(With apologies to the Rev. W. V. Awdry)
The New Zealand Transport Agency has agreed to lend the Auckland Regional Council $33million for the purchase of new diesel trains to cater for growing patronage until the electric trains arrive - Hon Steven Joyce, Minister of Transport, Parliament, 2 July
It was a bright sunny morning as Thomas chugged over the causeway in the bay and around the harbour and into the deep tunnel that brought him to the underground platform at the station in the city.
Thomas tooted merrily to Len and Bob, the two big blue-and-yellow diesel trains who brought crowds of happy, smiling, excited workers into the city from their homes in faraway places like Manurewa and Swanson every morning. Every morning when Len and Bob were feeling up to it, that is, for both of them were very old engines even before they were brought to the city from a railway museum in Western Australia, overhauled at the railway workshops, and sent back to work.
But the two big engines didn't hoot back to Thomas. They were both looking rather glum. "Oh dear," asked Thomas, "Whatever is the matter?"
Len sniffed. "Well," he began, and a tear rolled down his cheek and on to the tracks, "when I was bringing the commuters to work this morning, some of them were reading the Herald, and I heard them say that the Minister of Transport has given the council some money to buy new diesel trains ... "
"I heard the very same thing when I got to Newmarket," Bob added. "It could really be the end of the line for us this time. None of the commuters will want to ride into the city and home again with old engines that should be in retirement in Perth when they have the choice of bright shiny new engines."
"Well," said Thomas, trying to cheer up his old chums, though he didn't really think of them as old, "You knew you would have to retire sooner or later, didn't you? After all, the Minister did say that the city was getting electric trains."
"Yes," said Len, "but we didn't think that would ever really happen. Not in our lifetimes, anyway."
"Look," said Bob, "here is The Short Controller. If anyone knows what's going to happen in the big city, it's him. That's what he says, anyway. Let's ask him."
The three engines asked the station master if he had heard about the idea of buying new trains for the big city. An hour later they wished they hadn't, as Len was now 30 minutes late for his 10:40 departure for Papakura, but the only people who would be waiting on the platforms would be the Gold Card holders, and they were used to the trains not running on time.
The two big engines were still a little grumpy, because they were none the wiser for the station master's explanation, but the three friends agreed that it seemed to boil down to: "Electric trains for our city? Not in my lifetime." It didn't answer the question about the bright shiny new diesel engines, but then The Short Controller had always been difficult to pin down on specifics.
THREE MONTHS LATER there was much excitement at the underground platform at the station in the city. It was the day that the bright shiny new engines were to arrive. A brass band would play to welcome them. The commuters were even more happy, smiling and excited than usual as they boarded their trains at faraway places like Sunnyvale and Takanini for the ride in the city that sometimes took two hours of their morning when the old engines broke down. The Short Controller had bought a new pinstripe suit, for he had read in Viva that vertical stripes make a man look taller.
Even Thomas was excited, for he liked making friends with new engines and rolling stock, though he tried to hide his enthusiasm from Len and Bob, who were looking very glum indeed. They knew what the arrival of new engines meant for them.
"Look," tooted Thomas, a tad too merrily for his pals' liking, "here they come down the deep tunnel into the station!"
Len and Bob raised their eyes from the rails. They looked at the bright shiny new diesel trains that the Minister had promised to the commuters in Parliament, where no one ever tells a fib.
Then they looked at one another, and a grin spread across their faces and all the way down their engine casings to their drivers' cabs. "Why," said Len, "They're almost as old as us. And they have come all the way around the world, even further than us, and they will have to be overhauled in the railway workshops."
"Yes," agreed Bob. "Bright shiny new trains in our city? We were silly to think there could ever be such a thing. Not in our lifetimes, anyway."
The Auckland Regional Council will buy six 40-year-old diesel engines and carriages from British Rail for $63million - The Aucklander, 6 August.
- Ewan McDonald is editor of The Aucklander.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from Aucklander
What have we learned from the Auckland floods?
OPINION: There have been changes to warn city residents to get to higher ground.