A warning sign at the Westland Industrial Heritage Park reads 'Retired person on premise. Knows everything and has time to tell it.'
In reality, there are many retired persons at the park, all using their remarkable skills accumulated over a lifetime to keep the industrial history of the West Coast alive, with pistons pumping.
As Jim Staton explained to Seven Sharp, "Everything we get, we try and make it work again."
The former DOC historian is working to restore a steam engine that drove the Gilbert & Tomasi sawmill from 1912 to 1937.
Behind the engine is an old Birmingham boiler, once used in an Auckland foundry, which eventually powered a coffee grinder in Hokitika. According to Staton, the company ground "four pounds of coffee beans per minute", and the coffee was sent nationwide.
Keith Houston fired up a Russell Hornsby diesel engine in the Big Engine Shed. "It was built in 1941 and used to drive a generator for a spotlight during the war," he said.
"It was brought out to New Zealand by the Banks family and put into their sawmill at Franz (Josef), and we were able to buy it."
Heritage Park Secretary, Ian Gilberston, said the park was founded on the realisation that historical machinery was being sold for scrap. "A lot of the stuff you see today was heading off on trains to Japan to come back as Toyotas."
Over 25 years, Gilbertson said the park had "blossomed," attracting "quiet, unassuming people who you suddenly find have a lifetime of skills".
Colloquially, they call themselves the Rusty Relics.
People like Maria Martin-Smith are highlighting the creative heritage of the region, with a focus on early apparel making. Her vast collection of century-old sewing machines is proving popular with visitors, young and old.
Martin-Smith said because of their cost, sewing machines were once popular wedding gifts. She has also built a loom by hand to show visitors how fibres are woven together to produce rugs and other items.
In the same shed, 93-year-old Gordon Stiles displays his beautifully restored cream separators: "Every small farm had one of these," he said.
As he cranked the handle and the machine began to whirr, Stiles reflected on his decision to relocate from Auckland to the West Coast when he retired from his career as a commercial project manager.
"When you get older, you can't cope with the rush and the bustle. You like to quietly settle down to where the next door neighbours are your friends and look after you, and you look after them," he explained. "That's the Coast way."
Gavin Hargreaves from Greymouth admitted retirement had been a struggle for him. "I miss work, to be honest, and I miss the comradeship with customers."
His customers now are kids of all ages who visit the park, specifically to travel on Hargreaves ride-on, replica steam locomotive.
"My father was a founder member of the Nelson Society of Modellers, and I was an only child," recalled Hargreaves. "So what else do you do but go out into the shed with your father and learn what he does."
Hargreaves' replica loco travels on a purpose-built track erected by park volunteers, running through a remnant of native bush adjacent to Hokitika Airport. Members have also constructed a turntable for the miniature trains.
The park also hosts a collection of vintage fire engines and a livery, which includes the last commercial stagecoach to traverse Arthur's Pass in August 1923, before the Otira Tunnel was opened.
The park is open to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when volunteers are about to explain the history of the machinery on display and, hopefully, entice new members into their ranks.
"Before we fall off our perches, we want to be able to pass on to younger people," said Gilbertson. "People who are starting to think about retirement and what they're going to do so that there's a continuity — so those skills can be passed on and, at least, maintain what we've got."
In the Livery workshop, Phil Murphy said helping out at the park was "good fun," adding with a chuckle, "If I start calling it work, I'm going to stop coming."
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