Hundreds of new ride-on model train fans queued at the weekend in a dramatic turnaround for the Hawke's Bay Model Engineering Society on its track in Anderson Park, Greenmeadows.
Just six weeks earlier, the society was in despair after 60-year-old scale model fully-working steam engine the Maid of Kent was stolen and dumped in a park pond several hundred metres away – the latest of a series of thefts and vandalism attacks over the last year to 18 months.
But there was a silver lining, with least 1000 children, mums, dads, uncles, aunties and grandchildren riding the trains on the first two days of the society's 60th anniversary weekend, with an unprecedented five engines on the track simultaneously to keep up with the demand.
Stationmaster Brian Larkin, new president Ryan Lawson and other stalwarts said the support for the fully-volunteer weekend attraction was bolstered by publicity following the adverse events, with measures of sympathy evident, along with a new awareness, with many people unaware until recent times of the track's existence.
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Advertise with NZME.Three steam engines have been among those operating during the weekend, with traction-engine trailer rides also well patronised on a road circuit also from the society's base off Park Rd.
Still missing from the track was "The Maid", as the club's most prized engine is affectionately known to members, but it will be back soon, recovered from the pond and having to be stripped and serviced before running again.
Some of the engines working the weekend had two carriages - or "trolleys" as they known to the enthusiasts – carrying 12-13 on each seven-minutes, two-laps ride but making little impact on the queue which was almost never less than 40-people long with a wait for more than half-an-hour, but no one was complaining.
There was some irony as one mum as she and the children were marshalled on the station platform, by one of at least six volunteers working on Sunday. Before even boarding the train, she said: "It's very professional."
