GVR steam engine Kakahi near Taumarunui
After passing through Waipā and the King Country in June, an energetic 110-year-old will be puffing across the region again soon.
Built in 1915, Glenbrook Vintage Railway (GVR) steam locomotive Ww644, will take to the rails on August 23, running as the Ongarue Steam Express, GVR chair Glenn Deed said.
“We were asked specifically by Ruapehu District Council mayor, Weston Kirton, to run something in the region, so we’re pleased to bring the steam engine back to the former rail hub of Taumarunui,” he said.
“As the area is often overlooked when it comes to rail excursions, we thought it would be great to give people the chance to experience what it’s like to travel by steam engine.”
GVR’s locomotive took part in a Federation of Rail Organisations of New Zealand event in Palmerston North during Matariki weekend.
Since then, the steam engine has been cooling its heels in Feilding, but it is almost ready to roll again, Deed said.
Taking passengers from Taumarunui Station on a two hour return trip, the train will cross the Taringamotu River. After a short stop at Okahukura, junction of the mothballed Stratford-Okahukura line, it will continue to the former logging settlement of Ongarue.
At Ongarue, the locomotive will detach and run past its carriages, reconnecting to the back of the train ready to return to Taumarunui.
Ww 644 was restored at GVR’s workshops, 2018-22. Soon after its upcoming excursion to Ongarue, the engine will commence its return journey to its home base in rural southern Auckland.
GVR steam engine Kakahi near Taumarunui. Photo – Bobby Boulton
