Happenings in 2021
(February 2021 to January 2022)
November 2021 - January 2022
November 24th: SRW Club Night/ A Potter Around the Shed night. A few members spent this club night at our shed. Pottering around tiding up and working on projects.
December 4th: SRW Christmas BBQ. We held this at the WMR&ES club rooms. 8 members enjoyed their meals. This was meant to be a combined night with the WMR&ES, but since WMR&ES decided to cancel their Christmas’s show, they moved their night until the 21st of Dec club night instead.
January 22nd - 24th: Wellington Anniversary Weekend (Wanganui Vintage Weekend), SRW Motor Trolley Rides and Open Days. After plenty of work organising this weekend, it basically didn’t happen. As mentioned in last newsletter we were not coming under the Vintage Weekend umbrella but had planned to still do our thing. The Vintage weekend ended up getting cancelled altogether, due to Covid restrictions. Because of this we decided to still do our open day and Trolley rides but only on the Monday.
We had everything planned and ready to go the day before, when the Government announced we were moving into the red Traffic light due to the Omicron (Covid) outbreak, that night. After a quick talk to all members involved, we all decided our best option was to cancel our next day’s open day. There were are few upset people on Facebook when we cancelled but our members, families and the public’s well being comes first. When riding a trolley there is no way we can keep the required social distance, even if we kept the public in their family bubbles, it would mean our drivers would be entering all the bubbles. Without having Eftpos we also could not offer contactless payment for rides etc. We will look at another date to do our public open day and rides.
However, all was not lost. Due to us having the block of line with KiwiRail and all members involved we were already in each other’s bubbles; we decide to have a members training and fun day instead on the Monday. This gave us the opportunity to finish off the training we started back in October. A big congratulations to Trevor F, John P, Eddie F, Leone T and Keith H for passing their Trolley Drivers certs and to the other members who also past the refresher courses. Our Trollies got a good work out during the day. A fun day was had by all. Trevor F’s car was also a hot topic for a while on the day too.
Members with trollies are reminded to fill out their maintenance books for the days event and make sure you also include the hours the trollies were run for, to help with servicing requirements.
December 4th: SRW Christmas BBQ. We held this at the WMR&ES club rooms. 8 members enjoyed their meals. This was meant to be a combined night with the WMR&ES, but since WMR&ES decided to cancel their Christmas’s show, they moved their night until the 21st of Dec club night instead.
January 22nd - 24th: Wellington Anniversary Weekend (Wanganui Vintage Weekend), SRW Motor Trolley Rides and Open Days. After plenty of work organising this weekend, it basically didn’t happen. As mentioned in last newsletter we were not coming under the Vintage Weekend umbrella but had planned to still do our thing. The Vintage weekend ended up getting cancelled altogether, due to Covid restrictions. Because of this we decided to still do our open day and Trolley rides but only on the Monday.
We had everything planned and ready to go the day before, when the Government announced we were moving into the red Traffic light due to the Omicron (Covid) outbreak, that night. After a quick talk to all members involved, we all decided our best option was to cancel our next day’s open day. There were are few upset people on Facebook when we cancelled but our members, families and the public’s well being comes first. When riding a trolley there is no way we can keep the required social distance, even if we kept the public in their family bubbles, it would mean our drivers would be entering all the bubbles. Without having Eftpos we also could not offer contactless payment for rides etc. We will look at another date to do our public open day and rides.
However, all was not lost. Due to us having the block of line with KiwiRail and all members involved we were already in each other’s bubbles; we decide to have a members training and fun day instead on the Monday. This gave us the opportunity to finish off the training we started back in October. A big congratulations to Trevor F, John P, Eddie F, Leone T and Keith H for passing their Trolley Drivers certs and to the other members who also past the refresher courses. Our Trollies got a good work out during the day. A fun day was had by all. Trevor F’s car was also a hot topic for a while on the day too.
Members with trollies are reminded to fill out their maintenance books for the days event and make sure you also include the hours the trollies were run for, to help with servicing requirements.
