‘I’ve found a steam train’: Historical locomotive discovered at Whanganui’s South Mole

Mills-Albert Limited site supervisor Brendon Gabbott uncovered the “fascinating piece of local history".

A historical locomotive has been unearthed on Whanganui’s South Mole.

The locomotive has been confirmed by SteamRail Whanganui Inc representatives to be “The Skunk” - the first railway locomotive, alongside “The Wallaby”, to run a scheduled service between Palmerston North and Foxton from 1876.

The Skunk later worked on the line between Palmerston North and Whanganui from 1878.

Mills-Albert Limited site supervisor Brendon Gabbott uncovered the “fascinating piece of local history” during excavation work on September 5.

Gabbott and his company were excavating the sand dune cut for the upstream rock revetment portion of the Te Puwaha Tanae Groyne Interface Wall and Part South Mole project.

Mills said he “struck something hard” while undertaking a large bulk cut of the sand dunes to allow for the rock revetment to continue.

“I continued to dig around the item until the sand started to flow away and I noticed I had found a steel item,” Gabbott said.

Gabbott hopped out of his digger and began shovelling the area to expose more before shouting; “I’ve found a steam train”.

“In all my years of operating, I have never found something so awesome and exciting. The buzz that has been flowing through me, it’s just amazing,” he said.

The Skunk later worked on the line between Palmerston North and Whanganui from 1878.

The project archaeologist has confirmed that, since the location is post-1900s, it is not considered an archaeological site.

The Skunk is believed to have been left on site after the build of the original South Mole in the early 1900s.

Te Mata Pūaua member and site leader Kahurangi Simon said the locomotive holds significant historical value.

SteamRail Whanganui has registered its interest for future care of The Skunk.

Simon said the collective focus is to determine how to safely remove the locomotive without causing further degradation.

Simon said information was shared with them by the late Potonga Neilson and other local historians about the possibility of uncovering the locomotive.

“To find Skunk is amazing. It’s not every day a piece of history like this emerges from the dunes,” Simon said.

“It is now our responsibility to carefully consider the next steps.”

SteamRail Whanganui has been invited to the site to help determine the historic locomotive’s future.

Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.