NZ carriages with reversible seats
The annual rugby fixture against St Pats was and still is widely anticipated and appreciated, not only by the players from the 1st XV but also by the hoards of boarders who support them from the sideline with a rousing school haka or two.
In my time at school we used travel to Hawera is a special train so as to meet St Pat's on neutral ground, supposedly half way between New Plymouth and Wellington.
St Patrick's College (Silverstream) was originally established in 1885 so it has a similar pedigree to New Plymouth Boys High School although it is a Catholic Boarding School and NPBHS is largely secular.
The rivalry between the two schools is intense and we all looked forward to going to Hawera with our school scarves around our necks and coats to ward off the cold.
In my time at school we used travel to Hawera is a special train so as to meet St Pat's on neutral ground, supposedly half way between New Plymouth and Wellington.
St Patrick's College (Silverstream) was originally established in 1885 so it has a similar pedigree to New Plymouth Boys High School although it is a Catholic Boarding School and NPBHS is largely secular.
The rivalry between the two schools is intense and we all looked forward to going to Hawera with our school scarves around our necks and coats to ward off the cold.
The train in question had some of the oldest carriages NZ Rail could find to put on the tracks, no doubt in the theory that we could wreck them any more than they already were.
Entertainment en route included 'tossing the turd', where some hapless third former of diminutive stature would be placed in a blanket and tossed by seniors into another 'catching' blanket further down the carriage.
I use the term 'catching' advisedly as it didn't always happen as planned. This aerial ping-pong from my own third form year is still etched in my memory although fortunately I was of slightly heavier build and deemed 'un-tossable'.
The carriage seats were wooden and could be rolled over to face the other way, creating mini cubicles.
Entertainment en route included 'tossing the turd', where some hapless third former of diminutive stature would be placed in a blanket and tossed by seniors into another 'catching' blanket further down the carriage.
I use the term 'catching' advisedly as it didn't always happen as planned. This aerial ping-pong from my own third form year is still etched in my memory although fortunately I was of slightly heavier build and deemed 'un-tossable'.
The carriage seats were wooden and could be rolled over to face the other way, creating mini cubicles.
The virtually indestructable NZ Rail plate
The other competitive activity on this type of train was 'saucer discus'. The heavy Crown Lynn NZ Railway saucers and plates were virtually indestructible and an approaching viaduct or high bridge would instigate a fever pitch of activity and impromptu betting.
Windows on one side were prised open and mid-span the plates (or saucers) were flung into the abyss. He whose plate went furthest was declared the winner.
This rather mindless 'sport' of crockery discus also took place on normally scheduled passenger trains that brought boarders back to school at the start of each term.
It was not unknown for boys to be thrown off the train at the next available station by irate Guards and to have to bus to their final destination.
I remember one such bus trip from Hawera back to New Plymouth and having to face the wrath of my housemaster which cured me of the crockery habit once and for all.
Windows on one side were prised open and mid-span the plates (or saucers) were flung into the abyss. He whose plate went furthest was declared the winner.
This rather mindless 'sport' of crockery discus also took place on normally scheduled passenger trains that brought boarders back to school at the start of each term.
It was not unknown for boys to be thrown off the train at the next available station by irate Guards and to have to bus to their final destination.
I remember one such bus trip from Hawera back to New Plymouth and having to face the wrath of my housemaster which cured me of the crockery habit once and for all.
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