During the school holidays I went to work with my Mum at Shanty Town. Sometimes I can help Mum get events ready but my favourite thing is going in the steam engine with Iona ,the steam train driver.
The steam engine train driver fills the coal up and it is so dusty. And then she cleans the floor in the engine so it doesn’t have coal everywhere! Iona the train driver cleans the pipes so they won’t have oil on them,then Iona turns the brakes off and it makes a squekey sound. She waits for the railway guards to signal it is time to leave. The railway guard helps the passengers get on the train,talks to them about safety and shuts the gate.When Iona the train driver gets the signal she honks the horn but she lets me honk the horn as well.
The train drives up the track which runs into native bush.Out the windows I can see birds like fantails,kereru and lots and lots of wekas sometimes they have babies.When we get to the top Iona has to put the brakes on,it sounds like a long whistle.Then she gets the dust pan to clean the coal of the floor.The rail guard opens the gates they have 2 carriages and the passengers can go to the viewing platform,they get to walk into the train engine to have a look.The fire is open and there is alot of pipes.
After everyone gets back onto the train we drive down to the sawmill and everyone gets off to go gold panning.It is a short trip back down to the train station.When we get back to the train station Iona has to fill it up with water.The water is in a special water tank,you have to pull a chain to make it work and use a big hose to fill up the water tank.Then Iona drives the train back into the steam shed so she can get more coal ready for the next trip.Coal is very messy so then Iona has to clean it all again sometimes I help with the sweeping.When its clean we drive back to the train station ready for the next trip. I like to go to work with Mum because there is always something cool to do or look at but my favourite thing to do is spend time with Iona helping with the steam train which is called Gertie.