Birthday excursion celebrates 50 years

• Published date: 20 June 2022
• Author: Dave Murdoch
• Publication title: Bush Telegraph

For the first time in a week the sun shone and the day was calm as Woodville hosted two trains — one a steam train with two engines and five carriages, the other a heritage diesel with two engines and six carriages

That was a total of 500 passengers.

It was Steam Inc’s 50th Birthday Excursion having been formed on this weekend in 1972 at Paekakariki on the Kapiti Coast. Over its 50 years, Steam Inc’s volunteers have restored a number of both steam and heritage diesel engines with an impressive number of the red-painted traditional passenger carriages.

To celebrate the half century, Steam Inc organised two trains to travel from Wellington, both leaving at 7.55am together. The diesel train would travel on the Bush Excursion through the Hutt Valley and Rimutaka Tunnel up through Wairarapa and Tararua to Woodville, with a plan to arrive at 1pm, while the steam train would travel on the coastal route north through Horowhenua and Manawatū through the Manawatū Gorge to Woodville, arriving at 1.30pm.

There, a highly efficient group organised by the Woodville Railway Station Trust catered for the 500 passengers with pancakes, sausages and heated boxed meals of butter chicken and macaroni cheese supplied by Tony’s Lunchbar in Palmerston North.

The trust, formed in 2018, has done a wonderful job refurbishing the station to the point where it has hosted a wedding and a 40th birthday bash, with a Christmas celebration to come. All proceeds go towards further refurbishment with the focus being the replacement of the canopy.

A number of stalls sold...