The start of the day

At the start of each running day we meet down at the big shed for a briefing,  This isnt much of a pic but it says a lot.
It takes a lot of us to work the train for the day. The little lad is only 12 but loves trains. He has no dad so his mother brings him out to help she feels the male contact is good for him. He helps the guard clicking tickets etc and the last two sundays they have allowed him to have a radio and do some of the calling out. He is so proud and helpful. The man in the overalls is a retired engineer from Christchurch two hours north. He loves trains has his ticket to drive but spends many hours working on all the engines. They have done a railway hut for him so he staysa on site when he comes down. The guy on the right is in his 30's but has been coming out since he was a kid. Now a qualified engineer so as well as working on the engines he drives the trainbut today was Station manager down at the ticket office end with me and was overall in charge for the day. The other guy wears many hats driving  the model T Railcar and much more. They all dress to suit whatever job they are doing for the day. Black shoes polished etc
Today I sold 250 tickets and most of them rode it more than once. 
We had people from India, Italy, England and all around NZ
After almost 8 hours down there came home pretty tired, for an 82year old its a lot of hours mainly standing but is enjoyable
One of the things that make it so worthwhile is the people you meet. Todays standout was a young very brave mother and her little boy with no hair and a nasal tube who had over 2000 beads from cancer treatments. Amongst other things he had a bone marrow transplant. Took real hard work from me not to cry as we talked. She bought him a railway tee shirt and hat and he did look cute. After they went away I so wished I had paid for them for her. She had to be with him in three different hospitals the length of NZ
A shame I hadn't waited til they were all gathered before I took the photo . However its a wee insight into my day