It was a particularly wet Labour Weekend Monday, when my wife and I made our way to the Dunedin Railway Station.  In our hands were two tickets to board a train to Port Chalmers, the main port for the city, about eight miles towards the north east.  It had been quite a while since I have been on a train, as the cost had been exorbitant, and my wife had never had that opportunity at all, due to the fact she was from Central Otago. 

 

Most trains were diesel hauled, and were part of the Taieri Gorge Railway’s timetabled services.  Forget Tranzrail, and it’s services, they just did not exist in the Dunedin area at all, with the demise of the Southerner services between Christchurch and Invercargill, in February, 2002.  Dunedin has lost a lot of train services through the years, as the Government and latterly Tranzrail have both considered that passenger services were not viable, but that was another story.

 

This service, and indeed the trips put on offer to Port Chalmers were all steam hauled, by AB 663, a vintage engine from 1917.  The reason for this is simple.  There is another steam engine inside a glass case at the Dunedin Early Settlers Museum, which is celebrating its 130^th birthday.  This locomotive is no ordinary engine.  It is Josephine, one of two locomotives which plied the Dunedin and Port Chalmers railway in the 1870s.

 

It took a while for the train to come back as it had been making return trips all weekend, most of which were fully booked.  And due to the fact there are little in the way of steam trips out of Dunedin, it was not surprising.  I went to the overbridge at Dunedin Station to watch it come in, while my wife Heather stayed on the platform.  It steamed slowly to a halt, while passengers on the trip disembarked.  I strolled back down the steps to the platform.  My wife was waiting patiently.  I wanted to walk down the platform to view the rest of the train, but it was kind of impossible; the station was alive with people, a spectacle not seen since the 1970s and the arrival of the original Southerner. 

 

Although we had over a half hour to spare before the train left, we decided to board it.  Getting on one of the steel bodied cars instead of the wooden cars was one I chose as it gave me more memories of earlier trips from Port Chalmers, when New Zealand railways offered suburban services.  We chose our seats, and sat down.

 

Eventually that half hour soon passed, and we were soon away.  The distinct echo of the steam whistle was heard, and we felt the jar as the train moved away from the platform, on its way towards its goal of Port Chalmers container terminal, about eight miles away.  Instead of the continuous sound usually associated with diesel traction we had the pleasure of listening to the chuff of a steam engine, something usually unheard of.  As we chuffed along the track, I looked at areas of the Dunedin-Port Chalmers route not normally seen by car.  And the fact it was normally me who was driving, made the trip even more relaxing.

 

While on the trip, the internal speaker system was working, the announcer was telling us passengers all about the trip, and what to expect at the end.  He gave us certain common sense rules regarding the trip.  Things like not riding on the open platform of the wooden carriages while on the move, something frowned upon by the Health and Safety people since an accident some few years previously. 

 

Eventually we made it to Port Chalmers, and under the tunnel separating the Mussel Bay shunting area and the Container Terminal.  There were quite a few things happening at Port Chalmers; a few bus trips, a few vintage and veteran vehicles offering trips to Carey’s Bay. But my wife and I elected to remain at Port Chalmers, and have our midday meal there, at one of the hotels.  It was beginning to rain heavily, so a takeaway lunch was out of the question.  Selecting the Portsider Tavern, was a good idea, I had a fish meal, while my wife had toasted sandwiches.

 

After the lunch, we decided that it was too wet to do anything much, so it was to the Port Chalmers Museum, the only dry place of any interest to us.  There were some others open, but they all required us to spend as little time, and as much money as possible, something we had little of at the time. 

 

The artifacts in the museum were really of a nautical theme, as is most of Port Chalmers, as it was a seafarer’s paradise with wharves catering for cruise, freighter, and container ships of all sizes.  Careys Bay was also a seafarer’s paradise as it caters for the smaller craft such as fishing boats and yachts.

 

Then as the rains eased, it was almost time for us to make the return journey back to Dunedin. All except for one thing, the train was not there, it was making its way back from Dunedin, after making another trip.  Eventually as we all waited, the train eventually arrived; the thick plume of black oil smoke coming from the tunnel signaled its appearance.  We all watched it move slowly onto the wharf.  When it finally came to a halt we had to loiter some more, while passengers disembarked.  Eventually we clambered on, me choosing one of the steel bodied carriages once more.  We were a little unluckier in choosing a seat, as some people who came, decided to go back the very next trip. 

 

My wife and I managed to get a window seat, on the seaward side of the train.  The Ab had to reverse the train through the tunnel to Mussel Bay in order for the engine to swap ends of the train, as there was nowhere for the maneuver to be done on the wharf.

 

We were all advised to stay on the train while the engine uncoupled.  It was not a particularly dangerous practice, providing there were no passengers in the way.  As time passed, the train was on the south side of the train, and was waiting for the guard to signal, and within a couple of minutes, we were away, heading back to Dunedin once more.

 

More information was heard over the intercom, as we chuffed along the track.  I was more interested in the echo of Ab 663 as it hauled us along and of the view from our carriage window. 

 

Eventually we arrived at Dunedin, and it was time for my wife and me to make our way back home, relaxed after an exciting trip down memory lane. 

 

The train trip was very relaxing for the pair of us, not only for me who usually was the driver, but for my wife as it was her first trip on any rail trip.

 

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