A carnival for the kids

Passengers - some in costume - enjoy riding aminiature train at the Mini Fell Train Carnival in Featherston.

This year’s carnival on September 2 will be the seventh such event. Steam, electric, petrol and road trains will all be on show, along with model train displays as well as a variety of food and merchandise.

It’s only fitting that Hutt Valley residents should take a trip over the Rimutaka Hill for the day. It was the Fell Engines that hauled trains up the steep track of the Rimutaka Incline to the summit fromWairarapa to bring people and freight to the Hutt and Wellington.

The carnival celebrates the rail link that ran from 1878 to 1955, when the Rimutaka Tunnel took away the need for the specialist engines that could handle the steep track.

Carnival organiser Roz Harding says there will be plenty of things for children and their families to do.

They can ride the rails on the mini railway around Clifford Square in the heart of town, watch drones take to the skies, experience the excitement of Steampunk teapot racing or have a gomaking scenery for model trains.

There will be plenty of things for adults as well, Roz says, but first and foremost, it’s designed so that kids to have a top day out.

Roz says the carnival had its origins in 1999 and had grown till it now attracts about 3000 people, with even more expected this year. The carnival will be open from 10am to 3pm.