This website is dedicated to a narrow gauge steamlocomotive:  Du Croo & Brauns No.369/1946.

The locomotive is built by Dutch machinefactory and locomotive manufacturor N.V. Du Croo & Brauns in the workshops in Amsterdam and in the same year delivered to the Société Internationale de Plantations et de Finance (SIPEF) in Antwerp for duty on the 600mm narrow gauge railway of the palmoilmill Perlabian in Sumatra, Indonesia. This unique steamloco has survided until this very day and is plinthed in front of the Perlabian mill.

After the Decauville Railway Museum discovered that this locomotive was still in existance plans arose to try and repatriate the lococomotive to the Netherlands where she was once designed and built, 71 years ago. After contact was made with her owner SIPEF, it was apparent that the board of SIPEF is not unwillingly to talk about the plans to repatriate the old locomotive and invited us for initial talks at their headquarters in Schoten, Belgium. These talks will have to indicate if and how this project should be proceeded  and what the mutual benefits and commitments are going to be.

Due to the fact that not one Du Croo & Brauns steamloco is preserved in the Netherlands makes that a possible repatriation of the locomotive is of great importance, not only for the collection of the Decauville Railway Museum but also surely for the Dutch national collection of industrial heritage.

This website and future Facebookpage are set up as a support of these coming talks and –hopefully in the case the locomotive could be actually accuired- for the ultimate goal , the restauration of the locomotive in its original state and in working order! This goal is nothing short of a real challenge, be it technical as well as financial, a goal that has to be reached in cooperation with  other parties. Together we could make this chalenge a succesfull one!

Save Du Croo & Brauns 396!