1938 railcar a popular attraction

Theo Taylor got to sit with the train driver as a vintage railcar took passengers on nostalgic trips from the Wind Wand to Lepperton and back yesterday.

The 12-year-old said sitting with the driver was cool.

‘‘You could see everything. And it seemed to be going really fast.’’

The 1938 vintage ex-NZR Standard railcar, owned by the Pahiatua Railcar Society, was fully booked for all six trips, guard Doug Johnston said.

Some passengers hadn’t shown up, so they were able to take some people who had arrived without tickets, but many were turned away.

The railcar seated 52 people, 16 of them at one end in the old nonsmoking section.

On November 22, 1938 the first of the Standard Class Railcars RM30 arrived in New Plymouth on a trial run. The railcars were in service in Taranaki for 33 years.

Johnston had to repeat his safety message every two or three rows, because of the noise and said they were getting a public address system for the railcar.

The train rides were a bit of nostalgia for some folks, he said.

‘‘And some young ones have never been on a train before.’’

Johnston said he enjoyed his hobby because he enjoyed meeting people and seeing different parts of the country. And he liked trains, he said. A mother and son who used to ride on the railcar when it was in service in Taranaki were enjoying the journey for nostalgic reasons, they said.

Selwyn Roberts, a retired fitter, had done a bit of work on the railcar, including rebuilding the gear boxes and the hand brake system.

He started an apprenticeship in 1964 and used to work on railcars in the 1960s, he said.

‘‘I’ve come the full circle.’’