“Josephine”

Mr. James Beadle of 121 Bedford Street, St. Clair, Dunedin, sends the following interesting reminiscence of the aged “Josephine,” one of New Zealand's first railway locomotives:—When the “Josephine” and the “Rose” ran on the Port Chalmers line, for which they were imported, they had no spark arrestors, but straight bronze tipped funnels. An excursion to Lawrence was run on 24th May about 50 years ago and I went with it (have not been since). The “Josephine” took us from Clarksville. Soon after leaving Mt. Allan (or Stuart) our engine broke down and the train was brought to a stand-still on an incline. A while after it was run back to the station where some goods wagons were detached and a start made with another engine. After a great struggle we got through to Lawrence an hour late. A spare six-wheeled engine was in the shed there and a start was made to get up steam, but as everything was cold (including the weather), it was an hour past the time for starting before we started homewards, and Oh, my! We ran at such a speed that we appeared to jump round the sharp curves so well known on that line. We got to Clarksville in time to connect with the main train and arrived safely at Dunedin. The “Josephine” is a memory to me, being the first locomotive to come within my ken, and having carried me through, what would likely have been a “stick up” for hours.