Masterton playground's vintage Tractor to make Christmas debut

By Emily Ireland, Local Democracy Reporter

It's been four years since a popular tractor and bulldozer were controversially removed from a children's playground in Masterton due to safety fears.

The vintage farm machinery did not meet modern playground standards and councillors were told it would cost $60,000 to safeguard the duo.

Despite being mainstays of Queen Elizabeth Park's Kids Own Playground for more than 60-years, they were removed with little notification in the early hours of December 2020.

But thanks to goodwill, hours upon hours of voluntary work, and "less than $5000 in materials", the playground would once again be home to a shiny blue tractor.

The bulldozer was still a work in progress.

Masterton Mayor Gary Caffell said the council and community were "indebted" to Paul Foster, an engineer who worked tirelessly through a cancer diagnosis over the past few years to get a tractor back on site for generations to enjoy.

Despite criticisms that any safe tractor would no longer resemble one, this was a case of the little tractor that could.

With its bright blue eyes, the tractor helped motivate Foster through some of the hardest days of his life as he battled with fatigue and illness from cancer and chemotherapy.

For two years, Foster was bedridden, saved only by an American drug trial which he said had given him his life back.

Foster, who belonged to the Friends of the Park group, said it was a pleasure to "get it done".

He said the group's plans were originally to restore the machinery "in situ", but the equipment was hastily removed, resulting in an uproar on local social media, with accusations council staff were ignoring the wishes of residents and councillors.

Councillors had previously rejected a recommendation from staff to remove the playground equipment.

They had also questioned estimated costs of $60,000 to safeguard the equipment.

In May, 2021, the Friends of the Park's offer to get the two antique farm vehicles up to standard was accepted by Masterton District Council, and they assumed possession in July that year.

Foster said the blue Fordson tractor was "pretty buggered" and conceded it was dangerous for kids.

"Of course, once it is removed, to go back in, it must fulfil all of the safety requirements," he said.

Ultimately, it was decided to replace the tractor with a similar vintage model which still needed to be retrofitted to comply with modern playground standards.

This meant encasing parts of the machinery to avoid little fingers getting hurt.

Caffell said the playground equipment saga had been caused by changes to health and safety regulations which he personally thought were "far too strict".

"Quite frankly, it's crazy we have had to do this, but it's amazing that Paul has taken the job on and done it.

"There's been a lot of frustrations and health battles along the way, but to get it to this stage, we're just indebted to Paul and the Friends of the Park."

Caffell said the council had never had a complaint about the tractor's safety.

"We only had complaints when it went", Deputy Mayor Bex Johnson said.

She was pleased the project had been finished in time for Christmas.

"Our gratitude goes to Paul, Friends of the Park, and the community for letting us know how important it was to them.

"We find we get more traction with community-led, council-supported projects.

"We are a council that prefers to roll out the red carpet rather than the red tape."

The tractor would make its debut at Masterton's Christmas Parade on Saturday where it would be led to the park to stay on permanently as playground equipment.

The parade would start at 12.30pm on Queen St near Countdown, travel down Queen St, and end at the Farriers car park.

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.