SteamRail Wanganui Happenings
May - July 2023
May 24th: SRW Club Night/ Movie Night. Unfortunately, only one member turned up for this club night. So, the meeting was cancelled.
June 4th: SRW Public Open Day with Motor Trolley Rides. SRW had another fun day giving rides to the public. 75 members of the public went for a ride, plus others had a look through our shed. The Public Relation Officers in their yellow Hi Viz’s were once again a crowd favourite. A big thank you to all that supported us on the day and to the members that helped out once again. We took this opportunity to promote the up coming ET Railway Workshops book Launch and associated open day the following month. Photos by Ewan P.
June 4th: SRW Public Open Day with Motor Trolley Rides. SRW had another fun day giving rides to the public. 75 members of the public went for a ride, plus others had a look through our shed. The Public Relation Officers in their yellow Hi Viz’s were once again a crowd favourite. A big thank you to all that supported us on the day and to the members that helped out once again. We took this opportunity to promote the up coming ET Railway Workshops book Launch and associated open day the following month. Photos by Ewan P.
June 28th: SRW Club Night/ Visit to the Ward Observatory. 5 members turned up on this club night. In between the clouds we managed to get a good look at the moon with the big main telescope inside, before heading outside to look at some of the stars through a smaller telescope. We finished off the night sitting in the meeting room in general discussion about world events. A big thank you to the Observatory team for hosting us for this night and to Mark lee for organising the night. Photo of the big telescope by Keegan JJ.
July 8th & 9th: The East Town Railway Workshops Book Launch, Display & Public Open Day with Motor Trolley Rides.
Book Launch and Display on Saturday July the 8th: The new East Town Railway Workshops Book is now out in the community. The book was written by Laraine Sole and she has very kindly donated all profits to SRW.
We held the official launch on the morning of Saturday the 8th, at the Wanganui East Club & Traxs Restaurant. It was well attended by the public; at one stage we counted over 80 people there. We had great display of East Town Workshops related items at the launch. These were supplied by SteamRail Wanganui Inc, Wanganui Model Railway & Engineering Society Inc, Palmerston North Model Engineers (MARRINER RESERVE RAILWAY) and private individuals collections.
Book Launch and Display on Saturday July the 8th: The new East Town Railway Workshops Book is now out in the community. The book was written by Laraine Sole and she has very kindly donated all profits to SRW.
We held the official launch on the morning of Saturday the 8th, at the Wanganui East Club & Traxs Restaurant. It was well attended by the public; at one stage we counted over 80 people there. We had great display of East Town Workshops related items at the launch. These were supplied by SteamRail Wanganui Inc, Wanganui Model Railway & Engineering Society Inc, Palmerston North Model Engineers (MARRINER RESERVE RAILWAY) and private individuals collections.
The launch was followed by a display in the afternoon of East Town related items at SRW, including the ex-ET Steam Crane E120 and ET built or maintained wagons. This was the first time since the 2015 flood that the crane and carriage had been outside in the sunshine. The crane also had its engine ticking over (running off a compressor) as part of this display.
SRW Public Open Day and Motor Trolley Rides on Sunday July the 9th: We held another open day on this day to promote the new ET Railway Workshops Book. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t play ball. Very wet and cold. So, we only gave a few motor trolley rides. But on a good note, we still sold a number of books.
A big thank you goes to: Laraine Sole for giving SRW not only an awesome fundraiser but also pulling together over a century of history, stories and photographs for us all to enjoy for many years to come. The Wanganui East Club & Traxs Restaurant for providing the venue for our book launch. To all parties involved with running this weekend and to the people and clubs that supplied exhibits, to everyone who came along to the book launch and open day to support us and finally to everyone who has brought a book.
The new book has been very popular since its release. We sold all 300 copies with in the first 3 weeks of its launch. However, all is not lost if you still want a copy. We have ordered another print run of 200 books. So, keep an eye on the SRW web site if you still want a copy. We should have more in stock in a few weeks’ time. Photos by Blair J, Ewan P and Keegan JJ.
July 29th: SRW Club Night/ Mid-Year Dinner. 15 members (including a couple of members from the Taranaki) enjoyed a night out at the Rutland Arms Inn once again for our mid-year dinner. A big thank you the Rutland team once again for the yummy food and great atmosphere. Photos by Blair J.
July 29th: SRW Club Night/ Mid-Year Dinner. 15 members (including a couple of members from the Taranaki) enjoyed a night out at the Rutland Arms Inn once again for our mid-year dinner. A big thank you the Rutland team once again for the yummy food and great atmosphere. Photos by Blair J.
SRW Maintenance Days
Over the last couple of months most of the members attention has been getting items ready for the ET Railway Workshop Book launch. Steam Crane E 120 has had a makeover (still to be finished). Parts of it is now sporting its new red colour scheme, along with its Yellow and black safety striped end. This is similar to what it used to wear during its working life at the Workshops. Some of the signage and the brass axle oilers have also been put back on (with new oil wicks make for them). The locos, motor trolleys and wagons were all checked over, getting them ready for the move outside for the launch. Other items and the shed in general have had a tidy up ready for the displays and open days. On Saturday the 8th (book launch day) saw the crane and carriage outside for the first time since the 2015 floods. Seeing these out in the sun is a credit to all the hard work members have put in over the last few months, some even going down to paint and service vehicles on weekdays etc.
After the book launch members have carried on like normal. The 3 motor trolleys on site have been getting attention. New gear box for one, fixing the pull start on the Briggs and Stratton engine on the 2nd and adding adjustable engine mounts on the 3rd. More paint has been taken off parts of the Steam Crane getting them ready for the new red colour, as well as the hand brake was put back together. Price 149 fuel system (governor) has been getting worked on. Trying to make it a little less thirsty on the fuel. More scrap has been dismantled and lawns done etc. Even Tr 113 (Blair’s Loco) has had a little bit of work done on it. A missing nut on one of the axle keeper plates has been replaced and new grease nipples replacing the damaged ones on the axle bearings are being installed. Photos by Blair J, Keegan JJ and Ewan P.
SRW Open-Days and Motor Trolley Rides
SRW committee have decided not to hold another open day this year. We quite often do one over Labour weekend as part of the Wanganui Heritage Month. But have heard that this month is not going ahead this year. We will also have a few members away that weekend. Our next open day will most likely be Wanganui Vintage Weekend over Wellington Anniversary Weekend, January the 20th to 22nd 2024. We will keep members posted if we do decide to run another one before January 2024.
However, we will most likely have a small display at the WMR&ES small model railway show over the weekend of September 23rd & 24th. Members help would be great with this.
However, we will most likely have a small display at the WMR&ES small model railway show over the weekend of September 23rd & 24th. Members help would be great with this.
Donations
SRW would like to thank the following for their donations to the group:
Brian Mosen, donated a book he wrote called “Trains, Buses and Boats, Planes.
Barry Shore, donated 1970’s railway uniforms, old NZR mags, rule books and newspaper cuttings.
Brian Mosen, donated a book he wrote called “Trains, Buses and Boats, Planes.
Barry Shore, donated 1970’s railway uniforms, old NZR mags, rule books and newspaper cuttings.
SteamRail Wanganui’s New Email Address.
steamrailwanganuiinc@gmail.com
With all the planning happening with the new book, it was decided that SRW should have its own email account instead of using the president’s email. This way we now don’t risk missing or losing an email, when they get mixed with his personal emails. This will also mean his private email will not get all the orders coming in for the new book. So could everyone please update their records with the new address.
2024 NZ Rail Scene Calendar.
SRW has a very limited number (only 2 left) of the 2024 Rail Scene Calendar. First in gets one. Special members price of $20 each or $25 retail. Please let Blair J know ASAP if you want one.
Obituaries
Trevor Roberts
1940-2023.
Both WMR&ES and SRW lost one of its past members Trevor Roberts on the 11th of June 2023, aged 82. Trevor died suddenly at home after an accident. Trevor was a long-time member of the Wanganui Model Engineering Society, which became the WMR&ES after it merged with the Wanganui Railway Modellers club back in 1995. He was also one of the main guys involved with the 5 inch track the club used to have out the back of the club rooms. It was after the council wanted this land back and that track was lifted that Trevor disappeared from regular attendance at the club. As part of this hobby, he had his own 5 inch gauge train along with track (including a tunnel) running around a paddock at home, something to take the grand kids for a ride on. Trevor was also one of SRW early members after that club formed in 1989. He helped with the restoration of the turntable and ground clearing etc when we first started the SRW site next to the turn table, in the early years of SRW. He would still call in regularly in later years to see how the club was going and to drop off parts for the Chev engine in Price 149. Trevor was also involved with the Wanganui Vintage Car Club and the Gome Wanganui groups. He will be missed. Both clubs’ thoughts and best wishes went out to his family and friends at this sad time. First and third photos taken by Ewan P.
East Town Railway Workshops
East Town Railway Workshop (ET) has been in the Wanganui news a lot lately because of the new book, newspaper articles, social media, and this newsletter. It is very surprising how much ET related items are still out there. Both SRW and WMR&ES have items in their collections along with a number of items in private collections as well. It makes you wonder how many more wagons or other ET related items are out there at preservation groups or in private collections. Here is a list of items the two clubs have related to ET.
SRW Collection-
Steam Crane E120, built in 1904 (at Hill Side), but spent all its working life at ET.
Ballast Wagon Yc 797 (later Yc 1250) was built at ET in May 1961.
Ballast Wagon Yc 811 (later Yc 1411) was built at ET in October 1961.
Passenger car A 520 (later Ea 352) was written off at ET on 17th August 1963.
Box Wagon Xp 2964 (later Xp 13, now flat deck wagon) was built at ET in 1966 and written off there on 9th October 1982.
Box Wagon Xp 3042 (later Xp 848, then E 6695) was built at ET in 1966, reclassified at ET to E 6695 on September 1981 and written off at ET in April 1985.
Box Wagon Xa 2052 (now body only) was written off at ET on 17th June 1972.
Guards Van F 733 (later F 1967) was maintained at ET on 6th December 1978.
Box Wagon Ks 5269 (later Ks 19977, then E 8793) was altered at ET, September 1980. This included fitting of new ends, roof modified and strengthened and new roof beams.
Box Wagon Ks 3871 (later Ks 797) was altered at ET, May 1982. This included fitting of new ends, roof modified and strengthened and new roof beams.
Other items at SRW, ET World War 1 & 2 Honours Board, ET Makers Plate No 1 1980, ET plans and photos. No doubt a number of SRW other items of rollingstock may have visited ET for maintenance, but we have no records to prove this.
WMR&ES Collection-
1880 to 1980 Brass Plaque, celebrating the first 100 years of ET.
ET Train Headboard, used on the Tiger by the Tail train, organised by ET to run from Wanganui to Taihape return, injunction with the recently opened Mangaweka to Utiku Deviation in November 1981.
Other Items at WMR&ES, a couple of framed photos of ET.
SRW Collection-
Steam Crane E120, built in 1904 (at Hill Side), but spent all its working life at ET.
Ballast Wagon Yc 797 (later Yc 1250) was built at ET in May 1961.
Ballast Wagon Yc 811 (later Yc 1411) was built at ET in October 1961.
Passenger car A 520 (later Ea 352) was written off at ET on 17th August 1963.
Box Wagon Xp 2964 (later Xp 13, now flat deck wagon) was built at ET in 1966 and written off there on 9th October 1982.
Box Wagon Xp 3042 (later Xp 848, then E 6695) was built at ET in 1966, reclassified at ET to E 6695 on September 1981 and written off at ET in April 1985.
Box Wagon Xa 2052 (now body only) was written off at ET on 17th June 1972.
Guards Van F 733 (later F 1967) was maintained at ET on 6th December 1978.
Box Wagon Ks 5269 (later Ks 19977, then E 8793) was altered at ET, September 1980. This included fitting of new ends, roof modified and strengthened and new roof beams.
Box Wagon Ks 3871 (later Ks 797) was altered at ET, May 1982. This included fitting of new ends, roof modified and strengthened and new roof beams.
Other items at SRW, ET World War 1 & 2 Honours Board, ET Makers Plate No 1 1980, ET plans and photos. No doubt a number of SRW other items of rollingstock may have visited ET for maintenance, but we have no records to prove this.
WMR&ES Collection-
1880 to 1980 Brass Plaque, celebrating the first 100 years of ET.
ET Train Headboard, used on the Tiger by the Tail train, organised by ET to run from Wanganui to Taihape return, injunction with the recently opened Mangaweka to Utiku Deviation in November 1981.
Other Items at WMR&ES, a couple of framed photos of ET.
East Town Railway Workshop Photos
we will finish off this East Town themed report with a number of ET related photos. Stu Brown took the 2nd photo and John Bovis the 3rd photo, but credit goes to the unknown photographers on the other 4 photos.
Previous Happenings
February - April 2023
February 22nd: WMR&ES/SRW Combined Club Night/ Visit to the Hawtree’s Radio Museum + Extras. Both clubs joined up for a night out to have a look at the Hawtree collections. The first room we went into was the radio museum. Wow what a set up. The room was full of vintage and some very rear radios, all different shapes, and sizes. There was even some one of a kind in New Zealand ones. Most have been lovingly restored and were operational. The second room was currently being used for storage, but they plan to make this the model railway room. The third room was the workshop/model railway/Meccano displays. They had their models displayed in either cabinets or on shelves. The final room we went into was the room they call the Cat room. This room displayed Caterpillar Machinery Models of different scales. There were bulldozers, diggers, front end loaders, graders and trucks etc. this was a great collection to see. A big thank you Graham and Val for letting us have a look. We totally enjoyed the visit. Photos by Blair J.
March 22nd: SRW decided not to have club night on this night. Instead, we used the visit of WMR&ES the night before (March the 21st) to be our club night for the month. This was a good test for the group, as we can now operate a bit more freely with the new JOP with KiwiRail. Because of this we can now open our doors to other clubs for visits. The WMR&ES thanked the group for allowing a look through the building and the ride.
April 26th: SRW Annual General Meeting. We started off with a minute’s silence for members who had passed throughout the year. Our thoughts were with their families over these sad times.
All the reports were read and accepted, and it was voted that the subs stay the same as the previous year. The 6 previous committee members stayed on for another year. The committee is as follows: - President Blair J, Secretary/treasurer Greg T, Committee members Colin H, Ewan P, Hamish C and Trevor F. Blair has also stayed on as newsletter editor. We finished off the night talking about the club’s future, club projects and upcoming events the club needs to deal with, while eating Feijoa cake made by Blair’s mum. Thanks Sandra.
All the reports were read and accepted, and it was voted that the subs stay the same as the previous year. The 6 previous committee members stayed on for another year. The committee is as follows: - President Blair J, Secretary/treasurer Greg T, Committee members Colin H, Ewan P, Hamish C and Trevor F. Blair has also stayed on as newsletter editor. We finished off the night talking about the club’s future, club projects and upcoming events the club needs to deal with, while eating Feijoa cake made by Blair’s mum. Thanks Sandra.
President’s Annual Report – 2022/2023
Wow, for the tenth time I have great pleasure in presenting my President’s Report for SRW. It only feels like a couple of years ago I took over the reins from Rob Walker. SRW is now in its 34th year. 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 interesting 12 months for SRW, and the year has just flown by, even with Covid still hanging around in the background, but we have managed to carry on 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.
Public Events: We opened our doors to the public three times during the year offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides. This being the Sunday of Queens Birthdays weekend (the 5th of June). The Sunday of Labour Weekend (the 23rd of October) as part of Wanganui Heritage Month and Wellington Anniversary Weekend (the 21st to 23rd of January 2023) as part of Wanganui Vintage Weekend. These days were well supported by the public.
Fundraising: Our main fundraising over the last 12 months has once again been the scrap metal recycling, motor trolley/jigger rides and open days, donations, and members subs. We also did a bit of security, for the combined GVR and Steam Inc train that stayed for two nights (the 24th & 25th October 2022). 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 have being donated a lot of railway related items over the last 12 months. Including books, videos/DVDs, a coat rack (thought to be out of a carriage from the Tangiwai disaster and a porcelain wine cooler, thought to be out of a carriage. Members have also donated to the group over the last year, items like fuel, grinder cutting discs, tools, money etc, are always greatly received. Included in these donations is the scrap metal members bring in for fund raising. Once again, we thank Phillips electrical for their continued donation of scrap items. A big thank you to everyone who has donated items to the club over the year.
Club Projects: They are much the same as the 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) The repaint of the Baby Price loco no 149 into a darker green is coming along slowly, but this loco has had a lot of engine work done on it this year. It has also been converted from 6 volts to 12 volts. We have also started the track work needed on our storage sidings next to the turntable. We are getting this area ready to move wagons, so we can access the Uc tank wagon for MOTAT. Work has also continued with the Guards Van, Motor Trollies, the Jigger shed floor (the old truck deck) and other tools and items we have. Phillips Electrical (Greg) has continued to drop off old heat pumps for us to dismantle for scrap. 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/Movie nights, BBQ’s, Mid-Year Dinner, Other Hobbies nights, Shunter refresher training night, a Rail photo’s night, a members visit to my house in Bulls and a visit to the Hawtree’s Radio Museum. We have also combined with the WMR&ES on a few of these nights. We have also had the WMR&ES visit us for one of their 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 the newsletter 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 (so if there’s any spelling mistakes, it’s their fault. Even though they are superior human beings). As you have just read, Lloryian has proofread this report too, adding her little bit in. I was waiting for a bite. My apologies with a few issues of the newsletter 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 outgoings are now more than our incomings. We really need to look at ways we can make more money to keep the club going. We must be due for a NZTA audit again soon. This is always a worry, as they almost always find something to change in our safety case, and this will end up costing us. The other big worry is both KiwiRail leases are up for renewal. The shed site is mid-year with the turntable site due again at the end of the year. Because of this we are still keen on downsizing our turntable site, which will mean finding new homes for some of the wagons. On a good note, we have finally signed a new JOP with KiwiRail. We have been given a bit more freedom. We still must give them notice for a block of line when we do a public event, but we now can use the yard at any time, without notification if we just want to test something, give a ride or host a visiting group (as we did with the WMR&ES in March). Thank you again John Pudsey for being our internal Auditor.
East Town Railway Workshop Book: The club has been working with Historian Laraine Sole. She is writing a book on the East Town Railway Workshops. We have a number of East Town items in our collection. She has been asking for past ET workers to get in touch with their stories and photos etc. Laraine has written a number of books now and she does them as fund raises for organisations. This book is planned to be a fund raiser for SRW. Once printing costs are covered the rest is profit for the group.
Other Clubs: It’s always good when clubs can work together for a common cause. We regularly team up with serval groups in the central north island to help each other out. Over the last 12 months we have worked with – The WMR&ES for a few club nights and occasional shows. The Waitara group, their members coming down to help and support us on our open days and us going up there to do shunters course’s and help with our Safety Case etc. Doing security for GVR and Steam Inc. Fielding group for copies of loco plans and finally just recently a few of us went up to Taumarunui to support the TRACT on one of their open days. Ewan took along a few items to display as well.
Stephen Shaw: It’s sad when we lose anyone involved with the club and our thoughts go out to family and friends over these sad times.
However, as you can imagine the passing of Stephen has been a big shock to the club. Stephen passed away peacefully on the 14th of January 2023. After a short battle with cancer. Stephen was a big help to the club over the years. He was involved with everything we did. He was a regular at our Sunday morning Construction days and the once-a-month club nights. He was a car steward on the trips we used to run when we hired the capital connection train. He had been trained as a shunter and motor trolley driver with the club. He would attend all our events and trips. The place just wasn’t the same without him over the Wanganui Vintage weekend open days and motor trolley rides.
Even outside the club, he was always willing to give a hand. He flew up twice to Auckland to help me with my Thomas layout with the Glenbrook Vintage Railway “Day out with Thomas” events. He wouldn’t take any money to help cover flights or accommodation when he came up to help. He just wanted a fun weekend away, that was the type of person he was. But we made sure we at least paid for his meals to say thanks for the help. Last November he was asking when the next trip to Auckland would be. His passing has hit me hard. One of my biggest regrets is I never got him a cab ride, like I’ve done with others before he passed. But you just never know when your time is up.
Stephen wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and to try new things. He is a big loss to the club. Rest in Peace Stephen.
Me, myself, and I: I continue to love my job as a Locomotive Engineer (driver) with KiwiRail. July this year I would have been with KiwiRail for 12 years, the time goes so quick. I must thank everyone again 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 the understanding I have had from members because of this has been appreciated. A big thank you must go to Ewan Pound; you could say he’s my right-hand man when I need something done. He has also been a big help with a safety Case etc. I enjoy my roles with SRW but do feel at times that paperwork issues and running of the club take me away from the main reason I joined the group about 34 years ago. This being working and restoring our rail history, it also means I don’t get to work on my own loco as often as I would like too. In some ways, I also feel the club doing scrap recycling also takes members away from working on our club items and this is one of the reasons our projects take so long to complete. But I also know that the scrap is our biggest fund raiser and if we didn’t do it, the club wouldn’t be here. However, I do look forward to continuing my roles, that is if you want me of course.
The Next 12 Months: This upcoming year looks like it will be similar to previous years. We are looking at dates when we can do more Motor Trolley rides and Open Days (one being over Kings Birthday weekend on Sunday the 4th of June), we are also planning some full day/weekend working bees. We will need to get a lot more done at the turntable site, with the downsizing and rehoming of wagons and we still have to pick up the lathe and goods crane we were donated last year. We might have a display again with the WMR&ES Model Railway Show in September. There is also a possibly that SRW along with the East Town Steam Crane no 120 will be used for the East Town Workshops book launch. Hopefully, we will have some good news from KiwiRail re lease renewal, but I doubt it. Also, we will most likely have another audit by NZTA to look forward too. 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.
Thank you.
Blair Jordan
President SRW.
Finally, “The place has gone to the Dogs!”
A quick word from the SRW’s “Public Relations Officers” Skyla and Mia, and the “Head of Security” Chi. “Whoof, Whoof, ruff, ruff, bark, bark” - (translated to English) a big thank you to all members for accepting us there. We get so excited when we know we are heading to SRW. We love the attention, pats, cuddles, food, teasing (Colin) and just being involved. We also know that Blair, Lloryian, Hamish and Amanda appreciate how well members treat us when we are on site and the fact that by the time, we get home we are buggered for the rest of the day, no bouncing around the house or getting under their feet wanting attention. We just lay down and rest happily.
Wow, for the tenth time I have great pleasure in presenting my President’s Report for SRW. It only feels like a couple of years ago I took over the reins from Rob Walker. SRW is now in its 34th year. 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 interesting 12 months for SRW, and the year has just flown by, even with Covid still hanging around in the background, but we have managed to carry on 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.
Public Events: We opened our doors to the public three times during the year offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides. This being the Sunday of Queens Birthdays weekend (the 5th of June). The Sunday of Labour Weekend (the 23rd of October) as part of Wanganui Heritage Month and Wellington Anniversary Weekend (the 21st to 23rd of January 2023) as part of Wanganui Vintage Weekend. These days were well supported by the public.
Fundraising: Our main fundraising over the last 12 months has once again been the scrap metal recycling, motor trolley/jigger rides and open days, donations, and members subs. We also did a bit of security, for the combined GVR and Steam Inc train that stayed for two nights (the 24th & 25th October 2022). 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 have being donated a lot of railway related items over the last 12 months. Including books, videos/DVDs, a coat rack (thought to be out of a carriage from the Tangiwai disaster and a porcelain wine cooler, thought to be out of a carriage. Members have also donated to the group over the last year, items like fuel, grinder cutting discs, tools, money etc, are always greatly received. Included in these donations is the scrap metal members bring in for fund raising. Once again, we thank Phillips electrical for their continued donation of scrap items. A big thank you to everyone who has donated items to the club over the year.
Club Projects: They are much the same as the 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) The repaint of the Baby Price loco no 149 into a darker green is coming along slowly, but this loco has had a lot of engine work done on it this year. It has also been converted from 6 volts to 12 volts. We have also started the track work needed on our storage sidings next to the turntable. We are getting this area ready to move wagons, so we can access the Uc tank wagon for MOTAT. Work has also continued with the Guards Van, Motor Trollies, the Jigger shed floor (the old truck deck) and other tools and items we have. Phillips Electrical (Greg) has continued to drop off old heat pumps for us to dismantle for scrap. 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/Movie nights, BBQ’s, Mid-Year Dinner, Other Hobbies nights, Shunter refresher training night, a Rail photo’s night, a members visit to my house in Bulls and a visit to the Hawtree’s Radio Museum. We have also combined with the WMR&ES on a few of these nights. We have also had the WMR&ES visit us for one of their 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 the newsletter 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 (so if there’s any spelling mistakes, it’s their fault. Even though they are superior human beings). As you have just read, Lloryian has proofread this report too, adding her little bit in. I was waiting for a bite. My apologies with a few issues of the newsletter 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 outgoings are now more than our incomings. We really need to look at ways we can make more money to keep the club going. We must be due for a NZTA audit again soon. This is always a worry, as they almost always find something to change in our safety case, and this will end up costing us. The other big worry is both KiwiRail leases are up for renewal. The shed site is mid-year with the turntable site due again at the end of the year. Because of this we are still keen on downsizing our turntable site, which will mean finding new homes for some of the wagons. On a good note, we have finally signed a new JOP with KiwiRail. We have been given a bit more freedom. We still must give them notice for a block of line when we do a public event, but we now can use the yard at any time, without notification if we just want to test something, give a ride or host a visiting group (as we did with the WMR&ES in March). Thank you again John Pudsey for being our internal Auditor.
