This open air train museum can easily be visited by WoWasis travelers visiting the nearly Indonesian sites of Borobudur and Gedung Songo in Central Java. The museum is housed in the Ambarawa train station, built in 1873. In addition to viewing the locomotives, vistors can take a 20 km excursion (try to book in advance, see phone number below). The museum’s unofficial website offers the following description of the museum: 

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 then Perusahaan Negara Kereta-Api, PNKA). These are parked in the open air next to the original station, originally a transhipment point between the 4ft 8½in gauge branch from Kedungjati to the north-east 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 is located 30 km south of the provincial capital of Semarang, and 75 km north of Yogjakarta. A great way to see it is to arrange a tour from your hotel with private car that will take you to Borobudur, Gedong Songo, and the Museum, which can be accomplished in one day. 

Museum Kereta Api Ambarawa (Ambarawa Railway Museum)
Jalan Setasiun no. 1, Ambarawa. Phone 0298 – 91035
www.internationalsteam.co.uk/ambarawa/museum.htm
GPS S07°15.914’  E110°24.116′