NZR Ab608 Passchendaele revisited

ANZAC Day is when New Zealanders (and Australians) remember the men who have fallen serving in all wars. We should not forget them.

It somehow seemed appropriate for me to revisit my drawing of Ab608 Passchendaele. One of my early sales of this print was to Des Jolly who wrote:

I was a young fireman (17) based in Christchurch - I turned up for duties one afternoon and there she was - all painted up with the white handrails, wheels and red siderods. It even had the Passchendaele Plaque attached on the running board each side of her. I was that excited before booking on duty I went and climbed up into the cab for a look, etc. Well, when I finally did book on duty you could not imagine my delight when I found that she was booked out to me and my mate as our loco for our shift that very day.

Des was kind enough to send me some photos and illustrations, including a badge facsimile of the plaque. I have 'corrected' my original drawing to depict Ab608 closer to how she was in reality. My deep thanks to Des for his interest and kindness.

NZR TranzMetro ET3148

Yet another locomotive. I travel on one of these most week days, so it seemed natural to add one to my collection. This is based on a photo taken at Melling, Lower Hutt, 09 September 2010.



The NZR EM/ET class electric multiple units are used on the 1500V DC electrified TranzMetro suburban services in Wellington, NZ. They were built by Ganz-Mavag, Budapest, Hungary (with the electrical components supplied by GEC traction, UK). There are 44 two-car units, each consisting of an EM class motor car and an ET class trailer car. ET3148 is paired with EM1148 and was introduced in August 1982.