What to do on an indifferent sort of weather day. Get out the Gold Card and go for a trip of course. A car ride down to Waikanae to catch the train into Wellington for starters. These new Matangi Electric units are certainly swish and a match to anything we travelled on in the UK.
Passing through Paekakariki where the steam preservation group “Steam Incorporated” are based we got a fleeting glimpse of a carriage painted blue covered in plastic. A mental note was made to have a closer look on the return journey. Approaching Wellington the weather changed for the worst with rain showers.
Arriving in Wellington it was across the road to McCafe for a bite to eat before we caught the bus out to the airport. We were not planning on flying away but wanted to view Peter Jackson’s giant eagles/birds for the Hobbit movie. Gigantic and realistic is the only way to describe them. Mooching around the airport terminal for half an hour and then it was back on the bus to the railway station.
On the return train trip were better able to view the mystery blue carriages wrapped in plastic. They were in fact a pair of the recently retired English Electric unit’s circa 1938. Unfortunately they were a modified pair with twin headlights unlike the original huge single headlight. Why the colour blue and the plastic wrapping, I can only assume it was protection from the weather as the sheds are probably already full of other rolling stock.
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