Event co-ordinator Craig Bush said the Ka 942 steam engine scheduled to come down from Christchurch last night had maintenance problems and would arrive in Dunedin tomorrow.
Consequently, the four trips to Sawyers Bay scheduled for today had been cancelled, he said.
Despite the setback, a steady stream of people were seeking information on the festival and organisers were pleased with its progress, he said.
The train and the Earnslaw were the main subjects of interest, he said.
Ferry bookings for the Quarantine Island trip on Monday had been selling well, as had tickets to the Steampunk ball on Sunday.
"We were concerned about numbers [going to the ball] but that has picked up."
Some participants were enthusiastic about the futuristic Victorian-themed dress they had prepared for the ball, he said.
Another highlight of the festival would be the 1/32nd scale model of the Earnslaw display by the Otago Model Engineering Society, he said.
"It looks so realistic that somebody asked 'is the Earnslaw up on the slip?' "
The festival had reinvigorated many of the volunteer groups that preserved the heritage of Otago, like the Otago Vintage Machinery Club and the Taieri Historical Society, he said.
About 4000 festival programmes had been distributed, he said.
Taieri Gorge Railways operations manager Grant Craig said a repair to a cylinder valve had delayed the arrival of the steam engine.
It was on track to being fixed by noon today and was booked to leave Christchurch at 3am tomorrow, he said.
The train was due to arrive in Dunedin at 12.25pm tomorrow, he said.
Although today's four steam train trips were cancelled, there would be another five trips tomorrow and six on Saturday, he said.
