Dunedin tourist train operator Taieri Gorge Railway would consider buying one of the Kingston Flyer steam locomotives if the Kingston operation cannot be salvaged.
Operations manager Grant Craig said yesterday Taieri Gorge would only be interested if the receiver of the Kingston business, Lindsay McClean, of Malloch and McClean, Queenstown, decided to split up the company's assets and sell them off.
Kingston Acquisitions Ltd, which owns the Kingston Flyer, went into receivership in November owing almost $5 million and the train has not run since.
Mr Craig said Taieri Gorge tourist numbers had been affected by the demise of the Flyer service, as some tourists interested in travelling by rail decided not to venture south of Christchurch.
He considered the best outcome for Taieri Gorge, and tourism generally in the South, would be for the Kingston Flyer business to resume operations at Kingston.
Mr Craig said if Taieri Gorge was to buy one of the two coal-burning Ab locomotives for use on the Dunedin to Middlemarch line it would have to be converted to run on oil because of the risk sparks from a coal-fired locomotive would start fires.
He estimated the cost of the conversion to be about $500,000.
He believed a coal-fired locomotive could be used on the coastal route from Dunedin to Palmerston, although the lack of a turntable at Palmerston was an issue.
Mr Craig denied a British magazine's claim it had already bought one of the Kingston Flyer locomotives.
The April edition of The Railway Magazine claims the purchase was "a new venture" for the Dunedin operator.
Mr McClean did not return calls yesterday.
