On Tour; Another little gem.

On tour to another out of the way preservation site. Today its the turn of the Tokomaru steam museum. I had been thinking of paying this site a visit for the whole of 2011, but didn't quite get that far. Looking for things to do with the parents I noticed that yesterday was a steam day with everything up and running.

The museum has a large collection of stationary steam engines rescued from many old industries, mostly along the lines of 'If you can shift it, you can have it!'. Watching some of these huge machines in almost silent motion is very impressive.

'A very large silent steam engine'

'A steamy steam engine'

But that's not why you keep turning up to read this blog, so lets cut to the good stuff. The museum has a surprisingly good collection of small steam locos. In steam today we had a Manning Wardle 0-4-0. This was towing a home made coach which reminded me a bit of some Swiss maintenance wagons I have seen.

Now unique in New Zealand, Tokomaru has a train set type loop of track, which means that one can walk a very short distance to photograph the 'train' again.

As can be imagined the curves are quite tight, and the grades quite steep at each end. I have seen photographs of a 47' carriage and 30' van running and this must have been a struggle for the small locos involved.

A Fowler ex the Napier harbour board. A sister loco is restored to running condition at Silverstream. I think this might be a runner (I've certainly seen photos of it running in the not too distant past, and the funnel cover is a bit of a give away as well).

A second Fowler, this one ex the Linton army camp where it was used to shunt the sidings at the bottom end of the camp.

There are also a couple of bush locos. Climax 522 worked for Ellis and Burnard and was apparently at one point named Mountaineer. Today its looking a bit worse for wear.

The other side of the cab looks a bit worse.

Next to it in the shed is a price C 0-4-4-0, forerunner of the Cb.

Looking at this I wonder why I spent so much time getting the cab front right.

The bogies are just as small as they look.

Granted that these locos are in rather a poor condition at the moment. I have no idea about any current plans to restore them. However, they are undercover and safe for the time being, and far more restorable than locos that have been pulled out of river banks.

There was also the obligatory baby Tr.

'Does every preservation line have one of these?'
'Does one get handed one for saying "we are going to open a preservation site?"

The station, while looking rather nondescript, is rather important historically. It is one of the few WMR buildings (or indeed artifacts) left.

So, all in all a very interesting day out. if you are planning a visit check up here to see if there is a steaming day on. Its well worth the extra effort to have a look. Oh and on a cold day its nice and warm inside.