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When we were young my sisters and I spent many happy hours playing with a Hornby clockwork trainset which my father had collected in the 1920s. It had a gauge of about two inches, three shiny locomotives, and enough tracks and rolling stock to populate three bedrooms and a hallway. So I wasn’t surprised when my son preferred Thomas the Tank Engine and friends to human company, and the soothing voice of Ringo Starr narrating simple train adventures calmed him more than human touch. By then the Hornby set must have had gone to railway heaven. I went to school by train and latter flatted near the railway yards where the sound of shunting never stoppped. My son now goes to work by train, on a route now saved after many attempts at closure. Some of the guards have also grown up living and breathing trains and memorising timetables, and impart this love to the job.

So when I heard the announcement on the morning of Tuesday 1 July, that there was to be a ceremony down at Wellington Railway Station to celebrate the buy-back of the rail network, I went along on behalf those train buffs who couldn’t be there. For those who don’t know it the historic Wellington Railway station is a busy public place incorporating a supermarket, a university campus and a platform 9 and 3/4. It is a lucrative place for Autism NZ fundraising days.

It was a sunny winter morning at the regular Platform 9 and a little stage had been put in place next to a railway locomotive that had its new colours covered up by a curtain. A large group of railway workers, railway enthusiasts and other members of the public like me waited for the official function to start. Television and radio reporters, journalists and photographers, jostled to get the best positions. I recognised several faces from our daily TV news programmes. Then Prime Minister, Helen Clark, Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Cullen, and Minister of Transport, Annette King arrived. Several other Members of Parliament were there too, some from other parties. Michael Cullen and Helen Clark gave short speeches, announcing that the new service would be called Kiwirail and that former Prime Minister Jim Bolger would chair its board. Then the Prime Minister pulled the ribbon of the curtain revealing the shiny new silver and dark orange (‘persimmon’ suggested Dr Cullen) Kiwirail colours with the fern logo that looks like a stylised railway track.

The group then moved into the main foyer of the railway station and the journalists crowded around the PM and Deputy for more details. Invited guests, railway station staff and shopkeepers, passing passengers, and interested members of the public like me, were invited to have cups of tea and sandwiches (more delicate than the traditional railway ones). Banners advertised the 100 year celebrations of the main trunk line in August and other railway scenes. Then Jim Bolger spoke about his new role and hopes for building a strong new integrated railway and transport network.

I think it is remarkable that in New Zealand that we can still have events like this in public places open to any interested members of the public who can then mingle with our political leaders. Like our train services, long may it continue.

The railways have had a vital role in the development of New Zealand. Neill Atkinson’s  Trainland: how railways made New Zealand (Random House, 2007) is a well illustrated social history. With the railways grew towns, trade and infrastructure. In August a special train trip will mark the centennial of the completion of the main trunk line. The commemorative train will include a lovingly restored original carriage.

The greater Wellington region was planned along the railway.Auckland suburban towns were also planned to be linked by railway but a change of government saw reserved land sold off and roads built instead. The railways feature in our culture and history – Janet Frame and Robin Hyde are two writers whose works significantly mention rail. Many family incomes over many decades depended on the railways. But for the last couple of decades rail has been run down.  In the early 90s the network was sold off and asset stripped. Most of the magnificent locomotives went overseas. Picturesque lines remaining such as the Transalpine or Taeri Gorge lines survive as private operations for the tourist trade. But regular passenger routes to such destinations as Gisborne and Invercargill have gone and the Auckland to

Wellington route was only saved by consumer activism. Keen activists (including many with autism) keep the few steam locomotives polished and in working order in hobby yards around the country and their rare stream rail trips are always popular.

But now railways’  time is coming again. Double tracking, electrification and new lines are possible. Railway workshops may be re-opened providing dream jobs for many. Later in July came the news that money was going into building up the suburban services in Auckland and Wellington. A train recently brought rugby fans to Carisbrooke. (The success of the Wellington stadium in the Wellington railway yards proves the value of integrated services.) I hope to see a regular Invercargill to Dunedin and other passenger routes back soon. Now all we need in our main cities is light rail to their airports so trainspotters and planespotters will all be happy.