Happenings in 2019
(February 2019 to January 2020)
November 2019 - January 2020
November 27th: SRW Club Night – 2019 A Year That Was- Blair hosted this club night. He went through photos and videos showing the progress SRW has made over the past 12 months and some of the clubs high and low points during the year. This night was well received by members.
December 14th: WMR&ES & SRW Combined Christmas BBQ- Both clubs combined for our Christmas BBQ once again. This was held at the WMR&ES clubs rooms on the Saturday night (of the WMR&ES Christmas Show). This was well attended by members of both clubs.
January 18th, 19th & 20th: Wanganui Vintage Weekend 2020- SRW was once again involved with the Wanganui Vintage Weekend. We had our doors open to the public on the Saturday and Sunday and we offered Motor Trolley Rides on the Monday. The Railcar from Pahiatua was also here for the first 2 days giving the Wanganui public rides from Taupo Quay (next to our shed) to East Town return and one trip from Taupo Quay up the Westmere bank return at the end of each day. The Railcar returned to P Nth on the Saturday night, so we didn’t do the security this year. The Saturday was a bit quiet for us and the Railcar (turns out some of the advertising didn’t mention this was happening on Saturday only Sunday and Monday). Sunday was a lot better for both of us and the Monday was the best turn out we have had for the Motor Trolley rides we have had in a long time. We carried 267 passengers on the Monday. A big thank you to all members who helped out over the weekend. The Pahiatua Railcar Society also send their thanks for our help over the weekend. Photos taken by Doug Johnston, Ewan Pound, Mark Brimblecombe (the official photographer for vintage weekend) and Blair Jordan.
December 14th: WMR&ES & SRW Combined Christmas BBQ- Both clubs combined for our Christmas BBQ once again. This was held at the WMR&ES clubs rooms on the Saturday night (of the WMR&ES Christmas Show). This was well attended by members of both clubs.
January 18th, 19th & 20th: Wanganui Vintage Weekend 2020- SRW was once again involved with the Wanganui Vintage Weekend. We had our doors open to the public on the Saturday and Sunday and we offered Motor Trolley Rides on the Monday. The Railcar from Pahiatua was also here for the first 2 days giving the Wanganui public rides from Taupo Quay (next to our shed) to East Town return and one trip from Taupo Quay up the Westmere bank return at the end of each day. The Railcar returned to P Nth on the Saturday night, so we didn’t do the security this year. The Saturday was a bit quiet for us and the Railcar (turns out some of the advertising didn’t mention this was happening on Saturday only Sunday and Monday). Sunday was a lot better for both of us and the Monday was the best turn out we have had for the Motor Trolley rides we have had in a long time. We carried 267 passengers on the Monday. A big thank you to all members who helped out over the weekend. The Pahiatua Railcar Society also send their thanks for our help over the weekend. Photos taken by Doug Johnston, Ewan Pound, Mark Brimblecombe (the official photographer for vintage weekend) and Blair Jordan.
SRW 2020 NZTA Safety Assessment.
On January the 10th SRW had our annual safety assessment (Audit) with Donald Senior from the NZ Transport Agency. NZTA assess SRW once every 12 -14 months. This is basically to check we are following the rules set out in our Licence to Operate, Rail Safety System and the Rail Safety Case. Without these 3 mentioned items SRW cannot move a wheel and if we a found not to be following the rules set out in these we can also be stopped from running and/or even face legal action. This meeting was attended by Blair Jordan, Colin Hughes, Ewan Pound and John Pudsey.
Over all this meeting went well. Donald was pleased on how we are doing things and we came away with only a few items we need to do. One thing the club has been lacking over the last couple of years is our own internal auditor. The clubs rail operation supervisor had been doing this but NZTA feel this needs to be done by someone without as much authority in the running of the club. John Pudsey has kindly taken up this role with the club.
