Locomotives for auction

Press, 9 October 1987, Page 5

Locomotives for auction

By

SUZANNE KEEN

Old locomotives do not die — they just face long retirements in historic parks or transport museums. Unless, that is, some kind person decides to give them a home in the back garden, perhaps as a spare bedroom, an authentic . children’s plaything, or a last-ditch alternative to the hassles of modern transport. Anybody with a use for a D.S.A. shunting locomotive would be advised to

take a look at the equipment auction at the New Zealand Railway’s Addington Workshops tomorrow. The two locomotives, one with a mangled cab but otherwise in ( iperfect working order, and the other which does hot go, are among 400 item? to be sold because they are no longer used by the workshop. A works engineer, Mr Steve Tomsett, said he had already has some inquiries about the engines from the Ferrymead His-

toric Park and Weka Pass railways. Some firms who shunt a lot of railway wagons about may also have a use for them. “We do not use that sort of loco any more,’,’ Mr Tomsett said. “We mostly run D.S.C. locos, which have a cab in the middle and engines at each end. The D.S.A. is an obsolete loco now for the Railways.” Other pieces Of equipment at the auction, which is expected to attract between 200 and 300 people, include cranes,

metal working machinery, lathes, small petrol engines and wood-working mill equipment. Some, of the items lost their usefulness , for the workshop woodmill. , -• There will be an open day today for the public to view equipment on sale, and the auction will begin at ■ 9,30 tomorrow. "It will probably take people a few hours to get through it all, so it should be a very busy day,” said Mr Tomsett.