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Lauren

Recently I've made a number of custom steam locomotives for some friends. Ordinarily I don't make them publicly available, but this is one of the rare exceptions. In other words, the majority of custom locomotives I've made will remain private.

Lauren The Engine is named after a girl I met around 2016, if memory serves me right. We went to the same high school or college (or whatever your generation is) together, and - after a couple of years break - we've essentially re-united. And no, Lauren is not my girlfriend or anything of that nature. She is just a friend. Lauren also gave me permission to upload this locomotive to Steam Workshop.

The engine is painted purple, in reference to the colour of the real Lauren's school bag (which I know is weird, but she's cool with me mentioning that fact).

In a way, she is an incarnation of AB 795 (despite this model being slightly inaccurate; 4-6-4 when it should be 4-6-2). The real AB 795 is famous as being one of the two Kingston Flyer locomotives.

AB 795 was built in 1927 at New Zealand Railways' Hillside Workshops. Curiously she wasn't originally built as a tender engine, but rather a 4-6-4 tank engine of the WAB class. Incidentally the WAB was designed as a tank-engine version of the AB tender engine; there are a number of identical features on both classes.

The engine was used primarily in the South Island, or - at least - I think that was the case. After World War 2 - more specifically, in 1947 - WAB 795 was converted into an AB, and given a tender that was formerly used on a G class 4-6-2. 795 retained her original number, and carried on running with New Zealand Railways.

In early 1971 the locomotive was used to haul some farewell rail tours on the Catlins River Branch, which ran from Balclutha to Tahakopa. The entire route was closed except for the 4 kilometre section from Balclutha to Finegand.

As for AB 795, well her future was changed dramatically in 1971, as she was selected to be one of the two engines to haul the Kingston Flyer. This was an unusual steam-hauled tourist service over the line from Kingston to Lumsden, that only ran seasonally. As well as passengers, freight wagons were sometimes hauled by AB 795 (and classmate 778).

Today AB's 778 and 795 are still based at Kingston, though the Kingston Flyer has since been reduced to a passenger-only service running from Kingston to Fairlight (the section to Lumsden having been closed in ). The current route is only 14 kilometres long, but has faced several financial issues since the 2009 bankruptcy.

Despite the troubles, it is hoped that the Kingston Flyer will resume service over the 2020/2021 summer.