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AB 663 Jazz Festival

In 2009, 2010 and 2011, a railway preservation group called Steam Incorporated brought a steam locomotive to Tauranga for a few excursion trains. These were always for the National Jazz Festival, and the locomotive was JA class 4-8-2 No. 1271. The locomotive that has been represented in this reskin is AB 663, a 4-6-2 tender engine that is part of Mainline Steam's collection, not Steam Incorporated. In other words, AB 663 is on the good side of railway preservation. JA 1271 isn't.

Steam Incorporated have since become my least favourite railway preservation group. This is because of the sheer amount of bad luck I had with them, and the fact that they just don't seem like nice people at all. For example, when JA 1271 was in Tauranga, I was part of the que of people waiting to get a look on the footplate of the JA. Just before I was about to hop up, they told me to shove off because they had to go and get more water for the engine. Back in July 2015, me and Dad went on an excursion with Steam Inc from Levin to Palmerston North and return. On the return trip there was one coach that was empty, and we asked if we got sit in the empty coach. Unsurprisingly we weren't allowed to go in there. More recently (January 2016), we turned up to the Paekakariki depot right when they had finished having an open day, so we were told to shove off. And the one time I actually got to have a look around the depot (January 2017), I was growled at for climbing up in the cab of diesel shunter DS 202, even though that locomotive was fully operational, so there was no chance of me falling through the floor. The last reason I hate Steam Incorporated is because they seem too stubborn to bring JA 1271 to Tauranga for the Jazz Festival anymore.

Of course this is all my opinion. If you like Steam Incorporated, that's great.

There is a positive side to all this. At least I was allowed to wander around Steam Inc's Paekakariki depot, and got to see locomotives such as AB 608, J 1234, JA 1271, DA's 1410, 1431 and 1471. Then there was a time in May 2018, when DA 1431 paid a visit to Hamilton. Due to the close proximity to where I live, we headed over the Kaimais and found DA 1431 at Hamilton station. I remember one of the Steam Inc people was quite friendly, saying 'hello' to me at one point. Also, when I came across DA 1410 in the shed at Paekakariki, I ended up sneeking into the cab. The cab was so cramped that I couldn't stand up fully, and I'm 5ft 11inch tall.

Here's a link to an album on my Flickr page. This includes the photographs I took on the day I visited the Paekakariki depot.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cnj2000/albums/72157696203293304
This 2nd link is to the album from the day I went over to Hamilton to see DA 1431.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cnj2000/albums/72157693806066822