It’s a long way to Paekakariki

A South African logistics
company realised a New
Zealand man’s dream when
after fifteen years they finally
brought his beloved train home.
Debra Bruttomesso, managing
director of Saxport International
Logistics, said the project that took
about four months to complete
saw them moving a steam train
built in the 1800s from Kimberley
to Paekakariki in New Zealand
earlier this year.
“Our client, Russel Gibbard of
Steam Inc, bought the train fifteen
years ago from Zimbabwe and had
it moved to Kimberley where it
was kept in storage.”
Having only paid US$40 000
for the engine it took them years to
save enough money for the voyage
home.
“It was a unique project in that
this was not cargo being moved for
a company that could be replaced
if something went wrong. This was
someone’s prized possession and
no money in the world would have
been able to replace it, so we were
under a lot of pressure to succeed.”
According to Bruttomesso, old
railway tracks had to be purchased
from Transnet and then customwelded
for the steam train to be
transported. “We broke it into
three parts and welded these onto
the rails and transported them to
Durban via truck. In accordance
with New Zealand health
regulations, the entire cargo had to
be steam cleaned and fumigated in
Durban prior to being shipped to
Auckland. This process took about
24 days.”
After a sea voyage of some 18
days the train finally arrived in
Auckland and was then trucked to
Paekakariki where it is now being
restored to its former glory – a
process that is expected to take
more than five years.
“Weighing in at 136 tonnes it
was not just the abnormal size that
we had to take into account, but the
client’s personal involvement every
step of the way. He had waited so
long for this train that he did not
want a single thing to go wrong –
and we had to accommodate that at
all times. This was not an ordinary
project cargo – this was special,
someone’s dream.”