Toddler trapped under park's miniature train

Passengers lifted part of a miniature train weighing tonnes to free a toddler trapped beneath the machine after it hit him in Masterton yesterday.
The Palmerston North boy, 2, received critical injuries in the collision after he wandered away from his grandmother about 12.30pm yesterday and on to the Masterton Miniature Railway Society tracks that circuit the lake island at Queen Elizabeth Park, society president Gary Esler said.
Passengers lifted part of the train from on top of the trapped boy, who after being freed was taken in a critical condition to Wairarapa Hospital before he was flown to Wellington Hospital about an hour later, Masterton police Sergeant Peter Rix said. The boy received head injuries and a fractured pelvis in the collision and was last night listed in a stable condition in Wellington Hospital
"He apparently walked out from behind some bushes on the north-eastern side of the island and wandered on to the tracks right in front of the train," Mr Esler said.
"It was over near the tunnels and the driver tried everything to stop but momentum carried the train right over the boy and it ended up on top of him."
Mr Esler, also a Ucol Wairarapa automotive lecturer, said police and Department of Labour inspectors have closed the railway pending an investigation. He said the train, which was carrying about 20 passengers including an off-duty police officer, is a petrol-powered miniature replica of an early Wairarapa diesel locomotive.
Train driver Fred Reay and his wife Noeline, who was selling tickets yesterday, are both devastated, Mr Esler said.
The machine and the tracks are checked daily and the brakes and running gear were yesterday functioning "in top order", he said. Mr Esler said the train engine was pulling three carriages and would have easily weighed a couple tonnes, including the passengers. "It's the first incident in about 35 years of running a miniature train on the island we haven't even had a near-miss before and the driver has given rides to thousands of children just to bring them some joy," Mr Esler said.