Here comes the Train

The sun peeped over the horizon with a beautiful sunrise, shining through the tall trees. Such lovely colours heralding the start of a brand new day.

A brand new morning

Our caravan buddies packed up and started for home after morning tea, hoping to beat the long weekend busy traffic holdups. A few stayed for lunch and we waved them off too, leaving us all alone in our part of the camp. But never mind, with a couple of appointments to attend to in Palmy it suited us to stay in camp for a couple of extra nights.

All on our lonesome

We explored the Manawatu River walk in the afternoon. There were joggers, dog walkers galore, and families out enjoying the sunny afternoon. So pretty along the pathway, lovely tall trees everywhere with the river flowing alongside.

Down by the river

But what's this? Toot, toot, that sounds like the train is running. We left the pathway and followed the sounds till we came across the small railway station. One of the volunteers on duty must have thought that we looked the kind of people to enjoy a train ride, and kindly presented us with a couple of complimentary tickets for the last ride of the afternoon.

It doesn't take much to make us happy

The Palmerston North Esplanade Railway was opened in 1969 and 2.2kms of track runs through native bush. The railway is operated and funded by members of the PN Esplanade Railway. The train had right-of-way as it crossed over the roads in the park.

Little ones watched in delight and waved enthusiastically as the train trundled past, and we waved right back. The track took us through the trees, round past the coffee house, and back through the trees again. What fun

Here we go

At the end of our trip, we stayed and watched as the second loco finished its trip, and then both trains were put to bed for the night.

Putting the train away for the night

For those who need to know such things, the scale is 1/4 designed on the New Zealand Railway system. The track gauge is 260mm (10 1/4 inches) and there are three locomotives. The original DA loco was built in 1969 and completely refurbished in 1999. The DXC was built in 1975, and the DXR was built in 1997. These locomotives are powered by 3 cylinder Kubota diesel motors, hydraulic driven. 

DXC loco