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Welcome to the Newsletter of the
NRMNZ. This newsletter is intended to
help keep you informed of progress
and developments of New Zealands
National Railway Museum.
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CHAIRMANS MESSAGE
Dear Members and Supporters,
After a slight hiatus we welcome you
back to our Newsletter updates on
the NRMNZ.
As we stand here today, I think it's
safe to say that the NRM project is in
a stage of transition. On site we see
the ground preparation coming to a
close and piling and construction of
the building become our next tasks.
Now that outfitting our temporary
archives container is wrapping up,
the Collection Team will move in and
begin cataloguing the voluminous
amount of material we have stored in
containers.
These are things you can see, but
there are things you can't see going
on as well. For example work on the
Te Papa National Services Museum
Standards Programme is more than
half done now, so there is light at the
end of the tunnel on that massive
undertaking. Fundraising also
becomes trickier as the amounts we
need for the next several budget
items become larger. These things
aren't a surprise, we've known this
would be the case since we began.
Still, that doesn't make the curve any
less steep.
I want to thank those committee
members and friends of the Museum
who have helped with 1001 small
tasks that all go toward making our
dream a reality:
The guys who have put in many hours cleaning graffiti
off the Phoenix electric unit,
The design and engineering people who have worked to
find inexpensive ways to
build us a quality home at the
lowest possible cost,
Those who have helped equip and ready the archive
container by giving us deals
on materials and
commitment of personal
time to install everything,
and even the guy who puts
this newsletter together so
that you know what's
happening with the project.
(And yes, we will see more
frequent newsletter updates
in the future!)
So now we take a deep, cleaning
breath and get back to work.
We thank you for your interest in the
museum.
John Peterson
Chairman
Newsletter of the National Railway Museum of New Zealand August 2014
In this newsletter I write about train working on the Main North Line during 1961. On this line the first station going north from Addington was the old Riccarton Station located just north of Kilmarnock Street. The last passengers called here in 1976 prior to the cessation of the Rangiora suburban trains. In this picture we see Ja 1269 in the loop with work train no. 15 on the 2nd of October 1968. This station for many years also had a private siding for Woods Flour Mill that was on the site of the current Christchurch Girls High School. Photo Wilson Lythgoe.
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NEWS FROM THE MUSEUM
OVER THE LAST YEAR
The first thing that the editor would
like to say, is to apologise for the
rather large gap since the last
museum newsletter at the end of last
year. It certainly isnt due to lack of
news on new things happening in the
last eight or nine months!
The new lead in track.
The Ferrymead Railway's workhorse, Bagnall shunter Tr156 works a rake of five ballast wagons on the museum lead in track earlier this year. Photo George Wealleans
During Labour Weekend 2013 the
Ferrymead Railway was intensively
involved with the Rail 150
celebrations, which involved visiting
locomotives and railcars from
Mainline steam, the Taieri Gorge
Railway and KiwiRail. The
Canterbury Railway Society track
team ably led by Peter Jenkinson had
put in many hours of work upgrading
the branchline leading to the KiwiRail
mainline prior to the entry of these
rolling stock items, which included Ka
942 and the Silver Fern Railcar Rm 24.
However the preparations for this
major event had prevented any
further progress on laying the new
access track to the museum, on the
embankment constructed in July and
August 2013.
However, due to the generosity of
KiwiRail, prior to Christmas 2013 and
on the 2nd
and 3rd
of January 2014 a
KiwiRail track team installed the new
large curved turnout and the access
track itself on the embankment using
91 lb welded rail. The length of the
siding currently is 147 metres. The
museum would like to acknowledge
the key support of KiwiRail without
whose help and support we would
have found it difficult to progress as
far as we have.
The CRS track team later in January
made very short work of ballasting
the new track and later this year a
small team led by Rachel Tucker and
assisted by James Gobbe, Jessy
Blunsdon and William Stringer
installed a new power assisted
switchlock, which by itself is a major
piece of new infrastructure. It is
intended at a later date to install a
trap point on the siding to catch any
possible rolling stock that may run
away on the noticeable gradient
from the turntable down to the
junction point.
