Newspaper Article 1994 – It’s all go for two rail buffs

It’s all go for two rail buffs

Railway enthusiast Jason Scott is pictured with a carriage he plans to restore and John Romanes is pictured with the three-metre replica he built in his garage.

Mr Scott took one of two carriages withdrawn from service in the 1960s from Clive to Tomoana Rd in Hastings to be restored for use as either a restaurant or bach.

Mr Scott said he expected his project to take three or four years. His carriage AF728, was built in 1908 and used as a passenger wagon in Wellington before being moved on to the main trunk line.

The other went to Wellington where it will be brought back to its original state by the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society.

The replica is the longest locomotive to be built in Hawke’s Bay.

It was built in Mr Romanes’ garage-cum-workshop in Havelock North.

At just under three metres long, it weighs 600kg and took Mr Romanes more than two years and $7000 to build.

It was built from scratch, not from a kitset, with all the bodywork and engineering done by Mr Romanes.

He is a founding member, and now general manager, of Keirunga Park Railway, where the locomotive will run.

Three years ago, Mr Romanes and his wife Nola travelled on railways in the United States for four weeks.

His model is a 12-horsepower, petrol-driven replica of a 3500-horse-power General Motors GP35 diesel-electric locomotive that runs from Santa Fe.

This is the second locomotive Mr Romanes has built. His first was a replica of the Price shunter from the old Whakatu Freezing Works. Another project is already half-completed.

Photo: Duncan Brown.