Rural drivers are used to sharing the road with big machinery like tractors and harvesters – but in Northland there’s a very large, noisy and not-to-be-messed which ‘vehicle’ on a main street every Saturday and Sunday.

Those are the days when Gabriel the steam train puffs up and down Kawakawa’s main street and all other traffic and pedestrians are wise to give way because it can’t stop – well not easily anyway.

It’s not just the weekends when motorist have to beware, because on Fridays a diesel train, usually ‘Freddie’, is in action.

Both engines, along with another diesel ‘Charlie’, are part of the Bay of Island Vintage Railway Trust, which according to trust chairman Johnson Davis are helping revitalise the small rural community.

Built in 1927 by Thomas Peckett, of Bristol, UK, Gabriel weighs 28 tons and is classed as a 4-4-0 side tank engine.

“Kawakawa used to be a busy town with plenty of employment through the dairy factory, freezing works and council but over time many of those jobs have gone,” says Johnson.

“Now tourism is increasingly important and our railway is very much part of that.”

It’s a railway which runs on steam, diesel and volunteers, says Johnson.

Fire rebuild

A devastating fire in 1899 is the reason Kawakawa has a railway down its main street. The fire left few buildings standing and reconstruction took place alongside the railway tracks, which were installed in 1877.

The Bay of Islands Vintage Railway was established in the late-1980s to operate a scenic tourist railway between Kawakawa and Opua. At 11.5km, it is one of the longest heritage railway lines in New Zealand, and includes 14 bridges and an 80 metre tunnel.

The railway initially performed well, but factionalism between several groups contributed to it becoming the first heritage railway to be shut down by the Land Transport Safety Authority in 2000.

Six years later, and thanks to the support and hard work of locals and train enthusiasts from further afield, the railway was up and running again.

Johnson says it’s a real credit to so many people that the railway is once again functioning, bringing pleasure to hundreds of visitors each year.

Long Bridge

Only a few years ago, because every bridge still needed to be re-surveyed, trains only ran from the railway station through Kawakawa main street to the first bridge out of town – a very short train ride.

But during the years, thousands of hours of work have been carried out so each bridge to be crossed could be certified for use and the track brought up to running standard.

The railway has now reached Taumarere, where a beautiful picnic and barbecue area has been developed.

“We are now working towards our next major goal which is to restore the famous ‘Long Bridge’ which will allow the trains to run on to Opua. Here we plan to build a new station, cafe and visitor centre,” says Johnson.

Giving way to trains is the rule in Kawakawa’s main street, where Gabriel makes a regular weekend appearance.

Children especially are entranced by Gabriel, which looks so much like characters from the famous ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ books. Built in 1927 by Thomas Peckett, of Bristol, UK, Gabriel weighs 28 tons and is classed as a 4-4-0 side tank engine. It was the last of five engines built for this class. Two engines went to Southern Ireland but were scrapped in the 1950s. Two more went to Borneo and were scrapped around 1947.

The fifth engine – now Gabriel – was unfinished in the Bristol works until sold to Portland Cement in Whangarei in 1926. It was re-gauged to fit New Zealand’s three-foot six-inches rail tracks.

Gabriel was given on loan to the Bay of Islands Scenic Railway in 1985 and was subsequently purchased by the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway Trust. It was at this point that she was renamed ‘Gabriel’. Since then Gabriel has become a real icon of Kawakawa, one of the few towns in the world with a railway track running through the middle of the main street.