Vandals graffiti, trash railway
Graffiti on a recently restored train carriage and a stolen and torched volunteer firefighter’s car have left volunteers in Kawakawa ‘‘gutted’’.
In the past two weeks the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway have had windows smashed and on February 24 their shed and a carriage was spray painted with graffiti. Trust chairman Johnson Davis says the ‘kingfisher’ carriage had been pushed outside the workshop to make room for their annual fundraising concert only for it to be painted with yellow graffiti. The outside of their shed was also spray painted.
‘‘I was gutted and disappointed, it sets us back. Every time someone smashes a window it costs us $500, it’s money we would rather spend on getting the trains back to Opua.This is a community project, it belongs to the community so we ask everyone to respect it.’’
In 2017 railway volunteer Mike Bradshaw was left with a head wound, a black eye and bruised ribs when he was attacked by youths who were burgling the railway shed. Johnson says the work put in by volunteers is aiming to create more opportunities for the town as work is underway to reconnect the railway through to Opua, complete with a new terminus. Part of Johnson’s motivation comes from his children leaving Kawakawa for better work opportunities in Australia.
‘‘We are doing this for the next generations - with the business case proposing up to 30 jobs with the reconnection to Opua.’’
The Bay of Islands Vintage Railway relies on fundraising projects, grants and donations for their work.
On the same weekend the railway was vandalised, Kawakawa chief fire officer Wayne Martin says it was ‘‘pretty disgusting’’ to attend a fire call out to find a longserving volunteer’s car on fire. The call came in at 6am on February 24 with the volunteer using another vehicle to make it to the station, then the callout only to find it was their car they were attending to, Martin says.
Martin urged people to contact police if they had any information about the stolen car.
Police sergeant Haydn Korach says the White Honda Odyssey was allegedly used to break into cars in Paihia before being set alight on North Rd in Kawakawa. Korach says the car was taken sometime between 5.45pm and 11pm on February 23 from Kawakawa.