KiwiRail signals technician (and Ferrymead Railway Training Officer) Rachel Tucker works on the new Switchlock power assisted turnout for the museum siding. She is assisted from 2nd left, William Stringer, James Gobbe and Jesse Blunsdn. Photo Pete Jenkinson
Currently stored on the siding are the
museums ex Otira and Wellington
Toshiba Heavy Industries built
Electric, Eo 45 of 1968 and NZR
Hillside workshops build Tr 190/943
of 1977 plus a Kp wagon from the
Canterbury Railway Society collection.
KiwiRail Grant for Tr 190/943
The Tr loco (NZR #457) came into
service in January 1977. It is
significant as the last New Zealand
Railway workshops built locomotive
to enter traffic. The museum
committee had been concerned about
this locomotive starting to
deteriorate from exposure to the
elements, in view of the delay to the
construction of the roundhouse. As a
result of this we have been
investigating purchasing a PVC cover
for the loco and some quotes have
been obtained for these.
Quite suddenly during mid June, the
museum chairman John Peterson
received through the Rail Heritage
Trust of New Zealand, information
that KiwiRail were in a position to
offer us a grant towards installing the
missing motor and transmission in
the locomotive. These were missing
from the locomotive when we
received it from KiwiRail several years
ago. The museum had in the interim
received a replacement Gardner 6lX
diesel from our friends at the Ocean
Beach Railway in Dunedin but this
required some replacement of
missing parts.
We are hopeful that this grant will
enable us to replace the missing parts
and transmission for the loco and
have them installed back into the
engine compartment. Committee
member Colin Barry is investigating
ways of doing this. Once again we are
grateful to KiwiRail for their help with
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this project and to the Rail Heritage
trust for facilitating the offer.
Further to this good piece of news,
our chairman is drawing up an official
long term lease with the Rail Heritage
Trust for the loan of this locomotive
to the museum.
Arrival of Cattle Wagon T199
Last year we were offered a number
of items of rolling stock by the Rail
Heritage Trust from the now defunct
Waverley Station Group in Taranaki.
Initially we were interested in both a
three door Z wagon and the cattle
wagon T 199.
However in view of the transport
costs involved, after consideration we
chose to accept only the offer of the
cattle wagon and this was
transported south on the back of an
STL Linehaul truck in February
arriving at Ferrymead on the 17th
.
Despite open air storage at Waverley
over the last few years the wagon is
substantially complete and is in
reasonable condition. Some of the
woodwork has naturally deteriorated
and will need replacement and there
is some corrosion to the steel
underframe and body strapping.
The wagon is one of the T-4 subclass
of these bogie stock wagons and was
built at Addington workshops in
1966, one of the last specialist stock
wagons built by the NZR. There are
about 12 T wagons still in existence
at various sites around New Zealand.
However some of these have had
their bodies removed and been
converted to passenger carrying
vehicles while most of the remainder
are still in an unrestored or semi
derelict condition, one notable
exception being the fully restored T
175 (also a T-4) at the Ocean Beach
Railway.
T 199 will make an interesting
contrast to the much earlier sheep
wagon J 3525 of 1937, in storage in
the Canterbury Railway Society
carriage shed after full restoration in
the CRS workshop. I gave a detailed
description on this wagon and sheep
wagons in general in the November
2012 newsletter.
La-4 Wagon from Paekakariki
In April we were offered free of
charge (except for transport) a 1924 built La-4 highsider wagon no. 15817.
This offer came from NZ Railfan
magazine editor Reid McNaught.
This is a distinctive version of these
once numerous wagons, with a no
headstocks style of construction and
large coil spring axle boxes.
While the wagon has some corrosion
of the ends this is not unrepairable
and given the importance of the
hundreds of similar highside wagons
to NZ rail history we were pleased to
accept Mr McNaughts generous offer.
The wagon is presently located on the
Steam Incorporated premises at
Paekakariki and we had arranged with
well known Wellington railfan Clive
Davis that the wagon be transported
South as part of a backload on his
truck. Unfortunately this contract
was cancelled and we are now faced
with paying commercial rates for
transporting the wagon to Ferrymead.
