Ja1240 Oamaru Steam Express Jan2015

Ja 1240 heads the Dunedin-Oamaru steam excursion operated by Taieri
Gorge Railway on 24th Jan 2015. The size of the train required
occasional diesel banking over this steeply grade section of the
network. Unfortunately the return journey was marred by a series of
trackside fires started by the locomotive which resulted in the diesel
bankers taking over.

[@MarsFKA]

The grass fires got serious very quickly - the grass along the trackside was very dry and, as the brief shot t 9:05 showed, took only a spark to set it off. The fire in the video was by the sale yards and I saw the Weston fire engine watering it when I drove past. With that small fire out, the fire engine took off very quickly, heading south, so I followed it and saw a lot of smoke in the sky. There were fires all along the track for several kilometres and every appliance in the district, plus a helicopter with monsoon bucket, was called out.
The train was stopped at Wainakarua, 22 kilometres south of Oamaru, where it was recovered by the two diesel locos, which, going by the video, looked like they had been dropped off in Palmerston on the way up.
The fire fighting got pretty expensive for the Taieri Gorge Railway.

[@barryhicks6513]

Beautifully shot and edited account. I've played this several times now. Now does anyone have footage taken at Oamaru station? As an Oamaru youngster I used to enjoy watching the train arrive from Dunedin because of the climb up to the station. At first all you'd see was the plumes of white smoke, then a while later the headlight would pop up into view. Lovely...the train would then glide into the platform, wheezing and clicking like a self satisfied living thing.

[@TNZvideos]

Nice video, you can see me at 1:40 haha, interesting to see you got a shot of one of the fires

[@dougditfort4047]

Six minutes in- "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."

[@MarsFKA]

Heheh. You too?

[@gangstacentral9178]

yea boi swagg overload