East Town Railway Workshop Book: The club has been working with Historian Laraine Sole. She is writing a book on the East Town Railway Workshops. We have a number of East Town items in our collection. She has been asking for past ET workers to get in touch with their stories and photos etc. Laraine has written a number of books now and she does them as fund raises for organisations. This book is planned to be a fund raiser for SRW. Once printing costs are covered the rest is profit for the group.
Other Clubs: It’s always good when clubs can work together for a common cause. We regularly team up with serval groups in the central north island to help each other out. Over the last 12 months we have worked with – The WMR&ES for a few club nights and occasional shows. The Waitara group, their members coming down to help and support us on our open days and us going up there to do shunters course’s and help with our Safety Case etc. Doing security for GVR and Steam Inc. Fielding group for copies of loco plans and finally just recently a few of us went up to Taumarunui to support the TRACT on one of their open days. Ewan took along a few items to display as well.
Stephen Shaw: It’s sad when we lose anyone involved with the club and our thoughts go out to family and friends over these sad times.
However, as you can imagine the passing of Stephen has been a big shock to the club. Stephen passed away peacefully on the 14th of January 2023. After a short battle with cancer. Stephen was a big help to the club over the years. He was involved with everything we did. He was a regular at our Sunday morning Construction days and the once-a-month club nights. He was a car steward on the trips we used to run when we hired the capital connection train. He had been trained as a shunter and motor trolley driver with the club. He would attend all our events and trips. The place just wasn’t the same without him over the Wanganui Vintage weekend open days and motor trolley rides.
Even outside the club, he was always willing to give a hand. He flew up twice to Auckland to help me with my Thomas layout with the Glenbrook Vintage Railway “Day out with Thomas” events. He wouldn’t take any money to help cover flights or accommodation when he came up to help. He just wanted a fun weekend away, that was the type of person he was. But we made sure we at least paid for his meals to say thanks for the help. Last November he was asking when the next trip to Auckland would be. His passing has hit me hard. One of my biggest regrets is I never got him a cab ride, like I’ve done with others before he passed. But you just never know when your time is up.
Stephen wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and to try new things. He is a big loss to the club. Rest in Peace Stephen.
Me, myself, and I: I continue to love my job as a Locomotive Engineer (driver) with KiwiRail. July this year I would have been with KiwiRail for 12 years, the time goes so quick. I must thank everyone again 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 the understanding I have had from members because of this has been appreciated. A big thank you must go to Ewan Pound; you could say he’s my right-hand man when I need something done. He has also been a big help with a safety Case etc. I enjoy my roles with SRW but do feel at times that paperwork issues and running of the club take me away from the main reason I joined the group about 34 years ago. This being working and restoring our rail history, it also means I don’t get to work on my own loco as often as I would like too. In some ways, I also feel the club doing scrap recycling also takes members away from working on our club items and this is one of the reasons our projects take so long to complete. But I also know that the scrap is our biggest fund raiser and if we didn’t do it, the club wouldn’t be here. However, I do look forward to continuing my roles, that is if you want me of course.
The Next 12 Months: This upcoming year looks like it will be similar to previous years. We are looking at dates when we can do more Motor Trolley rides and Open Days (one being over Kings Birthday weekend on Sunday the 4th of June), we are also planning some full day/weekend working bees. We will need to get a lot more done at the turntable site, with the downsizing and rehoming of wagons and we still have to pick up the lathe and goods crane we were donated last year. We might have a display again with the WMR&ES Model Railway Show in September. There is also a possibly that SRW along with the East Town Steam Crane no 120 will be used for the East Town Workshops book launch. Hopefully, we will have some good news from KiwiRail re lease renewal, but I doubt it. Also, we will most likely have another audit by NZTA to look forward too. 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.
Thank you.
Blair Jordan
President SRW.
Finally, “The place has gone to the Dogs!”
A quick word from the SRW’s “Public Relations Officers” Skyla and Mia, and the “Head of Security” Chi. “Whoof, Whoof, ruff, ruff, bark, bark” - (translated to English) a big thank you to all members for accepting us there. We get so excited when we know we are heading to SRW. We love the attention, pats, cuddles, food, teasing (Colin) and just being involved. We also know that Blair, Lloryian, Hamish and Amanda appreciate how well members treat us when we are on site and the fact that by the time, we get home we are buggered for the rest of the day, no bouncing around the house or getting under their feet wanting attention. We just lay down and rest happily.
SRW Maintenance Days
Work continues on A & G Price 149 (Baby Price) with a lot of the wiring now being tidied up. The rotten steel off the old truck deck has been removed. Getting it ready for some new steel to be welded in. This will be used for the new floor of the jigger shed. Hamish has put the jib and lifting hook etc back onto the East Town Steam Crane E120. Some new paint has also been applied to tidy the crane up a bit, as its planned to use the crane as part of the new East Town Book launch. Some of the motor trolley gear boxes have been getting worked on also. Track inspections at both our shed site and the site next to the turntable have also been completed. The other projects we mention regularly are still getting worked on as well. See president report on page 4, for more details.
The guys have been busy down at the site next to the turntable. On Easter Monday we removed the concrete blocks off the tracks and moved the wheels that were stored on the 3rd road to the 1st road. This allowed us on the following weekend to start the track work on the 3rd road. This involved replacing a number of sleepers and re gauging the track. We are getting this track ready so we can move the wagons around as we need to get the Uc tank wagon in an area we can get a truck to, so it can be transported to Auckland for MOTAT. Photos by Blair J & Ewan P.
The guys have been busy down at the site next to the turntable. On Easter Monday we removed the concrete blocks off the tracks and moved the wheels that were stored on the 3rd road to the 1st road. This allowed us on the following weekend to start the track work on the 3rd road. This involved replacing a number of sleepers and re gauging the track. We are getting this track ready so we can move the wagons around as we need to get the Uc tank wagon in an area we can get a truck to, so it can be transported to Auckland for MOTAT. Photos by Blair J & Ewan P.
November 2022 - January 2023
November 23rd: SRW Club Night/ Visit to Blair’s Model Railway & New Shed. Members travelled to Bulls, where they took the opportunity to view Blair and Lloryian's recently built new Total Span shed. It was then inside for Supper (with fresh baking), before heading into Blairs hobby room to view his model train layouts, models, and railway memorabilia on the walls. Members enjoyed the night out and some even went away with tips on future model builds for themselves. A big thank you to Blair and Lloryian for hosting this night.
December 3rd: WMR&ES/SRW Combined Christmas BBQ at the WMR&ES Club Rooms. Members from both clubs joined forces again. This was for the yearly Christmas BBQ, once again held at the WMR&ES club rooms. We all enjoyed each other’s company and caught up with what’s being happening with members outside the club and their other interests.
December 28th: SRW final Club Night for The Year/ 2022 Achievement night. Because of being over the Christmas/New Year period, not many members were available for this night, so it was cancelled.
A happy New year to You all.
January 21st - 23rd: SRW “Wanganui Vintage Weekend” Public Open Days and Jigger Rides. We were once again involved with the Whanganui Vintage Weekend. We organised another set of Public Open days and Motor Trolley rides over the long Wellington Anniversary Weekend. This time over all 3 days of the event. Saturday was just the shed open to the public with the Sunday and Monday offering Rides as well. This was once again, well supported by the public. On the Monday we also had the miniature Traction Engines etc there giving rides. They offered their services to help with our fund raising, which was great, and we thank the team from The Steam Traction Society for supporting us. The weather played ball also for us this year. Once again, our Public Relation Officers (the Dogs) were well received by all who attended. Sarah Hart commented the following on our Facebook site – “If you need feedback on your PR team…. My girl could only sing their praises yesterday”. She included the photo of her girl with Mia. We love getting good feedback about our events.
Once again, a big thank you to everyone who came for a ride and of course the SRW members. We couldn’t do this event without you.
Photos taken by Blair J (including cover photo), Keegan JJ, Ewan P and the official Vintage Weekend Photographer.
December 28th: SRW final Club Night for The Year/ 2022 Achievement night. Because of being over the Christmas/New Year period, not many members were available for this night, so it was cancelled.
A happy New year to You all.
January 21st - 23rd: SRW “Wanganui Vintage Weekend” Public Open Days and Jigger Rides. We were once again involved with the Whanganui Vintage Weekend. We organised another set of Public Open days and Motor Trolley rides over the long Wellington Anniversary Weekend. This time over all 3 days of the event. Saturday was just the shed open to the public with the Sunday and Monday offering Rides as well. This was once again, well supported by the public. On the Monday we also had the miniature Traction Engines etc there giving rides. They offered their services to help with our fund raising, which was great, and we thank the team from The Steam Traction Society for supporting us. The weather played ball also for us this year. Once again, our Public Relation Officers (the Dogs) were well received by all who attended. Sarah Hart commented the following on our Facebook site – “If you need feedback on your PR team…. My girl could only sing their praises yesterday”. She included the photo of her girl with Mia. We love getting good feedback about our events.
Once again, a big thank you to everyone who came for a ride and of course the SRW members. We couldn’t do this event without you.
Photos taken by Blair J (including cover photo), Keegan JJ, Ewan P and the official Vintage Weekend Photographer.
SRW Maintenance Days
A & G Price 149 (Baby Price) overhaul continues. Following on from a successful conversion of the electrical system to 12V and repairs to the engine lubrication system (as outlined in the previous issue) further restoration has been ongoing while the little shunting tractor remains in operational order. Inspection of the final drive has found that the oil level plug is at a slightly insufficient height for the oil pump. About an extra 2 litres makes a huge difference to the pump pick-up, so this will be implemented in future. Oil now flows through the sight glass rather than just splattering through. Robert has made a fantastic effort of stripping all the thick flaking old paint from the inside area of the front headstock and primed it with red oxide in readiness for the top coats of dark green. Further improvements to the electrical system are ongoing thanks to Hamish’s efforts. The oil pressure light and hours meter have been set up for 12V, and a pair of 6V electric trumpet horns work well in series. An analogue oil pressure gauge has also been added to be extra sure! The loco now starts and runs reliably when needed to move rolling stock in and out of the shed.
Price 212, Xp 3042 and Yc’s 797 and 811 all got a check over, oiled and greased where necessary before they were moved as part of the static display over Wanganui Vintage weekend.
Before the vintage weekend, the motor trolleys all got a good looking at, any repairs were done etc. Hamish has also been working on a number of gear boxes for the trolleys.
We have also carried on with the normal every weekend things we do. Scrap dismantling for fund raising, lawn mowing, and we have had to replace a few boards over the windows on the workman’s huts after vandals decided to break in. There’s also been more tagging to be painted over.
We are hopeful over the next couple of months to get a bit of work done down at the turntable site. We need to repair the 3rd road, so we can move rolling stock. We also need to move the Xa box wagon body. This needs to be done while the ground stays hard. Let’s hope we don’t get much more rain. All this is because we need to move the bogie tank wagon to a more accessible spot so that we can get a truck beside it, so it can be transported to its new home at MOTAT. We are also looking at rehoming the Urc bogie cement wagon and the Vr bogie refrigerated wagon.
Price 212, Xp 3042 and Yc’s 797 and 811 all got a check over, oiled and greased where necessary before they were moved as part of the static display over Wanganui Vintage weekend.
Before the vintage weekend, the motor trolleys all got a good looking at, any repairs were done etc. Hamish has also been working on a number of gear boxes for the trolleys.
We have also carried on with the normal every weekend things we do. Scrap dismantling for fund raising, lawn mowing, and we have had to replace a few boards over the windows on the workman’s huts after vandals decided to break in. There’s also been more tagging to be painted over.
We are hopeful over the next couple of months to get a bit of work done down at the turntable site. We need to repair the 3rd road, so we can move rolling stock. We also need to move the Xa box wagon body. This needs to be done while the ground stays hard. Let’s hope we don’t get much more rain. All this is because we need to move the bogie tank wagon to a more accessible spot so that we can get a truck beside it, so it can be transported to its new home at MOTAT. We are also looking at rehoming the Urc bogie cement wagon and the Vr bogie refrigerated wagon.
Obituaries
Over the last few months SRW have lost a couple of members. The clubs’ thoughts and best wishes went out to these people’s families and friends at these sad times. These members inputs with the clubs will be missed.
Joan Jackson
Joan passed away peacefully on the 6th of November 2022, at the Possum Bourne Retirement Village, Pukekohe, with family by her side. Aged 82 years. Much adored wife of long time SRW member Russell. Although Russell was the main support of the club, Joan helped out when she could, and also attended events like our midyear dinners and trips etc.
Stephen Shaw (Steve)
Stephen passed away peacefully on the 14th of January 2023. After a short battle with cancer in P Nth hospital. Aged 63 years. Much adored husband of Gillian, father, and grandfather. As you can imagine this has been a big shock to the club. Stephen was a big help to the club over the years. He was involved with everything we did. He was a regular at our Sunday morning Construction days and the once-a-month club nights. He was a car steward on the trips we used to run when we hired the capital connection train consist. He had been trained as a shunter and motor trolley driver with the club. He would attend all our events and trips. Even outside the club, he was always willing to give a hand. He flew up twice to Auckland to help Blair with his Thomas layout with the Glenbrook Vintage Railway “Day out with Thomas” events. Stephen wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and to try new things. He is a big loss to the club.
Historian Laraine Sole wants stories and pictures of
East Town Workshops
Blair Jordan (left) and Hamish Coull of SteamRail Wanganui with the supposedly “lost” East Town Railways Workshop honours board. Photo / Paul Brooks
Historian and writer Laraine Sole is working on her latest local history book about Whanganui’s East Town Workshops and wants to hear from people who worked there.
“I want to hear from anyone who worked there from anywhere between 1960 and when it closed,” says Laraine.
She has already spoken with a lot of men from that era, but this is the last chance for anyone who wants to add to the story.
SteamRail Wanganui people have been out and about on Laraine’s behalf, and they also have a lot of NZR memorabilia, including an honours board long held by the RSA and was thought to be lost.
“I’m really hoping that when we launch this book it can be like a reunion for people to share their stories,” says Laraine. The book covers the history of the workshops from 1880 until their demise.
“I do have evidence that there was work going on there before 1880.”
Laraine says the book happened when she was writing a book about Whanganui East.
“I did a chapter on East Town Workshops and found so much information than I would have space for in the book.” So it became a book in itself. The association with SteamRail Wanganui happened because they preserve so much of New Zealand’s rail history.
If you have stories or photos to share with Laraine Sole, call or text her at 027 8156 110 or email at l.sole@infogen.net.nz
“I want to hear from anyone who worked there from anywhere between 1960 and when it closed,” says Laraine.
She has already spoken with a lot of men from that era, but this is the last chance for anyone who wants to add to the story.
SteamRail Wanganui people have been out and about on Laraine’s behalf, and they also have a lot of NZR memorabilia, including an honours board long held by the RSA and was thought to be lost.
“I’m really hoping that when we launch this book it can be like a reunion for people to share their stories,” says Laraine. The book covers the history of the workshops from 1880 until their demise.
“I do have evidence that there was work going on there before 1880.”
Laraine says the book happened when she was writing a book about Whanganui East.
“I did a chapter on East Town Workshops and found so much information than I would have space for in the book.” So it became a book in itself. The association with SteamRail Wanganui happened because they preserve so much of New Zealand’s rail history.
If you have stories or photos to share with Laraine Sole, call or text her at 027 8156 110 or email at l.sole@infogen.net.nz
August - October 2022
August 24th: SRW Club Night/ SRW History Night. Members enjoyed looking back on some of the past happenings of SRW. We looked at how the club began and different highlights over the years. Members brought along photo albums and videos of past events. We looked at the restoration of the turntable, our locos arriving and past excursion trains we ran, when we used to hire the Capital Connection train. Thank you to members who brought items along.
September 28th: SRW Club Night/ Run Your Model Trains on the WMR&ES Layouts. SRW members were allowed to use the WMR&ES club layouts on this club night. Although we had a good turn out on this night, only 3 members brought trains along to run. These being Blair J, Keegan JJ and Colin H. Colin brought along the 2 models that were donated to SRW a few years ago to give them a test run. We finished off the night with a good chin wag as we watched the trains go by. A big thank you to the WMR&ES for allowing us to use their layouts.
October 23rd: SRW Public Open Day and Jigger Rides. We were asked by the Whanganui Heritage Month organisers to run another Motor Trolley Rides event and Public Open day, as part of their transport themed heritage month. We decided to have our building open for viewing every Sunday morning for the month and run the trolley rides on the Sunday of Labour weekend. This was once again, well supported by the public. We gave 125 people rides during the day. The weather played ball also for us this year. Once again, a big thank you to everyone who came for a ride and of course the SRW members. We couldn’t do this event without you.
Photos taken by Blair J, Sandra J and Kylie J.
September 28th: SRW Club Night/ Run Your Model Trains on the WMR&ES Layouts. SRW members were allowed to use the WMR&ES club layouts on this club night. Although we had a good turn out on this night, only 3 members brought trains along to run. These being Blair J, Keegan JJ and Colin H. Colin brought along the 2 models that were donated to SRW a few years ago to give them a test run. We finished off the night with a good chin wag as we watched the trains go by. A big thank you to the WMR&ES for allowing us to use their layouts.
October 23rd: SRW Public Open Day and Jigger Rides. We were asked by the Whanganui Heritage Month organisers to run another Motor Trolley Rides event and Public Open day, as part of their transport themed heritage month. We decided to have our building open for viewing every Sunday morning for the month and run the trolley rides on the Sunday of Labour weekend. This was once again, well supported by the public. We gave 125 people rides during the day. The weather played ball also for us this year. Once again, a big thank you to everyone who came for a ride and of course the SRW members. We couldn’t do this event without you.
Photos taken by Blair J, Sandra J and Kylie J.
October 24th & 25th: SRW Security: Steam Inc’s Ja 1271 and carriages were in town for two nights. This was a joint venture between Glenbrook Vintage Railway and Steam Inc, running the Grand North Island Steam Tour. The train came in on Monday the 24th and left on Wednesday the 26th, to head back to Wellington. SRW got asked to do the security of this train over these two nights. We did up a roster and we had at least 3 members there, changing over with another 3 members every 3 hours between the hours of 7pm and 7am. A big thank you to all members who helped at short notice. We appreciated your help and it’s a good fund raiser for the club.
While in Wanganui, the train did 3 trips for the Wanganui public. Two trips from Taupo Quay to East Town and return and One trip up the Westmere Bank to Kai Iwi and return on the Monday afternoon. Some of our members went for a ride on this as well.
The first 6 photos were taken by Blair J, during his stint on security. The next 2 are by Kylie J of the Ja during its public runs and the final 2 are by Ewan P, on Wednesday when the Ja left.
While in Wanganui, the train did 3 trips for the Wanganui public. Two trips from Taupo Quay to East Town and return and One trip up the Westmere Bank to Kai Iwi and return on the Monday afternoon. Some of our members went for a ride on this as well.
The first 6 photos were taken by Blair J, during his stint on security. The next 2 are by Kylie J of the Ja during its public runs and the final 2 are by Ewan P, on Wednesday when the Ja left.
October 26th: SRW Club Night/ Shunter – Motor Trolleys Drivers Refresher Courses. 13 members attended our Shunter and Motor Trolley Drivers refresher courses, including 1 from the Waitara group and 1 from the Waiarapa 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, but we try to do these once a year. 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, safe crossing points, train inspections and brake tests.
We briefly started the first part of the motor trolley drivers’ course, but ran out of time, to complete this. We will look at doing this on a Sunday morning.
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.
The shunters course included demonstrations on hand signalling, changing points, rail vehicle hand brake operation, coupling and uncoupling of train, safe riding positions, safe crossing points, train inspections and brake tests.
We briefly started the first part of the motor trolley drivers’ course, but ran out of time, to complete this. We will look at doing this on a Sunday morning.
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.
SteamRail Wanganui/KiwiRail Joint Operating Plan
Finally, Some good news for the club. We have just renewed our Joint Operating Plan with KiwiRail, to operate in the yard at Taupo Quay. This was meant to be renewed in 2019. We now have a bit more freedom. We can now operate in the yard (the gantry and disused 3rd roads in the yard) at any time. Beforehand we had to give KR two weeks' notice if we wanted to move something. We can now test items we are working on at any time. This gives the club a few more options. If we have visitors on a Sunday morning, we can now offer a ride. We can now also open our doors to visiting clubs or other organizations and offer rides on club nights or other days etc. for a donation. However, KR has asked when we do our big public events (e.g. Wanganui Vintage Weekend), that we still give them prior notice when there's going to be a lot of public in the yard. Which is fair enough.
SRW Maintenance Days
(Sunday mornings at our shed)
With our display at the WMR&ES model railway show on the 1st & 2nd of October, our open day on the Sunday of Labour Weekend and then security of the train, it has been a busy few months for members down at the shed, getting things ready.
After the successful conversion from 6 volt to 12 volt on Price 149. Unfortunately, as work continued on the loco, a can of worms has been disturbed. The rocker cover was removed while looking for a wee clatter and the rockers looked a tad on the dry side... time to dig a little deeper. Hidden underneath the side plate the oil feed to the rocker shaft wasn't looking too good, luckily the old 6cyl Chev is fairly bullet proof so with a replacement oil feed pipe and a few new gaskets she will be purring again. As part of this we have also removed the sump to give it a good clean and to check the oil pump filter is clean as well. As the newsletter went to press, a new oil feed had been made, the sump was put back on and the engine ran again for the first time in a few months. Thank you to Trevor Roberts who has donated the group some spare parts for this loco, including a new radiator.
After the successful conversion from 6 volt to 12 volt on Price 149. Unfortunately, as work continued on the loco, a can of worms has been disturbed. The rocker cover was removed while looking for a wee clatter and the rockers looked a tad on the dry side... time to dig a little deeper. Hidden underneath the side plate the oil feed to the rocker shaft wasn't looking too good, luckily the old 6cyl Chev is fairly bullet proof so with a replacement oil feed pipe and a few new gaskets she will be purring again. As part of this we have also removed the sump to give it a good clean and to check the oil pump filter is clean as well. As the newsletter went to press, a new oil feed had been made, the sump was put back on and the engine ran again for the first time in a few months. Thank you to Trevor Roberts who has donated the group some spare parts for this loco, including a new radiator.
Other projects have also been carried on with. We did some more testing of the air brake system on Price 212. This time connecting the air system through the loco to the LC wagon and operating the train brake from the loco, checking that the wagon brakes come on and off. Some of the motor trolleys have had some improvements done to them before our open day. New lights have been put up over the area the new lathe will go. More parts of the steam crane jib have been cleaned up and repainted. Members have also carried on with the scrap dismantling for fund raising, lawn mowing, and we have had to replace a few boards over the windows on the ex Aramoho Station building after vandals decided to break in. There’s also been more tagging to be painted over.
May - July 2022
May 25th: SRW Club Night/ Old Transport Photos Night. 8 members attended this night. We brought along old photos etc we thought others might be interested in. Colin H shared as his old photos and postcards of tractors, traction Engines, fire Engines, trucks and horse with carts. Keegan JJ showed us some railway photos out of some old NZR books he has. John P show us a lot of old Wanganui Loco photos, including derailments etc. He finished off with other rail related photos from around the country. Greg T show us several old black and white photos including some old cars and a photo of the Imlay works Manning Wardle steam loco with his father on it. He then showed us some photos of the different transport he had used when overseas. Ewan P showed off his photos of his Steam Roller. These included its history before he brought it, through to its restoration etc. Finally, Blair J showed off several photos covering Trucks, Boats, Planes and Trains. It was an interesting night. Thank you to everyone that brought something along.
June 5th: SRW Public Open day and Jigger Rides. After our last public event was cancelled due to covid, we finally managed to open our doors to the public once again. Our open day and jigger rides were well supported by the public. We had a lot of good comments about the work we are doing. We even had members come down from Waitara and up from Masterton for the event. Overall, everyone enjoyed themselves and it was great to finally meet the new member Peter Hill (from Masterton), we welcome him aboard. A big thank you once again to all members that helped on this day. Photos by Ewan P.
