Events/Trips in 2016
Wanganui Model Railway & Engineering Society Christmas Show
15th & 16th of December 2016
I was once again involved with the WMR&ES Christmas show. Previous years I have only had my Xmas layout at these shows. But this time due to the clubs new extension being build I also took a long my Back Country NZ NZ120 layout. Both my layouts were very popular with the public. On the first night I did have a few issues with both layouts with either losing power or derailments. The second night things ran a lot better. There were 9 members layouts there (including my 2) plus the the clubs own layouts (see photos). We had HO, OO, NZ120, N and Z gauge layouts on display along with a big Lego display. This was a very enjoyable two nights. My nephew Keegan also got to run his new train on my xmas layout and on the club layouts. Photos taken by myself or Charley Masters
A Weekend Up North
A Story from Keegan’s (my nephew's) Point Of View
(I took him and my sister up to this event)
11th - 13th November 2016
On Friday the 11th of November, Mum, Uncle Blair and I set off to Te Awamutu for the weekend – but that wasn’t the real adventure
The next morning, I woke up to what was going to be a very exciting day.
We left Te Awamutu and we were Auckland bound. Wasn’t too long of a drive, so that was good.
We were heading down a little side road in Auckland, and as we were driving down, along came a big bus… IT WAS BULGY!! FROM THOMAS AND FRIENDS!!That was surprising, had never seen him before, which was cool! But, unfortunately, we couldn’t follow him to see where he was going.
The next morning, I woke up to what was going to be a very exciting day.
We left Te Awamutu and we were Auckland bound. Wasn’t too long of a drive, so that was good.
We were heading down a little side road in Auckland, and as we were driving down, along came a big bus… IT WAS BULGY!! FROM THOMAS AND FRIENDS!!That was surprising, had never seen him before, which was cool! But, unfortunately, we couldn’t follow him to see where he was going.
We pulled up to a carpark and found a spot between buildings. I could see steam trains and it looked like they had faces? As the car stopped moving, Mum and Uncle Blair spoke to me. “Hey, Keegan. Look in front of that building. Can you see what is coming from behind it? It’s blue.”
I could barely sit still… IT WAS THOMAS!!! The engine himself, in New Zealand!! WOW!!
I had seen this place on YouTube.
Well, let me tell you, I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. We walked in and went to get our tickets, and you will never guess who was standing at the station platform. It was the man himself, the Fat Controller. He said “hello” to me, and I stopped and got my photo taken with him.
I could barely sit still… IT WAS THOMAS!!! The engine himself, in New Zealand!! WOW!!
I had seen this place on YouTube.
Well, let me tell you, I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. We walked in and went to get our tickets, and you will never guess who was standing at the station platform. It was the man himself, the Fat Controller. He said “hello” to me, and I stopped and got my photo taken with him.
We got our tickets, had a look at the souvenir room in the station, and Uncle Blair bought me a couple of badges. One was the WW engine, and the other was the DE engine.
Then we went for a look around. There was Terence and Rusty, a playground to play on (which included an old TR loco as part of it) between showers, and a tent with some wooden track and Thomas toys to play with, also selling all sorts of different Thomas stuff from DVDs to Trackmaster trains.
Then came the time for the fun stuff… our first ride, on none other than Thomas himself.
Now, Thomas was missing something… he didn’t have Annie and Clarabel. He had two Troublesome Trucks, and a 3 axle C class carriage. The Trucks had ramps for us to climb on board. It was a good trip, not very long though, but I am the only one of my friends that has been on the Real Thomas!!
Then we went for a look around. There was Terence and Rusty, a playground to play on (which included an old TR loco as part of it) between showers, and a tent with some wooden track and Thomas toys to play with, also selling all sorts of different Thomas stuff from DVDs to Trackmaster trains.
Then came the time for the fun stuff… our first ride, on none other than Thomas himself.
Now, Thomas was missing something… he didn’t have Annie and Clarabel. He had two Troublesome Trucks, and a 3 axle C class carriage. The Trucks had ramps for us to climb on board. It was a good trip, not very long though, but I am the only one of my friends that has been on the Real Thomas!!
Next was a lunch break, and to wait for the bigger ride, and maybe a ride on Bulgy if we had time. (Which we didn’t, sorry Mummy. The one thing you wanted to do)
Well, Diana the JA steam engine appeared, and on we got. Now this ride was really cool, it went a lot longer and a lot further. All the way to the other end of the Glenbrook Vintage Railway, and further, passing another of Thomas’ friends doing rides too, then coming back to the workshop and everyone got off and had a chance to look around.
There was another character parked up, Ada. She reminded me of Nanna.
Now this is the really special part! Two of the guys that are involved with Glenbrook work for KiwiRail with Uncle Blair, and one of them, Tim, told Uncle Blair to call in and have a behind the scenes tour of all that was there.
There were all sorts of steam and diesel locos there, A 423, AB 832, BA 552, BB 144, Bagnall (Thomas), DA 1429, DE’s 507 & 509, DS 207, DSA 243, F 233 (Ada), FA 250, J 1211, JA’s 1250 (Diana), 1267 & 1275, Mallet, Niigata, Ruston Hornsby (Rusty), RM 32 (Standard Railcar), WAB 800, WW’s 480 & 644. Some of these loco’s are being stored there long term for other groups or people.
Well, Diana the JA steam engine appeared, and on we got. Now this ride was really cool, it went a lot longer and a lot further. All the way to the other end of the Glenbrook Vintage Railway, and further, passing another of Thomas’ friends doing rides too, then coming back to the workshop and everyone got off and had a chance to look around.
There was another character parked up, Ada. She reminded me of Nanna.