John has now done his first internal audit on the club and he has highlighted a few areas we need to improve on. Members please remember the following:-
Sign in Book /Site Diary- On occasions some members are overlooking signing in or out in the book as they arrive or leave. This book is also used as the clubs diary, everything we do on that day has to also be mentioned in it. E.g. safety briefing given, site checks, maintenance, damage done and even Emergency Evacuation drills etc. The club is also going to put a sign up above the sign in desk to remind members to do this. These records are also checked during our NZTA assessment.
Rolling Stock Maintence Records- In most case’s all items of rolling stock we are working on have their own book to enter details and photos of work done to them. It has been found that some of these books are not up to date. Please remember to fill out these books at the end of each day. Note - even if the rolling stock is privately owned the clubs needs to see a record of work done, if you want to run it under the clubs licence, these records are also checked during our NZTA assessment. Also for a while we have been using the one book for all the motor trolleys. This will now change and we will need to have a separate book for each trolley.
Emergency Evacuation Drill- it was found that SRW had not done one of these since August 2018. We will be doing one of these in the very near future.
Donations
SRW would like to thank the Ching family for their donation of their late father’s (Henry) homemade Motor trolley. This was built using wheels off an ex NZR Trolley.
On January the 10th SRW had our annual safety assessment (Audit) with Donald Senior from the NZ Transport Agency. NZTA assess SRW once every 12 -14 months. This is basically to check we are following the rules set out in our Licence to Operate, Rail Safety System and the Rail Safety Case. Without these 3 mentioned items SRW cannot move a wheel and if we a found not to be following the rules set out in these we can also be stopped from running and/or even face legal action. This meeting was attended by Blair Jordan, Colin Hughes, Ewan Pound and John Pudsey.
Over all this meeting went well. Donald was pleased on how we are doing things and we came away with only a few items we need to do. One thing the club has been lacking over the last couple of years is our own internal auditor. The clubs rail operation supervisor had been doing this but NZTA feel this needs to be done by someone without as much authority in the running of the club. John Pudsey has kindly taken up this role with the club.
John has now done his first internal audit on the club and he has highlighted a few areas we need to improve on. Members please remember the following:-
Sign in Book /Site Diary- On occasions some members are overlooking signing in or out in the book as they arrive or leave. This book is also used as the clubs diary, everything we do on that day has to also be mentioned in it. E.g. safety briefing given, site checks, maintenance, damage done and even Emergency Evacuation drills etc. The club is also going to put a sign up above the sign in desk to remind members to do this. These records are also checked during our NZTA assessment.
Rolling Stock Maintence Records- In most case’s all items of rolling stock we are working on have their own book to enter details and photos of work done to them. It has been found that some of these books are not up to date. Please remember to fill out these books at the end of each day. Note - even if the rolling stock is privately owned the clubs needs to see a record of work done, if you want to run it under the clubs licence, these records are also checked during our NZTA assessment. Also for a while we have been using the one book for all the motor trolleys. This will now change and we will need to have a separate book for each trolley.
Emergency Evacuation Drill- it was found that SRW had not done one of these since August 2018. We will be doing one of these in the very near future.
Donations
SRW would like to thank the Ching family for their donation of their late father’s (Henry) homemade Motor trolley. This was built using wheels off an ex NZR Trolley.
August - October 2019
August 28th: SRW Club Night – DVD/Video Night. There was only a couple of members that turned up for this night. So after a quick chat, they closed the meeting early and went home.
September 25th: SRW Club Night- Prep for our display at the upcoming Model Railway Show. Members meet at our shed for this night and we got all the items we needed ready for the model show that weekend.
October 23rd: SRW Club Night – Visit to the Aircraft Control Tower. Members visited the tower at the Wanganui Airport to see the restoration progress on the tower. The team restoring this have done a magic job on the building. We enjoyed looking through the museum they had set up and we also caught the last flight for the evening coming in from the lookout at the top of the tower, thanks to Kylie googling flights to Wanganui. A big thank to the members of the tower group for letting us have a look through and to Stephen Shaw for organising the night.
