on to the big post...
i ran it by my boss, and she was happy to help by ringing a few customers and asking them to get their orders in before 9 on sunday morning.
it ended up i was at work at 8pm on the saturday, and back again at 7am sunday. i got done, with basically minutes to spare, at 10. its a 35min drive to blairs, and i had to be there by 11. after getting stuck behind two tractors, i got to his with 5mins spare.
we got to the palmy yard around 11.30. i took a few photos of the locos i could see, but none of ours as they were behind a few others and i wasnt able to stop once we were in the yard. we were taking locos DXB5051 as lead and DL9348, with 10 milk tankers behind us.
we nearly ran down a hawk, several pidgeons and a few pheasants, one only escaped with a matter of inches to spare. if we did hit anything, i didnt see it and blair didnt say. he also saw a stag down in a gully and a few rabbits.
we got up the westmere bank, the second steepest grade in the country and then the rain started. it rained all the rest of the way. during the latter half of the trip, there was another strong earthquake. had it been much stronger, we would have been ordered to stop where we were, and wait for the gangers to come and check the track. luckily, that didnt happen.
at wanganui, blair had to get a track warrent to give him permission to continue north, so we had a chance to get out, take some photos and talk to friends and family who came along.
the trip was uneventful, which was good. we left the locos at whareroa and brought a car back down. very weird to drive out a town heading south, and return from the north.
click this last pic to see more photos of the day