June 5th: SRW Public Open day and Jigger Rides. After our last public event was cancelled due to covid, we finally managed to open our doors to the public once again. Our open day and jigger rides were well supported by the public. We had a lot of good comments about the work we are doing. We even had members come down from Waitara and up from Masterton for the event. Overall, everyone enjoyed themselves and it was great to finally meet the new member Peter Hill (from Masterton), we welcome him aboard. A big thank you once again to all members that helped on this day. Photos by Ewan P.
We also made it in the River City Press, advertising what the club does and the public open day.
June 22nd: SRW Club Night/ Other Hobbies Night. Only two members turned up on this night, so meeting was cancelled. We will look at doing this club night program another night.
July 14th: SRW & WMR&ES Lottery’s Grants Meeting. Several committee members from both groups came together on this day to talk with Maggie Regan (Community Advisor) Department of Internal Affairs. Maggie had agreed to talk to both groups about going for Lottery Grants. She explained how the Lottery Grants could help groups both with day to day running costs and for club projects. She also explained how we go about applying for these. She is also willing to help both groups through the application process. A big Thank You to Maggie for this, we have come away feeling very positive about applying for grants at their next round which closes in November.
July 23rd: SRW Club Night/ Mid-Year Dinner. 16 members enjoyed their meals and each other’s company once again at the Rutland Arms Inn for the club’s mid-year dinner. A couple of members also travelled from out of town for this. One from Masterton and two from Waitara. We would like to thank the Rutland once again for their great service and yummy food.
July 14th: SRW & WMR&ES Lottery’s Grants Meeting. Several committee members from both groups came together on this day to talk with Maggie Regan (Community Advisor) Department of Internal Affairs. Maggie had agreed to talk to both groups about going for Lottery Grants. She explained how the Lottery Grants could help groups both with day to day running costs and for club projects. She also explained how we go about applying for these. She is also willing to help both groups through the application process. A big Thank You to Maggie for this, we have come away feeling very positive about applying for grants at their next round which closes in November.
July 23rd: SRW Club Night/ Mid-Year Dinner. 16 members enjoyed their meals and each other’s company once again at the Rutland Arms Inn for the club’s mid-year dinner. A couple of members also travelled from out of town for this. One from Masterton and two from Waitara. We would like to thank the Rutland once again for their great service and yummy food.
SRW Maintenance Days
With our open day on the Sunday of Queens Birthday Weekend, it has been a busy few months for members down at the shed, getting things ready. Unfortunately, we did have a bit of trouble the day before our open day. We were unable to start Price 149. So, this meant we were unable to move the locos outside to be viewed by the public and we also couldn’t do the planned wagon change around with the Xp and the Yc’s wagons. Price 149 ran on a 6-volt system. Very expensive on battery replacements and it’s also been hard to restart once loco was warm. We have been talking for a while about converting it to 12-volt and this has now happened. Trevor started the removing of parts on 149, Hamish and Jmie gave the starter motor a tidy up, Hamish, Ewan (with the help from Keegan) replaced the original 6-volt generator and the coil with 12-volt ones (a couple of spares Hamish had ex his mini restoration) and a new battery was donated. The loco is now up and running again, but we do want to do a few operational tests before we look at moving the wagons. Hamish also wants to tidy up the wiring and add a temp gauge etc. Greg has started to clear a spot for the new donated Lathe (see photo) to go in. Hamish has also been tiding up a few of the electric Horns the club or private members have. Members have also been doing the regular jobs e.g. continuing to dismantle scrap, lawn mowing, painting out tagging and tree trimming. Blair’s Tr 113 has even gotten some work done on it. Blair has mounted the new starter motor into the Tr and Keegan has been using the rattle gun removing rust from the rear headboard. Photos taken by Blair J, Ewan P, Hamish C & Doug Davidson (River City Press Reporter).
February - April 2022
February 23rd: SRW Club Night/ DVD Night. 6 members attended this night. Colin H sheared a DVD of the scrapping of a SD40 class locomotive and how the parts are recycled or sold.
March 23rd: SRW Club Night/ Visit to the Wanganui Tram shed. 9 members visited the Wanganui Tramways Museum. They rode on the tram a few times and had a tour of the Tram Barn, including looking at old tram memorabilia and photos. A big thank you to Warwick L for organizing this visit, Mark S for driving the tram and to Pat S and Peter N for showing us around. Members enjoyed their visit, and we will look at doing it again at some stage. Photos taken by Kylie J and Colin H
March 23rd: SRW Club Night/ Visit to the Wanganui Tram shed. 9 members visited the Wanganui Tramways Museum. They rode on the tram a few times and had a tour of the Tram Barn, including looking at old tram memorabilia and photos. A big thank you to Warwick L for organizing this visit, Mark S for driving the tram and to Pat S and Peter N for showing us around. Members enjoyed their visit, and we will look at doing it again at some stage. Photos taken by Kylie J and Colin H
April 27th: SRW Annual General Meeting. We started off with a minute’s silence for members who had passed throughout the year. Our thoughts were with the families at their sad times.
All the reports were read and accepted, and it was voted that the subs stay the same as the previous year. The 5 previous committee members stayed on for another year, but we would like to welcome new member Trevor F to the committee also. The committee is as follows: - President Blair J, Secretary/treasurer Greg T, Committee members Colin H, Ewan P, Hamish C and Trevor F. We finished off the night talking about the club’s future, club projects and upcoming events the club needs to deal with.
The club has decided due to increased costs e.g. lease’s from KiwiRail etc that we will hand back six of the long term loaned wagons we have in our care to Rail Heritage Trust for rehoming to likeminded groups. This will help to reduce some of our costs by either making our turntable site smaller or eliminating it all together. We plan to focus more on items that will help bring in more money e.g. train and Jigger rides, instead of items that are only there for display. We are also selling a lot of our double ups if members are interested. These items include speed boards, Railway signs, incomplete tablet machines and tools etc.
All the reports were read and accepted, and it was voted that the subs stay the same as the previous year. The 5 previous committee members stayed on for another year, but we would like to welcome new member Trevor F to the committee also. The committee is as follows: - President Blair J, Secretary/treasurer Greg T, Committee members Colin H, Ewan P, Hamish C and Trevor F. We finished off the night talking about the club’s future, club projects and upcoming events the club needs to deal with.
The club has decided due to increased costs e.g. lease’s from KiwiRail etc that we will hand back six of the long term loaned wagons we have in our care to Rail Heritage Trust for rehoming to likeminded groups. This will help to reduce some of our costs by either making our turntable site smaller or eliminating it all together. We plan to focus more on items that will help bring in more money e.g. train and Jigger rides, instead of items that are only there for display. We are also selling a lot of our double ups if members are interested. These items include speed boards, Railway signs, incomplete tablet machines and tools etc.
SteamRail Wanganui Inc.
President’s Annual Report – 2021/2022
For the ninth time I have great pleasure in presenting my President’s Report for SRW. SRW is now in its 33rd year. 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 interesting 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 only once during the year offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides. This being the Sunday of Queens Birthdays weekend (the 6th of June). This day was well supported by the public. The next day (Monday the 7th of June) we had an enjoyable member only day, featuring both trolley runs, and Loco test runs done. Unfortunately, our next planned public open day on the Wellington Anniversary Weekend (Monday the 24th of January) had to be cancelled, last minute due to changes in Covid levels. But we didn’t let that stop us since we had the block of line still with KiwiRail we used this day as a members fun/training day. We managed to finish off some of the Trolley driver training we started last October. A big congratulations to those who past their trolley driver’s tickets and shunters course’s.
Fundraising: Our main fundraising over the last 12 months has once again been the scrap metal recycling, donations, and members subs, with the Motor Trolley/Jigger Rides and Open Day, helping a little bit. 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, including a Engineers Lathe and Goods yard hand crane (both of these still need to be picked up). Members have also donated to the group over the last year, items like fuel, grinder cutting discs, tools, money 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 continued 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) 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 have brought an old truck deck to become the new floor in the ex-Waverley Jigger shed. Phillips Electrical (Greg) has been dropping off old heat pumps for us to dismantle for scrap. 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. Unfortunately, a few nights were cancelled due to Covid. We have enjoyed DVD/ Video/Movie nights, BBQ’s, Mid-Year Dinner, Other Hobbies nights and a Rail photo’s night and a visit to the Wanganui Tram. 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 the newsletter 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 the biggest one being KiwiRail 800% Lease increase (but we have managed to negotiate a smaller amount for the next 2 years, but the future doesn’t look good with them). Our out goings are now 3 to 4 times 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 a smaller bill for their Audit this year, but they are now charging their time, every time you change something in your safety case. We are still in talks with KiwiRail re our JOP (this was due to be renewed in 2019). But after 5 or 6 manager changes and having to forward our proposed changes to them again, due to them losing them. We still wait an outcome on this. Thank you to John P for being our internal Auditor.
Me, myself, and I: I continue to love my job as a Locomotive Engineer (driver) with KiwiRail. July this year I would have been with KiwiRail for 11 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 the understanding I have had from members because of this has been appreciated. A big thank you must go to Ewan Pound; you could say he’s my right-hand man when I need something done. He has also been a big help with a safety Case etc. I enjoy my roles with SRW but do feel at times that paperwork issues and running of the club take me away from the main reason I joined the group about 33 years ago. This being working and restoring our rail history, it also means I don’t get to work on my own loco as often as I would like too. In some ways, I also feel the club doing scrap recycling also takes members away from working on our club items and this is one of the reasons our projects take so long to complete. But I also know that the scrap is our biggest fund raiser and if we didn’t do it, the club wouldn’t be here. However, I do look forward to continuing my roles, that is if you want me of course.
The Next 12 Months: This upcoming year looks like it will be similar to previous years, with the uncertainty of Covid still hanging around us. We are looking at dates when we can do more Motor Trolley rides and Open Days (one being over Queens Birthday weekend on Sunday the 5th of June), 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.
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.
It has been an interesting 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 only once during the year offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides. This being the Sunday of Queens Birthdays weekend (the 6th of June). This day was well supported by the public. The next day (Monday the 7th of June) we had an enjoyable member only day, featuring both trolley runs, and Loco test runs done. Unfortunately, our next planned public open day on the Wellington Anniversary Weekend (Monday the 24th of January) had to be cancelled, last minute due to changes in Covid levels. But we didn’t let that stop us since we had the block of line still with KiwiRail we used this day as a members fun/training day. We managed to finish off some of the Trolley driver training we started last October. A big congratulations to those who past their trolley driver’s tickets and shunters course’s.
Fundraising: Our main fundraising over the last 12 months has once again been the scrap metal recycling, donations, and members subs, with the Motor Trolley/Jigger Rides and Open Day, helping a little bit. 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, including a Engineers Lathe and Goods yard hand crane (both of these still need to be picked up). Members have also donated to the group over the last year, items like fuel, grinder cutting discs, tools, money 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 continued 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) 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 have brought an old truck deck to become the new floor in the ex-Waverley Jigger shed. Phillips Electrical (Greg) has been dropping off old heat pumps for us to dismantle for scrap. 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. Unfortunately, a few nights were cancelled due to Covid. We have enjoyed DVD/ Video/Movie nights, BBQ’s, Mid-Year Dinner, Other Hobbies nights and a Rail photo’s night and a visit to the Wanganui Tram. 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 the newsletter 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 the biggest one being KiwiRail 800% Lease increase (but we have managed to negotiate a smaller amount for the next 2 years, but the future doesn’t look good with them). Our out goings are now 3 to 4 times 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 a smaller bill for their Audit this year, but they are now charging their time, every time you change something in your safety case. We are still in talks with KiwiRail re our JOP (this was due to be renewed in 2019). But after 5 or 6 manager changes and having to forward our proposed changes to them again, due to them losing them. We still wait an outcome on this. Thank you to John P for being our internal Auditor.
Me, myself, and I: I continue to love my job as a Locomotive Engineer (driver) with KiwiRail. July this year I would have been with KiwiRail for 11 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 the understanding I have had from members because of this has been appreciated. A big thank you must go to Ewan Pound; you could say he’s my right-hand man when I need something done. He has also been a big help with a safety Case etc. I enjoy my roles with SRW but do feel at times that paperwork issues and running of the club take me away from the main reason I joined the group about 33 years ago. This being working and restoring our rail history, it also means I don’t get to work on my own loco as often as I would like too. In some ways, I also feel the club doing scrap recycling also takes members away from working on our club items and this is one of the reasons our projects take so long to complete. But I also know that the scrap is our biggest fund raiser and if we didn’t do it, the club wouldn’t be here. However, I do look forward to continuing my roles, that is if you want me of course.
The Next 12 Months: This upcoming year looks like it will be similar to previous years, with the uncertainty of Covid still hanging around us. We are looking at dates when we can do more Motor Trolley rides and Open Days (one being over Queens Birthday weekend on Sunday the 5th of June), 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.
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.
Ps. A quick word from (what I call) the groups “Public Relations Officers” Skyla and Mia.
Whoof, Whoof, ruff, ruff, bark, bark - (translated to English) a big thank you to all members for accepting us there. We get so excited on a Sunday morning when we know we are heading to SRW. We love the attention, pats, cuddles and just being involved. We also know that Blair and Lloryian appreciate how well members treat us when we are on site and the fact that by the time, we get home we are buggered for the rest of the day, no bouncing around the house or getting under their feet wanting attention. We just lay down and rest for the rest of the day.
Whoof, Whoof, ruff, ruff, bark, bark - (translated to English) a big thank you to all members for accepting us there. We get so excited on a Sunday morning when we know we are heading to SRW. We love the attention, pats, cuddles and just being involved. We also know that Blair and Lloryian appreciate how well members treat us when we are on site and the fact that by the time, we get home we are buggered for the rest of the day, no bouncing around the house or getting under their feet wanting attention. We just lay down and rest for the rest of the day.
SRW Maintenance Days
It’s been another busy few months at the SRW shed. Working on our many projects. The old truck deck for the jigger shed floor has had some of its rusted through cross members removed ready for replacement. 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. The main pully off the crane jib is also getting cleaned up. The new air tubing for Price 212 is yet to go in, but we have been testing both the loco brakes and train brakes on 212 using a compressor. These work well. More lights have been getting put up around the workshop area. Members have been stripping down a lot of scrap for fund raising.
It’s been another busy few months at the SRW shed. Working on our many projects. The old truck deck for the jigger shed floor has had some of its rusted through cross members removed ready for replacement. 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. The main pully off the crane jib is also getting cleaned up. The new air tubing for Price 212 is yet to go in, but we have been testing both the loco brakes and train brakes on 212 using a compressor. These work well. More lights have been getting put up around the workshop area. Members have been stripping down a lot of scrap for fund raising.
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.
November 2020 - January 2021
November 25th: SRW Club Night/ Old Railway Photos Night. Another interesting club night where members brought along old Railway related photos to share with the group. A lot of these photos included NZR publicity photos. Amongst these we also found some Traction Engines, Steam Roller, Tram and Wanganui River Boat photos. These brought back a lot of memories to some of the older members and some excitement re some of the rare not seen very often river boat photos. Thank you to all members that brought along photos.
December 12th: SRW & WMR&ES Combined Christmas BBQ. Members, families, and friends from both groups combined once again to enjoy each other’s company on this night for our annual Christmas BBQ. This was once again held at the WMR&ES club rooms. This was held after the WMR&ES closed their doors to the public on the first night of their annual Christmas show.
January 23rd,24th & 25th: Wanganui Vintage Weekend 2021. SteamRail Wanganui was once again involved with this great weekend. We had our doors open to the Public on all three days. Due to there being no trains coming in over this weekend this year we also offered Motor trolley/Jigger rides on both the Sunday and Monday instead of our usual one day only. Sunday was our busiest day of the three of them and the public seemed to really enjoy themselves. We had our locos out on display again as well. A big thank you to all members who helped over this busy weekend. We would also like to welcome new member Trevor Ferguson, who joined up after visiting us over this weekend. Photos taken by Blair Jordan (including cover photo), Paul Brooks (Wanganui Midweek) and Kylie Jordan or Keegan Jordan-Johnson.
December 12th: SRW & WMR&ES Combined Christmas BBQ. Members, families, and friends from both groups combined once again to enjoy each other’s company on this night for our annual Christmas BBQ. This was once again held at the WMR&ES club rooms. This was held after the WMR&ES closed their doors to the public on the first night of their annual Christmas show.
January 23rd,24th & 25th: Wanganui Vintage Weekend 2021. SteamRail Wanganui was once again involved with this great weekend. We had our doors open to the Public on all three days. Due to there being no trains coming in over this weekend this year we also offered Motor trolley/Jigger rides on both the Sunday and Monday instead of our usual one day only. Sunday was our busiest day of the three of them and the public seemed to really enjoy themselves. We had our locos out on display again as well. A big thank you to all members who helped over this busy weekend. We would also like to welcome new member Trevor Ferguson, who joined up after visiting us over this weekend. Photos taken by Blair Jordan (including cover photo), Paul Brooks (Wanganui Midweek) and Kylie Jordan or Keegan Jordan-Johnson.
In Print: Both clubs have been featured in the Wanganui papers over the last month. First was the WMR&ES who was featured as part of a promotion for clubs in the Wanganui area on the 8th of January. They reused the same photos that they took when we ran our last show at the Carlton School hall last October. SRW then featured on the 27th of January, for our part in the Wanganui Vintage Weekend, Paul Brooks (Midweek) did the write up and took the photos.
SRW Construction/Maintenance days. The Imlay Price loco No 212 is now looking nice and looked great out in the sun over vintage weekend. The head lights have now been put back in and all the body work has now been painted. It also looks great in the cab with all the wires and air lines done in polished copper tubes. Price loco No 149 is now a runner again, we have now attached the new battery knife switch and run new leads. The motor when running now sounds the best it has in ages since we have added the new spark plugs and leads etc. Other maintenance jobs have also carried on, e.g., work on the trolley’s and Guards Van.
Donations
SRW would like to thank Grant Allen (Sparky), for his donation of 2 steel frames, ideal for putting a builders plank on for painting etc, these have already been used to help fence off an area during our recent open day.
SRW Construction/Maintenance days. The Imlay Price loco No 212 is now looking nice and looked great out in the sun over vintage weekend. The head lights have now been put back in and all the body work has now been painted. It also looks great in the cab with all the wires and air lines done in polished copper tubes. Price loco No 149 is now a runner again, we have now attached the new battery knife switch and run new leads. The motor when running now sounds the best it has in ages since we have added the new spark plugs and leads etc. Other maintenance jobs have also carried on, e.g., work on the trolley’s and Guards Van.
Donations
SRW would like to thank Grant Allen (Sparky), for his donation of 2 steel frames, ideal for putting a builders plank on for painting etc, these have already been used to help fence off an area during our recent open day.
August - October 2020
August 26th: SRW Club Night/ Wanganui Rail Related Photos Night. An interesting club night where members brought along old Wanganui Railway related photos to share with the group. We finished off the evening watching a USB Blair had put together with a lot of old Wanganui photos he had either taken himself or collected over the years from Facebook etc. Its was amazing how much of the town had changed over the years. We only got about halfway through the USB, so we will use this again for another club night at some stage.
September 23rd: SRW Club Night/ Other hobbies Night. Five members attended this club night. Coilin showed his collectors cards albums (e.g. Weetabix Cards) for the 1960’s and 1970’s. Greg showed some of his old books from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. John showed his model loco he is building along with some photos of the Gyrocopter he used to own. There was even a photo showing him flying it. An enjoyable evening and thanks for the cake Leonie. More members attending these club nights would be great.
October 19th & 20th: SteamRail Wanganui was hired to do the night security of the Glenbrook Vintage Railways Train when it visited town for two nights. We had the meanest guard dog ever to help keep us and the train safe. (Thanks Skyla). DBR 1254 has been lovingly restored by the GVR to mainline running condition. It was here in town for 2 nights as part of their North Island tour. A big thank you to all SRW members who helped over these nights. Tim Kerwin (General Manager or the GVR) and the team at GVR send out their thanks also for the Wanganui groups help. There are talks they will be back in town next April, with the possibility of us joining force’s with them for a fund raising run somewhere. Blair’s Photos show the train parked up outside the SRW shed in the Taupo Quay rail yard.
September 23rd: SRW Club Night/ Other hobbies Night. Five members attended this club night. Coilin showed his collectors cards albums (e.g. Weetabix Cards) for the 1960’s and 1970’s. Greg showed some of his old books from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. John showed his model loco he is building along with some photos of the Gyrocopter he used to own. There was even a photo showing him flying it. An enjoyable evening and thanks for the cake Leonie. More members attending these club nights would be great.
October 19th & 20th: SteamRail Wanganui was hired to do the night security of the Glenbrook Vintage Railways Train when it visited town for two nights. We had the meanest guard dog ever to help keep us and the train safe. (Thanks Skyla). DBR 1254 has been lovingly restored by the GVR to mainline running condition. It was here in town for 2 nights as part of their North Island tour. A big thank you to all SRW members who helped over these nights. Tim Kerwin (General Manager or the GVR) and the team at GVR send out their thanks also for the Wanganui groups help. There are talks they will be back in town next April, with the possibility of us joining force’s with them for a fund raising run somewhere. Blair’s Photos show the train parked up outside the SRW shed in the Taupo Quay rail yard.
October 26th (Labour Day Monday): SRW Open Day and Motor Trolly Rides. We had another great open day with motor trolley (jigger) rides. Our first open day since January due to Covid. This event was well supported by the public with 156 going for a ride. Keith Hancock brought along his rubber tyred trolley for display and a couple of Waitara members came along with him for the day. We thank them for their support. A big thank you to everyone that visited us on this day, to SRW members for all their help and of course KiwiRail for letting us operate in the rail yard. Photos by Blair Jordan, Ewan Pound and Greg Tinnion.
October 28th: SRW Club Night/ Quiz Night. We were meant to have our Quiz night on this club night, but Blair was unable to make it. Also due to our big day with the jiggers on the Monday a lot of members forgot all about the Wednesday night club night, with only one turning up. So the meeting was cancelled. We will look at doing the Quiz night at another date.
SRW Construction/Maintenance days. All the windows are now back in the cab of Price 212, with the window wipers going back in and more paint applied on the river side. The guys have also been working on the piping for the horn (air supply) and wiring for the cab lights and window wipers. More old paint has been removed from the steam crane with new undercoat being put back on. Repairs and upgrades to Price 149 have seen the engine hood removed and repainted into the darker green, A new disrupter cap was sourced from Trevor Roberts, this has now been fitted along with new spark plugs and leads and the new battery knife switch for the loco has also been fitted. Once finished this should make our current only runner a lot more reliable. Work has also continued on the motor trolleys.
Donations
SRW would like to thank Trevor Roberts for his donation of disrupter cap and other bits and pieces to go with it for the Price 149 loco
SRW Construction/Maintenance days. All the windows are now back in the cab of Price 212, with the window wipers going back in and more paint applied on the river side. The guys have also been working on the piping for the horn (air supply) and wiring for the cab lights and window wipers. More old paint has been removed from the steam crane with new undercoat being put back on. Repairs and upgrades to Price 149 have seen the engine hood removed and repainted into the darker green, A new disrupter cap was sourced from Trevor Roberts, this has now been fitted along with new spark plugs and leads and the new battery knife switch for the loco has also been fitted. Once finished this should make our current only runner a lot more reliable. Work has also continued on the motor trolleys.
Donations
SRW would like to thank Trevor Roberts for his donation of disrupter cap and other bits and pieces to go with it for the Price 149 loco
May - July 2020
There was no May club meetings, due to the Covid 19. This also meant that both club’s open days were also cancelled along with other events our members were involved with. Both clubs basically started to run as normal again after their June Annual General Meetings.
A big thankyou to all members for being patient over these stressful times and no doubt like myself can’t wait to get back doing the things we enjoy.
A big thankyou to all members for being patient over these stressful times and no doubt like myself can’t wait to get back doing the things we enjoy.
June 17th: SRW Annual General Meeting, starting from 7.30pm. Our A.G.M was meant to be in April but due to Covid 19 this had to be postponed. The A.G.M was attended by 10 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. It was brought to our attention that Magic radio station has been running adds about our club telling people to come down on Sunday morning. Yet no one knows who has done this. But we will not say no to a bit of free advertising. It was also decided that we would run another Jiggers ride day on Labour Weekend Monday, since we had to cancel the Queen’s Birthday weekend event.
SRW President’s Annual Report – 2019/2020
For the Seventh time I have great pleasure in presenting my President’s Report for SRW. My apologies if this report sounds similar to others years but being a small group and we kind of do the same thing every year.
It's been an eventful 12 months for SRW, with April & May being a complete write off for the group with the Covid 19 lockdown. May I thank you all for the efforts in keeping the society running over this time.
