On a wet Saturday in June 1958 my family and I arrived in Taumarunui. It was beautiful and fine when we left Hamilton but the further south we got the worse the weather became. We were able to hire a carrier to shift our furniture from a K box wagon up to our allocated house in the railway settlement of Sunshine. On Monday morning I was up at 3.00am to learn the road to Frankton on Train 688 with Bill Curtain and Pat Bade. This was the third time while learning the road at three different depots that I struck this crew. I came back on Train 413 with driver Laurie Sanders who changed over with Jim Pauling on Train 164, the New Plymouth to Auckland railcar, at Otorohanga. The following day I was up early again to learn the road to Taihape on Train 243 with Taihape crew Gordon Terril and Claude Hopkinson, who had come up on Train 688. I remember it was a long day, beautiful and fine with snow south of Ohakune. I came back on Train 668. Wednesday was with Al Holman and Joe Kiwi on the Stratford-Okahukura line to Tangarakau on Train 542, returning on Train 555; both trains had a car attached.
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