Now this is the really special part! Two of the guys that are involved with Glenbrook work for KiwiRail with Uncle Blair, and one of them, Tim, told Uncle Blair to call in and have a behind the scenes tour of all that was there.
There were all sorts of steam and diesel locos there, A 423, AB 832, BA 552, BB 144, Bagnall (Thomas), DA 1429, DE’s 507 & 509, DS 207, DSA 243, F 233 (Ada), FA 250, J 1211, JA’s 1250 (Diana), 1267 & 1275, Mallet, Niigata, Ruston Hornsby (Rusty), RM 32 (Standard Railcar), WAB 800, WW’s 480 & 644. Some of these loco’s are being stored there long term for other groups or people.
Once we had looked through all the sheds, and I had climbed into many, many locos, it was back to jump on board the last train hauled by the WW and DE back to the main station for the day. Then we watched as all the engines were taken back to the engine shed for bed.
What an awesome, amazing day we had. A once in a lifetime trip to Glenbrook Vintage Railways “A Day Out With Thomas”.
Off we went, back to our caravan in Te Awamutu. I Wonder what we will do tomorrow?
We woke up Sunday morning to find the weather was a lot better. I could hear Uncle Blair and mummy talking about what we could do today and I heard my favourite word “Trains” mentioned a few times.
Once we had got ready we were lucky enough to be shown around David’s (Lloryians brother) vintage cars and machinery. I even got to have a ride on an old tractor around the yard. After saying thank you to David and Anja for letting us stay we headed into Hamilton.
What an awesome, amazing day we had. A once in a lifetime trip to Glenbrook Vintage Railways “A Day Out With Thomas”.
Off we went, back to our caravan in Te Awamutu. I Wonder what we will do tomorrow?
We woke up Sunday morning to find the weather was a lot better. I could hear Uncle Blair and mummy talking about what we could do today and I heard my favourite word “Trains” mentioned a few times.
Once we had got ready we were lucky enough to be shown around David’s (Lloryians brother) vintage cars and machinery. I even got to have a ride on an old tractor around the yard. After saying thank you to David and Anja for letting us stay we headed into Hamilton.
Our first stop in Hamilton was at the Hamilton Lake Domain where we got to have a look at an old F (230) class loco which is on display there and I also got to feed the ducks and an eel. There was a big play ground there and I really wanted to go and play. I was given the choice, either I could play in the Park or we would go to the Hamilton Model Engineers for a ride on the miniature trains and of course it had to be the trains.
When we got to the engineers there track turned out to be next to the KiwiRail loco yards so I got to see them as well. The Engineers had 3 trains running and I got to ride on them all. The Engineers also have a DSA (231) loco, a wagon and the Frankton signal box on display there. We also took time to catch up with a few family members while there.
We then headed for home, doing a few stops on the way. Our first stop was at Te Kuiti where we watched an EF electric loco hauled train go through. This was my first time seeing an electric train. We then moved on to Taumarunui where we stopped to have a look at the station building and yard. Here we saw the spiral model railway layout at the I site in the station building, the ex-Auckland suburban carriages stored in the yard, the old portable boiler and bush loco on display out the front of the station. Our next stop was the Raurimu Spiral this is where Uncle Blair sometimes drives the trains through and there was also a big Dinosaur made out of wood, which was really cool. The final stop on our journey home was at the Makatote Viaduct. This Viaduct looks great with its new red paint. It was a pity no train went through while we were there. It was then we headed for home getting back into Wanganui early evening.
We then headed for home, doing a few stops on the way. Our first stop was at Te Kuiti where we watched an EF electric loco hauled train go through. This was my first time seeing an electric train. We then moved on to Taumarunui where we stopped to have a look at the station building and yard. Here we saw the spiral model railway layout at the I site in the station building, the ex-Auckland suburban carriages stored in the yard, the old portable boiler and bush loco on display out the front of the station. Our next stop was the Raurimu Spiral this is where Uncle Blair sometimes drives the trains through and there was also a big Dinosaur made out of wood, which was really cool. The final stop on our journey home was at the Makatote Viaduct. This Viaduct looks great with its new red paint. It was a pity no train went through while we were there. It was then we headed for home getting back into Wanganui early evening.
This was a great weekend away, Thank you to David and Anja Nordell for letting us stay. To Tim Kerwin for showing us around the GVR and a very big Thank you to Mummy, and Uncle Blair especially!
Palmerston North Model Railway Show
23rd & 24th of July 2016
For the first time I was asked to have one of my layouts at the P Nth model railway show. Set up for the show was Friday and Saturday morning with doors open at 7.30am. Due to the combine WMR&ES and SRW mid-year dinner I could not set up until Saturday morning. We arrived on time at 7.30am Saturday morning to be greeted by the caretaker who open the doors for us. We walked in to find the exhibits and trade stands nearly all set up with no one else there. We found where we were meant to be and started to set my layout up. We must have been there almost 20 to 25 mins before anyone official turned up. The doors opened both days at 10am. My Thomas layout was once again very popular. On both days it was busier in the mornings than in the afternoons. Charley was there to help me on the first day with my nephew Keegan on Sunday. Keegan was in his element talking to everyone telling them all the Thomas characters names, he even got his photo in a couple of the local papers. In the afternoon Charley and Greg arrived and it gave Keegan and myself a chance to have a better look around where Keegan got to operate a couple of the other layouts. Overall it was a good show I really enjoyed it. A big thank you to all of my helpers over the weekend. Below are some photos of the show taken by myself, Charley Masters, Joel McLean, Cameron Persson and David Unwin (Newspaper Photographer). Written by Blair Jordan.