SRW Construction/ Maintenance Days: We are starting to see progress on many of our projects down at the yard. We have now put the second rear window back in the Price loco 212, along with more of the doors painted in the new red colour. The Motor trolley ex Waverley frame is getting stripped down more and the seam crane has had more of the old paint removed.
September 25th: SRW Club Night- Prep for our display at the upcoming Model Railway Show. Members meet at our shed for this night and we got all the items we needed ready for the model show that weekend.
October 23rd: SRW Club Night – Visit to the Aircraft Control Tower. Members visited the tower at the Wanganui Airport to see the restoration progress on the tower. The team restoring this have done a magic job on the building. We enjoyed looking through the museum they had set up and we also caught the last flight for the evening coming in from the lookout at the top of the tower, thanks to Kylie googling flights to Wanganui. A big thank to the members of the tower group for letting us have a look through and to Stephen Shaw for organising the night.
SRW Construction/ Maintenance Days: We are starting to see progress on many of our projects down at the yard. We have now put the second rear window back in the Price loco 212, along with more of the doors painted in the new red colour. The Motor trolley ex Waverley frame is getting stripped down more and the seam crane has had more of the old paint removed.
Donations
SRW would like to thank the Kuzik brothers and Pete (from Fastways Couriers) for their donation of copper hot water cylinders. Our intention is to use these for a header tank over the hand washing basin. We also thank Brendan O’Çonnell for his donation of 2 x NZ railway teaspoons.
Obituary
Henry Ching
Born in Marton on the 25th October 1929
Passed away a month short of his 90th birthday in Wanganui on the 26th September 2019.
Henry had been involved with SteamRail Wanganui since the arrival of Price loco No 144 from the Waiouru Army Museum back in 1998. When the loco first arrived the motor was seized and Henry got it going again with the help of a block of wood and a hammer. Up to a few years ago (when his health started to decline) Henry was a regular at the Sunday morning working bee’s working on all our locos, motor trolleys and other motors. The clubs thoughts went out to his family over this sad time. He will be missed.
SRW would like to thank the Kuzik brothers and Pete (from Fastways Couriers) for their donation of copper hot water cylinders. Our intention is to use these for a header tank over the hand washing basin. We also thank Brendan O’Çonnell for his donation of 2 x NZ railway teaspoons.
Obituary
Henry Ching
Born in Marton on the 25th October 1929
Passed away a month short of his 90th birthday in Wanganui on the 26th September 2019.
Henry had been involved with SteamRail Wanganui since the arrival of Price loco No 144 from the Waiouru Army Museum back in 1998. When the loco first arrived the motor was seized and Henry got it going again with the help of a block of wood and a hammer. Up to a few years ago (when his health started to decline) Henry was a regular at the Sunday morning working bee’s working on all our locos, motor trolleys and other motors. The clubs thoughts went out to his family over this sad time. He will be missed.
May - July 2019
May 24th: SRW Club Night – You Tube Night. A small band of members headed to Hamish and Amanda’s place and enjoyed a night watching rail related You Tube videos. Thank you to Hamish and Amanda for hosting us.
June 2nd: SRW Jigger Rides and Open Day to Public. SRW once again had another successful open day. Although it was cold and windy with a few showers thrown in during the day we still managed to give enough rides to cover all costs and make a small profit. The public who came for a ride enjoyed themselves. A big thank you to all members who helped out.
June 27th: SRW Club Night – Visit to Wanganui Opera House. We had a good turn out by members on this night as we were shown through (behind the scenes) of the Wanganui Opera House. It was great to find out the history of this grand old building. A big thank you to our member Eddie Firth, who organised the visit and to the friends of the Opera House who show us through the building. This was a very interesting night. Photos by Charley Masters.
June 2nd: SRW Jigger Rides and Open Day to Public. SRW once again had another successful open day. Although it was cold and windy with a few showers thrown in during the day we still managed to give enough rides to cover all costs and make a small profit. The public who came for a ride enjoyed themselves. A big thank you to all members who helped out.
