Description of the attraction
The Railway Museum is located in the city of Ambarawa, Central Java province. Ambarawa is a small trading town between Salatiga and another port city, Semarang. The city of Salatiga is located at the foot of the extinct volcano Merbabu, and the city of Semarang is considered the fifth largest city in Indonesia.
At one time, Ambarawa, where the Railway Museum is located, was an important railway junction - a cogwheel railway ran through the city, along which a funicular traveled and connected the cities of the Central Java province - Semarang, Ambarawa and Magelang. The railway to Ambarawa was built during the Dutch colonization to transport troops to Semarang. The official opening date of the road is 1873. The station was small, on its territory there were only 2 buildings: in one there was a waiting room, in the other building there was the head of the station.
The railway station was a connecting point for trains that ran from Kedungjati towards the northeast on a track width of 1435 mm, and trains that ran towards Yogyakarta via Magelang on a track width of 1067 mm. Even today, you can see that on both sides of the railway station the tracks are of different width.
This railway line operated until 1977. After that, the Railway Museum was founded on this territory, in which the railway cogwheel road was exhibited, which at that time connected the villages of Ambarawa and Bedono on the main railway section Ambarawa-Magelang. In addition, in the museum you can see steam locomotives that traveled on a rail track 1067 mm wide, all of these locomotives - 21. Currently, four locomotives are operating. It will be interesting for museum guests to look at the old telephones that were used for railway communication, as well as the Morse telegraph, old bells and signaling instruments.
