Bringing a smile to Mum on her big day
Most people would settle for flowers, chocolate or spa day for their mums on Mother’s Day, but not Auckland man Brian Dickie.
Dickie, 56, a resident of Waitoki in north-west Auckland, took it one step further when he built a two-tonne metal train from scrap metal for a Mother’s Day present.
He said his mum Patricia had always admired trains, especially the old steam-powered ones.
‘‘She wanted to have one on the property but the reality was even if we could afford one, how on earth would we transport it to our property,’’ Dickie said.
‘‘So I told her: Don’t worry mum, I’ll build you one; with no real idea of what size or shape it was going to be.’’
Lucky for Patricia, her son loved metal art and had created a few small projects from scrap metal in the past.
‘‘But I’ve never attempted something as big as a train. I knew I could do it but I would have to collect a lot of different shaped scrap metal to piece together,’’ Dickie said.
Dickie worked on the Waitoki Express for five months, for more than 200 hours at the barn on their property, finishing it in time for Mother’s Day on May 13.
First, he found scrap metal which looked like it would suit a floor, and that set the scale of the train that in the end, turned out to be 4 metres long and 2.5m wide.
He said the entire project was through trial and error – piecing together different scraps like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Dickie sourced most of the scrap metal from a large bin at his work. The train’s wheels were bought on Trade Me for $240.
‘‘I must admit there was the cost of a few beers sitting and studying my next move at the end of the day.
‘‘I was very happy with the final product and it came together well for something with no plans to follow.’’ Brian Dickie