By Elizabeth Hayes
A grand old lady of the rail is back on the line in Otago, after an absence of more than 30 years.
The refurbished 1939 railcar was one of nine that took passengers between Dunedin and Alexandra on the Taieri Gorge line.
Bruce Logie, 81, drove the railcars for about 20 years, and made the very last trip to central Otago in 1976 before they were decommissioned.
He and other original New Zealand Railway drivers were treated to the trip down memory lane from Dunedin to Pukerangi, before the Vulcan takes part in a train festival in Middlemarch on Labour Weekend.
The German-made Frichs diesel engine took the 48-seater railcar to a top speed of 120kmph – a New Zealand record at the time.
“I used to like to come down to Ranfurly and all the straight there,” says Mr Logie.
“I could really hoop around you know. It seemed the faster they went the better they seemed to ride.”
It is not just the old guards and drivers who are still interested in the Vulcan – the special railcar excursion at Labour Weekend is already booked out.
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