If anyone would like to help sponsor
this journey, we would be more than
delighted to hear from you!
On the 17th of February 2014, Addington workshops built cattle wagon T199 is craned of to its storage place at Ferrymead. The wagon was formerly at the Waverley Station precinct in Taranaki. Photo Dave Hansen.
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Highsider La 15817 sits in the sun at Paekakariki. We have been offered this wagon free of charge and only need to find transport to get it to Christchurch. Photo Reid McNaught
The English Electric Unit - Phoenix
Readers may remember from the last
newsletter last year that we had
accepted from the Wellington
Regional Council the English Electric
units DM 16 and D 162 (TMS DM 216
and D 2687) known as Phoenix.
After they were finally withdrawn
from Wellington commuter service in
December 2011, the set was donated
to the NRMNZ in January 2013.
The unit has been stored at the
KiwiRail depot in Linwood for the last
year or so but it was finally brought
to Ferrymead by a special shunting
service during June. The unit had
unfortunately been heavily tagged by
vandals during its storage in
Wellington. However several
members are now in the process of
removing this unwanted paintwork by
careful application of a special
solvent. Initially stored on the back
road of the triangle it has now been
separated into its two parts and these
are stored on different sidings in
front of the Ferrymead Railway
Carriage shed and workshop.
As an electric multiple unit, it is very
easy to forget the carriages are 65
years old!
The turntable pump saga.
For the last several months during a
particularly wet spell of Christchurch
weather, visitors to the museum site
will have noticed that the museum
turntable pit has resembled a
swimming pool more than a turntable.
Unfortunately the pump we had
installed last year to drain the pit
after rainfall had burnt out and was
beyond repair. (Apparently this was
due to salt water from the estuary).
This unfortunately was not covered
by insurance and we will need to
source a new pump with an overload
switch and a float switch system.
Committee member Peter Soundy is
in the process of following this up
with a new supplier and we hope to
have the pump replaced soon.
The Archives Container
Last year we purchased a fully
internally lined and carpeted 40 foot
high cube container to act as a
temporary archives until the time
when stage two of the museum
project is built. Stage two includes an
addition to the roundhouse
containing a specialist archive room.
Colin Dash arranged the purchase of
the new container from Spacewise
Containers and it was delivered to a
site adjacent to the turntable at the
end of last year. Since then Colin and
Peter have arranged the fitting out
of new shelving, desks and chairs in
the container. A number of plan
drawers obtained from Archives New
Zealand have also been placed in the
container.
In the last few weeks Peter Soundy
has also arranged installation of a
power supply, allowing lighting and
DM 16 and D 162 wait to be propelled into Ferrymead by two Dc locos as the KiwiRail staff access the switchlock to open the points into the Ferrymead Railway on the 14th of May. Photo Kevin Prince
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heating for the container along with
the ability to set up computers.
Colin Dash is following up a possible
redundant Plan Printer from a local
printing business.
In due course some of the archives
(including plans and photos),
presently held in the CRS library room
above their workshop will be moved
to the new container. After they have
been catalogued in the museum
database it is hoped that the
container will be available for
enthusiasts and researchers to access
files and photographs.
Also during the last year the
Canterbury Society of Model and
Experimental Engineers vacated their
former clubrooms and donated to us
their plan collection which has a
strong rail bias. We thank them for
this donation to our archives.
Peter Soundy works on some strip lighting for the archives container. Photo Colin Dash
The 2014 NRMNZ AGM
Thirteen members attended the AGM
held in the Lions Building at
Ferrymead on the 26th
June. All the
current committee and executive
were available for re-election and the
executive/committee remain as
follows;
John Peterson President, Colin Dash
Vice President; Secretary-Brian
Wheatley; Treasurer- Peter Soundy;
Committee; Cam Moore, Bruce
Shalders, John Mackenzie, Colin,
Barry and Gordon Bartram.
At the meeting it was decided that
Full Membership of the Museum will
remain at $35.00 per annum.
