Model train fans impressed with City Rail Link ahead of first look at Te Waihorotiu
The Auckland Märklin Club is preparing a model train display for the opening of the new Te Waihorotiu station in New Zealand. The club members view the hobby as a way to develop technical skills and tell stories through intricate, miniature landscapes.
Why it matters
This human-interest story highlights community engagement with public infrastructure projects and the cultural value of niche hobbies.
Two days before Te Waihorotiu station reveals itself , the station is filled with only the sounds of howling wind and the footsteps of security patrols.
It's in this setting that Andrew Holt from Auckland Märklin Club arrives with his strong team of five.
With three vans full of models between them, there's no time to take a peek at the new platforms.
"Each individual club member makes their own modules and then we collect them all, bring them in, join them all up together, and hope it all works."
The team has to connect 20 modules together, make sure all the electricals are working, and that the eight trains will be able to run on them, all before Saturday.
Holt, the club's president, said their last two public displays at Maungawhau and Karanga-a-Hape stations had been a great success.
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