June 27th: SRW Club Night – Visit to Wanganui Opera House. We had a good turn out by members on this night as we were shown through (behind the scenes) of the Wanganui Opera House. It was great to find out the history of this grand old building. A big thank you to our member Eddie Firth, who organised the visit and to the friends of the Opera House who show us through the building. This was a very interesting night. Photos by Charley Masters.
July 26th: SRW Mid-Year Dinner. This year we decided to try the restaurant at the Rutland Arms Inn. We had 21 members and partners enjoy the meal and each other’s company. Some even coming down from Waitara for the evening.
WMR&ES Construction Nights and WMR&ES Building Extension reports: See Presidents report on page 2 (this mentions where the club is at moment re these ongoing projects) and layout photos on page 3 (WMR&ES open day).
SRW Construction/ Maintenance Days: Work continues on the many projects we have going down at the shed. Price loco 212 has started to get it top coat of red paint on the roof of it cab and doors. The crane has had more rust removed and primer added. More scrap has be dismantled for fund raising. We have also now moved the Xp wagon (ex-Waverley) closer to the shed so we can start to work on it. We have also a new addition to the club fleet. Hamish and Greg have brought a new Motor Trolley. It is a 6 man Aluminium framed jigger. This will mean we can carry more bums on seats on our open days. Blair has also got some more red paint on his loco’s engine hood and cab.
WMR&ES Construction Nights and WMR&ES Building Extension reports: See Presidents report on page 2 (this mentions where the club is at moment re these ongoing projects) and layout photos on page 3 (WMR&ES open day).
SRW Construction/ Maintenance Days: Work continues on the many projects we have going down at the shed. Price loco 212 has started to get it top coat of red paint on the roof of it cab and doors. The crane has had more rust removed and primer added. More scrap has be dismantled for fund raising. We have also now moved the Xp wagon (ex-Waverley) closer to the shed so we can start to work on it. We have also a new addition to the club fleet. Hamish and Greg have brought a new Motor Trolley. It is a 6 man Aluminium framed jigger. This will mean we can carry more bums on seats on our open days. Blair has also got some more red paint on his loco’s engine hood and cab.
Donations
SRW would like to thank Keith Hancock for his donation of 3 Motor Trolley (Briggs and Stratton) motors and John Pudsey for his donation of railway DVD’s.
SRW would like to thank Keith Hancock for his donation of 3 Motor Trolley (Briggs and Stratton) motors and John Pudsey for his donation of railway DVD’s.
February - April 2019
February 27th: SRW Club Night – Visit to our Shed + Security of Railcar. We decided to hold our club night at our shed on this night, to let members have a look at the Sunday team’s restoration progress. This also coincided with the Railcar from Pahiatua visiting overnight. We were hired to once again do the security of the railcar overnight. Members were pleased with what they saw and a big thank you to all members who helped with security. Photos by Blair Jordan.
March 27th: SRW Club Night – DVD night. Members enjoyed another DVD/Video night. On this night they watched the DVD called Iron Maidens. This was about the Burrell Traction Engine Rally in the South Island.
March 30th & 31st: Visit to Taranaki. SRW and WMR&ES joined forces for a visit to the Waitara Railway Preservation Society and the New Plymouth Model Railway Club. The Wanganui based Waitara Rail members headed up on the Saturday (staying the night there) with their Motor Trolleys for recertification of the trolleys and drivers tickets before running them on the line, including a couple of evening runs to Waitara New World, First for something to go with Tea and the second for desert. On the Sunday when the rest of the Wanganui club members arrived we ran the trolleys on the 7km of line between Waitara and Lepperton. (Photos by Jim Bly and Blair Jordan).
