Kete Rotorua

I remember the good old days when a real treat was to go for a ride on the Toot-n-Whistle, one of Rotorua’s iconic tourism activities in the 1960s.  You would purchase your ticket at the little shop station, climb aboard and the train conductor with the train cap would walk alongside the train, clicking your ticket with a big clicker!  Then you were off, slowly at first, going under an overhead ramp where those who were left behind could wave goodbye.  The chugging  tempo increased and the wonderful smell of the diesel steam engulfed you as the Toot-n-Whistle picked up speed.  Over bubbling, hot mud pools, the train would chug along, taking its cargo of excited children (and adults) through brush and steam, past prehistoric creatures and bathing hippos.  The sound of the wheels alternated depending on whether you were on a bridge, on a slight rise or sailing past the station where you could wave gloatingly at the crowds as the train began its next circuit.  Oh how wonderful it was, even  though it would breach a miriad of  Health & Safety laws in today’s world. 
Thank you Mr Train Driver for some wonderful memories!

Tags: Toot-n-Whistle