## NOVEMBER, 2020 EditionThe Diner has been uprooted from the previous Michigan location and made the 8,500 mile journey half-way round the world to the Southern Hemisphere and to New Zealand. This month should be very interesting as we learn about the history and railroads of this wonderful country.
Thanks for starting Ed!
This is a short video of a Kiwi Rail passenger train in the high country:
I’ll post more pictures and videos soon.
Dave
What’s not to love about locomotives lettered Kiwi Rail?
Thanks, Dave! This is a team effort [:D]
I’m going to take a break and fix a drink [D]
Cheers, Ed
Great opening Ed!
I will let my daughter know we kept the sign she made!
My computer stayed stable long enough for me to post this… unbelievable.
-Kevin
Thanks, Kevin! Stable memory is a good thing, I think? I used to have it but I forgot when [:-^]
Here’s a critter that I’ll bet Dave would like to model:
Waipara, New Zealand, 1994 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr
A Pink Panther side-winder [:-^]
Cheers, Ed
I Liked it Ed.
I felt like I was riding the Kiwi Train on the tour. And I was touched that I saw Kevin’s daughters sign that you chose to remain here[Y]
The scenery of New Zealand sure is beautiful.
Thanks Ed.
You did a Great job opening up the Diner in New Zealand.
TF
Here’s another video of the incredible scenery:
Dave
A beautifully restored AB Class steamer, and a couple of shots for us birders!
Dave
CNCharlie,
I sent you a PM about the CN stock car.
Dave
For sure!!
We have a little pub not too far from us that is called “The Peter Sellers Pub”, and they have a little switcher locomotive that runs all around the pub on a track suspended just below the ceiling. I’m not sure of the scale but it is bigger than O gauge. They would love to have something like that Pink Panther switcher!
This pub is a real hidden gem. It’s in the basement of a restaurant and the way down to it is positively dingy. However, they have a large selection of single malt scotches and several local artisans’ beers on tap, and the food is great.
Dave
Good Grief, the Diners already here, and we haven’t even welcomed it properly.
At least the bogies have been changed to 3 foot 6 inch gauge, and that Kevins’ Daughter had the foresight to make the Diners Sign able to run on 240 volts.[tup]
Not sure how much of a host I’ll be. Covid lockdown in March forced us to halt one of our forestry survey programmes and, of course, we had perfect weather for aerial photography. [sigh]Not so when the lockdown was lifted, so it was a struggle through the winter months to complete it. It also meant that our winter “heavy “maintenance programme was also put back and getting aircraft parts from the States is as painful as pulling teeth, slow transportation and or parts not able to be supplied with any certainty!! Oh well, at least it keeps me off the streets.
Here’s another possible shunter project for Dave. DSC Class 2515 at Napier mid 80s.
Ed,
Thanks for moving the diner,
herrinchoker
Hey Bear! That was quite a greeting!
I am glad that your indigenous people are so active in keeping their history alive. They obviously have a very strong culture, and their ceremonies evoke a lot of emotion. Thanks for showing us a proper Maori greeting, even if it did scare the pants off me![swg][(-D][bow]
I’m sorry to hear that Covid-19 has messed your business up so badly. Keeping a stiff upper lip seems to be getting harder every day.
Cheers!!
Dave
On a fast ship to New Zealand. In the Suez Canal. Egyptian train heading north.
Sundown in the Red Sea.
Will arrive N. Z. shortly, keep safe.
David
Good Morning
Sure is nice in New Zealand here Thanks again Ed for your well appreciated efforts Well Done!
My Grandson Xavier was a puppy last night for Halloween
Isn’t He Cute?
And we get over there once a year A year is way too long with this little guy growing up
Last year’s picture of him, He doesn’t like the Packers because his Daddy told him not to[(-D]
A chip off the old block That’s my little Fiddler[:)]
TF
Tranz-Scenic Christchurch to Greymouth and return. That is one of the world’s greatest rail journeys. Typical Kiwi self deprecating humour (it’s where I get my obvious tendency to do the same, my Grandmother was born in Stratford near the huge volcano and her father was a gold prospector born in Kumara twenty years too late) requires that you enter Godzone when you land in Auckland or Cristchurch from overseas.
I did the road version in a rentaToyota. Arthur’s pass looks like a model railway version of Canada’s Transcontinental from Field to Sicamous and then skips right to Tofino. Amazing resemblance.
It’s even narrow gauge.
One difference is actually at Arthur’s Pass (stand in for the Roger’s Pass). No ground squirrels begging for handouts (NZ has no native mammals) so you see ground parrots instead (Kea). They are just as aggressive about demanding to be fed treats but, compared to squirrels, they are intellectual giants. One I saw simply sat on the driver’s door mirror of a tourist car next to mine (I don’t feed the wildlife, some of ours will eat you instead) and refused to jump off. A Kea can fly, unlike a ground squirrel (or a Kakapo), so was undeterred by the car driving off…
Good Sunday morning, everyone. It’s donut morning!
I’ve finally gotten to a country I’ve always wanted to visit – New Zealand. At my age, I know this is now the closest I will get.
And for all of us at the moment.
I normally see my brother once a year either here or there.
He lives here:
and you can still go for a ride there today, (well tomorrow actually) but only if you’re really a Kiwi.
Bonus, the main rail yard in the Waikato is just across the road from the model railway.
I actually missed this:
https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2020/hamilton-model-railway-exhibition/hamilton
It wasn’t cancelled.
NZ is truly amazingly beautiful, words don’t describe it and even photos can’t do it justice.
It presents amazing prototypes for modelling. Everything in NZ seems compressed as for a model railway. Narrow gauge, tight curves, truly fantastic railway engineering rivalling anything in North America but just tiny in comparison.
The Port at Napier, the Tranz-Scenic, the various tunnels, bridges and cuts and fills provide endless inspiration for the modeller. They even run short enough trains to allow very convincing modelling of prototype. It’s a narrow gauge paradise.
Good afternoon all. Arrived in New Zealand. There is Maori music being played nearby.
November is birthdays and anniversaries in the family. Grandson number 3 is six today. He has just had a little birthday party with his Grandma and me.
Take care everyone.
David
The are two ex South African Northerns and a Beyer Garrett near the waterfront in Auckland that are in rough condition.
I really enjoyed our cruise there two years ago. We’re supposed to go back in 13 months, but we shall see… If not, at least we saw it!