The Covid -19 pandemic has had a big effect on the whole country, and it's very pleasing to see that we all made it through with everyone coming out the other side ok. This disease, in particular due to a lot of the member’s ages could well have had devastating effects. It's great that everyone is back on board now with the working bees and after tonight club nights back in full swing.
Year Highlights: We opened our doors twice during the year offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides. The first one was over the Queen’s Birthday weekend 2019 and then other was the Wanganui Vintage weekend in January. The railcar from Pahiatua was also in town for the Saturday and Sunday. These days were well supported by the public. A big thank you for members help over these open days.
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 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, e.g. Railway books, tools and Semaphore Signals coloured Glass’s 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: They 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 and more new red paint applied, it looked great out in the sun during vintage weekend. The front head light has also been put back on. 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 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 also have to finish of the demolish of 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 the newsletters 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 and to my partner Lloryian 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. LTNZ came and did their yearly External audit with the group. This in turn opened up new rules and issues that we have been putting into place. More 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 and their costs seem to also go up every year. A Big thank you to Ewan for all his work he has done with this. Thank you to John Pudsey for taking on the internal Auditor role. The worrying rumors that we might have to move if KiwiRail turns the Taupo Quay yard into a log loading site, have come to nothing at this stage, but there is also worries the turntable is being moth balled. The table has now been out of action for 12 months, some work has been done. But there’s now talk about problems with the concrete ring.
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 9 years, the time goes so quick. I have now done my Passenger drivers ticket and I’m in the middle of doing my on the job training for this, but Covid 19 has not helped with this as all passenger trains have been stopped. 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 hope to get back up to Waitara with the Motor Trollies at some stage and we might have a display again with the WMR&ES Model Railway Show in October if this goes ahead. There are some early rumours that Steam Inc. may be the visiting early next year (but this will depend on whether the turntable is operational by then). We are still waiting for our meeting with KiwiRail re our JOP renewal as its now over-due, but all the other groups in the Manawatu/Wanganui area are too. 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.
Thank you
Blair Jordan
President SRW.
July 18th: SRW Club Night/ Mid-Year Dinner. We decided to head to the Rutland Arms Inn again this year. 25 members and partners enjoyed the meal and each other’s company. Some even coming down from Waitara for the evening. It was great catching up with some of the members we don’t see very often. This was held on a Saturday night instead of our usual Wednesday.
SRW Construction/Maintence days. Due to Covid 19 levels coming back down to level 1, SRW Sunday working bees started happening again a few weeks earlier than our club nights did. Our first job when members returned was to paint out the local lowlife’s tagging all over our buildings and rolling stock down by the turntable. It seems not everyone was isolating like they were meant to be. The other job was to mow the lawns and make a start at cutting back some of the trees around the turntable site, since everything was looking very much overgrown since we hadn’t been there for almost 2 months.
Since then members have carried on with the projects we started well before the lockdown. More work has been done on the Price 212, with the window wipers going back in and more paint applied on the river side. More old paint has been removed from the steam crane with new undercoat being put back on. Repairs and upgrades to Price 149 have seen the engine hood removed and repainted into the darker green, A new disrupter cap was sourced from Trevor Roberts, and we are also getting new spark plug leads. We also got a new battery knife switch for the loco. Once these have been fitted it should make our current only runner a lot more reliable. Work has also continued on the motor trolleys.
The last Sunday of the school holidays (19th July) members arrived to find several items tagged again (note that a few members went past the night before after our mid-year dinner and the tagging wasn’t done then). So a couple of us spent the morning covering these again. Then later on that afternoon Greg got a call from the fire brigade saying that they had just been called to our yard to put a fire out in one of our wagons. They had to cut a hole in side to get to get to the fire. Luckily this was spotted quickly and there was not a lot of damage done. These random acts of vandalism seem to be happening more often now. Every school holidays we get some form of damage done now.
SRW President’s Annual Report – 2019/2020
For the Seventh time I have great pleasure in presenting my President’s Report for SRW. My apologies if this report sounds similar to others years but being a small group and we kind of do the same thing every year.
It's been an eventful 12 months for SRW, with April & May being a complete write off for the group with the Covid 19 lockdown. May I thank you all for the efforts in keeping the society running over this time.
The Covid -19 pandemic has had a big effect on the whole country, and it's very pleasing to see that we all made it through with everyone coming out the other side ok. This disease, in particular due to a lot of the member’s ages could well have had devastating effects. It's great that everyone is back on board now with the working bees and after tonight club nights back in full swing.
Year Highlights: We opened our doors twice during the year offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides. The first one was over the Queen’s Birthday weekend 2019 and then other was the Wanganui Vintage weekend in January. The railcar from Pahiatua was also in town for the Saturday and Sunday. These days were well supported by the public. A big thank you for members help over these open days.
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 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, e.g. Railway books, tools and Semaphore Signals coloured Glass’s 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: They 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 and more new red paint applied, it looked great out in the sun during vintage weekend. The front head light has also been put back on. 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 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 also have to finish of the demolish of 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 the newsletters 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 and to my partner Lloryian 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. LTNZ came and did their yearly External audit with the group. This in turn opened up new rules and issues that we have been putting into place. More 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 and their costs seem to also go up every year. A Big thank you to Ewan for all his work he has done with this. Thank you to John Pudsey for taking on the internal Auditor role. The worrying rumors that we might have to move if KiwiRail turns the Taupo Quay yard into a log loading site, have come to nothing at this stage, but there is also worries the turntable is being moth balled. The table has now been out of action for 12 months, some work has been done. But there’s now talk about problems with the concrete ring.
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 9 years, the time goes so quick. I have now done my Passenger drivers ticket and I’m in the middle of doing my on the job training for this, but Covid 19 has not helped with this as all passenger trains have been stopped. 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 hope to get back up to Waitara with the Motor Trollies at some stage and we might have a display again with the WMR&ES Model Railway Show in October if this goes ahead. There are some early rumours that Steam Inc. may be the visiting early next year (but this will depend on whether the turntable is operational by then). We are still waiting for our meeting with KiwiRail re our JOP renewal as its now over-due, but all the other groups in the Manawatu/Wanganui area are too. 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.
Thank you
Blair Jordan
President SRW.
July 18th: SRW Club Night/ Mid-Year Dinner. We decided to head to the Rutland Arms Inn again this year. 25 members and partners enjoyed the meal and each other’s company. Some even coming down from Waitara for the evening. It was great catching up with some of the members we don’t see very often. This was held on a Saturday night instead of our usual Wednesday.
SRW Construction/Maintence days. Due to Covid 19 levels coming back down to level 1, SRW Sunday working bees started happening again a few weeks earlier than our club nights did. Our first job when members returned was to paint out the local lowlife’s tagging all over our buildings and rolling stock down by the turntable. It seems not everyone was isolating like they were meant to be. The other job was to mow the lawns and make a start at cutting back some of the trees around the turntable site, since everything was looking very much overgrown since we hadn’t been there for almost 2 months.
Since then members have carried on with the projects we started well before the lockdown. More work has been done on the Price 212, with the window wipers going back in and more paint applied on the river side. More old paint has been removed from the steam crane with new undercoat being put back on. Repairs and upgrades to Price 149 have seen the engine hood removed and repainted into the darker green, A new disrupter cap was sourced from Trevor Roberts, and we are also getting new spark plug leads. We also got a new battery knife switch for the loco. Once these have been fitted it should make our current only runner a lot more reliable. Work has also continued on the motor trolleys.
The last Sunday of the school holidays (19th July) members arrived to find several items tagged again (note that a few members went past the night before after our mid-year dinner and the tagging wasn’t done then). So a couple of us spent the morning covering these again. Then later on that afternoon Greg got a call from the fire brigade saying that they had just been called to our yard to put a fire out in one of our wagons. They had to cut a hole in side to get to get to the fire. Luckily this was spotted quickly and there was not a lot of damage done. These random acts of vandalism seem to be happening more often now. Every school holidays we get some form of damage done now.
SRW Open day: Since we had to cancel our last Motor Trolley rides/open day over Queens Birthday weekend due to Covid, we have decided to run another one on Labour Weekend Monday (the 26th of October). Members help with this day would be appreciated.
Donations
SRW would like to thank the following for their donations. Lloryian Nordell for her donation of some old roof paint to cover up the tagging. Ewan’s work for their donation of new spark plug leads for Price 149. Ross Duncan for some waste oil. The late Henry Ching’s family for some more rail and other items and to the Aramoho Rowing Club for their donation of a set of old Railway Station Scales.
Donations
SRW would like to thank the following for their donations. Lloryian Nordell for her donation of some old roof paint to cover up the tagging. Ewan’s work for their donation of new spark plug leads for Price 149. Ross Duncan for some waste oil. The late Henry Ching’s family for some more rail and other items and to the Aramoho Rowing Club for their donation of a set of old Railway Station Scales.
We would like to also like thank Henry’s family for their offer of his old railway carriage body (A 807) and to Chris & Denny Harts offer of an old workman’s hut to the club. It’s great the club is being thought of by members of the public. Although these would be a nice addition to our collection, the committee decided with the ongoing vandalism we keep getting and the many projects we have on the go or still to start, that we couldn’t give these items the attention they needed. On talks with both parties we found out that they were happy for these to go into private hands. The Club President Blair has now taken on these 2 items. You can find out more info about the workmam's hut and carriage on his web site - https://buzzzsrailwayworld.weebly.com/
February - April 2020
February 26th: SRW Club Night – Working Bee at the Club Shed – members took the advantage of day light savings and did some work and a lot of talking down at our shed for this night.
There was no more club nights, construction nights/days and committee meetings for the club from March due to the Covid 19 lock down. This also meant that SRW's open day were also cancelled along with other events our members were involved with, e.g. The Steam Traction Society’s - Steam Fair and the Bulls Model Railway Show.
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.
November 2018 to January 2019
November 25th: Combined SRW/WMR&ES Taranaki Trip. This trip was postponed until the New Year, due to not enough members being available due to other things happening on the same weekend.
November 28th: SRW Club Night – Guest Speaker- Part 2 of Greg Tinnion’s Recent Trip across South East Asia: The Journey South – Hanoi to Saigon and home in 16 days.
My last day in Hanoi was going to be a quiet one while I waited for my 7:30pm train to Da Nang, about half way down Vietnam. After lunch at a coffee house I was accosted by a motorcyclist who wanted me to take a tour as a pillion passenger with her. Now, you have to be careful as there are a lot a scams and ripoffs, so I took a gamble and we agreed on a price and off we went for a 90 minute tour. About 5 hours later I had been taken across the 2.4km Long Bien riveted steel railway bridge; visited the excellent Vietnamese Woman’s Museum; saw Huu Tiep Lake where the rear landing gear and undercarriage of a downed B-52 bomber still sits after been shot down on 27th December 1972; visited West Lake and finally got dropped off at the railway station with about 30 min to spare. What an excellent day.
My next major stop was Hoi An, a colourful old port town. I went snorkelling 7km off the coast and had a blast. In the late afternoon I invited myself to a house across the road from my hotel to watch an international football game between Vietnam and South Korea. I can’t speak Vietnamese and my new adopted family couldn’t speak English, but we had a great conversation using google translate. They offered me some local food which included part of the uncooked digestive tract of tuna, which I washed down with copious amounts of their local homemade liquor.
Next, I took a sleeper bus ride to Da Lat, up in the central highlands. While here I took a train ride along 7km of reopened railway line which was very touristy. The old railway was 84km long and rose almost 1400m and included 3 rack rail sections and 5 tunnels. I hired a motor bike taxi and went on a tour of the area that included a silk processing factory; minority villages; and a coffee plantation, complete with Wessels who ingest and defecate coffee beans, which I must admit made a very nice cup of coffee.
Saigon was my last stop where I caught up with my brother-in-law and we did a bit of sightseeing. All in all, I had a great time and met some lovely people.
A fantastic trip. Thanks for sharing your experience with us Greg.
November 28th: SRW Club Night – Guest Speaker- Part 2 of Greg Tinnion’s Recent Trip across South East Asia: The Journey South – Hanoi to Saigon and home in 16 days.
My last day in Hanoi was going to be a quiet one while I waited for my 7:30pm train to Da Nang, about half way down Vietnam. After lunch at a coffee house I was accosted by a motorcyclist who wanted me to take a tour as a pillion passenger with her. Now, you have to be careful as there are a lot a scams and ripoffs, so I took a gamble and we agreed on a price and off we went for a 90 minute tour. About 5 hours later I had been taken across the 2.4km Long Bien riveted steel railway bridge; visited the excellent Vietnamese Woman’s Museum; saw Huu Tiep Lake where the rear landing gear and undercarriage of a downed B-52 bomber still sits after been shot down on 27th December 1972; visited West Lake and finally got dropped off at the railway station with about 30 min to spare. What an excellent day.
My next major stop was Hoi An, a colourful old port town. I went snorkelling 7km off the coast and had a blast. In the late afternoon I invited myself to a house across the road from my hotel to watch an international football game between Vietnam and South Korea. I can’t speak Vietnamese and my new adopted family couldn’t speak English, but we had a great conversation using google translate. They offered me some local food which included part of the uncooked digestive tract of tuna, which I washed down with copious amounts of their local homemade liquor.
Next, I took a sleeper bus ride to Da Lat, up in the central highlands. While here I took a train ride along 7km of reopened railway line which was very touristy. The old railway was 84km long and rose almost 1400m and included 3 rack rail sections and 5 tunnels. I hired a motor bike taxi and went on a tour of the area that included a silk processing factory; minority villages; and a coffee plantation, complete with Wessels who ingest and defecate coffee beans, which I must admit made a very nice cup of coffee.
Saigon was my last stop where I caught up with my brother-in-law and we did a bit of sightseeing. All in all, I had a great time and met some lovely people.
A fantastic trip. Thanks for sharing your experience with us Greg.
December 15th: WMR&ES/SRW Combined Christmas BBQ. The two clubs combined once again for our Xmas BBQ. This year we held it back at the WMR&ES club rooms. The plan was to have the official opening of the new extension at the same time, but due to this not being ready in time it was put off until a later date. Members enjoyed each other’s company and some finished off running some of the trains.
January 19th, 20th & 21st: Wanganui Vintage Weekend. SRW was once again involved with the Wanganui Vintage weekend. We again had our doors open to the public on the Saturday and Sunday and on the Monday we gave Jigger rides. Mainline Steam were in town again also offering short shuttle runs to East Town, Ruatangata (Whangaehu) and Kai Iwi with their Jb loco on the first 2 days. SRW were hired to do the security of the train overnight again. Although there was a bit of a mix up with advertising again prior to this weekend, things went really well. We had a lot of visitors over the weekend through the shed who were all really impressed with the restoration work done. We also gave approx. 171 people rides on the jiggers on the Monday. Overall we are rapped at how the weekend went. We thank all members who helped out over the weekend. Mainline Steam also send their thanks for our help over the weekend. A few of the photos taken below are by Blair Jordan but most are taken by the Wanganui Camera club who were hired as the official photographers for vintage weekend (these have the Vintage Weekend logo on them). Here are just a few examples of what they took over this great weekend.
January 19th, 20th & 21st: Wanganui Vintage Weekend. SRW was once again involved with the Wanganui Vintage weekend. We again had our doors open to the public on the Saturday and Sunday and on the Monday we gave Jigger rides. Mainline Steam were in town again also offering short shuttle runs to East Town, Ruatangata (Whangaehu) and Kai Iwi with their Jb loco on the first 2 days. SRW were hired to do the security of the train overnight again. Although there was a bit of a mix up with advertising again prior to this weekend, things went really well. We had a lot of visitors over the weekend through the shed who were all really impressed with the restoration work done. We also gave approx. 171 people rides on the jiggers on the Monday. Overall we are rapped at how the weekend went. We thank all members who helped out over the weekend. Mainline Steam also send their thanks for our help over the weekend. A few of the photos taken below are by Blair Jordan but most are taken by the Wanganui Camera club who were hired as the official photographers for vintage weekend (these have the Vintage Weekend logo on them). Here are just a few examples of what they took over this great weekend.
SRW Construction/ Maintenance Days: Members have been busy getting items ready for the Wanganui Vintage Weekend in January over the last few months. We now have the step made over the tracks as we walk into the doorway. New signs have been made for our open days. More paint has been applied to Price loco No 212 (this looked really good outside in the sun in its new red colour on display over Vintage weekend) and to the steam crane. Some rotten boards on our back door of the main shed have also be replaced. We have also continued working on the many other projects we have on the go, these include the guards van, motor trollies, signal box, locos, our main shed and the usual mowing lawns, weed eating and spraying. We are also keen to get started on the Xp box wagon ex Waverley. We want to get the roof water tight before winter. Unfortunately over the Christmas/ New Year holiday break we have had a bit of damage done to our items by the turntable. We have had a concrete block thrown though our big signal boxes window, packing removed from axle boxes on wagons, our Xc and Xa box wagon bodies have had boards broken off by people trying to get in them and more tagging on some of our wagons. Even the turntable has been hit with the cover plate being removed from over top of the centre bearing/balance pin. We always seem to hit more by vandals etc. during the school holiday periods. Since we are not allowed to put a fence up, there is not a lot we can do about it other than patching up what they damage every time. There’s always plenty to do down the yard. If you can help, please come along.
August to October 2018
August 22nd: SRW Club Night. We had a run your model train on the Wayouts night. Due to short notice of this night, there was only three members there. Blair and Colin ran their trains for a bit before heading home early. Thanks to the WMR&ES for the use of the layouts.
September 18th: WMR&ES and SRW Combined Club Night. Movie Night, 8 members enjoyed a slightly cool night in the extension. Hamish's Movie Theatre equipment was set up and we had the choice of "Unstoppable" or "Von Ryan's Express". The vote went to Von Ryan's starring Frank Sinatra, a WW2 adventure where Colonel Ryan, a USAAF pilot and prisoner of war, leads a group to escape the prison and Italy via train (of course). In a grand tradition of movie going, within moments of the movie starting we had jaffas rolling across the floor, care of John, and quite deliberately I think. Thanks to Hamish for the loan of the equipment, it was almost as good as a real movie theatre and thanks to Colin for providing the movies.
October 24th: SRW Club Night. Guest speaker Greg talked about the first half of his recent 40 day trip to South East Asia. He started in Cambodia and push biked with 6 other cyclists for 623km over 8 days from Siem Reap, through eastern Thailand and onto Vientiane in Laos. During the bike trip he visited several of the temples of Angkor (ប្រាសាទអង្គរ), Tonle Sap where about 1 million people live on the lake, a landmine museum, the burial place of Pol Pot, an elephant sanctuary and a snake park. Next it was a short flight to Hanoi in Vietnam, then a 30km bus ride to get to the train station. Greg took a sleeper train to Lao Cai on the Chinese boarder, hired a motor bike and visited some local markets and minority villages. An early morning 4:55am train to the coast (6½ hours), 2 x motorbike taxi’s (xe ôm), a speed boat ride and finally a 45 minute taxi to get to Cat Ba town on Cat Ba Island in Halong Bay was the next part of his journey. Greg found and stayed at a hotel run by a Kiwi expat which overlooked the beautiful harbour. He did a couple of short walks and a few swims over several days before heading back to the mainland and boarding another train back to the Hanoi.
This was a very interesting night. Thanks Greg, we look forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.
October 24th: SRW Club Night. Guest speaker Greg talked about the first half of his recent 40 day trip to South East Asia. He started in Cambodia and push biked with 6 other cyclists for 623km over 8 days from Siem Reap, through eastern Thailand and onto Vientiane in Laos. During the bike trip he visited several of the temples of Angkor (ប្រាសាទអង្គរ), Tonle Sap where about 1 million people live on the lake, a landmine museum, the burial place of Pol Pot, an elephant sanctuary and a snake park. Next it was a short flight to Hanoi in Vietnam, then a 30km bus ride to get to the train station. Greg took a sleeper train to Lao Cai on the Chinese boarder, hired a motor bike and visited some local markets and minority villages. An early morning 4:55am train to the coast (6½ hours), 2 x motorbike taxi’s (xe ôm), a speed boat ride and finally a 45 minute taxi to get to Cat Ba town on Cat Ba Island in Halong Bay was the next part of his journey. Greg found and stayed at a hotel run by a Kiwi expat which overlooked the beautiful harbour. He did a couple of short walks and a few swims over several days before heading back to the mainland and boarding another train back to the Hanoi.
This was a very interesting night. Thanks Greg, we look forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.
SRW Construction/ Maintenance Days: There has been some big changes at the club. Especially at the entrance way. We have now connected the track from outside permanently to the track inside so it’s now easier to get our jiggers and rolling stock in and out without members having to lift a bit a rail into the gap. The next part of this project is to put a ramp, steps and deck across the rails in the door way to make it easier for people to get around over the rails. We have also been donated a lot of old air conditioners and machines from Greg’s and Ewan’s work places. Members have been dismantling these for scrap. Price 212 is now movable again after the new oil was put into the final drive gearbox after this was flushed out. We also continue on the other projects, e.g. the crane, loco’s and jigger restoration etc.
New Members: We would like to welcome new members Phoenix, Leo and their mum Kathy to the clubs. Both Phoenix and Leo are mad on trains and love getting their hands dirty.
May to July 2018
May 23th: SRW Club Night. Members gathered at Hamish and Amanda’s house on this night (because of them having internet access) for a You Tube Night. We searched the web looking for different types of railway items from around the world followed by supper. It was an interesting night. A big thank you to Hamish and Amanda for hosting this.
June 3rd: SRW Open Day and Jigger Rides to Public. SRW once again had another successful open day. Although it was raining first thing while we were trying to set up, it cleared up and the rain stayed away for the day while we gave the jiggers rides. This day was well supported by the public, even the dogs enjoyed the rides. A big thank you to all members who helped out. Photos taken by Sandra Jordan.
June 3rd: SRW Open Day and Jigger Rides to Public. SRW once again had another successful open day. Although it was raining first thing while we were trying to set up, it cleared up and the rain stayed away for the day while we gave the jiggers rides. This day was well supported by the public, even the dogs enjoyed the rides. A big thank you to all members who helped out. Photos taken by Sandra Jordan.
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June 27th: SRW Club Night. Members enjoyed another DVD/Video night on this night.
July 21st: WMR&ES and SRW Combined Mid-Year Dinner. Both clubs combined again for our annual mid-year dinner. This year we tried somewhere new by going to the Golden Oaks for their Buffet Meal. 27 members attended and a good meal was had with quite a few going back for seconds and a few for thirds, a great time was had by all, some even mention we should go back there next year. Thanks to the Golden Oaks staff and to all who attended.
SRW Construction/ Maintenance Days: Members continue on the many jobs down at the yard. The crane is still getting old paint and rust removed and primer put on. They are now working on the boom of the crane. The ex-Imlay loco also has more new paint added and work on tiding up around the head light area has started. Some of the member’s motor trolleys have had items done to them and more towing couplings are being made for these. New signs have been made for our open days. Also a big thank you to John Churchouse, who has been keying a lot of our padlocks to the same key for us. He has also donated some locks to the club. This will make life a lot easier for members not having to carry so many keys. We also had a visit from the NZTA on the 9th of July for the clubs Audit and we are still waiting to hear how well we did. Even Blair’s loco has had a little bit of work done on it, some new parts added and some new paint applied.
July 21st: WMR&ES and SRW Combined Mid-Year Dinner. Both clubs combined again for our annual mid-year dinner. This year we tried somewhere new by going to the Golden Oaks for their Buffet Meal. 27 members attended and a good meal was had with quite a few going back for seconds and a few for thirds, a great time was had by all, some even mention we should go back there next year. Thanks to the Golden Oaks staff and to all who attended.
SRW Construction/ Maintenance Days: Members continue on the many jobs down at the yard. The crane is still getting old paint and rust removed and primer put on. They are now working on the boom of the crane. The ex-Imlay loco also has more new paint added and work on tiding up around the head light area has started. Some of the member’s motor trolleys have had items done to them and more towing couplings are being made for these. New signs have been made for our open days. Also a big thank you to John Churchouse, who has been keying a lot of our padlocks to the same key for us. He has also donated some locks to the club. This will make life a lot easier for members not having to carry so many keys. We also had a visit from the NZTA on the 9th of July for the clubs Audit and we are still waiting to hear how well we did. Even Blair’s loco has had a little bit of work done on it, some new parts added and some new paint applied.
Obituary
Barbara Palmer
Barbara Palmer
Passed away peacefully on May the 30th, 2018 aged 73 years.
Barbara was a long-time member of SteamRail Wanganui Inc. She had a big input with the club over the years, especially when we were running our train excursions. She even held a position on the committee for a while during this time. The clubs thoughts went out to her family over this sad time. She will be missed.
Barbara was a long-time member of SteamRail Wanganui Inc. She had a big input with the club over the years, especially when we were running our train excursions. She even held a position on the committee for a while during this time. The clubs thoughts went out to her family over this sad time. She will be missed.
