Owen Saunders has urgent work to do. One of the massive gears on his pride and joy - a 6hp, three-speed, 1911 Burrell steam traction engine - has split and he wants the engine running again in time for two public outings soon.
On Friday, the Winton farmer plans to be part of the street parade being held to celebrate the Winton and A&P Association's 100th summer show the following day, and a week later he intends to trundle over to Edendale at a sedate top speed of 24kmh for the annual Crank Up vintage machinery weekend.
The gear and shaft are already sitting in a cradle in Mr Saunders' well-stocked workshop waiting to be repaired.
It is about the busiest time of the year for Mr Saunders, who grows and harvests chaff the old-fashioned way, with a chaff cutter towed behind a tractor, but he says he will make time to get his beauty back on the road.
''She'll be ready. No doubt about it.''
Engine No 3335 was built at Charles Burrell and Sons Ltd in England and brought out to New Zealand new by a Reid and Gray agent in Ashburton. It came to Southland in 1936 and since 1940 was mainly used to drive a gravel crusher on the Oreti River.
Mr Saunders knew the engine - it was based on the riverbank about 2km from his home.
''Garnie Moir ran it through to 1973 until he'd absolutely worn it out with the dust from the gravel and couldn't drive it any more. I pestered him for three or four years after that until I was able to buy it, because I'd always wanted a traction engine.''
He planned to restore it to run his chaff cutter, but a lack of time, money and know-how got in the way for more than 35 years.
Mr Saunders, a fitter and turner by trade, says he understood the mechanical side of the engine but needed ''the right steer'' about the steam.
''I was setting about to restore a double-cab 1938 Ford V8 truck which was produced with a chaff cutter on the back and found John Winter in Seadown [near Timaru], whose knowledge and guidance on the traction engine project were crucial.''
With help from ''a few hangers-on'', he spent four years and about 8000 hours bringing the engine back to its former glory, a task completed just before last year's Crank Up event.
He is proud of his efforts.
''As far as I'm concerned, she was the star of the show at Edendale. Burrells are the Rolls-Royce of traction engines. There were 30 of this model built and this is the only one left in the world.''
It is also one of the very few traction engines with its original parts manual.
''They were knocking down a shop in Ashburton which it turned out was the shop this engine was sold from originally. There was an old tin trunk in the roof and inside were parts manuals for traction engines, including this one. They gave the manuals to a young fellow who was interested in engines, and he gave them to John Winter, so the original parts book for this engine is now in my possession.
''There wouldn't be five engines in New Zealand with their original parts manuals. It is very rare to have that.''
He has not added up the cost of the restoration, but he knows it was a lot. In 2011, he travelled to the United Kingdom to buy parts he couldn't find in New Zealand.
''The crankshaft was broken and I heard there was one under a hedge on a place about 30 miles from Gatwick Airport. I rang the owner about 15 times and he said he would find it for me but he never did. In the end, I said I was coming over and would be there in two days to look for it myself. It was the right one, so I bought it.
''I was lucky because we had taken five traction engines from New Zealand to a rally over there and I was able to bring parts back in the same containers.''
Painting his engine proved challenging. Because paint is classified as a dangerous item, Mr Saunders was unable to import UK-made Burrell green and red into New Zealand.
''So I got someone from Heritage Steam in the UK to send me a dry paint sample and had the exact colours manufactured here.''
Mr Saunders describes driving his engine as ''bouncy, noisy and fun''.
''There are just two chains between the steering wheel and the front wheels, so you can be off the road quite quickly if you want to be. Going uphill is fun but a lot of concentration is required going downhill. You have to keep water over the top of the fire box and when you are going downhill all the water runs to the front of the tank and there is nothing over the fire.
''Also, traction engines have no brakes. They are the only vehicle legally allowed to be driven on New Zealand roads without brakes. To slow them down or stop them you have to put them into reverse.''
Keeping the furnaces stoked and the water tank filled are vital. The engine is fired up before a journey and while on the road two people are required on board. While one steers, the other shovels coal or wood into the furnace through a hole in the cab floor. About every 20km, the 300 gallon (1360 litre) tank must be refilled with water, a process which involves pulling up beside a creek and using the on-board hose.
Traction engines were first manufactured in the 1860s and were produced up to about 1925. Mr Saunders estimates there are only about 100-110 operational engines left in New Zealand, and another 130 in parts or awaiting restoration. Because of their heritage value, the New Zealand AntiquitiesAct bans their sale overseas.
For those reasons, traction engines are sought after and costly to buy. Mr Saunders was offered $100,000 for his before it was restored and knows it is worth a lot more now.
''On the worst day, you could find I would get $250,000 for it, and on a good day twice that, if I'm lucky.
''But I won't be selling it. My son Brendan helped me restore it and is interested in it, too.''
Mr Saunders, who calls himself a ''collector-maniac'', owns several vintage and classic cars and tractors including the Ford truck, a 1929 Willys-Knight, a 1911 Darracq and a 1952 Morris Minor.
His next restoration project is a tipping trailer to tow behind the traction engine. He has two of them which were made about 1880 or 1890 by McAllister Bros in Leven St, Invercargill, and used to lay the ballast under tram tracks.
