The Tokomaru Steam Museum

The Ice Machine at the Tokomaru Steam Museum

The Ice Machine at the Tokomaru Steam Museum - January 1999 Once the tent had dried we headed South to visit the Steam Museum at Tokomaru 12 kms South of Palmerston North on the road to Levin. We spent a couple of fascinating hours looking over the exhibits many of which are run regularly, but unfortunately only on selected Sundays. They have a steam train, station and a short loop track as well as the static engines. Many are from the local area including a gigantic ice making machine which used to freeze 200 tons of ice a day. The engines originate from the UK (Birmingham and Devizes) and the USA as well as some local versions and are predominately diary, farm and marine. The collection was first opened to the public in 1970 with a grand opening by the Prime Minister in 1973 since which it has gained many extra exhibits. It could well be worth a drive from Wellington on Sunday when they are next in Steam. Any local information office should be able to provide details of steaming days but it is still well worth a visit on a normal days when it is almost deserted - we were the only people present for the whole time on both the visits we made although the owners took time to come over for half and hour both times. See the new page on The Tokomaru Steam Engine Museum for more details.