new zealand christmas parade steam trip

went with friends kylie, keegan and sandra to the next town, palmerston north yesterday, with plans on catching a steam train for a trip to another town, feilding, to watch their christmas parade.

my friend blair was fireman on the train, and finished the day with a massive blister on his arm from the heat coming out of the firebox. ive seen a video and could almost feel the heat through the screen.

was a great day out. the parade was one of the best ive seen. after the parade, we took the train back to palmerston, and then it had to go back to feilding as thats where it lives.
keegan and kylie were able to travel back on the train, while i decided to go with sandra in the car so we could chase it and i could get photos.

photos here: http://sunsthomasandfriends.weebly.com/f...-2015.html

[Super]

Very cool. Looks to be a Long Tank Engine but whats in the tanker car behind it, water? Were the coaches vintage?

the tanker car carries water. when it comes up here, they have to open a fire hydrant to refill it before any trips around town can be made.

it usually pulls 4 vintage red coaches, but demand for this trip was so high, they added the 5 capital connection blue coaches. i heard there were over 600 aboard. we were in a red coach, right behind the engine.

the capital connection train runs from palmerston to wellington and back every day, taking workers and saving them the long drive.

[Super]

Wow, so the Tank engine uses more water than what can be carried in the saddle tanks but doesn't need any more coal than what is stored in the small hopper. I didn't know that. Maybe the heavier the train the more water it uses but not more coal to heat it? It is a beautiful train. How long is the trip?

correct, to my best guess. its WAB794 if you want to google. ive ridden it a couple of times, and did a cab ride in it last month.
this trip was about maybe 30mins each way? i wasnt really timing, but the tickets were only $13, which is dirt cheap and explains why it was sold out. it comes up to my town fairly often, which would be a good couple of hours by rail. only around 40min by car.

more photos here http://sunsthomasandfriends.weebly.com/j...-ride.html and here http://sunsthomasandfriends.weebly.com/f...-2015.html

[Super]

Some great picture taking. Feilding Depot looks like a great place with lots of trains. I especially like the restoration shed and the tour of the old coaches. Thanks for sharing.

someone has posted up quite a detailed video of the trip. runs about an hour long, with some impressive footage. the red cars are the standard vintage ones usually used, while the blue belong to the capital connection.



one fun fact: the seats in the red coaches are able to be flipped, so instead of sitting two by two, like on a bus or plane, you can flip the back over and create a space for four people to sit facing each other. really clever idea and great for families. everyone still gets the same amount of space. whoever designed it should have a medal!