KEY POINTS:
The South Island's famous vintage steam train, the Kingston Flyer, seems set to earn a new nickname - Old Sparky.
An Indian summer has left the Queenstown-Lakes District area severely dry and resulted in the coal-fuelled tourist train leaving a trail of mini-fires in its wake during its twice-daily runs - requiring staff members, known as "smoke chasers", to follow the 14km track in a jeep to douse any flames.
Sources have told the Herald on Sunday that, at one point, as many as eight fires were sparking up during every train run.
They occurred during a total fire ban in the Southland and Queenstown-Lakes District areas which the train travels through.
The Kingston Flyer is based in Kingston on the southern shores of Lake Wakatipu, a 40-minute drive south of Queenstown.
Its history spans more than 125 years and it still departs Kingston station twice daily during its running season, operating two NZ-built locomotives on the track between Kingston and Fairlight.
Operations manager Diane Simpson says the fires happened a little more than a week ago.
"We did have some problems with the train setting fires," she said.
"It is just one of the hazards that goes with running a coal-fired steam train."
Local rural fire chiefs said the train's operators appeared not to have cleared the track of vegetation as thoroughly as in previous years before the dry weather set in.
