Photo recall: Aides got steamed up over risk to PM

Two members of the Glenbrook Vintage Railway.

But David Lange wasn't at all fazed by the blown boiler tube during his ride on Glenbrook's vintage locomotive.

The water rats are coming in from the creek near the train workshop, and his cat's done a runner. The price of coal seems higher. In fact, the price of everything does. It's not easy keeping a vintage railway running. Still, Glenbrook Vintage Railway legend Alan Carline's steel-blue eyes twinkle when he recalls the big day in December 1986 when everyone came to see the railway's new line extension.

After all, the steam engine enthusiasts and their locomotive nearly killed the Prime Minister that day, if David Lange's minders were to be taken seriously.

"He rode in the cab with us," Carline, at left of picture, recalls. "It was quite exciting actually, because we were just coming across halfway down from the station, and one of the boiler tubes blew. His minders didn't know he was on the engine. They went berserk. We could've put the Prime Minister in dire danger. He laughed it all off. He was a good sort."

The Railway Enthusiasts Society started in the early 1970s, and about half a dozen original members were still involved in the project 60km south of Auckland City.

In the 1980s, Carline oversaw Labour Department scheme workers who were often in trouble with the law, or unemployable.

"In those days we had what they'd call PEP gangs. I had about 26 jokers. They used to do six months. Then they had a change of government and they squashed all that."

Carline said many workers were now successful, and kept in touch with the Glenbrook enthusiasts. It was tough, character-building work for the PP gangs and volunteers who worked beside them. Carline and his good friend and mentor Ted Pointon, at right of picture, were given the honour of tightening the bolts in preparation for the new line's opening on December 6.

"They've got a big screw spike that goes down. We were doing it [by hand]. Normally, you do it with a compressed air gun."

Pointon died in January 2004. Carline, a builder originally from Northcote, said Pointon taught him everything he could about engineering. Now, Carline is the expert - though he'd never admit as much - rebuilding carriages and locomotives from the heyday of New Zealand rail.

He spends much of his time in a workshop near the big open roads and rolling fields around Glenbrook.

"I love it out here. I know all the neighbours. I know everyone downtown. I hate going up to Auckland."

The society hopes to make more of the countryside accessible by train, and an extension to Waiuku is in the works.