A freight train caught fire on the line at Paekakariki Hill. Photo / Kapiti News
Early morning commuters had their travel disrupted badly after a diesel locomotive fire at Paekakariki this morning.
The locomotive was the second from the front among five locomotives going northwards together with a long goods train behind them.
The fire broke out between the overbridge at Paekakariki and Fisherman's Table on the hill side of the train line.
Ash Richardson, from the Paekakariki Volunteer Fire Brigade, said the fire was in a ventilated area above the engine.
The fire was difficult to access especially as overhead power lines had to be turned off for safety reasons.
"It basically burnt out by itself by the time we were able to do anything with it.
"We gave it one big blast with a C02 fire extinguisher and that seemed to work really well so we started up the train and moved it into a side area at Paekakariki Railway Station that doesn't have electrical overheads."
Mr Richardson said it had been a busy time for the brigade starting from Anzac weekend.
"We have had call after call day after day.
"We've had cars on fire, motor vehicle crashes, CPR, train fire - it has been chaos.
"Last year we hardly did anything."
The eight men arrived in New Zealand to find the jobs did not exist.