Tokomaru Steam Engine Museum
Preserving the past for the future
The Museum
Visitors arriving will first notice the old ticket office, the museum railway and the original Tokomaru Station.
The Station was originally from the mainline. It was sold off as firewood in 1972 and purchased by the Stevensons as it retained in fitting character for the Museum. New Zealand’s late Prime Minister and former stationery engine operator, Norman Kirk, opened the first section of the one kilometre track in 1973. The railway was added as a development to the museum at the insistence of locomotive enthusiasts, who felt the collection was not complete without it. Proof of this was gained by the over 8000 people who attended the first Tokomaru Steam Festival in 1973.
All stationary engines in the Museum were powered by a single boiler. In the Museum’s early days, the boiler was wood fired, but today it is more efficient to use a diesel burner. Meanwhile, touring beyond the boilerhouse, visitors can progress past New Zealand’s oldest steam engine, the 1869 Appleby engine from the Patent Slip, Wellington. Amazingly, this one engine hauled ships weighing over 2000 tons out of the water and up the slipway for repair.
In the main room of the Museum, visitors will find themselves surrounded by engines of all sizes. The smallest of these engines would provide enough energy for a progressive farmer’s milking shed. Larger machines, for larger demands, would power electric generators, sawmills, freezing works and parts of New Zealand’s fledgling manufacturing industry.
Visitors of all ages can enjoy the collection of working miniature models.
Also on display is the impressive sight of one of New Zealand’s largest steam engines, the Filer and Stowell from Imlay Freezing Works, Wanganui. During this engine’s working life in Wanganui, few people had the opportunity to ever see it. Everything about this machine is kingsize. Seventy tons of cast iron moves in hypnotising fashion. Scrap metal dealers refused to touch the engine in its final state in Wanganui, due to the dangerous ammonia pipes running under the floor around the machine. “If you can shift it, you can have it” was the challenge laid down to Colin Stevenson. Nothing else in the museum matched the time, effort and money expended in shifting this gigantic engine which now dominates the front of the museum.
The final leg of the tour leads to two rooms of machinery. The first room is “The Power House.” It contains machinery associated with producing electricity.
Alternately, at the back of the Museum, resides “The Loco Shed.” This houses a further four locomotives, including the sizeable American 1904 Climax. Unfortunately, none of the locomotives are in operating condition.
