A ride in the railcar to share and relive the past
I haven’t been on a train for 40 years. Nola Verry
Riding a restored vintage railcar from New Plymouth to Lepperton was a trip down memory lane for some, and a new adventure for others.
Members from the Paihiatua Railcar Society had brought the Tokomaru, an ex-NZR Standard railcar, to New Plymouth for the weekend.
They were taking passengers for rides from the Wind Wand in central New Plymouth to Lepperton and Inglewood.
Sandy Ellice, Oakura, was climbing aboard on Sunday afternoon with three excited grandchildren in tow.
‘‘We used to ride the railcar from Dunedin to Ashburton when we were kids,’’ Ellice said.
‘‘This is a chance for me to share it with them and relive it.’’
One grandson, Jack Adair, said he had ridden a train at MOTAT, but for Finn and Roxy Muir, it was their first time ever on a real train.
Nola Verry, Inglewood, was given her ticket as a Christmas present.
‘‘I haven’t been on a train for 40 years,’’ she said.
All 52 seats had been sold out on most of the rides, operations manager Doug Johnston said.
About 600 people had been for a ride over the weekend.
The last trip they made in 2016 was the railcar’s first to New Plymouth in 44 years, but he hoped it would be returning much sooner.
‘‘We don’t want to overcook the market, but we hope to come back within two years,’’ he said.
The Tokomaru was one of four railcars of its type still in existence. It was one of six railcars built in the NZR Hutt workshops in 1938 and 1939 and it ran the Wellington to New Plymouth service for 33 years until 1972.