March 30th & 31st: Visit to Taranaki. SRW and WMR&ES joined forces for a visit to the Waitara Railway Preservation Society and the New Plymouth Model Railway Club. The Wanganui based Waitara Rail members headed up on the Saturday (staying the night there) with their Motor Trolleys for recertification of the trolleys and drivers tickets before running them on the line, including a couple of evening runs to Waitara New World, First for something to go with Tea and the second for desert. On the Sunday when the rest of the Wanganui club members arrived we ran the trolleys on the 7km of line between Waitara and Lepperton. (Photos by Jim Bly and Blair Jordan).
We then proceeded onto the New Plymouth model railway club on the way home to view their large layout. They mainly run American trains on this layout but the scenery is based on New Zealand. They call themselves the Central Western (as New Plymouth is in the centre of the north island and on the west side). They have modelled from P Nth to New Plymouth (including some of the smaller Taranaki town’s in between, including Whareroa Dairy Factory) and they run trains to time tables between the 2 main stations, shunting the smaller stations as needed.
This was a fun weekend/day away and a big thank you to the Waitara and New Plymouth groups for hosting us. The Waitara Railway Preservation Society have since told us they would love to have us up there again and the NP Model Railway club have mentioned about doing a return visit to us later on in the year. We must also give a big thank you to KiwiRail who gave us the use of one of their track gang trucks for the weekend to transport our Trolleys. We are all looking forward to our next trip up there.
April 24th: SRW Annual General Meeting. This was attended by only 8 members. We started off with a minute silence for members who had passed throughout the year. All the reports were read and accepted and it was voted that the subs stay the same as the previous year. The Committee also stayed the same as the previous year and are as follows: - Board Chairman Blair Jordan and Board Managers Colin Hughes, Greg Tinnion, Russell Jackson, Ewan Pound and Hamish Coull. We finished off the night talking about Club projects and upcoming items the club needs to deal with.
April 24th: SRW Annual General Meeting. This was attended by only 8 members. We started off with a minute silence for members who had passed throughout the year. All the reports were read and accepted and it was voted that the subs stay the same as the previous year. The Committee also stayed the same as the previous year and are as follows: - Board Chairman Blair Jordan and Board Managers Colin Hughes, Greg Tinnion, Russell Jackson, Ewan Pound and Hamish Coull. We finished off the night talking about Club projects and upcoming items the club needs to deal with.
President’s Annual Report – 2018/2019
For the Sixth time I have great pleasure in presenting my President’s Report for SRW.
It has been another busy year for the club. I have once again enjoyed my term as President. I would like to start off once again with a big thank you to the committee and members who have helped me or put up with me not being able to make every meeting.
Year Highlights: We opened our doors twice during the year offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides. Public seemed to support this fairly well. We are looking at doing this again on Queens Birthday Weekend Sunday the 2nd of June.
We have done several security jobs for visiting trains (Mainline steam, Pahiatua Railcar Society, Feilding Steam Rail and KiwiRail). These organisations send their thanks to us for all our help. Other than member’s subs these are the biggest money earners for the club.
We were once again involved with the Wanganui Vintage weekend in January. We had a great response from the public over this weekend, helped by better advertising from the Vintage committee this year. The Wanganui Camera club were the official photographers for the weekend and SteamRail’s items looked great posted across Facebook and newspapers etc.
A few weeks ago we visited the Waitara group and the New Plymouth Model Railway Club. This was a fantastic weekend/day away for members. A big thank you to both groups for hosting us, Thank you to the following Waitara members - Jim B, Jimmy, Keith, John C, Denyse, Elieen and Mike for all your help with us running our motor Trollies on the Waitara Branch. Also a big thank you to KiwiRail for the use of the truck to transport the motor Trolleys.
As always one of the biggest highlights for me is the ability of the club and our members to be able to work with other clubs and organisations when needed. We have again worked with the WMR&ES. We have combined our club nights and out of town trips on a few occasions. We also continue to work with other groups, mainly visiting train excursions or our members heading out of town to help with other groups planned events (e.g. the Steam Traction Society and the Waitara Group etc.). I know they appreciate our help.
