2024 Palmerston North Conference

First off, we want to say thank you to everyone who made Conference 2024 so successful.

Conference 2024 was hosted by Feilding & Districts Steam Rail Society and held at the Distinction Hotel in Palmerston North. Delegates that landed in Wellington on the Friday morning jumped on a bus and headed up the stunning Kapiti Coast.

The first stop was Mainline Steam’s Plimmerton depot, where Kb968, Ja1236 Joanna), Ka942 (Nigel Bruce), Ja1240 (Jessica) and Ab663 (Sharon Lee) were on display. Delegates got to also got to see number of carriages, two Djs, an Ew, K911, and a Rhodesian and a South African locomotive in the shed.

Next was Steam Incorporated at Paekakariki, where delegates got to roam the loco and carriage sheds and see Ab608, Ja1271 and J1234, all Dunedin-based locomotives before the demise of steam in the South Island.

After a hearty BBQ lunch the next stop was the Wellington Tramway Museum at McKays Crossing, established in 1965. Delegates rode on tram No.17, built in 1904, down to the beach. The tram line passes through the site of the WW2 US marines base were 50,000 marines were based prior to their deployment in the Pacific war.

Saturday 1 June commenced with a welcome from FRONZ President Grant Craig, and John Logan, Chairman of the Feilding and District’s Steam Rail Society.

Following on, was a talk from Rachel Keedwell, Chairman of the Horizons District Council who spoke on the importance of the Capital Connection train service to her area, and Tangi Utikere – the Labour Transport spokesman – who delivered a video message due to having to be in Paliament for a sitting day.

Tangi made a physical appearance on the Sunday, and it was great to see a politician interrupt what’s left of their weekend to say hello.

Saturday morning’s conference session was different to what we’ve done for the previous 48 years – such a simple improvement, you can’t help but wonder how we didn’t do this sooner.

Based on what you’ve told us, the Executive looked at how we could pack more into an already tight programme. The result was six 20-minute breakout sessions: 

Operational training and how RAIL can help your organisation, presented by RAIL’s Donald Ross; 

A case study looking at a resleepering incident at National Park, presented by NZTA.

HTC and what it can offer to non-mainline groups, presented by HTC chair Michael Hobbs; 

Future-proofing museums, with Bridget Wellwood; 

Marketing your organisation via social media, by Melissa Brenzinger; 

Internal audits, presented by Allan Neilson. 

The end result was better than any of us expected. While there is some refining to do for next time, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with delegates able to get their steps in moving between rooms for the different presentations. 

This shows how your feedback can benefit everyone!