SRW Maintenance Days
We continue on slowly at the SRW shed. Working on our many projects. The club purchased an old truck deck from River City Scrap Metals when they closed. Members have spent several hours stripping this down to the bare chassis. So, we can tidy it up and convert it to a new role as the new floor for our Jigger Shed. Once complete this will make the jigger shed more stable and easier to move if we have too. More paint has been stripped off the guard’s van frame and bogies. The cranes handbrake has been getting repaired and repainted, along with its outrigger support arms. We have purchased new air tubing for Price 212 to replace some of the perished tubes. This will be installed shortly. More lights have been getting put up around the workshop area. A lot of time has also been spent over the last month getting our trollies ready for the open day. Your editor has also finally got a little bit more done on his loco Tr113, the final drive gear box is ready for its final flush through before putting new oil in and I have fitted the new brake handle. But still need to find another one.
Obituaries
Robert Hartnell
Rob passed away on the 21st of November 2021. Rob was a past member of the WMR&ES, during his long association with the WMR&ES he held positions on the committee and as treasurer for many years. He had a big OO British themed layout that he would bring to the WMR&ES shows, he was also into model engineering and building a miniature Isle of Man locomotive. Rob would also turn up and support SRW on it open days.
Stewart Neal
Stu passed away on the 11th of January 2022, surrounded by his family. He was 61. Stu was a past member of both groups. Stu was involved longer with the WMR&ES than he was with SRW, but his input to both groups was appreciated. With the WMR&ES Stu held a position on the committee for many years and he (along with his wife Jo) were regulars on our Thursday night Construction nights. Stu was also the one who fitted the alarm systems into the WMR&ES building, donating a lot of the items for this. Stu also helped with some of the wiring of the SRW shed and donated the groups some tools. Stu modelled HO American (Union Pacific) railroads, but also had interests in radio control aircrafts and other hobbies.
Des Huddleston
Des passed away on the 26 of January 2022. He had been admitted to Wanganui hospital then, rushed to Wellington for a pacemaker to be put in. He had returned to Wanganui and was in good spirits. But got rushed to ICU and passed away about a week after he got back from Wellington. A few of us meet him through the Rail Enthusiast circles before he moved to Wanganui in 2000. He had been a member of SRW for a good number of years. He supported our events and past train trips when we used to run them. He was also regularly seen at our club nights up to a couple of years ago.
August - October 2021
August 25th: SRW Club Night/ Old Railway Photos Night. Due to Covid Lockdown club night was cancelled.
September 22nd: SRW YouTube Night. Still in lockdown, so no club night again on this night.
October 27th: SRW NZTA Audit. Your committee had a visit from Waka Kotahi (NZTA) for the groups audit. This year it was done by Natalie Bull. Overall, the audit went pretty well, but we will know more once her report comes out. However, during the audit there were a few things that came up. We will most likely find a recommendation in her report for us to do something about these. Some items we will need to look at are - updating our rail vehicle checklist to include track inspections, making sure we have individual books for each trolley. We will need to add a section for how long each trolley ran for in their books also. This will help keep a better record of when servicing/oil changes etc are due. We will also need to update the risk register to include floods and earthquakes etc.
October 27th: SRW Club Night/Shunters/Motor Drivers Courses. 14 members attended our Shunter and Motor Trolley Drivers refresher courses, including 3 from the Waitara group with Club President/Rail Operations Supervisor Blair doing most of the talking throughout the night. As part of having a rail licence with NZTA our Rail safety case states we need to do a refresher on these once every 2 years. Before we started the night, we took time to also refresh everyone with the club’s safety briefing, where first aid kits and fire extinguishers are and where the evacuation point was in case of an emergency.
The shunters course included demonstrations on hand signalling, changing points, rail vehicle hand brake operation, coupling and uncoupling of train, safe riding positions and safe crossing points.
