We had a train to catch – but not just any train – The Kingston Flyer was the train, and she only travels on a Sunday!
The Kingston Flyer came into service in the late 1890’s, running between Invercargill, Gore and Kingston. For those of you who don’t know, Kingston is a town right at the bottoem end of Lake Whakatipu, and only about 20km from Queenstown.
It was the Kingston Flyer that brought the ship the Earnslaw, to Lake Whakatipu, where it was launched.
The regular runs of the Kingston Flyer ended in 1937 before stopping altogether at Easter 1957. In the 1970’s it ran as a tourist venture between Kingston and Lumsden, but that finished in 1979. The venture was eventually taken over by locals and now runs a return trip to Fairlight (about 30kms return) twice each Sunday over the summer.
She really is a beautiful machine.
On each trip to Fairlight and back, she burns 8 tonne of coal (all shovelled into the burner by the fireman) and 28,000 litres of water.
When it was time, Bruce and I took our seats in what was once the first class carriage. Some of the carriage really needed a bit of tender loving care, but overall it was very comfortable.
We enjoyed the scenery outside the windows. Apparently the train can go 120kph but on this trip its top speed was about 35kph. For a lot of the trip we were trailed by a firefighting truck in case the sparks emitted by the train inadvertently started a fire.
When we got to the Fairlight Station, the train had to be turned around, and part of that process included a race between children and the train across a paddock (all kept safe by fences).
Overall, it was a pretty special trip.
After this trip we headed further down the island to Lumsden for the night.
Away From Home NZ 