The fact that "Bob the train driver" looks different every time he drives his train past Kerry Jones’s house in Caversham, is immaterial.
Kerry is only interested in waving to the train and listening to its horn tooting.
The 47-year-old was born with a genetic abnormality which means she is not able to verbalise her thoughts in ways that can be understood by most people.
Her mother Sandra Jones (64) said it was a form of non-verbal communication.
"She doesn’t have language as you and I would know it. She has some words she can say, but a lot of words she can’t.
"What she’s thinking, goes around her brain, and then when it comes out of her mouth, it’s jumbled.
"It’s like a different language. We understand most of it, but others wouldn’t."
For that reason, most of the time Kerry uses sign language to communicate.
She certainly knows the word "train" and "stop", Mrs Jones said.
"When we go out on trips and she sees a train, she yells "stop".
"Every train driver is called Bob.
"So we stop and get out and wave frantically at Bob."
Mrs Jones said it started two years ago, when Kerry looked out the front window of their Calton Hill home and saw a train coming along the tracks towards the tunnel below.
She started waving to the driver and the driver tooted back.
Word must have gone around all the drivers, because most of them toot now when they go past.
Mrs Jones said she had had to put a notice on social media several times, telling Caversham residents that the train was not tooting because of someone or something on the lines.
"They [the train drivers] go a little bit crazy with the horn sometimes and I’m sure people think ‘What’s all that noise? Has there been an accident’?"
Kerry’s love of Bob and the trains he drives recently prompted her to thank him.
On a recent trip to Oamaru, they bought a carton of chocolate fish to take down to the depot for Bob to eat.
"They loved it."
A carton of chocolate fish was a small price to pay for the delight the drivers brought to her daughter, she said.
