Readers may dismiss it as an “Indonesian Fantasy” (which it eventually became) but the possibilities were very real at the time, as were the cost advantages of steam that Chris revealed in his study.  What he didn't anticipate was (a) the scrapping of the last QJs in 2007/8 and the Great Financial Crash of 2008 which combined to eliminate this “last chance saloon” for steam.

Publisher - BookVAULT Publishing

Language - English

Perfect Bound

Contributors

By author

Chris Newman

Published Date - 2026-05-31

ISBN - 9781807388232

Dimensions - 29.7 x 21 x 0.9 cm

Page Count - 186