Hawke’s Bay’s Art Deco Festival to feature historic train and murder on the express theatre experience

A steam train heading through Hastings during Napier Art Deco Festival excursions. They're back again in February.

A 110-year-old steam locomotive and a “live theatre experience” are coming to Hawke’s Bay for next year’s Art Deco Festival.

The locomotive Ab 608 “Passchendaele”, built in 1915 and named in memory of New Zealand railwaymen who fell at the months-long Battle of Passchendaele in 1917, will journey throughout the region between Woodville and Napier during the festival on February 19-23.

The series of excursions will include the theatre experience Murder Aboard the Waipuk’ Express.

Kapiti-based Steam Incorporated’s Tommy Secker is expecting tickets to sell out for the range of steam- and diesel-hauled heritage train excursions tailored to the thousands of visitors expected in Hawke’s Bay for the annual throwback to the lifestyle of a century ago.

It will be Ab 608’s Art Deco Festival debut, hauling selected services alongside the society’s pair of heritage diesel-electrics throughout the weekend.

Steam Incorporated is again teaming up with the Cancer Society Hawke’s Bay for a fundraising day of rail adventures.

Following the success of the 2025 festival’s excursions, the 2026 programme expands to include the ever-popular Hawke’s Bay Flyer Day trip to Woodville, in addition to the theatre venture Secker describes as “an immersive live theatre experience”, delivered in partnership with Flaming Mojo, featuring the journey to Waipukurau, a murder-mystery performance, and light evening refreshments.

Art Deco Trust event manager Jonathon Smith said: “The return of the steam train is always a festival highlight. Seeing it roll into Napier, billowing steam and filled with passengers dressed in vintage fashion, sets the scene perfectly for the weekend that follows.”

Planes, trains and classic cars lining the streets from the golden age of travel bring the festival to life, he said.

Secker said Steam Incorporated’s team are delighted to build on the momentum of bringing steam back to the Bay earlier this year, and with capacity of up to 350 people per journey, as many as 3500 passengers are expected.

Tickets are already on sale for the excursions, which start with the Kāpiti-Napier journey on February 19 and end with the return on February 23, with excursions as far south as Woodville, and a range trips between Napier and Hastings in between.

Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter, with more than 50 years of newspaper experience and based in Napier since 1987.