Over the weekend of 24th & 25th of September, Steam Incorporated & the Glenbrook Vintage Railway teamed up for an excursion hauled by Steam Inc Loco Ja 1271 and assisted by GVR's Diesel DBR 1254.
Day 1 saw Ja 1271 travel with its 6 carriages from Steam Inc's home base at Paekakariki to Feilding, meeting a late running DBR 1254. The trains then combined to a 13 car total and departed for Ohakune after lunch. Making a brief stop at Taihape to drop off a few passengers, Ja 1271 continued to thunder up the grades to Ohakune where it was stabled overnight in the yards.
Day 2 Ja 1271 and DBR 1254 headed north from Ohakune to pick up passengers for the tour at National Park before continuing to Taumarunui to cross Sunday freight train 247. After the Ongarue Valley, the train stopped in Te Kuiti to top up with coal while the first Northern Explorer for the year passed. After a stop at Hamilton the train thundered into the sunset beside the Waikato River before turning onto the Mission Bush Branch where the Glenbrook Vintage Railway's base is located.
This excursion is also the start of Ja 1271's extensive stay up in the Waikato and Auckland regions, and will be running several more excursions over the next few weeks before returning back to Paekakariki in late October.
Enjoy!