Going (on) a little loco
A very special steam train is back on track and back to its former glory after years of neglect. Reporter takes a look back at Donald’s epic journey.
The rhythmic clicketyclack, clickety-clack is dampened under the rowdy rush of steam eager to escape and a boisterous toot of the whistle. Inside the cab, the newly made brass fittings glint gold as the 6-tonne rail tank engine forges slowly ahead.
It is decades since Donald’s whistle last sung out to passers-by, who smile and wave as he passes sedately by with a low grumble fitting for a character of such advanced age.
The small hauling locomotive might not have been given a second chance to shine, or shake off his much-rusted and fastdeteriorating demeanour, had it not been for Blenheim Riverside Railway volunteers.
A testament to thousands of hours of work and commitment, Donald is believed to be the only operational 2-foot gauge steam loco in the country.
For the Steam Team, who helped bring him back to former glory, watching Donald on the track again was a proud moment.
Picton’s Gary Coburn and John Stichbury and Arthur Beaman, both of Blenheim, are the brains behind the hands-on project, pitting their wits against the past’s tenacious grip to bring the ancient locomotive back to life.
For Beaman it was a walk along the Taylor River and over the criss-cross of small train tracks that first ignited his interest in the $55,000 project, which was funded by donations from a range of groups including the Rata Foundation and the Marlborough District Council but mainly through the generosity of the Renwick Lions.
Without their continued support, the project would not have been possible, Beaman says.
‘‘Prior to doing our thing, I’d had a lot to do with steam and steam boilers but nothing really to do with a railway or trains.
‘‘We started off with virtually nothing of the train, it was virtually bare bones and over the next two-and-a-half years we’ve spent many hours of the week building it up and getting him going,’’ he said.
The former Royal New Zealand Navy naval engineer is one of just two members of the group able to drive Donald.
He lamented the lack of coal and the chance to stoke the engine by hand but said the fire risk and soot pollution was too great. So instead the little engine is diesel powered.
Steam billows overhead in white plumes as fellow group member and driver Stichbury angles his head out to the side, checking the line ahead, pulling sharply on the whistle cord to warn he is coming.
‘‘There are only the two of us who have a licence or a steam ticket to drive. We’d love to have more.
‘‘It’s a bit more complicated