How not to chase trains.

Right, here's how not to do it.

The target is the 'Round the block' excursion featuring Da1431 and a rake of 56' red carriages. right, I know the times and the locations, how hard could it be.
There is a stop at Pahiatua from 1:15 to 1:45. Excellent I think, I can visit the railcar group again and everything will be open (previous visit can be found here).

What I didn't figure on is the shopping trip that I participate in beforehand. This sees me setting out from Palmy at 1:20 over the Pahiatua track. I'm sure I'll get there in time. by 1:40 I'm still 10 km away and faced by a choice of turning off towards Woodville. No, I'll be fine I think, its bound to be running late.

1:50 sees me at Pahiatua, where I'm greeted by an empty yard, and people cleaning up. Bugger. When did they start running excursions on time then?

However, the huge plus is that I have a preservation site full of all sorts of goodies, and I'm the only one here .....

so, first up and a personal favorite of mine, the Tin hare RM-5 Mahuhu.

The original had the body in aluminium, but the rebuilding will be in ply and fibreglass. Surprisingly enough this is strong enough. Also if you look carefully you can see a second cowcatcher behind the first one with the cutout to clear the center rail.

From the back, and you can see that the top rear is about the only bit of original paneling left (I tapped it with my finger to make sure).

I had forgotten that they also had the remains of RM-9 Arai-te-uru as well. This looks much sadder and I doubt there is enough original material here to do anything with it short of a full rebuild.

Also in the shed was one end of the twinset railcar, RM 121. This is coming along slowly.


The 3rd railcar on site is RM31 Tokomaru which is a 'runner'. When I arrived it was parked up by the shed.

Photographing it was a bit of a bugger as I was shooting into the sun.
'Don't worry mate, give me a minute and I'll move it for you. Where would you like me to stop it for you?'. Well, they were going to put it away, but still it was nice



There was also time for some detail shots recalling a bygone age of craftsmanship.

There were a few items that I had forgotten were at this site. how could one forget the other Drewery, and still the prettiest TR class on the NZR. One day I'll make a running model in NZ120.

In the future projects shed I spotted this under a tarp. Its a guards van, but closer inspection reveals that it is a clerestory roofed version (one of only 2 left I think). Another thing that I noticed was the full width underframe. The other restored van F139 has a narrower steel frame.

I knew that the Excursion was due back in Palmerston North at about 3:15. so, which seemly heaps of time I drove back over the Pahiatua track. On they way I spotted this from the side of the road.


Finally I arrive at the Railway station at 3:15 to be greeted with....

'Its a nice crossover...'

So, 100 odd km later and no shots of the train. However by no means a waste of a day.
(Thanks very much to the Pahiatua group for allowing me to wander round. Always remember to leave a donation when you are having a look round and photographing items. If it was not for groups like this we would not have the items to look at in the first place)