Firing And Driving Steam Trains

August 26, 2009

Peter sent in this story of his early days working for New Zealand Railways:

My name is Peter. In the early 1960s I joined the NZ Railways as a locomotive cleaner in Stratford, Taranaki, NewZealand.

The depot was based on the West coast of the Nth Island. We had branches going East, West North And South.

The steam locomotives at the time were a J class 4-8-2 oil burner, the Ab class 4-6-2 coal burner and a main line K class 4-8-4 mountain type oil burner.

The branch line to the East went to a place called Taumaranui. There were 26 tunnels on this line through some very rugged country.

The line out West, went to a place called Opunake on the coast. This line was serviced by the Ab class engine as the rail was very light.

I gained my firemans ticket within a couple of years and I can vividley remember roaring through one of the tunnels (up hill) at night, with the cab getting very hot and we seem to be fighting for breath all the way. After a while we got used to it as we knew that the end of the tunnel was not far away.

The great thing about working in the loco side of the railway is that there is something different happening every day, and there is always a story to tell.