February to April 2018
February 4th: SRW. We once again did the securitry on a visiting train for Steam Rail Feilding and KiwiRail. This train consisted of KiwiRail Dc loco and 3 of Feildings carriages. It had spent the night before in New Plymouth, then a Night in Wanganui before heading to National Park to drop the passengers off. Thank you to all members who helped out over night.
February 13th: SRW. The latest addition to the SRW’s collection turned up on this day. This is a XP class 4 wheeled box wagon donated to the group from the former Friends of the Waverley Railway Station group that has now folded up. A big thank you to Emmetts Cranes and TIL Freight (Hookers Transport) for their help getting the Wagon back to Wanganui. Photos taken by Blair Jordan, Colin Hughes and Charley Masters.
Wagon details:
XP. 3042 built 1966 at East Town Shops (Loco.204/ 8253, bod:BP X.26670, udf:BP X.27010)
XP. 3042 renumbered c1978 to XP848
XP 848 reclassified 09/1981 at East Town Shops to E6695
E 6695 (for conveyance of stores Otahuhu-Hamilton)
E 6695 w/off 04/1985 at East Town (roof, door post)
Wagon details:
XP. 3042 built 1966 at East Town Shops (Loco.204/ 8253, bod:BP X.26670, udf:BP X.27010)
XP. 3042 renumbered c1978 to XP848
XP 848 reclassified 09/1981 at East Town Shops to E6695
E 6695 (for conveyance of stores Otahuhu-Hamilton)
E 6695 w/off 04/1985 at East Town (roof, door post)
February 28th: WMR&ES & SRW Combined Club Night. 31 members enjoyed a visit to Biggin Hill at the Ohakea Air Force base to view the vintage planes, models, pictures and photos. A big thank you to Brendon Deere for opening up, showing us around and telling us about the history of the planes. Also thanks to Ray Deerness for organising this event. Afterwards 22 members went back to Blair and Lloryian's place for supper and to have a look at Blair's hobby room, model trains and railway memorabilia. Thanks to Lloryian for the fresh baking. A great night enjoyed by all. Photos taken by Blair Jordan.
March 21st and 28th: WMR&ES & SRW Combined Club Night. We were meant to have a visit to the Tot Town Railway at Kowhai Park, with the old red train operating on Wednesday the 21st.
But due to bad weather this was put off until the following Wednesday the 28th. But Mother Nature didn’t want to play ball on this night either so the visit was cancelled and we will look at doing this again later in the year. Thank you to Warwick Laws for organising this.
April 22nd: SRW. On this day Steam Inc visited town with Ja 1271. 244 passengers came up from Wellington for the day. Many of them road on the river boat and some did a bus tour around town while here. While in town the train did a trip to East Town and back for the Wanganui locals. Blair (your Editor) was the fireman on the train from Wellington to East Town on the way up. SRW was once again asked to help with directing the public and the use of their steps to help the passengers on and off the train. Phots taken by Blair Jordan, Dion Mckenna and Kylie Jordan.
But due to bad weather this was put off until the following Wednesday the 28th. But Mother Nature didn’t want to play ball on this night either so the visit was cancelled and we will look at doing this again later in the year. Thank you to Warwick Laws for organising this.
April 22nd: SRW. On this day Steam Inc visited town with Ja 1271. 244 passengers came up from Wellington for the day. Many of them road on the river boat and some did a bus tour around town while here. While in town the train did a trip to East Town and back for the Wanganui locals. Blair (your Editor) was the fireman on the train from Wellington to East Town on the way up. SRW was once again asked to help with directing the public and the use of their steps to help the passengers on and off the train. Phots taken by Blair Jordan, Dion Mckenna and Kylie Jordan.
April 25th: SRW Annual General Meeting. This was well attended. 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, building insurance and the possibility of SRW running another Train trip somewhere using the KiwiRail P Nth based Capital Connection train carriages. Blair has got prices from KiwiRail for several different destinations ranging from $25K to $50K. Members seemed keen on the trip to New Plymouth at this stage. We are going to look into this a bit more. We need to decide a timetable before we can get a confirmed price from KiwiRail for the train as at the moment we are only going my estimates they have given us. The last trip we ran was in 2010.
SRW President’s Annual Report – 2017/2018
For the fifth 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.
Club Highlights: We have carried on over the last 12 months running our public Open Days again offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides, we have also done a few security jobs for visiting groups. Other than member’s subs these are the biggest money earners for the club. We are looking at doing this again on Queens Birthday Weekend Sunday the 3rd and/or Monday 4th.
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 once again displayed in their shows and they in return had a display at our open weekend in January as part of the Wanganui vintage weekend. We have also combined our club nights on a few occasions. We also continue to work with other groups, mainly visiting train excursions (where we might help out with tickets sales, security and crowd control) 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.
Training: Not a lot has been happening here this year, as once again not a lot of movement down at the yard. However we did move the locos for a first time in ages over Vintage weekend. During the Vintage weekend we also got time to do shunters and jigger driver refresher courses. We are also planning more Open Days if you are keen to help out and be trained at either a shunter or trolley driver please let us know.
Club Projects: We are always busy down at the shed. Work has continued on the ex North End Aramoho Signal Box, with members putting on new paint inside the building. 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 the final drive pump back in and was able to be moved at vintage weekend. The loco has now started to be painted back into its original red colour. We have also started to repaint the Baby price loco into a darker green. Work has also continued on with the Guards Van, Motor Trolley and other tools and items we have. The Waverley Jigger shed has had some new boards put on and some paint. We are still working on the idea of putting a new floor in this. Members have wired up 2 of our working tablet machines. These now act as a working display on our open days. We finally (after several years) have the Xp wagon from Waverley at our site. A big thank you to Emmett’s Crane Hire and Til Freight (Hookers Transport) for transporting this down for us. We had a full day working bee over Easter where we pulled down the old broken cage area down by the turntable. This has tidied the area up a lot. The next plan is to demolish the old Xc wagon body 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 plus visits to the Biggen Hill at Ohakea and Tot Town Railway at Kowhai Park. We again combined with the WMR&ES on some of these club nights. A big thankyou 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.
Membership: Last year we had about 27 members paid up. It was a shock to hear about the passing of long time SRW member Jim McLees. 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 7 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. Both Steam Inc and Feilding Steam Rail have trips planned to Wanganui later on in the year and there has been some early rumours that Pahiatua railcar group are looking at coming across. We may also plan a train trip somewhere as we have had pricing from KiwiRail for hirage of the capital connection train, this will depend on members thoughts tonight. All 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.
Thank you
Blair Jordan
President SRW.
SRW President’s Annual Report – 2017/2018
For the fifth 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.
Club Highlights: We have carried on over the last 12 months running our public Open Days again offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides, we have also done a few security jobs for visiting groups. Other than member’s subs these are the biggest money earners for the club. We are looking at doing this again on Queens Birthday Weekend Sunday the 3rd and/or Monday 4th.
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 once again displayed in their shows and they in return had a display at our open weekend in January as part of the Wanganui vintage weekend. We have also combined our club nights on a few occasions. We also continue to work with other groups, mainly visiting train excursions (where we might help out with tickets sales, security and crowd control) 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.
Training: Not a lot has been happening here this year, as once again not a lot of movement down at the yard. However we did move the locos for a first time in ages over Vintage weekend. During the Vintage weekend we also got time to do shunters and jigger driver refresher courses. We are also planning more Open Days if you are keen to help out and be trained at either a shunter or trolley driver please let us know.
Club Projects: We are always busy down at the shed. Work has continued on the ex North End Aramoho Signal Box, with members putting on new paint inside the building. 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 the final drive pump back in and was able to be moved at vintage weekend. The loco has now started to be painted back into its original red colour. We have also started to repaint the Baby price loco into a darker green. Work has also continued on with the Guards Van, Motor Trolley and other tools and items we have. The Waverley Jigger shed has had some new boards put on and some paint. We are still working on the idea of putting a new floor in this. Members have wired up 2 of our working tablet machines. These now act as a working display on our open days. We finally (after several years) have the Xp wagon from Waverley at our site. A big thank you to Emmett’s Crane Hire and Til Freight (Hookers Transport) for transporting this down for us. We had a full day working bee over Easter where we pulled down the old broken cage area down by the turntable. This has tidied the area up a lot. The next plan is to demolish the old Xc wagon body 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 plus visits to the Biggen Hill at Ohakea and Tot Town Railway at Kowhai Park. We again combined with the WMR&ES on some of these club nights. A big thankyou 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.
Membership: Last year we had about 27 members paid up. It was a shock to hear about the passing of long time SRW member Jim McLees. 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 7 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. Both Steam Inc and Feilding Steam Rail have trips planned to Wanganui later on in the year and there has been some early rumours that Pahiatua railcar group are looking at coming across. We may also plan a train trip somewhere as we have had pricing from KiwiRail for hirage of the capital connection train, this will depend on members thoughts tonight. All 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.
Thank you
Blair Jordan
President SRW.
SRW Construction/ Maintenance: Work has continued on the East Town steam crane E120 members have carried on with paint being stripped off and new paint getting applied. Price loco no 212 (ex Imlay) has now had more paint stripped off of its original red colour painted on it. We have also started to repaint the Baby price loco into a darker green. Work has also continued on with the Guards Van, Motor Trolley’s and other tools and items we have. We have priced some new timber for a floor in the Waverley Jigger shed. We hope to do this soon to make the shed more secure. We finally (after several years) have the Xp wagon from Waverley at our site. This gives us another project to do as there is a few wall and roof boards etc. needing replacing on this to make it water tight again, once done this will give us more storage space. We had a full day working bee over Easter where we pulled down the old broken cage area down by the turntable. This has tidied the area up a lot. The next plan is to demolish the old Xc wagon body for spare parts as this has seen better days. Photos taken by Blair Jordan
Farewell Jim McLees
James Frederick McLees loved trains and newspapers. Always known as Jim, he was born in Invercargill in 1941. His father worked for N Z Railways and during Jim’s childhood the family shifted many times in Southland following his father’s transfers. Although Jim was keen to join NZR after leaving Southland Boy’s High School his father did not think it was a good idea. Aged 16 Jim joined the Southland News as a cadet journalist. Although not an academic at school he enjoyed the newspaper life.
At 22 years of age Jim went to England for his big OE. He got a job as a journalist for the Nottingham Post, and while he was there he met his future wife, Lisa. The two got married and returned to Invercargill, where Jim joined the Southland Times. Jim later shifted to Wanganui as a sub-editor for the Wanganui Herald. Following the merger of the Herald into the Chronicle, Jim held the positions of sub-editor, editor, and later returned to the sub-editing position.
One knew Jim was a railway enthusiast when one visited Jim in his office at the Chronicle. There were railway photographs all over the walls of his office. After he finished his day at the paper, it was not unknown for Jim to go to East Town and take a cab ride on a train to Stratford or Taihape – with a news article to follow.
Jim became an early member of SteamRail and was good for providing publicity about the group. When we were running an excursion and passenger numbers were a bit light, a visit to Jim resulted in an article in the next issue of the Chronicle and more bookings.
One always knew when Jim McLees was in the room for he had a loud voice, was always friendly and could tell a good yarn. His wife Lisa passed away four years ago and for the last 18 months Jim had found life difficult. Jim died on 15 March 2018, aged 77. His is survived by his two daughters. In his will Jim left the majority of his railway memorabilia to SteamRail. Thank you Jim – we will remember you with a smile and a laugh.
Graeme Carter
At 22 years of age Jim went to England for his big OE. He got a job as a journalist for the Nottingham Post, and while he was there he met his future wife, Lisa. The two got married and returned to Invercargill, where Jim joined the Southland Times. Jim later shifted to Wanganui as a sub-editor for the Wanganui Herald. Following the merger of the Herald into the Chronicle, Jim held the positions of sub-editor, editor, and later returned to the sub-editing position.
One knew Jim was a railway enthusiast when one visited Jim in his office at the Chronicle. There were railway photographs all over the walls of his office. After he finished his day at the paper, it was not unknown for Jim to go to East Town and take a cab ride on a train to Stratford or Taihape – with a news article to follow.
Jim became an early member of SteamRail and was good for providing publicity about the group. When we were running an excursion and passenger numbers were a bit light, a visit to Jim resulted in an article in the next issue of the Chronicle and more bookings.
One always knew when Jim McLees was in the room for he had a loud voice, was always friendly and could tell a good yarn. His wife Lisa passed away four years ago and for the last 18 months Jim had found life difficult. Jim died on 15 March 2018, aged 77. His is survived by his two daughters. In his will Jim left the majority of his railway memorabilia to SteamRail. Thank you Jim – we will remember you with a smile and a laugh.
Graeme Carter
November 2017 to January 2018
December 2nd: This was our November club night that got moved because of a previous booking. Members enjoyed a ride on the river boat MV Wairua up to Upokongaro where they have a great lunch at the local café.
December 9th: The annual combined Christmas BBQ held between the two groups was held on this night. For the second year in a row we had it at the Tot Town Railway at Kowhai Park, with the train operating for member’s rides. A great evening was had by all, with the weather behaving itself also. A big thank you goes out to Warwick and Veronica Laws and the Lion’s club for organising this event.
January 20th, 21st & 22nd: SRW was once again involved with the Wanganui Vintage weekend. This year we had our doors open to the public on the Saturday and Sunday only with some of our gear outside on display. On the Monday we gave Jigger rides as well. We also had a KiwiRail truck and some of the track tools on display care of Hamish and the WMR&ES had a layout on show advertising their club also. Thanks to Paul, Mel and Rob for manning the layout over the weekend. Mainline Steam were in town offering short shuttle runs to East Town and Kai Iwi with their Jb loco on the first 2 days. We were hired to do the security of the train overnight. Unfortunately they did have a few issues over the weekend and this resulted in trains running a bit late and one trip was cancelled. There was a miss print in the advertising and ticket printing. SteamRail was named as running the train trips instead of Mainline Steam. This resulted in people turning up at our doors asking for tickets and of course the odd complaint directed at us in error when things went wrong. We have now had an apology from both Mainline and a Wanganui Vintage Weekend Committee member about the mistake. Other than that we were well supported by the local public and we thank members once again for all your help. Mainline Steam also sends out a big thank you to the club for all our help. Members you once again did our club proud. We must also give a big thank you to the Wanganui Fire brigade who came out twice to fill the Jb up with water for free.
December 9th: The annual combined Christmas BBQ held between the two groups was held on this night. For the second year in a row we had it at the Tot Town Railway at Kowhai Park, with the train operating for member’s rides. A great evening was had by all, with the weather behaving itself also. A big thank you goes out to Warwick and Veronica Laws and the Lion’s club for organising this event.
January 20th, 21st & 22nd: SRW was once again involved with the Wanganui Vintage weekend. This year we had our doors open to the public on the Saturday and Sunday only with some of our gear outside on display. On the Monday we gave Jigger rides as well. We also had a KiwiRail truck and some of the track tools on display care of Hamish and the WMR&ES had a layout on show advertising their club also. Thanks to Paul, Mel and Rob for manning the layout over the weekend. Mainline Steam were in town offering short shuttle runs to East Town and Kai Iwi with their Jb loco on the first 2 days. We were hired to do the security of the train overnight. Unfortunately they did have a few issues over the weekend and this resulted in trains running a bit late and one trip was cancelled. There was a miss print in the advertising and ticket printing. SteamRail was named as running the train trips instead of Mainline Steam. This resulted in people turning up at our doors asking for tickets and of course the odd complaint directed at us in error when things went wrong. We have now had an apology from both Mainline and a Wanganui Vintage Weekend Committee member about the mistake. Other than that we were well supported by the local public and we thank members once again for all your help. Mainline Steam also sends out a big thank you to the club for all our help. Members you once again did our club proud. We must also give a big thank you to the Wanganui Fire brigade who came out twice to fill the Jb up with water for free.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work continues on the many club projects we are doing down at the yard. Members have had a big clean up before Vintage weekend with getting rid of the scrap etc. We have also moved a lot of the spare parts for the drewry loco down to one of the wagons at the turntable. Hamish and Jamie have hooked up a pair of tablet machines as a working display for when we have our doors open to the public. Price loco no 212 now has its oil pump back in for the final driver and we will be putting new oil in it shortly and more paint has been stripped off the crane.
September To October 2017
August 23rd: We had another one of our enjoyable DVD/Video nights.
September 27th: On this club night we meet at our shed to organise what we were going to display at the upcoming WMR&ES Model Railway Show at the end of the month.
September 30th & October 1st: SRW had a display at the WMR&ES model railways show over this weekend. We once again had railway memorabilia on display along with Colin’s Jigger. We took this opportunity to advertise our upcoming jigger ride days. The public were very interested in what we had to show. This was a great show and we congratulate the WMR&ES on a great weekend.
October 25th: The club decided to visit the tram barn for this club night. Members enjoyed having a look around the museum, including a new tram that had not long arrived on site. This tram was used by Peter Jackson in the King Kong Movie. Members finished off the night having a ride on the Wanganui Tram. A big thank you to the members of the Tram group for showing us around. Photos by Kylie Jordan.
September 27th: On this club night we meet at our shed to organise what we were going to display at the upcoming WMR&ES Model Railway Show at the end of the month.
September 30th & October 1st: SRW had a display at the WMR&ES model railways show over this weekend. We once again had railway memorabilia on display along with Colin’s Jigger. We took this opportunity to advertise our upcoming jigger ride days. The public were very interested in what we had to show. This was a great show and we congratulate the WMR&ES on a great weekend.
October 25th: The club decided to visit the tram barn for this club night. Members enjoyed having a look around the museum, including a new tram that had not long arrived on site. This tram was used by Peter Jackson in the King Kong Movie. Members finished off the night having a ride on the Wanganui Tram. A big thank you to the members of the Tram group for showing us around. Photos by Kylie Jordan.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work continues on the many club projects we are doing down at the yard. A big thank you to Colin Pound who has machined timber for the door frame in the ex Aramoho North end signal box. More of the old paint on the back of the cab of Price loco 212 has been taken off replaced with a bright new red paint. The loco is slowly starting to look very smart as we return it back to its original red colour. A couple of our tablet machines are also getting worked on. We have up dated phone numbers on our contact signs on our buildings and these have been put back up on the Workshop building and the big signal box down the turntable end. Members have also spent time with weed eaters and saws down by the turntable site keeping it nice and tidy.
Upcoming Wanganui Vintage Weekend: SRW will once again be opening our doors to the public during the Wanganui Vintage Weekend (Wellington Anniversary Weekend). At this stage we will have our doors open, maybe locos outside and cold drinks etc for sale on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st. We have heard that Mainline Steam may be in with their train for weekend also (Saturday and Sunday only). If this happens we have been asked to do security of the train on the Saturday night. They will also want the use of our steps etc. On Monday the 22nd we hope to do jigger rides again (if no train on the Sunday we might also do jiggers rides that day also, depending on KiwiRail). We are still waiting to hear from KiwiRail if this is ok. Members help over this weekend would be appreciated.
Security of Trains: SRW has over the last few months done security on two different trains that spent nights in Wanganui. The first one was for a combined KiwiRail (re locos) and Feilding & Districts Steam Rail Soc’ (re carriages) trip on Sunday night the 17th of September. Because the train (with Dfb loco) came from New Plymouth it could not tow the carriages into town long hood first due to visibility issues. Blair (your president) was sent from P Nth in a light loco (Dc) to tow the train into town for the night. Because the Dfb had to lead the train north from Marton to National Park the next morning and the Dc had to go back to P Nth, both locos needed to be turned. To save time we ended up with a loco at each end of the carriages. The next morning the Dc towed the train to Marton where it was cut off the train and returned to P Nth light loco with Blair, while the Dfb at the other end then took the train north to Nat Park. Photos taken by Charley Masters and Hamish Coull.
Upcoming Wanganui Vintage Weekend: SRW will once again be opening our doors to the public during the Wanganui Vintage Weekend (Wellington Anniversary Weekend). At this stage we will have our doors open, maybe locos outside and cold drinks etc for sale on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st. We have heard that Mainline Steam may be in with their train for weekend also (Saturday and Sunday only). If this happens we have been asked to do security of the train on the Saturday night. They will also want the use of our steps etc. On Monday the 22nd we hope to do jigger rides again (if no train on the Sunday we might also do jiggers rides that day also, depending on KiwiRail). We are still waiting to hear from KiwiRail if this is ok. Members help over this weekend would be appreciated.
Security of Trains: SRW has over the last few months done security on two different trains that spent nights in Wanganui. The first one was for a combined KiwiRail (re locos) and Feilding & Districts Steam Rail Soc’ (re carriages) trip on Sunday night the 17th of September. Because the train (with Dfb loco) came from New Plymouth it could not tow the carriages into town long hood first due to visibility issues. Blair (your president) was sent from P Nth in a light loco (Dc) to tow the train into town for the night. Because the Dfb had to lead the train north from Marton to National Park the next morning and the Dc had to go back to P Nth, both locos needed to be turned. To save time we ended up with a loco at each end of the carriages. The next morning the Dc towed the train to Marton where it was cut off the train and returned to P Nth light loco with Blair, while the Dfb at the other end then took the train north to Nat Park. Photos taken by Charley Masters and Hamish Coull.
The second one for Steam Inc was for two nights October 15Th & 16th, looking after their Da loco and carriages. These nights are a good fund raiser for the club. A big thank you to all members who helped out with the security. Photos by Blair Jordan
We have now also been asked if we could do the security on Mainline Steam’s Jb loco and carriages if it visits early next year for the Wanganui Vintage Weekend. This will be a Saturday night. If you can help please let Blair (president) or a committee member know as soon as possible. Like last time we plan to do a rosters system so each member will only need to be down at the yard for a couple of hours at a time.
May to July 2017
May 24th: We had another hobby night for this club night. Members brought along items they collected not to do with Railways.
June 4th & 5th: Over Queens Birthday weekend SRW opened our shed again to the public offering Jigger rides. This time the weather behaved itself. A lot of families had a fun time riding up and down the yard. Thank you to all members that helped out. Unfortunately we did have a small incident on the Monday. As we were packing up we gave the clubs Velocipede a test drive. This got jammed in a set of points with the jokey wheel getting broken off. There were no members of the public involved with the accident and no one was hurt as it was a very slow speed accident. We have investigated this event and found the spokes on the wheels were lose from age. Hamish is rebuilding the wheel for the club. We have notified NZTA about the incident.
June 4th & 5th: Over Queens Birthday weekend SRW opened our shed again to the public offering Jigger rides. This time the weather behaved itself. A lot of families had a fun time riding up and down the yard. Thank you to all members that helped out. Unfortunately we did have a small incident on the Monday. As we were packing up we gave the clubs Velocipede a test drive. This got jammed in a set of points with the jokey wheel getting broken off. There were no members of the public involved with the accident and no one was hurt as it was a very slow speed accident. We have investigated this event and found the spokes on the wheels were lose from age. Hamish is rebuilding the wheel for the club. We have notified NZTA about the incident.
June 28th: On this club night we had a Something Old night. Members brought along something they have in their collection that is really old. There were some very interesting things on show.
July 22nd: We combined with WMR&ES again on this night for the Club’s combined mid-year dinner. 25 members attended the meal at the Liffiton Castle. A good meal was had with quite a few going back for seconds and a few for thirds, a great time had by all. Thanks to the Liffiton Castle staff and to all who attended.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work continues on the club projects we are doing down at the yard. The ex Aramoho North end signal box has been getting its inside walls painted along with some of the outside walls of the jigger shed ex Waverley. All our files, plans and books are also still getting sorted into some sort of order. Some new paint has also been getting put onto the cab of Price loco 212. Steam crane 120 continues to get items cleaned up also.
Upcoming WMR&ES Show: SRW will once again have a display at the WMR&ES model show on the 30th of September and the 1st of October. Members helping with our display would be great.
Security of Train: SRW has been asked by both KiwiRail (re loco) and Feilding & Districts Steam Rail Soc’ (re carriages) to do overnight security of the train on Sunday night the 17th of September. At this stage we are not sure of where this will be. Both the Taupo Quay yard next to our shed and the East Town yard has been mentioned. SRW are not keen on this if it is over at East Town due to passing trains, sitting in cars with no power and train being in yard well away from road etc. We have told them if it’s next to our shed we will do this, so we will once again need members help with this. If you can help please let me know ASAP. Hopefully we will be able to confirm shortly if we are doing this or not.
July 22nd: We combined with WMR&ES again on this night for the Club’s combined mid-year dinner. 25 members attended the meal at the Liffiton Castle. A good meal was had with quite a few going back for seconds and a few for thirds, a great time had by all. Thanks to the Liffiton Castle staff and to all who attended.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work continues on the club projects we are doing down at the yard. The ex Aramoho North end signal box has been getting its inside walls painted along with some of the outside walls of the jigger shed ex Waverley. All our files, plans and books are also still getting sorted into some sort of order. Some new paint has also been getting put onto the cab of Price loco 212. Steam crane 120 continues to get items cleaned up also.