Fundraising: Our main fundraising over the last 12 months have been once again our Motor Trolley/Jigger Rides and Open Days and the security of visiting trains to Wanganui. Other fundraising the club has done also include scrap metal recycling and donations from visitors have also helped. With costs rising every year, we will continue to look at ideas for fundraising. If you have any ideas let the committee know.
Donations: We have been donated a lot of railway related items over the last 12 months, eg. Railway books and tools etc. Always a big help is the members who donate items to the club. A big thank you to everyone who has donated items to the club over the year.
Club Projects: We are always busy down at the shed. Work has continued on the ex-North End Aramoho Signal Box. Our second storage road in the shed is now permanently connected to the short bit of track outside the door. This has involved making steps over the rails. This now saves us a lot of time when we want to move something out of the shed. Work on the East Town steam crane E120 has carried on with paint being stripped off and new paint getting applied. Price loco no 212 (ex-Imlay) has a lot more new red paint on it and looked great out in the sun during vintage weekend. Since then the first window has gone back in and the right hand side sand box and steps have been reattached along with the front hand rail and front and back lamp holders. The repaint of the Baby price loco into a darker green is coming along slowly. Work has also continued on with the Guards Van, Motor Trolleys and other tools and items we have. We are still working on putting a new floor in the ex-Waverley Jigger shed. We have also started to demolish the old Xc wagon body down by the turntable for spare parts as this has seen better days. There is always plenty to do down at the yard so come along and give us a hand.
Club Nights: Our club nights have been entertaining again with a variety of different programs. We have enjoyed DVD/ Video nights, BBQ’s, Mid-Year Dinner, Other Hobbies nights, Guest Speakers. We again combined with the WMR&ES on some of these club nights. A big thank you to all those who have hosted one of our club nights. It is still a bit of a concern the lack of member numbers we get on a few of these nights and if members have any ideas on programs for these nights please let us know.
Newsletter: I have also continued with the newsletter and have once again had good feedback. We have had a good range of stories in this over the year. Thank you to all who have contributed to this. I couldn't do this without you. Once again our thanks go out to Greg Tinnion and Phillips Electrical for their help with printing of the newsletters. My apologies with a few issues of this being late.
Running of the club: Once again a big thank you to the committee members for all they have done over the year. We have had some highs and lows to deal with. I rode the Feilding Steam Rails train to New Plymouth during the year using this as a homework exercise, seeing how they did things, food prices and time table etc. To give us ideas if or when we run one. Unfortunately this is as far as we got looking into a possible trip as we had to side track the idea to work on more important issues that came up. LTNZ came and did their yearly External audit with the group. This in turn opened up new rules and issues that have been put into place. Updates needed to be done to our safety case etc. This has taken us a lot longer than planned. It feels like every year they make it harder for us little groups to operate. A Big thank you to Ewan for all his work he has done with this. We still need to find an internal Auditor. We also had a small derailment during our Trolley rides on Vintage weekend, when one of the Material Trolleys came off. This was a slow speed derailment. Luckily no one was riding the trolley, no one was hurt and there was no damage done. But because of this, reports had to be done and sent to LTNZ. We have also been investigating the worrying rumors that we might have to move if KiwiRail turn the Taupo Quay yard into a log loading site.
Membership: Last year we had about 25 members paid up. We welcomed Kathy Lee and her two Boys Leo and Phoenix, along with Curtis Reynolds-Chaplow to the club. It was a shock to hear about the passing of Barbara Palmer, Ray Staal and anyone else I have missed. The club’s thoughts go out to any member or their families who have lost loved ones over the last 12 months.
My Life: I continue to love my job as a Locomotive Engineer (driver) with KiwiRail. It’s hard to believe that July this year I would have been with KiwiRail for 8 years, the time goes so quick. I must thank everyone for the support you have given me over this time. Being a shift worker does make it harder for me to get across to club meetings and the help and understanding I have had from members because of this has been appreciated. I enjoy my roles with SRW and look forward to continuing, that’s if you want me of course.
