ALL STEAMED UP
Chris Cooper can trace his fascination with steam to his grandfather, who was a boiler inspector on the railways at Taumarunui.
Born and raised in Hamilton, Chris remembers school holidays spent around the marshalling yards and workshops of that historic central North Island town. One day he bribed the driver of a shunting loco with a bunch of grapes and so gained his first ride in the cab of a steam loco.
Chris went on to become interested in model steam locomotives. He joined Hamilton Model Engineers Inc. in the days when it had its facilities at Seddon Park and built his first model steam engine.
The steam adventure begins
Also a member of the club was John Hannah, chief engineer at the Waitoa Dairy Factory. John ran a steam launch named Greenbank and, as Chris explains, it started there.
“[John] would ask people to come and ‘fire’ (stoke) for him. He had the launch moored at the Paeroa Maritime Museum. We had some serious adventures going out through the Waihou River into the Firth of Thames and up to Clevedon on the