Building Consent and the Future
plans.
We hope to hear from the
Christchurch City Council in the next
few weeks that our building consent
has been approved. We have the
money once this is finalised to dig out
the piling holes for the roundhouse
building and to build up the floor
level of this area surrounding the
turntable with hard fill.
Further progress on the building
itself will depend on success with
grant applications. We were
disappointed but not disheartened to
have our last application to the
Lotteries Fund turned down. The
committee is actively looking at
alternative funding sources to further
progress the development of the
museum.
Another view of the completed museum siding turnout and switchlock. Photo Peter Jenkinson
NEW ZEALAND RAILWAYS
TRAIN ADVICE NO.1102 of
13TH
APRIL 1961
Given the massive changes to our
railway system over the last 50 odd
years I sometimes find it interesting
to peruse old NZR working timetables.
These former railways bibles
contain a wealth of information on
the traditional railway covering
everything from the train numbers
and times for the different lines,
equipment at the many now vanished
stations and branchlines, restrictions
on certain types of rolling stock and
even the location of ambulance
stretchers in the case of accidents.
Even the Lake Wakatipu Steamer
service (the Earnslaw) timetable was
shown in these timetables!
Browsing a couple of these timetables
in the archives recently I came across
a Train Advice # 1102 issued by the
District Traffic Managers Office in
Christchurch on the 13th
April 1961.
(Eight months before yours truly was
born!)
This train advice gives details of
changes to train services on both the
Main North Line and the Main South
Line effective from Monday the 17th
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April 1961. I thought newsletter
readers may be interested in the
contents given the many changes in
rail traffic and the disappearance of
many of the stations and connecting
branchlines in the last 52 years.
In view of the large number of train
services contained in the document,
for this newsletter I am just going to
concentrate on those changes listed
for the Main North Line only. If there
is enough interest I will continue with
the Main South Line and branches
train services in the next newsletter.
It is perhaps helpful to remember that
this train advice shows the
Christchurch to Picton line, as it was
one year and four months before the
Interisland roll on roll off Ferry
Service started in August 1962 with
the GMV Aramoana. This line was
still mostly steam worked at this
stage although after the Ferry
introduction it was largely diesel
worked (north of Waipara at least).
Train working on the Main North Line
from Christchurch to Picton on this
train advice covers 30 different train
numbers or shunts. Details of the
train services are as follows and show
many details that have vanished from
todays slimmed down Kiwirail. It
does not however cover the
passenger only services such as the
Christchurch to Rangiora railcar
services. More about these later.
The Trains
Train #65 Christchurch to Picton
Goods was to take tonnage for
Southbrook and north of Rangiora
(except for Amberley and the Waiau
Branch). One roadsider wagon
(R.S.W) was attached for small
lot/parcels traffic to Kaikoura.
Train #70 ex Waipara goods to
Christchurch was to take tonnage ex
#206 (Waiau to Waipara) and shunted
as required to Christchurch.
Train #71 Christchurch to Waipara
goods took Waiau branch tonnage
and shunted stations from Belfast to
Waipara.
Train #75 Christchurch to Kaikoura
(or Picton) took traffic for Mina,
Fernieherst and beyond.
Train #77 Christchurch to Waipara
goods was to take traffic for
Amberley and the Waiau Branch and
included a R.S.W for the Waiau Branch.
Train #78 was another Waipara to
Christchurch service and was to take
tonnage ex no. 88 for stations
Glasnevin to Papanui inclusive, also
tonnage ex no. 232 R.R. (run as
required).
Train #88 was a Picton to
Christchurch service and shunted
between Picton and Kaikoura and
Kaikoura and Waipara as directed by
Train Control. Loads for Glasnevin to
Papanui were to be reduced at
Waipara for no. 78. One R.S.W was
attached for stations Blenheim to
Christchurch.
Train # 93 R.R. was a Mon to Fri run
as required Christchurch to Kaikoura
goods.
Train #99 appears to have been a
Monday only Christchurch to
Rangiora shunt that shunted Belfast
and Kaiapoi.