The Next 12 Months: This upcoming year looks like it will be another busy one for the club. We are looking at dates when we can do more Motor Trolley rides and Open Days, we are also planning some full day/weekend working bees. We will be having a display again at this year WMR&ES Model Railway Show on the 28th and 29th of September. Steam Inc has a trip planned to Wanganui later on in the year and there has been some early rumours that Pahiatua railcar group may be the visiting train for next year’s Vintage Weekend. We will continue to look at the idea of hiring a train to do a run to New Plymouth. We will also be meeting up with KiwiRail over the next couple of months as our JOP as its due for renewal. Members help over the next 12 months would be appreciated.
Once again I would like to thank everyone who has helped me over the past year and a big thank you to all committee members for their help, especially my partner who is at home doing the dishes I should be doing but I’m at SteamRail instead.
Thank you
Blair Jordan
President SRW.
For the Sixth time I have great pleasure in presenting my President’s Report for SRW.
It has been another busy year for the club. I have once again enjoyed my term as President. I would like to start off once again with a big thank you to the committee and members who have helped me or put up with me not being able to make every meeting.
Year Highlights: We opened our doors twice during the year offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides. Public seemed to support this fairly well. We are looking at doing this again on Queens Birthday Weekend Sunday the 2nd of June.
We have done several security jobs for visiting trains (Mainline steam, Pahiatua Railcar Society, Feilding Steam Rail and KiwiRail). These organisations send their thanks to us for all our help. Other than member’s subs these are the biggest money earners for the club.
We were once again involved with the Wanganui Vintage weekend in January. We had a great response from the public over this weekend, helped by better advertising from the Vintage committee this year. The Wanganui Camera club were the official photographers for the weekend and SteamRail’s items looked great posted across Facebook and newspapers etc.
A few weeks ago we visited the Waitara group and the New Plymouth Model Railway Club. This was a fantastic weekend/day away for members. A big thank you to both groups for hosting us, Thank you to the following Waitara members - Jim B, Jimmy, Keith, John C, Denyse, Elieen and Mike for all your help with us running our motor Trollies on the Waitara Branch. Also a big thank you to KiwiRail for the use of the truck to transport the motor Trolleys.
As always one of the biggest highlights for me is the ability of the club and our members to be able to work with other clubs and organisations when needed. We have again worked with the WMR&ES. We have combined our club nights and out of town trips on a few occasions. We also continue to work with other groups, mainly visiting train excursions or our members heading out of town to help with other groups planned events (e.g. the Steam Traction Society and the Waitara Group etc.). I know they appreciate our help.
Fundraising: Our main fundraising over the last 12 months have been once again our Motor Trolley/Jigger Rides and Open Days and the security of visiting trains to Wanganui. Other fundraising the club has done also include scrap metal recycling and donations from visitors have also helped. With costs rising every year, we will continue to look at ideas for fundraising. If you have any ideas let the committee know.
Donations: We have been donated a lot of railway related items over the last 12 months, eg. Railway books and tools etc. Always a big help is the members who donate items to the club. A big thank you to everyone who has donated items to the club over the year.
Club Projects: We are always busy down at the shed. Work has continued on the ex-North End Aramoho Signal Box. Our second storage road in the shed is now permanently connected to the short bit of track outside the door. This has involved making steps over the rails. This now saves us a lot of time when we want to move something out of the shed. Work on the East Town steam crane E120 has carried on with paint being stripped off and new paint getting applied. Price loco no 212 (ex-Imlay) has a lot more new red paint on it and looked great out in the sun during vintage weekend. Since then the first window has gone back in and the right hand side sand box and steps have been reattached along with the front hand rail and front and back lamp holders. The repaint of the Baby price loco into a darker green is coming along slowly. Work has also continued on with the Guards Van, Motor Trolleys and other tools and items we have. We are still working on putting a new floor in the ex-Waverley Jigger shed. We have also started to demolish the old Xc wagon body down by the turntable for spare parts as this has seen better days. There is always plenty to do down at the yard so come along and give us a hand.
