I had to call the same local Fire Brigade out this afternoon. There was a fire burning in dry vegetation in Abbot's Creek right next to the railway bridge when I crossed it with a train. As there is no natural source of ignition, it would have to have been arson. It just shows the idiots around when you consider how tinder-dry the countryside in Wairarapa is at the moment. The “silly-season�?is well and truely underway!

And in Masterton this morning, a Tranzit Coachlines bus in Metlink livery running one of the Masterton town routes stopped at Renall Street level crossing (where the level crossing alarms were operating), then drove off over the tracks in front of the train I was hauling (also with a Metlink livery). The train wasn't stopping at the adjacent Renall Street Station, so was approaching the crossing at speed. I can just imagine the newspaper headlines if it had been a hit - “Metlink train crashes into Metlink bus!�?Ontrack's Network Control Manager was not very impressed when Train Control logged the incident, and the result is that the “shit has now hit the fan�?and both the Police and Land Transport NZ are investigating.