The 16-tonne beauty, owned by the family of the late Don McKay, is off to the Great Dorset Steam Fair, in England in late August. It’s the 50th anniversary of the show.
The Robey has been in the McKay family for nearly 60 years. It was brought by Don near Christchurch in 1960, for £200, then painstakingly restored.
Since Don’s passing, housing it has been shared between Don’s son, Andy, in Geraldine, and another engine enthusiast, who lived in Methven.
‘‘We are just looking after it for him,’’ Andy said of the engine.
Andy said six engines — all from Canterbury — were going on the trip. It was not as expensive as first thought to send a 16-tonne machine to the United Kingdom, he said.
The Robey has a fresh coat of paint and a dedication plaque to Don placed on its side — so he was on board for the trip.
Those going were not from a club, just a group of traction engine enthusiasts.
They included both of Don’s children, Andy and Hilary, and their families.
The engines would be shipped in four containers, which get loaded in early May.
Under the Antiquities Act, Andy said the Robey had to return to New Zealand within two years.
It was likely to be 18 months abroad and would visit other shows while in the UK.
Travelling the open road at speeds of 12kmh in such a large fuel guzzler is not for everyone, but for Don’s descendants, it is an annual pilgrimage they do in his honour.
For the past nine years, family members travelled from Geraldine to Methven to get the magnificent beast to the Methven A&P show.
Fired by Cascade coal, the engine uses nine 40kg bags on the journey.
And between the engine’s water tanks — the belly tank, the boiler and the tender — the machine stored about 1500 litres of water. The water needed to be topped up every two and a-half hours.
It was an eight hour trip one way.
This year was the 10th anniversary of Don’s passing. He died just 10 days after attending the Methven A&P show.
Every year since, family and friends made sure the Robey was at the show as a tribute to Don, Andy said.
Hilary also attended from Lincoln.
After the show’s grand parade, and in convoy with other traction engines, they went to the Methven cemetery for a quiet dram in Don’s memory.