Club Nights: Our club nights have been entertaining again with a variety of different programs. We have enjoyed DVD/ Video nights, BBQ’s, Mid-Year Dinner, Other Hobbies nights, Guest Speakers. We again combined with the WMR&ES on some of these club nights. A big thank you to all those who have hosted one of our club nights. It is still a bit of a concern the lack of member numbers we get on a few of these nights and if members have any ideas on programs for these nights please let us know.
Newsletter: I have also continued with the newsletter and have once again had good feedback. We have had a good range of stories in this over the year. Thank you to all who have contributed to this. I couldn't do this without you. Once again our thanks go out to Greg Tinnion and Phillips Electrical for their help with printing of the newsletters. My apologies with a few issues of this being late.
Running of the club: Once again a big thank you to the committee members for all they have done over the year. We have had some highs and lows to deal with. I rode the Feilding Steam Rails train to New Plymouth during the year using this as a homework exercise, seeing how they did things, food prices and time table etc. To give us ideas if or when we run one. Unfortunately this is as far as we got looking into a possible trip as we had to side track the idea to work on more important issues that came up. LTNZ came and did their yearly External audit with the group. This in turn opened up new rules and issues that have been put into place. Updates needed to be done to our safety case etc. This has taken us a lot longer than planned. It feels like every year they make it harder for us little groups to operate. A Big thank you to Ewan for all his work he has done with this. We still need to find an internal Auditor. We also had a small derailment during our Trolley rides on Vintage weekend, when one of the Material Trolleys came off. This was a slow speed derailment. Luckily no one was riding the trolley, no one was hurt and there was no damage done. But because of this, reports had to be done and sent to LTNZ. We have also been investigating the worrying rumors that we might have to move if KiwiRail turn the Taupo Quay yard into a log loading site.
Membership: Last year we had about 25 members paid up. We welcomed Kathy Lee and her two Boys Leo and Phoenix, along with Curtis Reynolds-Chaplow to the club. It was a shock to hear about the passing of Barbara Palmer, Ray Staal and anyone else I have missed. The club’s thoughts go out to any member or their families who have lost loved ones over the last 12 months.
My Life: I continue to love my job as a Locomotive Engineer (driver) with KiwiRail. It’s hard to believe that July this year I would have been with KiwiRail for 8 years, the time goes so quick. I must thank everyone for the support you have given me over this time. Being a shift worker does make it harder for me to get across to club meetings and the help and understanding I have had from members because of this has been appreciated. I enjoy my roles with SRW and look forward to continuing, that’s if you want me of course.
The Next 12 Months: This upcoming year looks like it will be another busy one for the club. We are looking at dates when we can do more Motor Trolley rides and Open Days, we are also planning some full day/weekend working bees. We will be having a display again at this year WMR&ES Model Railway Show on the 28th and 29th of September. Steam Inc has a trip planned to Wanganui later on in the year and there has been some early rumours that Pahiatua railcar group may be the visiting train for next year’s Vintage Weekend. We will continue to look at the idea of hiring a train to do a run to New Plymouth. We will also be meeting up with KiwiRail over the next couple of months as our JOP as its due for renewal. Members help over the next 12 months would be appreciated.
Once again I would like to thank everyone who has helped me over the past year and a big thank you to all committee members for their help, especially my partner who is at home doing the dishes I should be doing but I’m at SteamRail instead.
Thank you
Blair Jordan
President SRW.
SRW Construction/ Maintenance Days: Price loco 212 (ex Imlay works) has now had the following items fitted again - front and rear lamp holders, right hand rear sand box, right hand front step, front hand rail and rear middle window. With the rear right hand window rubber now in place ready for the glass to go in. Work continues also on the strip down and repaint of the steam crane, the steps over the track at the front door and the dismantling of the old Xc box wagon body for spare parts down by the turntable.