The only branch line in 1961 that ran off the Main North Line was the Waiau branch that closed in 1978. Here in February 1966 Ab 780 and Ab 820 approach the junction at Waipara. Tonnage from this train could have gone on to Christchurch on Train number 70 or 78. Photo Peter Parker collection
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Train #100 was another R.R. Kaikoura
to Christchurch goods shunting as
required.
Train #105 was a R.R. Mon to Thu
Christchurch to Picton goods,
shunting Waipara, Scargill, Mina,
Parnassus and north including
Waipara to Mina to put off livestock
wagons.
Train #106 R.R. was a Tue to Fri
Picton to Christchurch that shunted
as directed by the Transport Office
Blenheim and Train control.
Train #107 was a Mon to Friday
goods with car attached from
Christchurch to Picton. It took bulk
traffic for Waipara and traffic for Mina,
Kaikoura and beyond. This was the
famous Cabbage Train. It had one
R.S.W. attached for small lot traffic for
stations Oaro to Picton.
Train #108 was the opposite working
a Tues to Sat Picton to Christchurch
goods with car attached. Again this
shunted as directed by Train Control.
Train #111 was an express
Christchurch to Picton goods
restricted to bogie vehicles only for
Blenheim and beyond. It was
restricted to 20 bogie vehicles and
has an interesting note on the T.A.
that says on Friday only the load was
to be restricted to 230 tons. Why this
was for Friday only, one can only
guess.
Train #112 was the opposite working
an evening Picton to Christchurch
express goods again restricted to 20
bogie vehicles. This contained bogie
vehicles for Christchurch and points
south and west.
Train #113 was another bogie
express goods with car attached
Sunday only Christchurch to Picton
departing early morning. Again this
was restricted to 20 bogie vehicles
and carried wagons for Blenheim and
beyond.
Train #114 was the opposite Sunday
only Picton to Christchurch express
goods with car attached, carrying
wagons for Christchurch and beyond.
Train #115 was a Sunday overnight
Christchurch to Kaikoura goods
shunting as directed by Train Control
and arriving in Kaikoura
approximately 5am.
Train #116 again was the opposite
working Monday only departing
Kaikoura just after midnight and
arriving at Christchurch shortly after
7am.
Train # 203 was a Monday to Fri
Waipara to Waiau goods shunting as
required and took the R.S.W of train
77 from Christchurch as mentioned
above.
Train #206 was a Monday to Fri Waiau
to Waipara goods, it shunted as
required and had one R.S.W. to go
forward to Christchurch on Train #70
from Waipara.
Trains # 231 and #232 were R.R.
trains but Im unable to find their
origin or destination in my copy of
the Working Timetable.
Five other north line trains appear on
the train advice numbers 940, 934,
935, 939 and 949. All were marked
on the TA as shunts as required. Of
these trains my copy of the Working
Timetable shows only two.
Train # 934 was a light engine
movement departing early morning
from Blenheim to Wharanui.
Presumably this was a banking
engine for northbound trains over the
Dashwood Pass. Train #935 was a
Monday to Friday light engine
Ab 813 shunts the cool stores at Belfast on the 3rd November 1968. This was No. 2 shunting service but in 1961 it could have easily have been shunting service no. 99 that ran between Christchurch and Rangiora shunting Belfast and Kaiapoi. Photo Wilson Lythgoe.
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movement Wharanui to Blenheim.
This was again presumably the
banker returning to Blenheim after
banking southbound trains.
The train advice as it deals with
wagon allocations for various
destinations and train shunting does
not show the Passenger only services
running on the line in 1961/62.
Fiat Railcar Rm 108 crosses the Waimakariri River Bridge with presumably a Christchurch to Picton service one morning in 1967. Possibly train no. 109. Photo Peter Parker
These were the Christchurch to
Rangiora and return suburban
services, being train numbers 63, 85,
66, 68 and 86. At this time they were
shown in the working timetable as
being worked by railcars either
Fiat/Drewry 88 seaters or Vulcans.
