‘Josephine’ comes to life

Reading the picture book Josephine Off The Rails on the train’s 150th birthday yesterday are Rose Videler and her daughter Neive Clarke (1) in front of the steam locomotive at Toitu Otago Settlers Museum, in Dunedin.

The double Fairlie (double ended) locomotive first operated at the Dunedin-Port Chalmers Railway in 1872.

The train was sent to be scrapped 45 years later after being used around the country.

It was saved from the scrapyard and has been on display at the museum since the late 1920s.

The train was restored and moved indoors in the late 1960s.

It is one of only a handful of surviving double Fairlies left in the world.

Ms Videler said her daughter loved the play areas when she was younger, but it was her first visit to the museum as a toddler.