A compressed air locomotive leaves a gallery mine of the Boekit Assammines. National Museum of World Cultures (0004 0779)

Click here for the presentation by Mr G.W. de Graaf

The Boards of the Histechnica Association and the KIVI Department of the History of Technology are pleased to invite you to attend a presentation to be given by Mr G.W. de Graaf entitled:

The Indian Mining Railways

Programme:

10.30 am: Walk-in with coffee and tea

11:00: Welcome and introduction

11.05:00: Lecture by Mr G.W. de Graaf

11:50 a.m.: Break

12:45: End of meeting.

12:15: Continuation of lecture and closing discussion

12:45: End of meeting.

Registration is required to attend this lecture:

  • KIVI members should register via the KIVI website
  • Members of Histechnica should register through the secretary: hotzeboonstra@gmail.com
  • Interested parties who are not members can also register via the above ways. Please note that there will then be a cost of Eur 5.00.

It is not yet known whether and if so which corona measures will apply. We will of course take this into account if necessary and inform participants. If the rules would imply that a maximum number of visitors applies, those who registered first will be given priority.

The lecture will be broadcast live; you should also register for this through the above-mentioned channels. There is no charge for this.

Summary of the lecture

In June, publisher De Alk published the book De Indische Mijnspoorwegen. It deals with the overhead and underground railway operations at the State and private coal mines in the former Dutch East Indies. Well before the opening of the first public railway on Java in 1867, there was rail transport on Borneo. This started in 1849 at the coal mine 'Oranje Nassau' opened that year by Governor-General J.J. Rochussen in Pengaron, east of Martapoera. Ten years later, two coal mines were already under construction there, both of which used rail transport. Borneo was pre-eminently the place for coal mining; Sumatra had only three coal mines before 1940. As a result of World War II, coal mines also appeared in West Java and South Celebes. The first steam locomotive in coal mining did not appear until 1899, followed shortly afterwards by electric traction at Sumatra's Ombilin mines. Air-powered locomotives are not found until the 1920s. Motor locomotives also found their way into the Indian coal mining business.

The coal was sometimes so close to the surface that it could be mined by gallery mining or opencast mining. In some cases, vertical shafts also had to be constructed, but considerably less deep than in Limburg. The vastness of the sites, the height differences to be overcome sometimes considerable, made the Indian coal mines and their rail transport a fascinating affair. Anno now, only one coal mine with a colonial past still disposes by rail.

Information about the speaker

Gerard de Graaf (Enschede, 1961) performs photographic diagnostics in daily life at Het Oogziekenhuis Rotterdam, having previously worked in ophthalmology at the University Medical Centre Utrecht, among other places. He is active as a board member, curator and steam engine driver at the Katwijk Leiden Steam Train. He first visited the underground rail transport of a coal mine in Waterschei, Belgium, in 1978, followed later by many underground visits to coal mines in Germany and in Poland. In 2000, the decision was made to produce a book describing the above- and underground railway operation at the State and private coal mines in Limburg. The two Indian mines known at the time would be part of that book, which is now half-finished. The Indian coal mines turned out to be so large in number that they were described in a separate book. To see what can now be found of the past, almost all Indian mine sites were visited between 2005 and 2018. Most of the data could be found at the National Archives in Jakarta, which houses the Arsip Mining Archive .

Upcoming activities: âÂÂ

  • saturday 26 March 2022 at 11:00 am lecture Prof Johan Stoop "History of De Vries Robbé steelworks" at Science Centre Delft
  • saturday 5 March 2022 presentation of the Willem Wolff Prize 2021 to the Dutch Steam Engine Museum in Medemblik. Further announcements will follow but you can already book this date if you want to be there.
  • The study trip to Bologna and Turin has been postponed until September

Documents