The motor trolley drivers course featured demonstrations on pre checks before running (e.g., looking for loose or broken items, checking fuel, oil, lights, chain, past repairs have been fixed etc). We discussed running of the trolleys (how each trolley is different) and the coupling up of the draw bar between trolleys. We then talked about the shutdown procedures (e.g., turning fuel off, chocking the Trolley).
Finally, we went through the paperwork e.g., where to find the rail vehicle checklist, the maintenance books for each vehicle etc and what to fill out with these. A big thank you to all members who turned up for this club night.
September 22nd: SRW YouTube Night. Still in lockdown, so no club night again on this night.
October 27th: SRW NZTA Audit. Your committee had a visit from Waka Kotahi (NZTA) for the groups audit. This year it was done by Natalie Bull. Overall, the audit went pretty well, but we will know more once her report comes out. However, during the audit there were a few things that came up. We will most likely find a recommendation in her report for us to do something about these. Some items we will need to look at are - updating our rail vehicle checklist to include track inspections, making sure we have individual books for each trolley. We will need to add a section for how long each trolley ran for in their books also. This will help keep a better record of when servicing/oil changes etc are due. We will also need to update the risk register to include floods and earthquakes etc.
October 27th: SRW Club Night/Shunters/Motor Drivers Courses. 14 members attended our Shunter and Motor Trolley Drivers refresher courses, including 3 from the Waitara group with Club President/Rail Operations Supervisor Blair doing most of the talking throughout the night. As part of having a rail licence with NZTA our Rail safety case states we need to do a refresher on these once every 2 years. Before we started the night, we took time to also refresh everyone with the club’s safety briefing, where first aid kits and fire extinguishers are and where the evacuation point was in case of an emergency.
The shunters course included demonstrations on hand signalling, changing points, rail vehicle hand brake operation, coupling and uncoupling of train, safe riding positions and safe crossing points.
The motor trolley drivers course featured demonstrations on pre checks before running (e.g., looking for loose or broken items, checking fuel, oil, lights, chain, past repairs have been fixed etc). We discussed running of the trolleys (how each trolley is different) and the coupling up of the draw bar between trolleys. We then talked about the shutdown procedures (e.g., turning fuel off, chocking the Trolley).
Finally, we went through the paperwork e.g., where to find the rail vehicle checklist, the maintenance books for each vehicle etc and what to fill out with these. A big thank you to all members who turned up for this club night.
SRW Sunday Working Bees
As always work has continued on slowly at the SRW shed. Since the lockdown there has only been 4 or 5 members coming down most Sundays. We continue to work on the following items – Price 212 (ex Imlay), Price 149 (ex Army), F 733 (Guards Van), Steam Crane E 120 and the Motor Trollies. We also had a visit from the 2 Steam Traction Engines that have been based in town waiting to assist the riverboat back into the water. Keegan and his best mate Logan loved the ride.
May - July 2021
May 26th: SRW Club Night/ Favourite Book from Yesteryear Night. Unfortunately, we only had 3 members turn up on this club night. After a quick look at what each other brought, we headed of home early.
Colin brought along 3 books. The first one was the signed copy of Rob Muldoon’s book “Rise and Fall of a Young Turk”. The second book was “Harvey Come Quick” a story of the little doctor of Waverley around 1895. His final book was the “History of NZ Cyclist Core” Colins uncle Jack Hughes was a member of this core.
Keegan brough along 2 Thomas themed Books and 3 NZ Rail books, including the F163 book, the Vulcan Railcar book, and the Tragedy on the Track Book.
Lastly Blair showed us serval kids themed books he grew up with. These being The Railway Stories and The Thomas & Friends Collection, both written by the Rev.W.Awdry. Three Golden Story books, Tootle, The Little Engine that Could and The Train to Timbuctoo. Finally, he showed off a lot of old NZR Loco Manuals, Rules & Regulations books he had. A lot were donated to him by P Bardell.
It was a shame there wasn’t more members there to enjoy this evening.
