THE small mountain town of Ambarawa, at an elevation of almost 500 meters, is 40 kilometers south of Semarang. It is known principally as the site of a pivotal clash between the Dutch and Republican irregulars that took place here in 1949; a huge statue commemorates the famous action.

The town is also famous for its Railway Museum where over 20 locomotives built from 1891 to 1927 in Germany, Switzerland and Holland are on display—repres