Upcoming WMR&ES Show: SRW will once again have a display at the WMR&ES model show on the 30th of September and the 1st of October. Members helping with our display would be great.
Security of Train: SRW has been asked by both KiwiRail (re loco) and Feilding & Districts Steam Rail Soc’ (re carriages) to do overnight security of the train on Sunday night the 17th of September. At this stage we are not sure of where this will be. Both the Taupo Quay yard next to our shed and the East Town yard has been mentioned. SRW are not keen on this if it is over at East Town due to passing trains, sitting in cars with no power and train being in yard well away from road etc. We have told them if it’s next to our shed we will do this, so we will once again need members help with this. If you can help please let me know ASAP. Hopefully we will be able to confirm shortly if we are doing this or not.
February to April 2017
February 22nd: This was our first club night for the year. We had another one of our enjoyable DVD/Video nights.
March 21st: On this night we were meant to have a combined visit with the Wanganui Model Railway & Engineering Society to the Airport Control Tower, but unfortunately the group involved with the control tower restoration could not get enough members to show us through. We will look at this again later on in the year. Both clubs ended up having an enjoyable DVD/Running night at the WMR&ES clubrooms instead.
April 26th: The Club’s Annual General Meeting. Only 8 members turned up. The Committee stayed the same as the previous year and is 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 recent trips some of the members had taken. See Presidents report below.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work continues on the various projects we are doing down at the yard. The ex Aramoho North end signal box has 2 inside walls stripped of paint and are now being sanded ready for painting. The jigger shed ex Waverley has been getting its rotten barge boards replaced. All our files, plans and books are also still getting sorted. Work on the Price loco 212, steam crane 120 and the guards van F 733 have slowed up a bit while we get the other stuff done. Thank you also to the members who helped lift everything up off the ground just before Easter just in case we flooded again with the bad weather warning. Wanganui and SRW were very lucky that we didn’t get the rain that they forecast.
Thank you: To the Fordyce and Allen Families who donated to the club a lot of railway books from the Estate of the late Les Fordyce. Les got a lot of enjoyment with our club and it was his and the families wishes for these to come to us. We also got books donated to us from David Groves.
Farewell Old Friend: It was a shock to hear of the passing of long time SRW club member and past president Rob Walker. Rob was born in Feilding on the 25th November 1937 and passed away peacefully at the Wanganui Hospital on Sunday 5th of March. As mentioned Rob was a member of the club for many years and held the President position for many of those, only standing down from that job about 4 years ago. Over the past few years Rob’s health has been up and down after that terrible car crash in which he lost his wife Bett several years ago. The clubs thoughts are with his family and friends over this sad time.
March 21st: On this night we were meant to have a combined visit with the Wanganui Model Railway & Engineering Society to the Airport Control Tower, but unfortunately the group involved with the control tower restoration could not get enough members to show us through. We will look at this again later on in the year. Both clubs ended up having an enjoyable DVD/Running night at the WMR&ES clubrooms instead.
April 26th: The Club’s Annual General Meeting. Only 8 members turned up. The Committee stayed the same as the previous year and is 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 recent trips some of the members had taken. See Presidents report below.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work continues on the various projects we are doing down at the yard. The ex Aramoho North end signal box has 2 inside walls stripped of paint and are now being sanded ready for painting. The jigger shed ex Waverley has been getting its rotten barge boards replaced. All our files, plans and books are also still getting sorted. Work on the Price loco 212, steam crane 120 and the guards van F 733 have slowed up a bit while we get the other stuff done. Thank you also to the members who helped lift everything up off the ground just before Easter just in case we flooded again with the bad weather warning. Wanganui and SRW were very lucky that we didn’t get the rain that they forecast.
Thank you: To the Fordyce and Allen Families who donated to the club a lot of railway books from the Estate of the late Les Fordyce. Les got a lot of enjoyment with our club and it was his and the families wishes for these to come to us. We also got books donated to us from David Groves.
Farewell Old Friend: It was a shock to hear of the passing of long time SRW club member and past president Rob Walker. Rob was born in Feilding on the 25th November 1937 and passed away peacefully at the Wanganui Hospital on Sunday 5th of March. As mentioned Rob was a member of the club for many years and held the President position for many of those, only standing down from that job about 4 years ago. Over the past few years Rob’s health has been up and down after that terrible car crash in which he lost his wife Bett several years ago. The clubs thoughts are with his family and friends over this sad time.
SteamRail Wanganui Presidents Report 2016/17
For the fourth 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.
Club Highlights: We have carried on over the last 12 months running our public Open Days again offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides. On most occasions these seem to get a good number of the public through and at this stage other than member’s subs this is the biggest money earner for the club. We are looking at doing this again on Queens Birthday Weekend Sunday and/or Monday (June 4th & 5th).
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. I know that SRW and WMR&ES regularly help out each other with shows and combined club nights etc. but also the other groups we deal with, be it the visiting train excursions (where we might help out with tickets sales, security and crowd control) 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.
October last year we loaned the Riverboat Trust 4 lengths of our track so they could pull the Waimarie out of the water for its 10 year survey. This took a lot longer than planned and we didn’t get the track back until early this year. To thank us for the use of the track they gave the club a good donation.
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.
Training: Not a lot has been happening here this year, we have not moved the locos for a while now and most of the members who help out down the yard are now due for the shunters refresher course. We have been holding off doing this until we can move the locos again. Hopefully this will not be too far away before this happens. We are also planning more Open Days if you are keen to help out and be trained at either a shunter or trolley driver please let us know.
Club Projects: We are always busy down at the shed. Work has continued on the ex North End Aramoho Signal Box, with members stripping the old paint inside the building. Work on the East Town steam crane E120 has slowed down a bit with members concentrating on items from the flood. Price loco no 212 (ex Imlay) still has its final drive oil drained out. We have removed the pump to clean this up also. Hopefully it will not be too long now before this is back together and we can start moving the locos again. Work has also continued on with the Guards Van, Motor Trolley and other tools and items we have. We have now transported the ex Waverley Jigger down to our site and members have started to clean this up also. But we are still waiting on the wagon from Waverley to get transported down. We have been waiting on Emmett’s Crane Hire and a truck to be available in the area to do this, but after sending an email to them last month, I’m still waiting on a reply (it is now almost 3 years since we first talked to them about bringing it down). There is always plenty to do down at the yard so come along and give us a hand. Since last A.G.M members have done about 1500 man hours down at the shed.
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 plus visits to the Ward Observatory. We combined our club nights with the WMR&ES on a few occasions for visits with the last one being the Tot Town Railway at Kowhai Park. A big thankyou 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.
Membership: Last year we had 27 members paid up and 17 have already paid this year’s subs. It was a shock to hear about the passing of long time SRW member Rob Walker. The club’s thoughts are with his families at this sad time and also go out to any other member who have lost loved ones over the last 12 months.
My Life: I love my job as a Locomotive Engineer (driver) with KiwiRail. I’ve now been driving out by myself for almost two and a half years and have now also been certified as a mainline fireman for the steam loco excursions. Over the year I have worked on the mainline excursions with Wab 794, Ab 608 and Ja 1271. Just in the last few weeks I have been getting used to oil fired locos. Work has mentioned they will need me on the 7 of May for Tangiwai Disaster Memorial Upgrade Unveiling as there is a steam train coming down from Auckland (Ja 1275) and one coming up from P Nth (Jb 1236) for this event. It’s hard to believe that July this year I would have been with KiwiRail for 6 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 look into costings of hiring a train again for a trip somewhere also. Both Steam Inc and Feilding Steam Rail have trips planned to Wanganui later on in the year and there has been some early rumours that both the Pahiatua group and Mainline Steam are looking at coming across to next year’s Vintage Weekend. All 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.
Thank you
Blair Jordan
President 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.
Club Highlights: We have carried on over the last 12 months running our public Open Days again offering Motor Trolley/Jigger rides. On most occasions these seem to get a good number of the public through and at this stage other than member’s subs this is the biggest money earner for the club. We are looking at doing this again on Queens Birthday Weekend Sunday and/or Monday (June 4th & 5th).
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. I know that SRW and WMR&ES regularly help out each other with shows and combined club nights etc. but also the other groups we deal with, be it the visiting train excursions (where we might help out with tickets sales, security and crowd control) 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.
October last year we loaned the Riverboat Trust 4 lengths of our track so they could pull the Waimarie out of the water for its 10 year survey. This took a lot longer than planned and we didn’t get the track back until early this year. To thank us for the use of the track they gave the club a good donation.
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.
Training: Not a lot has been happening here this year, we have not moved the locos for a while now and most of the members who help out down the yard are now due for the shunters refresher course. We have been holding off doing this until we can move the locos again. Hopefully this will not be too far away before this happens. We are also planning more Open Days if you are keen to help out and be trained at either a shunter or trolley driver please let us know.
Club Projects: We are always busy down at the shed. Work has continued on the ex North End Aramoho Signal Box, with members stripping the old paint inside the building. Work on the East Town steam crane E120 has slowed down a bit with members concentrating on items from the flood. Price loco no 212 (ex Imlay) still has its final drive oil drained out. We have removed the pump to clean this up also. Hopefully it will not be too long now before this is back together and we can start moving the locos again. Work has also continued on with the Guards Van, Motor Trolley and other tools and items we have. We have now transported the ex Waverley Jigger down to our site and members have started to clean this up also. But we are still waiting on the wagon from Waverley to get transported down. We have been waiting on Emmett’s Crane Hire and a truck to be available in the area to do this, but after sending an email to them last month, I’m still waiting on a reply (it is now almost 3 years since we first talked to them about bringing it down). There is always plenty to do down at the yard so come along and give us a hand. Since last A.G.M members have done about 1500 man hours down at the shed.
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 plus visits to the Ward Observatory. We combined our club nights with the WMR&ES on a few occasions for visits with the last one being the Tot Town Railway at Kowhai Park. A big thankyou 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.
Membership: Last year we had 27 members paid up and 17 have already paid this year’s subs. It was a shock to hear about the passing of long time SRW member Rob Walker. The club’s thoughts are with his families at this sad time and also go out to any other member who have lost loved ones over the last 12 months.
My Life: I love my job as a Locomotive Engineer (driver) with KiwiRail. I’ve now been driving out by myself for almost two and a half years and have now also been certified as a mainline fireman for the steam loco excursions. Over the year I have worked on the mainline excursions with Wab 794, Ab 608 and Ja 1271. Just in the last few weeks I have been getting used to oil fired locos. Work has mentioned they will need me on the 7 of May for Tangiwai Disaster Memorial Upgrade Unveiling as there is a steam train coming down from Auckland (Ja 1275) and one coming up from P Nth (Jb 1236) for this event. It’s hard to believe that July this year I would have been with KiwiRail for 6 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 look into costings of hiring a train again for a trip somewhere also. Both Steam Inc and Feilding Steam Rail have trips planned to Wanganui later on in the year and there has been some early rumours that both the Pahiatua group and Mainline Steam are looking at coming across to next year’s Vintage Weekend. All 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.
Thank you
Blair Jordan
President SRW.
November 2016 to January 2017
November 5th: A bit of a jack up. Blair, Ewan, Greg and Colin travelled to Waverley on this day to fix the roof on our XP wagon which we are still waiting to be brought down from Waverley (we are waiting on Emmett’s to do this. If you know of a transporter that can do this let us know). While there we also jacked up the jigger shed onto a hire trailer and brought that back to Wanganui. This gave Blair the opportunity to try out the pulling power of his new ute.
November 15th: Both clubs enjoyed an evening at the Observatory. Members were told about the history of the observatory and although it was a bit cloudy we still got to see items through the telescope. A big that you to the Observatory team for opening their doors to us on this night.
December 17th: The annual Christmas BBQ held between SRW and WMR&ES was held on this night. A great turnout of about 25 members & partners enjoyed a great night. This year we tried something different and had it at the Tot Town Railway at Kowhai Park, with the train operating for member’s rides. A great evening was had by all, with the weather behaving itself also. A big thank you goes out to Warwick and Veronica Laws and the Lion’s club for organising this event.
December 17th: The annual Christmas BBQ held between SRW and WMR&ES was held on this night. A great turnout of about 25 members & partners enjoyed a great night. This year we tried something different and had it at the Tot Town Railway at Kowhai Park, with the train operating for member’s rides. A great evening was had by all, with the weather behaving itself also. A big thank you goes out to Warwick and Veronica Laws and the Lion’s club for organising this event.
January 21st to 23rd: SRW was once again involved with the Wanganui Vintage Weekend. On the Saturday we only had our shed open to the public and a sign on display down by the tram advertising the next 2 days. The Sunday and the Monday were busy with SRW offering Jiggers rides to the public for a $2 coin donation and our shed was again open for public viewing. We even had the KiwiRail track gang call in for a ride. This was the first time that Hamish’s 6 man trolley had been used. He had just finished its restoration. Although the weather tried its best to bring a stop to things we manage to come out on top. A big thank you to all members that helped out over the weekend and to members who helped with the advertising and pre planning the event.
Construction/ Maintenance: Members have continued to be busy down at the yard. We have cut all the trees back to the boundary at our turntable site and these have been chipped, also Ewan, Blair, Russell and Ross have been doing a lot of mowing and weed eating down at the turntable site to tidy this area up. Hamish has been working on the clubs Briggs and Stratton jigger engines. Ross and Colin have continued cleaning up items and re-painting them. Ewan has finished the point’s clamps and they came in handy during vintage weekend. Ewan and Greg have also been sanding down the walls inside the signal box getting them ready for a coat of new paint and Greg and Charley have been having a big clean up in the carriage. From the 31 July 16 until the 29 of January 17 members have done 936 man hours at the shed.
August to October 2016
August 24th: Despite a disappointing member turnout for our August club night, members that were there still enjoyed a “favourite book “night. Colin showed us 3 ancient books: - 1852 history of the earth & animated nature vol 1, 1882 The American home & farm cyclopaedia and around 1900 cyclopaedia of livestock & complete stock doctor. Greg showed us 6 books : - Every day knowledge in pictures, Engineer yearbook 1916, Inchleys theory of heat engines 1938, The engine drivers guide 1903, Popular electricity 1917 and a Catalogue of surveyors & engineers Instruments 1925. A very interesting night.
September 28th: Blair was going to speak about his and Lloryian’s trip to Raratonga but due to Lloryian being in Wellington hospital he couldn’t make it. Instead we had a video night. First up was a DVD, The story of the Melbourne Steam Traction Society. They have a huge complex housing Stationary Steam Engines, traction Engines, A Walking Dragline and lots of other steam gear, even a Sherman Tank. We then watched a video on 100 years of railways in the Manawatu Gorge 1891 – 1991, which featured an excursion hauled by F163 which was filmed from a jigger in front of the excursion which ran from Palmerston North to Woodville. It was an enjoyable night.
October 16th: Steam Inc was in town with Ja 1271 for the day. While in town it did a run to East Town and back for the Wanganui locals while its Wellington passengers enjoyed the city. A surprice to everyone was Blair was the fireman on the Ja for the P nth to Wanganui back to P Nth leg of the Jouney. SRW had our shed open to the public while the train was here and we got a few donations in our donation box which was realy appercated and there were also 2 visting traction engines and a fair ground musical organ on site when the train came in. Photos by Kylie Jordan and Charley Masters.
September 28th: Blair was going to speak about his and Lloryian’s trip to Raratonga but due to Lloryian being in Wellington hospital he couldn’t make it. Instead we had a video night. First up was a DVD, The story of the Melbourne Steam Traction Society. They have a huge complex housing Stationary Steam Engines, traction Engines, A Walking Dragline and lots of other steam gear, even a Sherman Tank. We then watched a video on 100 years of railways in the Manawatu Gorge 1891 – 1991, which featured an excursion hauled by F163 which was filmed from a jigger in front of the excursion which ran from Palmerston North to Woodville. It was an enjoyable night.
October 16th: Steam Inc was in town with Ja 1271 for the day. While in town it did a run to East Town and back for the Wanganui locals while its Wellington passengers enjoyed the city. A surprice to everyone was Blair was the fireman on the Ja for the P nth to Wanganui back to P Nth leg of the Jouney. SRW had our shed open to the public while the train was here and we got a few donations in our donation box which was realy appercated and there were also 2 visting traction engines and a fair ground musical organ on site when the train came in. Photos by Kylie Jordan and Charley Masters.
October 20th-21st: The Silver Fern Railcar visited Wanganui overnight on these two days. After leaving New Plymouth the railcar arrived on time into the Wanganui’s Taupo Quay rail yards at 3.20pm. The Crew were taken to their motels by Colin and Ray. It was then over to SteamRail members to provide security overnight. All went well and the railcar left after loading passengers at 9.30am the next morning. Thanks go to all SRW members who helped with unloading and loading and with security. Thanks also to Ken from Tranzsenic for the sandwiches and bananas.
October 26th: Greg was our guest speaker for this club night. He once again entertained us telling us about his recent trip overseas to Cambodia and Vietnam and the train trips he did while there. He showed videos and photos of his travels. A very interesting night, thanks Greg.
Construction/ Maintenance: We have continued working on the club main projects. The pipe frame off the front of the club jigger is now fixed and the head board is now back on. We are currently pricing more timber for the guards van restoration. New grease and oils have been brought for the clubs locos. Alot more of our tools, bolts and crane bits have been cleaned up. We have started to build our own points clamps for our opendays (see photos) instead of borrowing KiwiRail ones and we are also making our own air brake tester to run off our compresser.
Construction/ Maintenance: We have continued working on the club main projects. The pipe frame off the front of the club jigger is now fixed and the head board is now back on. We are currently pricing more timber for the guards van restoration. New grease and oils have been brought for the clubs locos. Alot more of our tools, bolts and crane bits have been cleaned up. We have started to build our own points clamps for our opendays (see photos) instead of borrowing KiwiRail ones and we are also making our own air brake tester to run off our compresser.
Track Loan: Most members will be awear that over the last few months the river boat Waimarie was dry docked next to the Dublin street bridge for its big survey. This was done by laying railways tracks down into the water, then using the modified orignal cradle they used to use at Q west for the boat to sit on. This was then pulled out of the water by two Traction engines. The boat was pulled from the water on September the 17th and went back in on the 5th of November. What members might not be awear of due to it not being publicize is the track used belongs to SRW. The group loaned the River Boat Trust the rails and in return for its use the trust is giving the club a reasonable donation. Photos taken by Charley Masters and Kylie Jordan.
Wanganui Vintage/Heritage Weekend: SRW will once again be involved with the Wanganui Vintage/Heritage weekend over the Wellington Anniversary weekend in January 2017. At this stage we plan to have our building open to the public on the Saturday 21st and Sunday the 22nd and we hope to do jigger rides on the Monday the 23rd. Mainline Steam have confirmed that they are keen to come along with their Jb on that weekend also (this will depend on if their carriages get mainline certifation done in time). If this happens we may also be asked to do the security over night for this train. If you can help over this weekend please let us know.
We still have one copy of the 2017 Railway Enthusiasts Society Calendar for sale. First in gets it. SRW & WMR&ES Members special price $13 each. Non-members $16 each. Let Blair Know ASAP.
We still have one copy of the 2017 Railway Enthusiasts Society Calendar for sale. First in gets it. SRW & WMR&ES Members special price $13 each. Non-members $16 each. Let Blair Know ASAP.
May to July 2016
May 25th: We enjoyed another one of our DVD and video nights.
June 6th: The club held another successful open day to the public offering Motor Trolley (Jigger Rides), a look at our restoration progress in the shed and light refreshments. Thanks again to members who helped out and to the following for the use of their trolleys - Ewan Pound, Blair Jordan and Langley Atkinson (KiwiRail). We even got a write up and picture in the paper. Photo taken by Bevan Conley (Wanganui Chronicle)
June 6th: The club held another successful open day to the public offering Motor Trolley (Jigger Rides), a look at our restoration progress in the shed and light refreshments. Thanks again to members who helped out and to the following for the use of their trolleys - Ewan Pound, Blair Jordan and Langley Atkinson (KiwiRail). We even got a write up and picture in the paper. Photo taken by Bevan Conley (Wanganui Chronicle)
June 22nd: On this night we enjoyed a video of a JA class steam loco taking serval attempts to climb the Westmere bank just out of Wanganui. Thanks to Eddie Firth for sharing this with us. July 22nd: This was our annual combined Mid-Year Dinner with the Wanganui Model Railway & Engineering Society. It was meant to be at the Wanganui Greyhounds enjoying a meal at the Hatrick Restaurant, but due to them already running another function we changed it to Breakers Bar & Café at the Grand Hotel instead. 25 members attended. The food was great but unfortunately Breakers service let them down badly with a handful of members waiting almost 2 and a half hours to be fed. This is not good especially when you have a child (5 year old) waiting for food and they don’t get there food until after everyone else had finished. This is not the first time this has happened, a few years ago when the WMR&ES last visited the same thing happened.
Construction/ Maintenance: We have carried on basically with the same projects as the last newsletters report. The Price loco 212 (ex Imlay) has now had the final drive gearbox cleaned out and its gearbox oil pump removed and cleaned. Once the pump is back in this is will then be ready to put new oil in. More of the clubs tools and wheels etc have been cleaned up and put in the right places. The clubs band saw has had the electric motor cleaned, removing mud from last year’s flood. Its has been found that the clubs wooden four man motor trolley has some of its metal pipe frame which holds the head board on was cracked. The head board is now off and we are fixing the pipes. Finally a week before our open day on Queens birthday Monday we found that someone had cut off the handbrake of our R class flat deck bogie wagon down by the turntable with a hack saw. They broke the hack saw in the process and this was taken to the police for testing. A week after our open day and the write up in the paper about the trolley rides what also mention the thieft of the handbrake it was returned. Police have since checked this for finger prints. The first photo shows inside Tr113 final drive gear box (Price 212 gear box looks the same), second photo is the oil pump ex Price 212 and the final two photos are of the cut handbrake. Since April members have done approximately 403 man hours down at the shed.
Construction/ Maintenance: We have carried on basically with the same projects as the last newsletters report. The Price loco 212 (ex Imlay) has now had the final drive gearbox cleaned out and its gearbox oil pump removed and cleaned. Once the pump is back in this is will then be ready to put new oil in. More of the clubs tools and wheels etc have been cleaned up and put in the right places. The clubs band saw has had the electric motor cleaned, removing mud from last year’s flood. Its has been found that the clubs wooden four man motor trolley has some of its metal pipe frame which holds the head board on was cracked. The head board is now off and we are fixing the pipes. Finally a week before our open day on Queens birthday Monday we found that someone had cut off the handbrake of our R class flat deck bogie wagon down by the turntable with a hack saw. They broke the hack saw in the process and this was taken to the police for testing. A week after our open day and the write up in the paper about the trolley rides what also mention the thieft of the handbrake it was returned. Police have since checked this for finger prints. The first photo shows inside Tr113 final drive gear box (Price 212 gear box looks the same), second photo is the oil pump ex Price 212 and the final two photos are of the cut handbrake. Since April members have done approximately 403 man hours down at the shed.
SRW committee will look into the possibility of another Open Day/jigger rides event before the end of the year. We seem to do pretty well running these events on long weekends so we may look at Labour Weekend (Monday 24h October 2016). Also there is a possibility we may need members help with my works Christmas function. We have been asked if we can give jigger rides for the kids. Dates and times are yet to be confirmed if this happens.
SRW has now sold out of the 2017 Rail Scene Calendars. Thank you to all members of both groups who brought one. However we now have the 2017 Railway Enthusiasts Society Calendar for sale. We have a limited number of 8 of these left so it will be first in gets one. SRW & WMR&ES Members special price $13 each. Non-members $16 each. Let Blair Know ASAP.
SRW has now sold out of the 2017 Rail Scene Calendars. Thank you to all members of both groups who brought one. However we now have the 2017 Railway Enthusiasts Society Calendar for sale. We have a limited number of 8 of these left so it will be first in gets one. SRW & WMR&ES Members special price $13 each. Non-members $16 each. Let Blair Know ASAP.
February to April 2016
February 24th: Greg Tinnion was our guest speaker on this club night. Greg talked about his South Island trip. He did the southern leg of the Steam Inc rail tour from CHCH to Invercargill with Ab 608 from Tuesday 20 Oct 2015 to Thursday 22 Oct 2015. A very interesting night. Thanks Greg.