The other straight passenger trains
on the line, were the Christchurch to
Picton Railcar services train # 109
departing Christchurch at 9.15am
and arriving in Picton at 4pm, and
finally the opposite working train #
104 departing Picton at 9.50am and
arriving Christchurch at 4.30pm.
So this is an outline of the train
services on the comparatively busy
MNL in 1961. As I mentioned
previously I will cover what the same
train advice says about the Main
South Line in the next newsletter.
With the larger number of branchlines
and industrial sites on the south line,
this has some fascinating details for
the destination and wagon
allocations for the trains on this line.
BIG MODELTRAIN SHOW
2014
While it is still a few months away Id
thought Id give a reminder to
supporters that the NRMNZ shop will
again be attending the Big Model
Train Show in October this year.
Once again the show is being held at
Pioneer Stadium.
Where Pioneer Stadium
When Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th
October 2014
Open 9:30am-5:00pm (Both days)
Prices
Adults $10
Child $5
Family Pass* $20
Adult Weekend Pass $15
*Two Adults and Two Children
Eftpos Available (no credit card)
This annual event is a major publicity
and fundraising event for the NRM
and wed love to see you there at our
sales stand at the show and to meet
some of our team. Even better if you
would like to help out on the stand
over either of the two days, please
contact Brian Wheatley at this email
address;
I should also mention that we still
have a limited supply of Rail 150
branded clothing from last years
celebrations, for those who missed
out at the time and would like to
purchase some.
New Zealands War Memorial
Locomotive
AB 608 Passchendaele
Published by Steam Incorporated
Edited by Andy Maciver
A4 Portrait 40 pages.
ANZAC day 2014 saw the
recommissioning at Paekakariki of
one of the most anticipated steam
loco restorations for some time, that
of Ab 608 Passchendaele (NZGR
#163 1915).
This locomotive was the first member
of the famous 151 strong Ab class,
New Zealand Government Railways
official war memorial engine of the
First World War and the only officially
named NZR locomotive of the 20th
Century. (The battle on the Western
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Front it was named after was the
place where the most New Zealanders
died in a single day during that awful
conflict). The locomotive was also
exhibited at both the Dunedin and
South Seas exhibition in 1925 and
towards the end of its life, at the NZ
Railways centennial exhibition in
Christchurch in 1963.
It is fitting then to mark the
completion of a nearly 20 year
restoration that Steam Incorporated
who now lease the locomotive from
its owners the NZRLS, have chosen to
release this excellent but inexpensive
publication.
The first sixteen or so pages give a
potted history of the locomotive
including what made the Abs such
successful and versatile locomotives.
This concludes with a brief photo
essay covering the locomotives final
significant passenger service the
1965 Alexandra Blossom Festival
train it double headed with Ab 792.
These photographs are from the
collection of NZRLS archivist Mark
Cole.
When withdrawn in October 1967 Ab
608 was in pretty rundown condition
and the second half of the book gives
a fairly comprehensive rundown of
the enormous amount of work the
team at Steam Incorporated have
made to get this locomotive
operational again.
Particular mention should be made of
the efforts of Alastair MacIver, Wayne
Mason and Peter Steer (amongst
others). The job turned out to be
much bigger than envisaged when
first started in the mid 1990s turning
a worn out wreck into what is now
almost a new locomotive. The book
illustrates almost by a step by step
process the work undertaken from
the first to the end. It is also
somehow very appropriate that the
loco was recommissioned during the
centenary of the start of t Great War.
The final two pages of photos
illustrate the recommissioning
ceremony at Paekakariki Station on
Anzac Day attended by
representatives of KiwiRail and the
New Zealand Army amongst others.
It should be mentioned of course that
Ab 608 has a significant association
with Ferrymead, where the museum
will be built, as from 1978 to 1994
the locomotive was on display in the
locomotive shelter (now the current
base for the Diesel Traction Group),
along with Kb 968, and Wab 794.
The book is digitally printed and on
the whole photo reproduction is very
good. Steam Incorporated are to be
congratulated on producing such a
reasonably priced tribute to this
important locomotive and its long
awaited return to service. The book is
available from the NRM shop at
Ferrymead at $18.00 (plus P&P).