June 6th & 7th: SRW Open Day with Motor Trolley Rides and Members Fun Day. Over Queens Birthday Weekend SteamRail ran another two enjoyable days. The first day the 6th of June was a Public open day offering once again Motor trolley rides. This day was well attended by the Public who all enjoyed their rides. A big thank you to members who helped. The next day the 7th of July we had a member’s fun day. We took the opportunity to give the Baby Price a run and move some of the rollingstock to free up the bearings etc. Photos by Blair Jordan and Kylie Jordan.
Colin brought along 3 books. The first one was the signed copy of Rob Muldoon’s book “Rise and Fall of a Young Turk”. The second book was “Harvey Come Quick” a story of the little doctor of Waverley around 1895. His final book was the “History of NZ Cyclist Core” Colins uncle Jack Hughes was a member of this core.
Keegan brough along 2 Thomas themed Books and 3 NZ Rail books, including the F163 book, the Vulcan Railcar book, and the Tragedy on the Track Book.
Lastly Blair showed us serval kids themed books he grew up with. These being The Railway Stories and The Thomas & Friends Collection, both written by the Rev.W.Awdry. Three Golden Story books, Tootle, The Little Engine that Could and The Train to Timbuctoo. Finally, he showed off a lot of old NZR Loco Manuals, Rules & Regulations books he had. A lot were donated to him by P Bardell.
It was a shame there wasn’t more members there to enjoy this evening.
June 6th & 7th: SRW Open Day with Motor Trolley Rides and Members Fun Day. Over Queens Birthday Weekend SteamRail ran another two enjoyable days. The first day the 6th of June was a Public open day offering once again Motor trolley rides. This day was well attended by the Public who all enjoyed their rides. A big thank you to members who helped. The next day the 7th of July we had a member’s fun day. We took the opportunity to give the Baby Price a run and move some of the rollingstock to free up the bearings etc. Photos by Blair Jordan and Kylie Jordan.
June 23rd: SRW Club Night/Movie Night. We had a better member turn out on this club night. Blair brought along a couple of movies, and everyone decided on the Titfield Thunderbolt. The movie is about, when British Railways announce the closure of the Titfield to Mallingford branch line, a group of local village residents make a bid to run it themselves, backed by a monied member of the community who is attracted by the complete lack of licensing hours on trains. Unfortunately, this puts them into direct competition with the local bus company. The movie starred Stanley Holloway, George Relph, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson and Sidney (Sid) James. There were many laughs throughout the night.
July 31st: SRW Club Night/Mid-Year Dinner. 14 members enjoyed a night out at the Rutland Arms Inn again this year on this Saturday night. The night started at 6pm and after plenty of talking and catching up with some of the members we don’t see very often, the last ones to leave were about 9pm. We were looking at going somewhere else but with time running out to book somewhere we decided to go back to the Rutland like we had the previous 2 years, since we all enjoyed their food in the past. The food was great once again and we send a big thank you to the Rutland Arms Inn.
July 31st: SRW Club Night/Mid-Year Dinner. 14 members enjoyed a night out at the Rutland Arms Inn again this year on this Saturday night. The night started at 6pm and after plenty of talking and catching up with some of the members we don’t see very often, the last ones to leave were about 9pm. We were looking at going somewhere else but with time running out to book somewhere we decided to go back to the Rutland like we had the previous 2 years, since we all enjoyed their food in the past. The food was great once again and we send a big thank you to the Rutland Arms Inn.
February - April 2021
February 24th: SRW Club Night/ Visit To The Tot Town Railway. To take advantage of day light savings and the warmer weather, members decided to visit the Tot Town Railway at Kowhai Park on this night. We enjoyed riding the train and some members also got to have a drive. A big thank you to Warwick Laws and the Lions Team for putting this on for us. Photos by Kylie Jordan.
February 26th – 28th: SRW Motor Trolleys to the Waitara Railway. After a two year break (mainly because of Covid) SRW members once again travelled to the Taranaki to spend the weekend riding the rails on the 7km long Waitara Branch line owned by the Waitara Railway Preservation Society Inc.