March 23rd: On this night we combined with WMR&ES with a visit to the Tot Town Railway at Kowhai Park. Lions club members Warwick Laws and Jim Ennis talked about the railways history and future plans, a little bit about how the floods last June affected them and how they built and operated the points. They also gave us information on the two trains, the older one (steam) being built at the East Town Workshops over 50 years ago and the newer (diesel) being built in Auckland for $100,000. It was then time to ride the rails and for members to have a drive of the diesel loco. Driving the loco was really easy, even Kylie had a turn and Keegan also enjoyed tooting the horn while he rode in the cab with his Uncle Blair at the controls. We thank Warwick and the Lion’s members for their hospitality. A great and enjoyable evening. Written by Colin Hughes. Photos by Ewan Pound and Charley Masters.
April 18th & 19th: SteamRail was again hired to do security on a visiting train on these two nights. Da 1431 (Steam Inc.) was at Aramoho for two nights while it was running The Press Readers North Island Tour Charter. The Da was towed from Marton to Wanganui by Dc 4191 to avoiding running long hood first on this part of the journey as it had just come down from National Park and there is no turntable at Marton. It was then turned on the Wanganui turntable. The train left on Wednesday morning for New Plymouth and came back through heading for home on Saturday the 23rd of April. A big thank you to all members who helped out. Photos by Charley Masters and Sandra Jordan.
April 24th: The Club’s Annual General Meeting. The Committee stayed the same as the previous year and is 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.
Construction/ Maintenance: Basically the flood clean up continues. The guys have now drained the oil out of the final drive gear box of Price 212 loco (ex Imlay) to get rid of the water and mud ex the flood last June. This job has turned out bigger than planned. It turns out that even though the engine is not operational at the moment when moved the oil pump on the side of the gear box still pumps and it has been forcing water around the gears and the bearing, some of the gears are starting to show a bit of rust. This is not good news. They are currently trying to get the pump off so we can clean this out also before we put new oil in. Let’s hope it doesn’t do any damage to the bearings. Blair’s loco (TR 113) final drive will be next to do once finished with Price 212 but at this stage looking inside the gear box it doesn’t look as bad as the Imlay loco. Price loco 149 (ex Waiouru Army Museum) is now up and running again after we had to purchase a new battery. Work has continued on the guards van with a new bottom plate being put in the balcony end of the van and a lot of the items that were under mud during the flood have now been cleaned up also. The signal box (ex North end of Aramoho, now used as our smoko room) has been hooked up to the power. No more need for extension cords running along the ground now. The new storage cabinet has now got all the shelves in it and it is getting used to hold our paint etc. Since last July members have done approximately 1075 man hours down at the shed.
Construction/ Maintenance: Basically the flood clean up continues. The guys have now drained the oil out of the final drive gear box of Price 212 loco (ex Imlay) to get rid of the water and mud ex the flood last June. This job has turned out bigger than planned. It turns out that even though the engine is not operational at the moment when moved the oil pump on the side of the gear box still pumps and it has been forcing water around the gears and the bearing, some of the gears are starting to show a bit of rust. This is not good news. They are currently trying to get the pump off so we can clean this out also before we put new oil in. Let’s hope it doesn’t do any damage to the bearings. Blair’s loco (TR 113) final drive will be next to do once finished with Price 212 but at this stage looking inside the gear box it doesn’t look as bad as the Imlay loco. Price loco 149 (ex Waiouru Army Museum) is now up and running again after we had to purchase a new battery. Work has continued on the guards van with a new bottom plate being put in the balcony end of the van and a lot of the items that were under mud during the flood have now been cleaned up also. The signal box (ex North end of Aramoho, now used as our smoko room) has been hooked up to the power. No more need for extension cords running along the ground now. The new storage cabinet has now got all the shelves in it and it is getting used to hold our paint etc. Since last July members have done approximately 1075 man hours down at the shed.
Donations: Thank you to the following for their donations to the club.
Bill Graham – Old loco decoking shovel found at Kai Iwi tunnel bypass job.
Bill Graham – Old loco decoking shovel found at Kai Iwi tunnel bypass job.
Retirements
SRW would like to wish Phil Wagener (Tea Pot) all the best and a long and happy retirement from KiwiRail after 50 years’ service with the railways. Phil went out on a high working two steam specials before he retired. Blair was lucky enough to be working with him on his last two steam runs (see photos below, the 1st two photos were the Wab to Taihape on 12th of March and the 3rd photo is of the Ja to Wellington on the 19th of March). His final run was on the Capital Connection (1203) to Wellington on Friday 22nd April with Dfb 7158 on the head.
Other drivers to also retire at the same time are Ray Gutschlag, Eric Cairncross, Colin Porteous, Pruden Bardell, and Bob Ngataierua. Although the club hasn’t had as much to do with these drivers as we have with Tea Pot (some of them would have driven the excursions we have run over the years) we would also like to wish them all the best in their retirements.
November 2015 to January 2016
November 25th: We had a Other Hobbies/DVD night for this club night. Ewan brought his Bagnall DSA loco plate number 248. This loco was famous as it was in a collision with a Suburban Electric unit in Wellington. Both trains ended up at on a angle. John Pudsey bought his O gauge G loco which took him 7 years to build. Even the brakes work by putting the brake blocks against the wheels. John is now building a X class loco. Hamish bought some old lemonade bottles including a Marble bottle marked W Hodren Wanganui, a Thompson & Lewis bottle, a Fanta bottle, a Goodwin Dairy of Hawera bottle and a Huia Water Co bottle. Colin Hughes bought 2 bound volumes of the old Auckland weekly news from 1915 to 1919 showing interesting train pictures. The news mainly included World War 1 pictures which included pages of individual photos of soldiers who were either wounded or killed in the war. There were many photos of soldiers & Armies in action. Greg Tinnion bought along models from his overseas trips to China & Vietnam including a Rickshaw and wooden sail boat, a Tuktuk and a model of a high speed train from the China Railway Museum. He also had a book titled Re-signalling Britain and a NZR Tin First Aid Box. A very interesting night thanks to all who bought things to show. Article written by Colin Hughes
December 12th: The annual Christmas BBQ held between SRW and WMR&ES was held on this night. A great turnout of over 30 members & partners enjoyed a great night. SRW newest member (10 weeks old) Madison Coull was there with parents Hamish and Amanda. Greg even got in some practise holding the baby. A great evening was had by all, see photo below. Written by Colin Hughes.
January 23rd to 25th: SRW was once again involved with the Wanganui Vintage Weekend. On the Saturday we only had a jigger on display down by the tram advertising the next 2 days. The Sunday was busy with SRW helping out the Pahiatua Group with their visit with Standard Railcar RM31. We also had our doors open to the public. On the Monday we once again had our doors open and we gave Jiggers rides to the public for a gold coin donation. We were busy most of the day until about 2.30pm when it started to die down a bit. A big thank you to all members that helped out over the weekend. See Colins report below.
December 12th: The annual Christmas BBQ held between SRW and WMR&ES was held on this night. A great turnout of over 30 members & partners enjoyed a great night. SRW newest member (10 weeks old) Madison Coull was there with parents Hamish and Amanda. Greg even got in some practise holding the baby. A great evening was had by all, see photo below. Written by Colin Hughes.
January 23rd to 25th: SRW was once again involved with the Wanganui Vintage Weekend. On the Saturday we only had a jigger on display down by the tram advertising the next 2 days. The Sunday was busy with SRW helping out the Pahiatua Group with their visit with Standard Railcar RM31. We also had our doors open to the public. On the Monday we once again had our doors open and we gave Jiggers rides to the public for a gold coin donation. We were busy most of the day until about 2.30pm when it started to die down a bit. A big thank you to all members that helped out over the weekend. See Colins report below.
Construction/ Maintenance: We have continued with the clean-up of the flood damage. Although we are getting nearer to the end of this massive job. The building is starting to look a lot better with just silt from around the raised track still needing to be cleaned (see Ewan’s report below). We now have the shelves in the flammable storage cupboard and all the paint etc is now stored in it. Work has continued cleaning up the drewry parts we got from Waitara. The baby price loco has had its final drive cleaned and new oil put in, this also included clearing out the pump (see photos above). Also a big thankyou to Colin Pound for building us a new document/sign-in cupboard/desk.
Donations: Thank you to the following for their donations to the club.
Don Brace – 3 books and a 2000 piece Jigsaw.
The family of the late Bob Hessey – 2 saw horses and a home workshop saw.
Jurgens Demolition (C/O Mike Jurgens) – Left over diesel after filling up railcar.
D Mathews – 4 bridge punches.
Greg Tinnion – Relay for fridge
Colin Hughes – 10lt fuel container.
Donations: Thank you to the following for their donations to the club.
Don Brace – 3 books and a 2000 piece Jigsaw.
The family of the late Bob Hessey – 2 saw horses and a home workshop saw.
Jurgens Demolition (C/O Mike Jurgens) – Left over diesel after filling up railcar.
D Mathews – 4 bridge punches.
Greg Tinnion – Relay for fridge
Colin Hughes – 10lt fuel container.
SRW are also in the early stages of planning our next open day/jigger rides event. We are looking at doing this on Queens Birthday Weekend (Monday 6th June 2016).
SRW is now on Facebook. Go onto face book (www.facebook.com) and type SteamRail Wanganui Inc. into the search line and our page will come up and press Like to keep up with the latest goings on with the group.
SRW is now on Facebook. Go onto face book (www.facebook.com) and type SteamRail Wanganui Inc. into the search line and our page will come up and press Like to keep up with the latest goings on with the group.
Wanganui Vintage Weekend 2016
23rd – 25th January
SRW was once again busy over the long Wellington Anniversary Weekend, now known around Wanganui as Vintage weekend. On Saturday the 23rd we only had a jigger on display down next to the tram advertising what we were doing the other two days, with a lot of good feedback from the public.
Sunday the 24th was busy for us as we got asked to help out by the Pahiatua Railcar Societies visit. Standard Railcar RM 31 (Tokomaru) arrived 10mins early with a full load of passengers from Palmerston North and Pahiatua. During the day they did four full trips to East Town for the Wanganui locals. We also had our shed open for the public to have a look through while waiting for their ride on the railcar, and a table operating selling cold drinks. During the day we also had visits from a steam driven truck, vintage buses and Cars. We all had a great day and a big thank you for our help from the Pahiatua group, it was great working with them and we would love to see them across again.
On Monday 25th we once again gave jigger rides to the public as well as our doors were open to the public again, along with a sales table selling cold drinks and souvenirs. This was the first time we have done this since the floods back in June. After setup we had a steady stream of visitors wanting a ride and to look through our shed. Our thanks to Ross for providing music on his harmonica, accordion, bag pipes and penny whistle.
Thanks go to all who helped over the weekend, especially Natalie, Kylie and Leonie for their help with selling the refreshments. A great weekend was had by all.
Written by Colin Hughes. Photos taken by Colin Hughes, Blair Jordan, Ewan Pound & Charley Masters.
Sunday the 24th was busy for us as we got asked to help out by the Pahiatua Railcar Societies visit. Standard Railcar RM 31 (Tokomaru) arrived 10mins early with a full load of passengers from Palmerston North and Pahiatua. During the day they did four full trips to East Town for the Wanganui locals. We also had our shed open for the public to have a look through while waiting for their ride on the railcar, and a table operating selling cold drinks. During the day we also had visits from a steam driven truck, vintage buses and Cars. We all had a great day and a big thank you for our help from the Pahiatua group, it was great working with them and we would love to see them across again.
On Monday 25th we once again gave jigger rides to the public as well as our doors were open to the public again, along with a sales table selling cold drinks and souvenirs. This was the first time we have done this since the floods back in June. After setup we had a steady stream of visitors wanting a ride and to look through our shed. Our thanks to Ross for providing music on his harmonica, accordion, bag pipes and penny whistle.
Thanks go to all who helped over the weekend, especially Natalie, Kylie and Leonie for their help with selling the refreshments. A great weekend was had by all.
Written by Colin Hughes. Photos taken by Colin Hughes, Blair Jordan, Ewan Pound & Charley Masters.
Flood 2015
The clean-up continues…
Although we are now in February 2016, the clean-up from the Wanganui River flood of 21st June 2015 is still in progress, but in a very down-scaled way. It was estimated that some months would be required for the clean-up, but nobody quite realised the size of the task at hand, so here we are 7 months later still cleaning up silt!
Since my last report in newsletter issue 78/36 (August – October 2015) a lot of hours have continued to be put in by the club members cleaning up smaller items from the shed, some of which members have been cleaning at home. Items of clothing, Hi-vis vests, crockery, documentation and drawings, a spare loco air compressor, and an L. Gardner & Sons diesel engine injector repair kit are among the many items rescued at members’ homes.
Meanwhile, back down at the shed, with the majority of the thick silt having already been removed, there still remained a thin layer of silt around the bottom of the table legs, the bench grinder and drill press bases, on the sleepers of the above ground track, and over the asphalt floor itself. With the shed having now well and truly dried out, we didn’t want to let loose with a water blaster inside again as the building bottom plate, sleepers and many other items had already spent far too much time soaking wet! So it was decided to carry on cleaning up by sweeping and scrubbing with the assistance of a dust extractor and plenty of dust masks at hand. With the shed doors open at both ends, the regular breeze blowing up the river kept the airborne dust to a minimum. Although rather labour intensive, it was found a scrub with a wire brush was very successful at loosening the layer of silt stuck to sleepers and the asphalt floor. This is now almost complete with only the area underneath Drewry 2266 to be cleaned when this loco can be moved.
On the mechanical front, the locomotives have continued to receive attention to remove flood and silt contamination from various components. Price 149 (from the Waiouru Army Museum) has had the final drive gearbox thoroughly flushed out, including the circulating pump, and has been filled with new oil. Price 210 (Blair’s loco TR 113) is currently having its driving rods removed to clean up the brasses and crank pin journals. Price 212 (ex Imlay Freezing Works) is about to have its final drive gearbox flushed within a week or two, and price 210 will have the same treatment shortly afterwards. Down in the workshop area, the band saw still requires attention as its motor has been submerged. The extra portable air receiver and spare Drewry Epicyclic gearbox also need a clean internally.
Other members have also been busy sorting through various items and organising them, in particular storage areas for ease of access later. Items such as tools, loco spares, jigger spares, electrical equipment and memorabilia were moved everywhere after the flood, in order to access different areas for cleaning. These are now gradually being stored in an organised manner.
We were very fortunate that we did not ‘lose’ anything significant to the flood. The biggest loss being the various cupboards and cabinets that had been used for storage. The water damage to these was severe and so they were disposed of. A new documentation cabinet has been built by Colin Pound to keep the important operational paperwork in order. If anybody has an old stand-alone wardrobe they wish to get rid of (or similar tall cupboard) we would be interested as we currently have nowhere to store our old railways clothing and uniforms.
Once again a big thank you to all of you who have continued to assist with this mammoth task.
Ewan. P
Since my last report in newsletter issue 78/36 (August – October 2015) a lot of hours have continued to be put in by the club members cleaning up smaller items from the shed, some of which members have been cleaning at home. Items of clothing, Hi-vis vests, crockery, documentation and drawings, a spare loco air compressor, and an L. Gardner & Sons diesel engine injector repair kit are among the many items rescued at members’ homes.
Meanwhile, back down at the shed, with the majority of the thick silt having already been removed, there still remained a thin layer of silt around the bottom of the table legs, the bench grinder and drill press bases, on the sleepers of the above ground track, and over the asphalt floor itself. With the shed having now well and truly dried out, we didn’t want to let loose with a water blaster inside again as the building bottom plate, sleepers and many other items had already spent far too much time soaking wet! So it was decided to carry on cleaning up by sweeping and scrubbing with the assistance of a dust extractor and plenty of dust masks at hand. With the shed doors open at both ends, the regular breeze blowing up the river kept the airborne dust to a minimum. Although rather labour intensive, it was found a scrub with a wire brush was very successful at loosening the layer of silt stuck to sleepers and the asphalt floor. This is now almost complete with only the area underneath Drewry 2266 to be cleaned when this loco can be moved.
On the mechanical front, the locomotives have continued to receive attention to remove flood and silt contamination from various components. Price 149 (from the Waiouru Army Museum) has had the final drive gearbox thoroughly flushed out, including the circulating pump, and has been filled with new oil. Price 210 (Blair’s loco TR 113) is currently having its driving rods removed to clean up the brasses and crank pin journals. Price 212 (ex Imlay Freezing Works) is about to have its final drive gearbox flushed within a week or two, and price 210 will have the same treatment shortly afterwards. Down in the workshop area, the band saw still requires attention as its motor has been submerged. The extra portable air receiver and spare Drewry Epicyclic gearbox also need a clean internally.
Other members have also been busy sorting through various items and organising them, in particular storage areas for ease of access later. Items such as tools, loco spares, jigger spares, electrical equipment and memorabilia were moved everywhere after the flood, in order to access different areas for cleaning. These are now gradually being stored in an organised manner.
We were very fortunate that we did not ‘lose’ anything significant to the flood. The biggest loss being the various cupboards and cabinets that had been used for storage. The water damage to these was severe and so they were disposed of. A new documentation cabinet has been built by Colin Pound to keep the important operational paperwork in order. If anybody has an old stand-alone wardrobe they wish to get rid of (or similar tall cupboard) we would be interested as we currently have nowhere to store our old railways clothing and uniforms.
Once again a big thank you to all of you who have continued to assist with this mammoth task.
Ewan. P
August to October 2015
August 26th: We visited the Ward Observatory on this night. There was a good turn out by the group. The telescope was installed in 1904 but was made in 1859. The first planet we saw was Saturn. The rings were clearly visible. It takes 1hr for Saturn’s light to reach Earth. The telescope was then aimed at the Moon which was ¾. Clearly visible were the craters and seas. Outside telescopes had been set up and various stars including Alpha Century and other star clusters were viewed. Of railway interest were the large steel wheels (see photos). These were made in the Railway Workshops in Tunbridge UK. This was a very informative and enjoyable visit especially for those members who had never been to the Observatory and who had never seen the planet Saturn and the Moon close up. We thank Mark Lee and his members for their hospitality and informative talk. Written and photos by Colin Hughes
September 23rd: On this Club Night we have a run your model train night on the WMR&ES club layouts, as a lot of our SRW members have models hidden away in cupboards etc. gathering dust. Blair had his “Wanganui Shunt” (at Keegan’s request) with 3 Dc’s, log wagons, container wagons and empty flat deck wagons. Ewan ran his GWR loco plus carriages, a LWR loco plus carriages and a tiny 2 man jigger. Charley ran her Thomas train on the N gauge layout. Some of the WMR&ES club models were also run on both the HO and N layouts. In all a very good night was had by all and a big thank you to the WMR&ES for letting us have the use of the layouts and to the WMR&ES members who came along to help out. Written by Colin Hughes.
September 26th & 27th: SRW had a stand at the WMR&ES show. A lot of the public took an interest in what we are doing and our future plans. Thank you to all members who helped out with this. To have a look at photos of the show go to www.wanganuimodelrailway.weebly.com
October 28th: A small number of members enjoyed our DVD night. Ewan bought his DVD the Flockton Flyer. The episode we watched showed a hand pump Propelled 4 wheeled trolley. Colin showed a DVD about a New York Scrap Yard where they scrap 500 cars and 20 buses per day. An enjoyable night was had by all. Written by Colin Hughes.
Construction/ Maintenance: The flood clean-up is the biggest main time consumer still down at our shed. Although most of the mud is out it is now the hard job of getting it out of all the tight spots like between all the fittings and springs on the bogies of the carriage and between the iron and the frame work of the building walls. We have removed two rotten sleepers on the track in our shed closest to the river and we are looking at the possibility of having a small drop pit here for oil changes on the locos etc.
Wanganui Heritage Weekend 2016: We will be having our doors open to the public again for this weekend (January 23rd to 25th) with a possible sausage sizzle. We have heard the Standard railcar RM31 will be in town on the Sunday and we hope to do jigger rides on the Monday. Members help would be appreciated.
September 26th & 27th: SRW had a stand at the WMR&ES show. A lot of the public took an interest in what we are doing and our future plans. Thank you to all members who helped out with this. To have a look at photos of the show go to www.wanganuimodelrailway.weebly.com
October 28th: A small number of members enjoyed our DVD night. Ewan bought his DVD the Flockton Flyer. The episode we watched showed a hand pump Propelled 4 wheeled trolley. Colin showed a DVD about a New York Scrap Yard where they scrap 500 cars and 20 buses per day. An enjoyable night was had by all. Written by Colin Hughes.
Construction/ Maintenance: The flood clean-up is the biggest main time consumer still down at our shed. Although most of the mud is out it is now the hard job of getting it out of all the tight spots like between all the fittings and springs on the bogies of the carriage and between the iron and the frame work of the building walls. We have removed two rotten sleepers on the track in our shed closest to the river and we are looking at the possibility of having a small drop pit here for oil changes on the locos etc.
Wanganui Heritage Weekend 2016: We will be having our doors open to the public again for this weekend (January 23rd to 25th) with a possible sausage sizzle. We have heard the Standard railcar RM31 will be in town on the Sunday and we hope to do jigger rides on the Monday. Members help would be appreciated.
May to July 2015
May 23rd: We combined
with WMR&ES again on this night for the club’s combined mid-year dinner. 23
members attended the meal at the Liffiton Castle. A good meal was had with
quite a few going back for seconds and a few for a thirds and a great time was
had by all. Thanks to the Liffiton Castle staff and to all that attended.
May 31st: Members fun day down at the yard. This day was used to practice our jigger driving and to get everything ready for the next day’s public Open Day. We even had some public turn up for a jigger ride.
June 1st: SRW Open Day to the public. We had a steady stream of people wanting jigger rides throughout the day. The rain threatened as we were setting up but it stayed away for the rest of the day reaching a warm 21degrees. Jiggers ran back to back and we even had a triple headed after the chain came off one of the trolleys. The sausage sizzle was popular and many people looked through our shed. A great day was had by all and thanks to everyone who helped out over the day with the trolley rides, sausage sizzle and crowd control. Written and photos by Colin Hughes.
May 31st: Members fun day down at the yard. This day was used to practice our jigger driving and to get everything ready for the next day’s public Open Day. We even had some public turn up for a jigger ride.
June 1st: SRW Open Day to the public. We had a steady stream of people wanting jigger rides throughout the day. The rain threatened as we were setting up but it stayed away for the rest of the day reaching a warm 21degrees. Jiggers ran back to back and we even had a triple headed after the chain came off one of the trolleys. The sausage sizzle was popular and many people looked through our shed. A great day was had by all and thanks to everyone who helped out over the day with the trolley rides, sausage sizzle and crowd control. Written and photos by Colin Hughes.
June 14th: Feilding Steam Rail visited Wanganui with their Steam
loco WAB 794. SRW was asked to help out with crowd control, a sausage sizzle
and shed open to the public. The loco was serviced and readied for it’s run to
Ruatangata (Whangaehu) for the Wanganui Public leaving at 12pm. On this run
Blair was asked to help fire the loco and he had a quick change into his
overalls, black shirt with white tie and cap (this was to access where Blair
was at with his steam training). The train returned at 2pm from Ruatangata and
Blair’s tie was still white. The loco was again serviced and turned on the
turntable before leaving on time at 3pm for Feilding. SRW members were offered
a ride to East Town and Mark, Hamish and Colin took up the offer. Thanks to
Ross for bringing them back to our yard. Thank you to Natalie and Amanda for
operating the BBQ and to all members who helped out during the day and a big
thank you to the Feilding group for including us in their plans, they were very
happy with our help and a great day was had by all. Written by Colin Hughes,
photos by Colin, Kylie Jordan, Cameron Persson and Charley Masters.
June 21st: After many years of SteamRail Wanganui missing
the floods we were hit, along with the KiwiRail yard. It was Wanganui's worst
flood on record. This will take several months to clear up. Thank you to Ewan
and Colin who went down beforehand and lifted smaller items clear just in case
we got flooded. See Ewan’s flood report further down along with photos.
June 24th: We started off this meeting talking about the floods. We then had John Pudsey as our guest speaker. John talked about his early years working with the NZR first at the East Town Railway Workshops, then transferring to the Wanganui loco depot with some relieving work also done at the Taihape depot before he moved North working in the Hamilton area prior to leaving rail and going to work at the Kinleith Pulp and Paper Mill. This was a very interesting night and we thank John for sharing part of his life with us.
July 22nd: A small number of members enjoyed a DVD night. Colin brought a Last of the Summer Wine DVD with an episode about a Steam Engine and also a Dad’s Army episode featuring a Burrell Steam Roller. We had a good laugh at these classic shows. We then viewed a DVD which Ewan brought along featuring AB663 on the Main Trunk including the Spiral back in June 1999. It was an enjoyable night.