Another locomotive shortly to return to service, 1872 built F13 passes the Christchurch Gasworks with a special in 1967. Photo Peter Parker
New Zealand Railfan June 2014
Triple M Publications
79 pages A4
The latest edition of this long running
magazine maintains the usual mix of
current events and historical articles
on the rail scene in New Zealand.
After the letters section, there are
four and a half pages of reviews of the
latest DVDs and books. Then there
are 10 pages (mostly photos) on
current rail developments including
the DL remediation progress and the
entry into traffic of the Auckland
Electric EMUs built in Spain.
Preservation Progress then covers in
three pages developments at the
Diesel Traction Group (Di 1102), the
Plains Railway (new shunter Dsa 218),
and Oamaru Steam and Rail (PWD no.
535). Also included is a page of
photos of the winners of this years
FRONZ Restoration awards.
A profusely illustrated article on
preserved English Electric Units Dm
27 and D163 and the role of the late
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Robin Gavin in saving them follows
from the pen and camera of D.L.A
Turner. This is a fascinating story
chronicling both the life of Robin and
the history of the units that she loved.
The first historical article in the
magazine is an eleven page article on
the former Waipa Railway and
Collieries Company that later became
Wilton Collieries and the Glen Massey
branch. Written by long standing
enthusiast J.A.T Terry this uses both
historical photos from various
sources and a couple from his own
camera towards the end of the lines
life. The article covers only up until
the liquidation of the company in
1930. The Wilton Colliery years of
the mine and railway are to be
covered in a separate article.
Next follows part 2 of a
comprehensive three part series on
the electrification of Aucklands Rail
system by Ken Haydock. This part
covers the engineering work on the
Eastern line and the Newmarket,
Onehunga and Manukau branches.
This really does give an idea of what
a huge project this has been and
continues to be. Again this is
profusely illustrated mostly by the
author.
The final article is another historical
item, a further instalment of John
Agnews histories of NZR carriages,
this time on the six 44 foot Railway
Travelling Post offices that were
converted to Guards vans between
1928 and 1935. This is also well
illustrated with historical photos from
various sources showing these cars in
service and after withdrawal,
including the lone survivor F583 at
Oamaru Steam and Rail. While I do
find these articles interesting and
they are undeniably a massive body
of important research by Mr Agnew, I
also think that the magazine could
perhaps give this series a rest for a
couple of issues to freshen up the
contents.
The magazine is again competently
printed by Southern Colour Print of
Dunedin and colour production is
very good. NZ Railfan can be
obtained from the NRM shop at
$15.00 plus P & P.
The former telephone exchange from the Westport Railway Station has been installed in the Ferrymead Post and Telegraph Society building as a working display. Photo Dave Hansen
The new Steam incorporated book on locomotive Ab 608 made me look for these three shots of the locomotive towards the end of its working life hauling a train on the Kurow branch line in January 1967. The locomotive was written off at Dunedin only nine months later. The top photo is waiting departure at Kurow, the centre photo is departing Duntroon and the bottom one at Duntroon station. Three photos Peter Parker collection
The Roundhouse
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is important.
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importance, submit it along with
your write-up and we may feature it.
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quality, full credit will be given for
any item or picture used. We look
forward to hearing from you.
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before you throw them out, please
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accepted, we may even be able to
offer assistance with the cost of
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Almost any railway-related items can
potentially be of interest.
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books and DVD's are always in
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big, small or insignificant an item
may seem to you, please let us be the
judge. Please let either Colin Dash
ph. 03 358-8215 or Gordon Bartram
ph. 03 339-2622 know.
A great source of direct contact is
always at the shop in Moorhouse
Station. Open on any Ferrymead
Railway running day, someone is
always there that you can speak to.
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CONTACT DETAILS
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National Railway Museum of New
Zealand
P.O. Box 19027 Woolston
Christchurch 8241
New Zealand
Email:
Chairman: John Peterson.
Collections: Colin Dash.
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Website:
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