Mainline Steam open day at Sturges Road Station

Mainline Steam will soon have to move from their present base at Parnell, which is land owned by KiwiRail. The good news is that there's another site available, also owned by KiwiRail -- at Paremuka, beside Henderson's Western Heights. Some of the local residents, however, aren't all that keen. So, today, Mainline Steam held an open day at the Sturges Road Station, just up from Henderson. This included free rides in carriages drawn by Ja 1275, an oil-fired steam locomotive.

Sturges Road Station has relatively recently had an upgrade as part of the double tracking for the Western Line. Today, in the sun and with steam train sounds in the air, it looked great.

I think all toilets near railway stations should look like this, if not better. The roof architecture looks like a nod to the George Troup-inspired designs of early stations.

And now, a series of rail photos. My apologies -- I like trains. Quite a lot, it seems. Slightly larger versions available by clicking on them.

Ja 1275 steaming up, about to reverse out of the station to take another load of passengers to check out the proposed new workshops site.

And, here's a brief video of Ja 1275 coming back. Hopefully the sounds make up for the low-res result.