Some of the members travelled up on the Friday stopping at the Tawhiti Museum near Hawera on the way up. A big thank you to Nigel Ogle for letting us have a look around the site for free. The only thing we had to pay for was the Whalers and Trader’s ride. It was then on to Waitara to do all the important paperwork, drivers certs and trolley inspections before we could start running on the line. We then did our first supervised runs over the line, including SRW’s first time over the newly opened Lepperton yard section. These runs also included a stop in Waitara township for members to but Tea. Members were staying at the Waitara groups depot at Brixton for the two nights sleeping rough in the carriages.
On Saturday, most members were up bright and early ready to go. While we waited for the members who were either just doing a day trip or only staying for one night to turn up we took the opportunity to take to the rails with some of us going for a ride to Lepperton while a few others went to help with a bit of track work towards Waitara. Once everyone was back at the yard we then all set off riding the rails for the afternoon, but later in the day we once again helped the Waitara group with track maintenance, with the trolleys taking ballast to the Lepperton Yard for unloading. That night there was another run to Waitara for food for the BBQ and more fuel. We finished off the evening by watching rail footage that Hamish C and Alan B had brought along on a projector against the wall of the building next door (with Keegan falling asleep in his sleeping bag while watching these). Alan Blee had travelled the furthest to be there. Coming up with his trolley from the South Island.
Sunday was much the same as Saturday with members up bright and early again. We basically spent the morning riding the rails before packing up for the trip home. Overall it was a great weekend away. Everyone had fun. A big thank you to Hamish C for organising the trip. To the Waitara team for letting us be there and to ride the rails. The Waitara team would also like to thank us for the help with the track work and let’s not forget a big thank you to KiwiRail who once again loaned us a truck to transport the trolleys. Written and photos by Blair J.
March 24th: SRW Club Night/Members Night at the Shed. This club night was meant to be a Shunters/Motor Trolley drivers refresher course, but unfortunately Blair couldn’t make it so we had a catch up the members with restoration progress at the shed instead.
April 28th: SRW Annual General Meeting. We started off with a minutes silence for members who had passed throughout the year. Our thoughts are with the families at this time.
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 apart from Russell Jackson standing down as he and Joan have moved north to be closer to family. The committee is as follows: - President Blair Jordan, Secretary/treasurer Greg Tinnion, Committee members Colin Hughes, Ewan Pound and Hamish Coull. It was decided that another committee member was not needed at this stage, but if needed in the future the current committee has the power to introduce another member. We finished off the night talking about Club projects and upcoming items the club needs to deal with. The club would like to wish Russell and Joan all the best for their future and Russell’s input to the club will be missed.
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 apart from Russell Jackson standing down as he and Joan have moved north to be closer to family. The committee is as follows: - President Blair Jordan, Secretary/treasurer Greg Tinnion, Committee members Colin Hughes, Ewan Pound and Hamish Coull. It was decided that another committee member was not needed at this stage, but if needed in the future the current committee has the power to introduce another member. We finished off the night talking about Club projects and upcoming items the club needs to deal with. The club would like to wish Russell and Joan all the best for their future and Russell’s input to the club will be missed.
SteamRail Wanganui Inc.
President’s Annual Report – 2020/2021
For the Eighth time I have great pleasure in presenting my President’s Report for SRW. As always, my report sounds similar to other years but being a small group, we kind of do the same thing every year.
It has been an eventful 12 months for SRW, with that dreaded Covid still hanging around in the background, we have managed to carry on mostly like normal. May I thank you all for the efforts in keeping the society running, looking after each other and keeping the public safe over this time.
Year Highlights: We opened our doors twice during the year offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides. The first one was over the Labour weekend 2020 and then again at the Wanganui Vintage weekend in January this year, where we ran two days of rides instead of the normal one. These days were well supported by the public. The club would like to welcome our new member Trevor Ferguson, who joined up after visiting us on one of these open days. After a two-year break (because of Covid) members once again ventured to Waitara to operate our motor trolleys on the Waitara Groups 7km line, which included going into the Lepperton Yard for the first time. A big thank you to the Waitara group for letting us run again on their line, to Hamish Coull for organizing this and to all members who helped over these events.
