'Unbelievable'

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 41, 25 March 1986, Page 16

'Unbelievable'

"Bloody unbelievable" was how a certain pipesmoking punter from Ohakune described his recent experience with New Zealand Railways. The punter (who declined to be named) said that he'd returned from Auckland's Ellerslie racecourse on board the Silver Fern and, when he alighted at Ohakune, noticed his favourite pipe was missing. He didn't bother reporting the loss as he thought there was little chance that

the pipe would be found and returned as it carried no identification. Imagine the punter's surprise therefore when, a few days' later, he got a phone call from the Ohakune Railway Station saying that they had just received a pipe from Welington and asking: "was it his?" When he confirmed that he'd lost the pipe on the train earlier in the week he was told that it had been found when the Silver Fern terminated its journey in Wellington. NZR staff had then traced the likely owner by matching seat numbers with names of passengers travelling on that day. Our pipe-smoking punter, now happily re-united with his favourite tobacco burner, was most impressed with NZR service and was seen last week puffing away contentedly on his unlit pipe muttering: "unbelievable"!