WINTER SCENES

The 2018 Winter season is offially over and this year winter has been relatively free of snow storms that can create havoc on our roads but rarely delay or interrupt rail services. Present day train crews spend their work hours in a nice heated cab and usually leave the cab at the end of a shift as trains run from point to point. However spare a thought for the train crews of the past, they had to leave the comfort of their firebox heated cab and attend to shunting wayside halts in all weather, be it rain, hail or snow.

These photographs, taken by John Creber in July 1960, show the crew of a short goods train hauled by Ab726 working on the Kingston Branch. (John Agnew collection)

I have never seen any photos or mention of a model New Zealand typical snow scene and creating one would make an interesting modelling challenge.