Saturday, 5 April 2008, Following the consultation of the book written by noted weather forecaster Ken Ring, who studies the effects that the moon has on our weather, I expected a fine day. All started well, it was a clear day in the capital city. Due to running late and knowing that the TranzMetro station and the Silver Stream Railways entrance was a fair hike, I went in search of a taxi. after a wait of 20 minutes and the 12:30pm start approaching I was getting a little anxious. Luckily for me one of the crew working on the W & MR carriage at the North End of the Silver Stream Railway's line came by and offered a lift.

Rm 30 scuttled into the workshop at the North End, and then the participants in the Railfan's day emerged, there were about 20-30 of them in total, after a while Rm 30 returned to McKirdy and them the goods trains started to roll, fist up was De 508 & 505. At each location two runs were made. After the De's, C 847 joined the train, at about this point in the rain started to fall. Rm 30 scuttled backwards and forwards between the goods train runs to shuttle the photographers from location to location, the highlight for most was photographing the trains emerging from under the restored signal gantry.

Afternoon tea was provided in the railway station at McKirdy, it was a celebration of 25 years of the Silver Stream Railway, and a fine celebration it was indeed, there were many tantalizing goodies on offer. It was also a time to meet and greet old friends and make new ones.

Freight Consist:
Kp 1916, Uc 1343, Q 1381, Q 1350, La 18921, U 418, M 106, F 139 - C 847, De 508 & De 505
La 418, U 418, M 106, F 139 - C 132

Sunday, 6 April 2008, A beautiful day in Wellington, no consulting of Mr Rings publication today, seems to be a bad omen to ‘know’ what the weather is likely to be months in advance. I caught a unit to Silverstream this time armed with the knowledge that bus No. 110 passes by the station somewhere, unsure of where I looked down the street and found a bus stop with timetable, what a find! After 10 minutes the bus came by and it was again off to the Silver Stream Railway. Entry was granted with the aid of the letter issued to members participating in Railfan’s Day.

First up was number taking, yes I know it doesn't’t sound like much of a holiday to some of you, but it can be a real thrill to ‘discover’ a relic sitting on a siding, and I can tell you that the Silver Stream Railway has a number of notable relics in its substantial collection. After the necessary number taking I proceeded to where the Ransomes and Rapier steam crane No. 124 (ELS 1599) was getting up steam outside the sheds along with C 847. Locomotives C 132, C 847 & De 508 were hauling carriages, and railcar Rm 30 handled train running on the day.

The highlight of the day for many was the lifting demonstration don by the steam crane, first on the agenda was recovering a spare power bogie for a standard railcar, mother nature thought she had a hold on this, but she was no match for the power crane. Crane 124 is rated to lift 15 tons so the railcar bogie would have been nothing. Next up was the ‘saving’ of Jc 5353 which was in a tight spot, close to the edge of a bank which lead into a small creek. The JC was duly saved from the peril of falling into the said creek. Although there were a number of on lookers who wished the JC to fall in, if only to create some more excitement.

After a number of hours at McKirdy it was decided to go to the North End and see what could be photographed there, shots of De 508, C 132, C 847 and Rm 30 were obtained. The light and the weather were deteriorating hence the photos. In hindsight one should have done the photography up the line in the morning while the sun was out, not near the end of the day as the rain came down.

The passenger consist was F 139, Aa 1601 & A 1833.

All in all it was a good weekend, I must thank the organiser and all the crew who made this event happen.