Pride in restored engine shines

ENGINE PRIDE: firing up the restored steam traction engine ‘Norfolk Pride’ on Saturday were, from left: Ewan Macdonald, Brian James and Colin Pinkerton. TC030708CT01

BY GRANT JOHNSTON

Colin and Lyn Pinkerton’s Te Awamutu ‘Iron Park’ is now home to a beautifully restored steam traction engine.

The Burrell 2391 Steam Traction Engine belongs to the Pinkerton Family Trust, which has spent around $60,000 restoring ‘her’. On Saturday 2391 had her first full firing for five or six years and the eyes of three mature men sparkled like schoolboys.

Colin Pinkerton has made a fantastic job of painting the engine and a canopy he built for it. Engineer Brian James, from Halcom near Fielding, has done an amazing job of the engine restoration.

‘‘There are very few people in New Zealand who could have done it,’’ Mr Pinkerton says. ‘‘We had the choice to restore it soon, or face the loss of the knowledge required to be able to restore it at some stage in the future.’’

Mr Pinkerton says the engine is 107-years-old and he hopes now that it will be good for another hundred years. He has built a shed to store and display the engine and hopes to fire it up (which takes about three hours) for special occasions. It could appear in parades in Te Awamutu, dependant on permission from authorities and having someone with a marine boiler steam ticket to drive it.

Te Awamutu is indeed fortunate to have such a wonderful reminder of a bygone era in its midst.

The third member of the ‘twinkle-in-the-eye trio’ at Saturday’s firing was Ewan Macdonald. His great grandfather, Duncan Macdonald, of Hawkes Bay bought the engine in 1901. It had been completed at Charles Burrell and Sons’ Thelford works in England. During her shipment she was exhibited at the Melbourne Show.

After arriving in Napier, 2391’s first job was driving the shearing plant at Olrig Station out from Hastings. She then went on to road haulage, threshing grain seed, oats etc around the Heretaunga Plains for 13 years, as well as regular 150km round trips to Puketitiri carting timber.

Mr Macdonald bought a farm in Central Hawkes Bay in 1931 and sold 2391 to a contractor at Otane — Percy Pilcher. Mr Pilcher sold 2391 and his box mill in 1938 to Eric Nelson of Hastings, with a condition of sale being that Mr Nelson operate the machines each year threshing his grass seed, as the unit gave the best example of seed he had seen. The last threshing was in 1960.

Laurie Hartwell bought 2391 in 1966 and took her to Marton for rebuilding, then on to his home at Wanganui and naming the engine Norfolk Pride. Duncan Macdonald’s great grandson, Hugh Macdonald happened by chance to see the engine when he was practising rowing on the river with his Wanganui Collegiate crew. He made himself known and on weekends Laurie Hartwell taught him how to operate the engine.

When Mr Hartwell decided to sell Norfolk Pride, he offered her to Hugh and his father, Ewan, to restore ownership to the original family. The Norfolk Pride Steam Traction Engine Society was formed, with syndicate members including a number of Ewan Macdonald’s fellow Te Awamutu residents.

A decision was made recently to sell Norfolk Pride, and the Pinkerton Family Trust (with the Pinkertons being shareholders in the original syndicate) purchased her. The wisdom of that sale decision was evident in the gleaming, and more importantly, working engine that graced the ‘Iron Park’ grounds on Saturday.

Mr Pinkerton says credit should go to the original syndicate members who had saved the engine and brought 2391 to Te Awamutu. Mr Macdonald says he is delighted that Mr Pinkerton has done such a fantastic job with the Norfolk Pride.

‘‘I am extremely proud to see her in this state and I’m sure my grandfather would have been too,’’ he says. ‘‘It’s a great result.’’