Fundraising: Our main fundraising over the last 12 months have been once again our Motor Trolley/Jigger Rides and Open Days, scrap metal recycling and donations. 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 once again been donated a lot of railway related items over the last 12 months. Members have also donated to the group over the last year, items like fuel, grinder cutting discs, tools etc, are always greatly received. Included in these donations is the scrap metal members bring in for fund raising. We also thank Phillips electrical for their donation of scrap items. A big thank you to everyone who has donated items to the club over the year.
Club Projects: Are much the same as last AGM. Work has continued on the ex-North End Aramoho Signal Box. 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 had windows put back in, piping and wiring replaced in the cab and more new red paint applied, it looked great out in the sun during vintage weekend. The repaint of the Baby price loco into a darker green is coming along slowly. Work has also continued with the Guards Van, Motor Trollies and other tools and items we have. We are still working on the idea of putting a new floor in the ex-Waverley Jigger shed. We have now almost finished the demolition of the old Xc wagon body down by the turntable for spare parts as this has seen better days. We have also had a couple of working bee days at Phillips electrical dismantling scrap we have been given (note we still have a few more days required there to finish off) 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 and a Wanganui Rail photo’s night. 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 could not do this without you. Once again, our thanks go out to Greg Tinnion and Phillips Electrical for their help with printing of the newsletters and to my partner Lloryian or mum Sandra for the proof reading. 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. The club’s biggest issues have been with operational costs rising, these being NZTA, FRONZ, Insurance’s and KiwiRail Lease’s. Our out goings are now way more than our incoming. We really need to look at ways we can make more money to keep the club going. No doubt the treasurer will also mention these in his report. NZTA sent us their biggest bill yet for their Audit they did back in Jan 2020. The bill was for almost $3000. After months of emails going back and forth between both sides. We also got FRONZ involved with this. They were shocked at the amount we were being charged and they went into battle for us also. NZTA came back to us apologizing for a mistake they made and dropped the bill by almost $1000. Although its good not to be paying so much, it’s still extremely high for what the club does. On a good note, with NZTA our updated safety case was accepted. A Big thank you to Ewan for all his work he has done with this. We have also now started the talks with KiwiRail re our JOP. I have forwarded to them a few proposed changes we would like to see, these include an emergency evaluation clause, bigger running rights in the yard for both our public open days and working bee days (for when want to test a item or move something between our two sites). Thank you to John Pudsey for being our internal Auditor. The Wanganui turntable has finally been returned to service by KiwiRail just in time for Steam Inc trip into town last January.
My Life: I continue to love my job as a Locomotive Engineer (driver) with KiwiRail. July this year I would have been with KiwiRail for 10 years, the time goes so quick. I have now done my Passenger drivers ticket and pasted all my on-the-job training for this. This means I have now moved to the top roster at work. The top roster means I now do not do as much night shift, but on the downside, there is a bit more weekend work. 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 is 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 might have a display again with the WMR&ES Model Railway Show in October. Hopefully, we will have some good news from KiwiRail re our JOP renewal. Also, we will most likely have another audit by NZTA to look forward too. Members help over the next 12 months would be appreciated.
Finally, I want to wish Russell and Joan Jackson all the best for their future, as they have decided to move up north to be closer to their family. We thank Russell for all his help to the club over the years, with a lot of this being on the committee. His input will be missed.
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.
Thank you. Blair Jordan, President SRW.
President’s Annual Report – 2020/2021
For the Eighth time I have great pleasure in presenting my President’s Report for SRW. As always, my report sounds similar to other years but being a small group, we kind of do the same thing every year.
It has been an eventful 12 months for SRW, with that dreaded Covid still hanging around in the background, we have managed to carry on mostly like normal. May I thank you all for the efforts in keeping the society running, looking after each other and keeping the public safe over this time.
