Another great Fair

This year the Martinborough Fair celebrated its 44^th consecutive year! The Fair has evolved from a modest 35 stalls and produce trucks to over 500 stalls from around New Zealand selling a wide range of quality items and attended by over 40,000 people over the two days. Food was popular in the early fairs, and is still so today with a lot of food trucks selling ethnic and traditional food. 

Local produce is particularly showcased at the Fair including olive oil, honey, salami, cheeses, bread, fruit preserves and juices, fresh produce and fudge. The Fair’s reputation is such that the demand for stalls exceeds the space available with waiting lists now commonplace. We have also increased our efforts to publicise the fair in advance on the Web and on social media where it has its own website and Facebook page. … Continue Reading

Inner Wheel Club of South Wairarapa

A Day in the life of a Train Manager

Much to the surprise of many club members we learnt that we had in our midst a train manager. Lyn Heafield, a member for a couple of years, had kept it under her hat. Most of us hop on a train thinking only of the time to catch it and our destination. But there is just so much more to it. For a start she starts work at 3.30am so that she and the train driver can prepare three commuter trains for the day.

Generators need to be started to warm or cool the carriages, depending on the season, followed by checking the brakes on each of 24 carriages. This takes until approximately 5am. She and the driver then put the first train on the platform and pilot the train out of the “cage” onto the platform in readiness for its trip to Wellington. The cage is a massive electric fenced area guarded by security personnel at night. 

The Wairarapa has the longest passenger tunnel in the southern hemisphere – 8.9 kms which means special care needs to be taken to prepare for an adverse event in that narrow space. Passengers are counted so that a response team knows numbers to be rescued. The train manager wears a gas monitor, a radio as well as their ticket wallet.  … Continue Reading