Toitu’s Double Fairlie locomotive a missed tourist opportunity

I SEE an enthusiast has come from Wollongong especially to study our ‘‘Double Fairlie‘‘ steam loco stored indoors at Toitu Museum.

For years she had been deteriorating, exposed to the elements outdoors. Of course, our naysayers were adamant the time had come to scrap Josephine, but wiser voices were heard and she got a reprieve of sorts and a better life indoors.

Even with the facilities of our Hillside Workshops, which was experienced in building all classes of steam locos right up to the Jclass, apparently it was either too difficult or too expensive to even think about a restoration.

What have we missed out on as a tourist attraction?

In contrast in North Wales, the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways have several Double Fairlies in their fleet of steam locos used for their tourist trains to their slate mines.

Whenever one needs refurbishment they just wheel it in to their Boston Lodge Railway Workshop, the oldest railway workshops in the world.

New boilers, bogies or whatever are no bother at all. And they do not stop at renovations — they have built from scratch a number of completely new replicas.

This is the type of work Hillside should have managed with ease. Michael Broad

Kew

Thanks for treatment

I HAVE just spent five days in ward 4C Dunedin Public Hospital after being part of the SDHB’s blitz on the backlog in the urology department.

I wish to bring to the attention of the public of Otago and Southland what a worldclass facility and empathetic staff we have here in the South.

To the specialist surgeons, doctors, nurses and support staff — the care taken of me was stunning.

Thank you all so much.

Alan Smith

Kaikorai ...................................

BIBLE READING: It is to a man’s honour to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel. — Proverbs 20:3.