A steam engine is lifted on to a truck by mobile crane in Dunedin before being trucked north for further restoration work yesterday. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Project Steam organisers have already lavished thousands of hours on painstakingly restoring the 122-year-old steam engine, P 107, in Dunedin over more than a decade.
Project chairman John Sutherland, of Portobello, has long been keen for Dunedin to have its own steam locomotive, but there have been problems raising the funds needed to manufacture a new boiler to power the 56-tonne engine.
The engine had most recently been housed at the Dunedin Gasworks Museum yard in Braemar St.
Moving the locomotive to Springfield was a positive step, and the Midland Rail Heritage Trust, which was based in the township, had the expertise to help continue the restoration, Mr Sutherland said.