Year Highlights: We opened our doors twice during the year offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides. The first one was over the Labour weekend 2020 and then again at the Wanganui Vintage weekend in January this year, where we ran two days of rides instead of the normal one. These days were well supported by the public. The club would like to welcome our new member Trevor Ferguson, who joined up after visiting us on one of these open days. After a two-year break (because of Covid) members once again ventured to Waitara to operate our motor trolleys on the Waitara Groups 7km line, which included going into the Lepperton Yard for the first time. A big thank you to the Waitara group for letting us run again on their line, to Hamish Coull for organizing this and to all members who helped over these events.
Fundraising: Our main fundraising over the last 12 months have been once again our Motor Trolley/Jigger Rides and Open Days, scrap metal recycling and donations. 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 once again been donated a lot of railway related items over the last 12 months. Members have also donated to the group over the last year, items like fuel, grinder cutting discs, tools etc, are always greatly received. Included in these donations is the scrap metal members bring in for fund raising. We also thank Phillips electrical for their donation of scrap items. A big thank you to everyone who has donated items to the club over the year.
Club Projects: Are much the same as last AGM. Work has continued on the ex-North End Aramoho Signal Box. 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 had windows put back in, piping and wiring replaced in the cab and more new red paint applied, it looked great out in the sun during vintage weekend. The repaint of the Baby price loco into a darker green is coming along slowly. Work has also continued with the Guards Van, Motor Trollies and other tools and items we have. We are still working on the idea of putting a new floor in the ex-Waverley Jigger shed. We have now almost finished the demolition of the old Xc wagon body down by the turntable for spare parts as this has seen better days. We have also had a couple of working bee days at Phillips electrical dismantling scrap we have been given (note we still have a few more days required there to finish off) 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 and a Wanganui Rail photo’s night. 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 could not do this without you. Once again, our thanks go out to Greg Tinnion and Phillips Electrical for their help with printing of the newsletters and to my partner Lloryian or mum Sandra for the proof reading. 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. The club’s biggest issues have been with operational costs rising, these being NZTA, FRONZ, Insurance’s and KiwiRail Lease’s. Our out goings are now way more than our incoming. We really need to look at ways we can make more money to keep the club going. No doubt the treasurer will also mention these in his report. NZTA sent us their biggest bill yet for their Audit they did back in Jan 2020. The bill was for almost $3000. After months of emails going back and forth between both sides. We also got FRONZ involved with this. They were shocked at the amount we were being charged and they went into battle for us also. NZTA came back to us apologizing for a mistake they made and dropped the bill by almost $1000. Although its good not to be paying so much, it’s still extremely high for what the club does. On a good note, with NZTA our updated safety case was accepted. A Big thank you to Ewan for all his work he has done with this. We have also now started the talks with KiwiRail re our JOP. I have forwarded to them a few proposed changes we would like to see, these include an emergency evaluation clause, bigger running rights in the yard for both our public open days and working bee days (for when want to test a item or move something between our two sites). Thank you to John Pudsey for being our internal Auditor. The Wanganui turntable has finally been returned to service by KiwiRail just in time for Steam Inc trip into town last January.
My Life: I continue to love my job as a Locomotive Engineer (driver) with KiwiRail. July this year I would have been with KiwiRail for 10 years, the time goes so quick. I have now done my Passenger drivers ticket and pasted all my on-the-job training for this. This means I have now moved to the top roster at work. The top roster means I now do not do as much night shift, but on the downside, there is a bit more weekend work. 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 is 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 might have a display again with the WMR&ES Model Railway Show in October. Hopefully, we will have some good news from KiwiRail re our JOP renewal. Also, we will most likely have another audit by NZTA to look forward too. Members help over the next 12 months would be appreciated.
Finally, I want to wish Russell and Joan Jackson all the best for their future, as they have decided to move up north to be closer to their family. We thank Russell for all his help to the club over the years, with a lot of this being on the committee. His input will be missed.
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.
Thank you. Blair Jordan, President SRW.