Making tracks with a beast of burden

Picton reporter FRITHA TAGG takes a ride on a train – up front in the locomotive.

I put on my high-vis vest, clutch the camera bag and walk towards a big shed. I am a little nervous, I have never done this before but I'm secretly delighted that my cheeky ask worked.

The smell is the first clue. It's sort of a burnt smell, mixed with fuel, even smoke. The second clue is the noise. Engine noise, which gets louder and louder as I walk towards the huge iron beast that is the locomotive I am going to ride in.

I met locomotive engineer Chris McMahon at a Picton new deli/cafe opening and when I learnt he was a "train" driver I asked if I could come for a ride.

And that is about to happen.

Climbing up into the locomotive is not the easiest, keeping my camera safe while doing it just adds to my awkwardness, but once in the cab it's just fine. We are up so high and the noise is intense. I sit in the crew seat which is to the left and sits out over the train tracks.

Chris bounces up the side ladder and into his position – sitting side-on to the tracks. There is a complicated-looking array of instruments around him and before I can ask one question, we are moving. Backwards, out of the shed towards the Picton wharf.

Chris is on the radio. They give permission for the locomotive to go, points are changed in readiness for us to go forward and soon we are swaying, chugging out of the yard across the first road, Chris sounds the horn and I jump nearly out of my seat. Message to my brain: relax, there are going to be more of those noises.

There is more radio talk. Chris explains "we need permission from train control, in Wellington; they open the points, give us green lights to progress".

The train at this stage is not really a train. It is two locomotive engines together and we are going to Spring Creek to collect "our train" (wagons mostly with containers and some wine tanks). We need two locomotives to pull the train back to Picton because the line includes one of the highest elevations on the New Zealand rail network.

It feels like we are speeding along, over the short viaduct, through a mini tunnel (well, I called it a tunnel), across roads with arms down and bells dinging. At each road crossing, Chris sounds the horn. There is part of me that wants to be the one doing that, but mostly I am holding on trying to take in the passing countryside. I have 100 questions running around my head, but now is not the time – I let Chris concentrate on his job.

Minutes later and we are coming into Spring Creek and the radio is going as we cruise to a halt on the outskirts of the Spring Creek railway yards. We are waiting for Wellington train control to open the line. Our shunter, who was travelling in the rear engine, walks ahead to operate the points once Wellington has opened the electric lock switch.

We need to move on to a siding to pick up the waiting train.

Chris gently brings the engine up to the waiting train, the shunter calls the distance with his hand in the air guiding Chris. With a thud and a clang the locomotive is now attached to the lead carriage.

We climb out and walk to the engine at the front of the train in readiness for our return journey. There's a bit of time to fill, the train is still being loaded with containers so it's OK to ask Chris my questions.

"Do you steer?" I am feeling slightly foolish as I ask this.

"No, we control the speed, control the momentum. Each corner has a sign with the speed the train should be going – must go. If we ignored them we would just go straight ahead – derail," he says with a wry grin. Is he thinking "silly woman"?

"The art of a good train driver is his ability to control the slack or the concertina effect of the wagons behind the train.

"You can't just slam the brakes – everything has to be done carefully. It is brake and throttle in conjunction. You need to be able to take the slack out if you are heading towards a long steep grade, bunch it up before braking."

Almost all of New Zealand's rail lines are on a grade of some sort. There is no flat rail, so there is a need to keep control of the momentum at all times.

Chris has been a locomotive engineer (train driver) for 35 years and has driven trains in most parts of New Zealand, moving from one location to another as part of the promotion system.

He has been in Picton since 1980 and doesn't want to leave.

"I even had a stint as manager here, but I didn't like it. I just wanted to get back on the train."

The radio calls, it's time to go.

The shunter has checked the brakes on each wagon and checked the container tie-downs. With one long hoot on the horn we are off back to Picton, where the train will be broken into shorter lengths and shunted on to the waiting ferry and my ride will be over.

- The Marlborough Express