Young boy ‘Sparky’ saves passenger train from disaster.

Sunday February 3, 2008
"I hear trains talking to me."
Sparky says "I hear trains talking to me."

Spencer Winslow, also known as ‘Sparky’, is now a local hero in Morningtown after saving an out of control passenger train from disaster.
While riding the express to town with his father, Sparky claimed to hear strange noises. “After a while,” Sparky’s father said, “He broke out in a panic, like he was talking to someone. He was shouting something about a ‘loose front wheel’ on the train. Then he pulled the emergency cable.”

Mr Ed Winslow said, “It was quite an embarrassing commotion at the time, but Sparky insisted the driver check the front wheel on the train. And sure enough, the front wheel was indeed loose.”

When asked how Sparky knew this Sparky said ‘The train’ told him so.

NZ Rail spokesman Arthur Kringel said it didn’t come as any real surprise as, “Our maintenance guys down at the workshop all knock off at 2 and get on the piss all afternoon. Our crappy old trains probably all got loose front wheels.”

Locals say Sparky was a strange sort of a kid, he never played much with the other children and spent most of his time alone at the rail yard in Station Street.

MP Sue Bradford says, “There have been many reports saying Sparky believes trains actually talk to him. These are symptoms the boy has psychological problems, possibly due to a history of smacking or some other form of child abuse.”

Sparky has since been removed from his family and placed into permanent mental health care. Sparky says, “It’s not so bad here. I miss my family and the trains very much, but I now have a friendly piano who talks to me instead.”

Child psychology expert Jack Hannah says, “Yep, like that big old choo choo train, seems Sparky has one or two screws loose himself.”