Construction/ Maintenance: Up until the flood on the 21st of June work had been carrying on with the club projects which include more lights being wired up, our portable generator had a service, notice boards got a repaint, Price 149 (baby Price) had it’s spark plugs and points cleaned (it now starts a lot easier and quicker), the steam crane has been getting one of it’s brass bearings worked on and work on cleaning up the bits from Waitara continued also. Since the flood, every weekend and some week days have been digging, removing mud and cleaning items. Thank you to everyone one who has helped with the clean-up. Even if they couldn’t help with the digging just running the BBQ for lunches have been a big help (see Ewan’s report on the flood on page 8), the flood clean-up is going to carry on for a little while yet. Over the last 3 months members and volunteers have done approximately 710 man hours for the Club (including about 370hrs for flood clean up since the 21st of June).
June 24th: We started off this meeting talking about the floods. We then had John Pudsey as our guest speaker. John talked about his early years working with the NZR first at the East Town Railway Workshops, then transferring to the Wanganui loco depot with some relieving work also done at the Taihape depot before he moved North working in the Hamilton area prior to leaving rail and going to work at the Kinleith Pulp and Paper Mill. This was a very interesting night and we thank John for sharing part of his life with us.
July 22nd: A small number of members enjoyed a DVD night. Colin brought a Last of the Summer Wine DVD with an episode about a Steam Engine and also a Dad’s Army episode featuring a Burrell Steam Roller. We had a good laugh at these classic shows. We then viewed a DVD which Ewan brought along featuring AB663 on the Main Trunk including the Spiral back in June 1999. It was an enjoyable night.
Construction/ Maintenance: Up until the flood on the 21st of June work had been carrying on with the club projects which include more lights being wired up, our portable generator had a service, notice boards got a repaint, Price 149 (baby Price) had it’s spark plugs and points cleaned (it now starts a lot easier and quicker), the steam crane has been getting one of it’s brass bearings worked on and work on cleaning up the bits from Waitara continued also. Since the flood, every weekend and some week days have been digging, removing mud and cleaning items. Thank you to everyone one who has helped with the clean-up. Even if they couldn’t help with the digging just running the BBQ for lunches have been a big help (see Ewan’s report on the flood on page 8), the flood clean-up is going to carry on for a little while yet. Over the last 3 months members and volunteers have done approximately 710 man hours for the Club (including about 370hrs for flood clean up since the 21st of June).
Donations
SRW would like to thank the following for their kind donations:
Trevor Roberts and Ian Chamberlain for their donation of two steam loco speedometers and a tachometer.
SRW would like to thank the following for their kind donations:
Trevor Roberts and Ian Chamberlain for their donation of two steam loco speedometers and a tachometer.
Wanganui Flood, 21st June 2015.
On 20 June 2015, Wanganui and
surrounding regions received approximately 200mm of rain within a 24 hour
period. At about 4pm on Saturday afternoon I received a phone call from Hamish
to let me know the Wanganui River level at Pipiriki was at 14m and rising!
(This was established from the Horizons Regional Council River levels phone
line/web site, a service those of us who are ex PS Waimarie crew are familiar
with) I knew at that moment things would not be good regarding the river, it
was just the magnitude that was unknown!
By this time on Saturday afternoon some bridges were already closed, access where I live on Bastia Hill was already doubtful as there were slips everywhere on the hill, all main roads in and out of Wanganui were closed and it was raining- continuously!
The chances of the SteamRail shed being flooded were high, so I decided (against my better instincts to stay at home) to try and make it down to the shed and put some valuables up high. The records and paperwork cupboard was quickly emptied up into the Lc wagon, the small arc welder and generator were put up in the Lc also. Greg’s larger arc welder was put up on the workbench, and so was our compressor after I phoned Colin who came down to give me a lift. Other electrical items and some small items of machinery were put into the guards van. Shortly after 5pm it was nearly dark, so I made a dash for home hoping that at least one bridge would still be open- Thank goodness for the old faithful Dublin Street Bridge.
First light the next morning revealed a scene of devastation right across the Wanganui region. It was the biggest flood of the Whanganui River for over 100 years, the level which the water rose to in the central city was approximately equal with that of the 1904 flood, reaching about half way up the first block of Victoria Avenue, Wanganui’s main street. Large areas of Wanganui East were flooded and cut off, the residents having been evacuated during the night.
As expected the SteamRail shed did not escape unscathed with the floodwaters reaching a depth of approximately two feet on the river side of the shed. With much of the regions infrastructure, roads and railways severely damaged and access restrictions in place everywhere, no further action could be taken that weekend.
As the major clean-up began over the following days, access to most areas was again open by the following weekend. We were fortunate that no council restrictions were put on our building or the surrounding area, as this would have barred us from entering our own premises for months. So on Saturday June 27 it was all hands on deck for the big clean up.
Silt had to be shovelled from around doorways so they could be opened, revealing a thick 150mm layer of silt right through the shed, along with various items which had been drifting around; paint tins, timber, planks and containers lay strewn throughout the shed and piled up against the inside of the South end doors! The team of club members and other volunteers on hand must be commended for the manner in which they just got on with the job!
Slowly but surely over the following weekends hundreds of items have been removed from the shed and hosed off and tonnes of water sodden silt has been shovelled and wheel barrowed out of the shed onto stock piles. Some items are in storage at members’ homes to allow more space for the clean up. On Sunday June 28, after carefully ensuring all mechanical components were properly lubricated, Price 149 (ex Waiouru), Tr 113 (Price 210, Blair’s) and Price 212 (ex Imlay) were moved out of the shed. A couple of weeks later (July 11 & 12) the axle boxes of carriage A520 were cleaned out and the axles manually oiled, and ex East Town steam crane E120 was jacked up one end at a time also having axle bearings cleaned and manually oiled. After this was completed the whole rake was moved out of the shed so the last of the thick silt could be shovelled out. The little Price 149 protested a little at this task as the track was slippery and the wheels of the carriage and crane still had some silt causing resistance, although as much as possible had been removed. We have also discovered that water has made its way into the final drive gearboxes of the 3 loco’s. This is not good for them but will be dealt with shortly! Luckily our smoko room (aka the ex Aramoho North end signal box) was not flooded as the bearers it sits on kept the floor level just above that of the floodwaters.
The flood and its associated mess has had one good outcome for us however. It has allowed us to take the opportunity of a good sort out, and ‘dung out’ of unnecessary items. Fortunately the only items we have really ‘lost’ to the flood as such were some timber/MDF cupboards and cabinets. Some of these will need replacing in the near future.
Although the worst of the clean up is over, it will be ongoing for some weeks yet as we are still having to keep moving things around to get the bottom plate of the building cleaned, this will allow it to dry out properly and allow us to remove the last little pockets of silt sitting behind and under things- but the end is in sight! Lots of equipment and materials are laying everywhere so please mind your step when coming down to the shed until we get the clean up completed. Stage two will then be to sort and organise everything properly, including the manufacture of some extra cupboards and shelving.
Finally a few big Thank You’s! Thanks to all the folks who helped feed us with the lovely BBQ lunches, homemade pies and cakes which were put on during those first few long weekends, much appreciated. A big thanks also to the team who came to assist from the WRPS (Waitara Railway Preservation Society) you folks made a real difference to the task at hand. Thanks also to Michael Jurgens from Jurgens Demolition for the loan of their small digger and to Glen Bullock from B. Bullock & Co for the removal of the silt from site. Your generosity is greatly appreciated by us all. And last but not least, thanks to all of our members, friends and families who have helped in so many ways with the big ‘dung out’. It would not be possible without you.
Written by Ewan Pound and photos taken by Colin Hughes, Charley Masters, Greg Tinnion, Kylie Jordan and Blair Jordan.
By this time on Saturday afternoon some bridges were already closed, access where I live on Bastia Hill was already doubtful as there were slips everywhere on the hill, all main roads in and out of Wanganui were closed and it was raining- continuously!
The chances of the SteamRail shed being flooded were high, so I decided (against my better instincts to stay at home) to try and make it down to the shed and put some valuables up high. The records and paperwork cupboard was quickly emptied up into the Lc wagon, the small arc welder and generator were put up in the Lc also. Greg’s larger arc welder was put up on the workbench, and so was our compressor after I phoned Colin who came down to give me a lift. Other electrical items and some small items of machinery were put into the guards van. Shortly after 5pm it was nearly dark, so I made a dash for home hoping that at least one bridge would still be open- Thank goodness for the old faithful Dublin Street Bridge.
First light the next morning revealed a scene of devastation right across the Wanganui region. It was the biggest flood of the Whanganui River for over 100 years, the level which the water rose to in the central city was approximately equal with that of the 1904 flood, reaching about half way up the first block of Victoria Avenue, Wanganui’s main street. Large areas of Wanganui East were flooded and cut off, the residents having been evacuated during the night.
As expected the SteamRail shed did not escape unscathed with the floodwaters reaching a depth of approximately two feet on the river side of the shed. With much of the regions infrastructure, roads and railways severely damaged and access restrictions in place everywhere, no further action could be taken that weekend.
As the major clean-up began over the following days, access to most areas was again open by the following weekend. We were fortunate that no council restrictions were put on our building or the surrounding area, as this would have barred us from entering our own premises for months. So on Saturday June 27 it was all hands on deck for the big clean up.
Silt had to be shovelled from around doorways so they could be opened, revealing a thick 150mm layer of silt right through the shed, along with various items which had been drifting around; paint tins, timber, planks and containers lay strewn throughout the shed and piled up against the inside of the South end doors! The team of club members and other volunteers on hand must be commended for the manner in which they just got on with the job!
Slowly but surely over the following weekends hundreds of items have been removed from the shed and hosed off and tonnes of water sodden silt has been shovelled and wheel barrowed out of the shed onto stock piles. Some items are in storage at members’ homes to allow more space for the clean up. On Sunday June 28, after carefully ensuring all mechanical components were properly lubricated, Price 149 (ex Waiouru), Tr 113 (Price 210, Blair’s) and Price 212 (ex Imlay) were moved out of the shed. A couple of weeks later (July 11 & 12) the axle boxes of carriage A520 were cleaned out and the axles manually oiled, and ex East Town steam crane E120 was jacked up one end at a time also having axle bearings cleaned and manually oiled. After this was completed the whole rake was moved out of the shed so the last of the thick silt could be shovelled out. The little Price 149 protested a little at this task as the track was slippery and the wheels of the carriage and crane still had some silt causing resistance, although as much as possible had been removed. We have also discovered that water has made its way into the final drive gearboxes of the 3 loco’s. This is not good for them but will be dealt with shortly! Luckily our smoko room (aka the ex Aramoho North end signal box) was not flooded as the bearers it sits on kept the floor level just above that of the floodwaters.
The flood and its associated mess has had one good outcome for us however. It has allowed us to take the opportunity of a good sort out, and ‘dung out’ of unnecessary items. Fortunately the only items we have really ‘lost’ to the flood as such were some timber/MDF cupboards and cabinets. Some of these will need replacing in the near future.
Although the worst of the clean up is over, it will be ongoing for some weeks yet as we are still having to keep moving things around to get the bottom plate of the building cleaned, this will allow it to dry out properly and allow us to remove the last little pockets of silt sitting behind and under things- but the end is in sight! Lots of equipment and materials are laying everywhere so please mind your step when coming down to the shed until we get the clean up completed. Stage two will then be to sort and organise everything properly, including the manufacture of some extra cupboards and shelving.
Finally a few big Thank You’s! Thanks to all the folks who helped feed us with the lovely BBQ lunches, homemade pies and cakes which were put on during those first few long weekends, much appreciated. A big thanks also to the team who came to assist from the WRPS (Waitara Railway Preservation Society) you folks made a real difference to the task at hand. Thanks also to Michael Jurgens from Jurgens Demolition for the loan of their small digger and to Glen Bullock from B. Bullock & Co for the removal of the silt from site. Your generosity is greatly appreciated by us all. And last but not least, thanks to all of our members, friends and families who have helped in so many ways with the big ‘dung out’. It would not be possible without you.
Written by Ewan Pound and photos taken by Colin Hughes, Charley Masters, Greg Tinnion, Kylie Jordan and Blair Jordan.
February to April 2015
February 25th: We combined
with WMR&ES on this Club night to visit the Wanganui Tramway Museum. After
a short talk about the future projects and the new tram about to arrive we then
enjoyed riding on the Tram for about an hour followed by a look through the
Tram Shed which houses the tram (No 12) and the R & E Tingey Glass Wagon
(Horse Drawn) which is under restoration. An enjoyable night was had by all
especially by Keegan who rang the Tram bell and wore the inspector’s hat. A big
thank you to Mark Seconi for organising the night and to the members of the
Tramway Trust for opening their doors for us to have a look and rides. Written
by and photos taken by Colin Hughes.
March 1st &
2nd: The Silver Fern Railcar (RM 30) visited Wanganui on an excursion from
Auckland. It left New Plymouth at 8.55am and dropped off passengers in Hawera
for a visit to the Tawhiti Museum. It then proceeded to Waverley to drop off
the passengers who travelled by bus to Wanganui. The railcar then travelled to
Wanganui empty with stowaway Des Huddleston on board arriving in town at
4.45pm. It was stabled on the gantry
line and SRW was hired again to do the security overnight. On Monday morning
after loading luggage and the passengers the railcar left at 9.20am for
National Park. Thank you to all members who helped out with the security and
loading of the railcar. Written by Colin Hughes and photos taken by Colin and
Kylie Jordan.
March 15th: 7 members
attended this Club night which was a DVD night. This was held at Hamish’s home
so we could view these on his new 55” TV. First up we had a laugh at a Dad’s
Army DVD which had a Traction Engine and old Farm Machinery featured. We then
viewed the DVD we received from the Waitara Group on the restoration of their
bridge. We watched a great U Tube clip of traction engines pulling and we finished
off with a viewing of trains in Vietnam. Thanks to Hamish and Amanda for their
hospitality, nibbles and drinks. In all an enjoyable night. Written by Colin
Hughes.
April 22nd: The Club’s Annual General Meeting. The Committee stayed the same as the previous year and is as follows: - Board Chairman Blair Jordan and Board Managers Colin Hughes, Greg Tinnion, Russell Jackson, Ewan Pound and Hamish Coull. It was also agreed to raise the subs a little for next year. We finished off the night talking about Club projects.
Construction/ Maintenance: The biggest thing to happen over the last few months is the 2 day full working bee we had at our shed to replace and re-screw our building roof down. For years it has been rattling with every wind gust we got. A few months ago the guys arrived to find the wind had blown one sheet off. After a quick fix it job we managed to tie the sheet down but we could see many others were loose, so over the weekend of April 25th and 26th members got up there with new longer screws and replaced a lot of the old nails, put in two new clear sheets for light and replaced the broken sheet from a few months before. The roof is now a lot more structural and should last for many years to come and it’s a lot quieter in the shed without the roof moving and hopefully there won’t be as many leaks. Thank you to all members who helped with this. Work has continued on our other projects. The steam crane has been getting one of its bronze bearings worked on, the Club’s generator has had an oil change and turn up, new lights have been hung from the roof and we have started to run the new 3 phase cable so that we can run our big drill press and saw. Over the last 3 months members and volunteers have done approximately 382 man hours for the Club.
April 22nd: The Club’s Annual General Meeting. The Committee stayed the same as the previous year and is as follows: - Board Chairman Blair Jordan and Board Managers Colin Hughes, Greg Tinnion, Russell Jackson, Ewan Pound and Hamish Coull. It was also agreed to raise the subs a little for next year. We finished off the night talking about Club projects.
Construction/ Maintenance: The biggest thing to happen over the last few months is the 2 day full working bee we had at our shed to replace and re-screw our building roof down. For years it has been rattling with every wind gust we got. A few months ago the guys arrived to find the wind had blown one sheet off. After a quick fix it job we managed to tie the sheet down but we could see many others were loose, so over the weekend of April 25th and 26th members got up there with new longer screws and replaced a lot of the old nails, put in two new clear sheets for light and replaced the broken sheet from a few months before. The roof is now a lot more structural and should last for many years to come and it’s a lot quieter in the shed without the roof moving and hopefully there won’t be as many leaks. Thank you to all members who helped with this. Work has continued on our other projects. The steam crane has been getting one of its bronze bearings worked on, the Club’s generator has had an oil change and turn up, new lights have been hung from the roof and we have started to run the new 3 phase cable so that we can run our big drill press and saw. Over the last 3 months members and volunteers have done approximately 382 man hours for the Club.
Donations
SRW would like to thank the following for their kind donations:
Earl Turner for his donation of a Gas Plant.
Philips Electrical for their donation of more light fittings for our building
Lee’s Reinforcing Supplies for donation of steel rods for our gates.
SRW would like to thank the following for their kind donations:
Earl Turner for his donation of a Gas Plant.
Philips Electrical for their donation of more light fittings for our building
Lee’s Reinforcing Supplies for donation of steel rods for our gates.
November 2014 to January 2015
November 26th: We combined with WMR&ES on this club night to
visit Richmond Harding’s Aviation Museum. Mr Harding is one of the Founders of
Wanganui Aero Works. 14 members attended the visit. The first Hanger we visited
housed his Spitfire which was undergoing repairs, the second Hanger housed his
Tiger Moth (ZK-AUZ) which is still flying today. It also housed display boards
of Wanganui Aero Works, photos of aeroplanes used for topdressing/spraying. There
are also engines from a Fletcher aircraft and an Iroquois Helicopter and a
memorial made from a Hopper lists pilots who have died in air crashes since
1950 and others who have died in agricultural accidents concerning top
dressing/spraying. Mr Harding spoke about his trip to Turkey and also about GPS
in aeroplanes. A very enjoyable visit and we thank Mr Harding for letting us
visit and also Ray Deerness for organising the visit. Written by Colin Hughes and photos
taken by Colin Hughes and Charley Masters.
December 13th: Combined
SRW and WMR&ES Xmas BBQ. 30 people attended the BBQ and a great evening was
had by all. Thank you to all who prepared food and to Les and Ross from P Nth
and Denyse and Eileen from Waitara who travelled from out of town to be with us
on this day. We finished off running a few trains on the WMR&ES club
layouts and then packing up. Thank you all for coming, also a big thank you to
Eileen for the lovely Xmas cake she made for the club. Written by Colin Hughes.
January 17th - 19th 2015, Wanganui Vintage Weekend (Wellington Anniversary Weekend): Over this long weekend SteamRail Wanganui was once again involved with the Vintage Weekend
The first day (Saturday 17th)
we opened our doors to the public to show off the restoration progress on our
locos, rolling stock and buildings. Like last year we had Steam Crane E 120
running on steam supplied by the Steam Traction Society with their Marshall
Traction Engine operated by John Munro. We had a steady stream of people
looking through our shed. Mainline Steam’s AB 663 was due in at 12.20pm but due
to a fuel problem at Greatford on the way up (it had to be pushed to Marton by
a DL hauled milk train, clear of the wires before they could relight it and
transfer the fuel oil over from the tank wagon), it did not arrive until
5.30pm, with their 2 tank cars, their Heritage Car (Aotearoa) AA 10134 and 4 carriages
they borrowed from Feilding Steam Rail. Because of the train being so late the
trips to Castlecliff and Kai Iwi were cancelled. SRW were asked to help out
during the day with crowd control and helping passengers on and off the train.
We were also hired to do the security of the train overnight, which also
included filling the tender with water. After Blair had a quick talk to the
driver Phil Wagner (Tea Pot) it was decided to bring the train down the gantry
line so that it would be closer to the building and easier for us to keep an
eye on it overnight and closer to the tap to fill it up. We also ended up with the Traction Engine and
a Steam Launch to look after overnight as well. These were all parked up next
to the steam loco.
We started early on Sunday
morning (18th) as the AB had to be warmed up and we also wanted to
get our locos out of the shed to give the public more room to move in our shed
as we were again open to the public. We didn’t have the Traction Engine there
this day as it was needed to give rides down near the riverboat, but we did
have the crane running off our compressor a few times. The AB did three trips,
the first one to East Town, the second was to Kai Iwi (as part of this trip a
photo shot of the Train, River Boats and Plane was organised on the Aramoho
Rail Bridge, but the plane was too high for any good photos to be taken) and
the final one was out the Castlecliff Branch and we were asked again to help
out with crowd control and with the passengers. After the trips were completed
the train was serviced and left a little late at 6pm to the tune of Auld Lang
Syne, played on the bagpipes by our member Ross Duncan QSM. Thanks Ross for
doing this. To thank us for all our help a few members took up Main Line Steams
offer for a free ride to Feilding.
Monday 19th
was our day to shine. We had the Motor Trolleys (Jiggers) operating in the yard
giving rides to the public. It was another great day with over 160 people
wanting rides for a gold coin donation. We had 4 Trolleys in sets of two
running. We also ran a sausage sizzle and our shed was open again to the public
with the locos outside. During a quiet
period we managed also to put Warwick, Russell and Steven through their Motor Trolley
tickets. We finished off having a bit of fun ourselves on the Velocipede.
In all, the whole weekend
went well although the wind and dust was a bit trying at times. We must say a big
thank you to all members who helped out over the weekend with the public and
security. Thank you also to The Steam Traction Society (C/o John Munro) for use
of the Traction Engine, Mark Seconi for being our liaison officer keeping us
informed with what was happening with the late train, to Langley Atkinson, Ewan
Pound and Blair Jordan for the use of their Motor Trolleys, Greg Tinnion for
use of the Phillips Electricals Gazebo and to the family members, partners and
friends who helped out with the sausage sizzle.
Written by Colin Hughes. Photos taken by Charley Masters, Zane Gracie, Colin Hughes and Blair Jordan.
Written by Colin Hughes. Photos taken by Charley Masters, Zane Gracie, Colin Hughes and Blair Jordan.
Construction/ Maintenance: The Sunday morning crew have been busy over the last few months not only continuing working on our projects e.g: Guards Van, Price loco 212, steam crane and the signal box, but a couple of other projects as well. We have now had a big change around in the shed which also included laying some more rails. We have now laid rails down past where our old smoko table was (smoko is now in the signal box). This has allowed us to move the Guards Van, Drewey loco and the LC wagon down to give us room at the front door to house the parts we got from the Waitara group and our motor trolleys so they are easier to get to on our open days, this has also involved moving some of our storage cupboards etc. All this was done a few weeks before the Wanganui Vintage Weekend so the team had a bit of cleaning up to do. One of our members (Ross) has also started to clean up the parts we got from Waitara. Greg has been putting up some more lights which have been a big improvement, especially during our guarding of the AB while it was here over Vintage Weekend. Also due to our smoko room move Blair has now hung 2 gates at our main doors which we can lock when we are having smoko stopping people from walking in unannounced. Over the last 4 months members and volunteers have done approximately 761 man hours for the club.
Shunting Course: We would like to congratulate Warrick Laws, Eddie
Frith and John A’Hern who have passed their shunting course.
Motor Trolley Drivers: On Monday 19th January during a quiet period of our motor trolley operating we took the opportunity to train a few more people on the motor trolley’s. We would like to congratulate the following: - Warrick, Steven and Russell who are now certified to drive them. This is great news, we now have 13 members qualified to operate our trollies during our Open Days.
Motor Trolley Drivers: On Monday 19th January during a quiet period of our motor trolley operating we took the opportunity to train a few more people on the motor trolley’s. We would like to congratulate the following: - Warrick, Steven and Russell who are now certified to drive them. This is great news, we now have 13 members qualified to operate our trollies during our Open Days.
Donations
SRW would like to thank the following for their kind donations:
John Pudsey for his donation of a small engineers vice.
W A Trillo for his donation of 3 tablets.
SRW would like to thank the following for their kind donations:
John Pudsey for his donation of a small engineers vice.
W A Trillo for his donation of 3 tablets.
August to October 2014
May 28th:
We enjoyed
another one of our DVD and video nights.
September 24th: Another Hobbies Night. This was a very disappointing night with only 5 members, however 2 members brought along other hobbies. John Pudsey brought his 4-4-0 1 1/4 gauge G 57 engine which took him around 6 years to build. He can remember these engines on the Castlecliff Branch when he was young. Colin Hughes brought along 2 of his collections, his novelty pens, including pens shaped as trees, dinosaurs, bananas, corn, lipstick and many others. His other collection was his rocks used as fishing sinkers and his stone adzers. Supper was held afterwards. Thanks to Russell for the date loaf. Photos taken by Colin Hughes.
September 24th: Another Hobbies Night. This was a very disappointing night with only 5 members, however 2 members brought along other hobbies. John Pudsey brought his 4-4-0 1 1/4 gauge G 57 engine which took him around 6 years to build. He can remember these engines on the Castlecliff Branch when he was young. Colin Hughes brought along 2 of his collections, his novelty pens, including pens shaped as trees, dinosaurs, bananas, corn, lipstick and many others. His other collection was his rocks used as fishing sinkers and his stone adzers. Supper was held afterwards. Thanks to Russell for the date loaf. Photos taken by Colin Hughes.
October 21st:
Members of both groups had a combined social BBQ on this night.
Members enjoyed each others company and finished off with running the
WMR&ES Club layouts and watching DVDs.
Construction/ Maintenance: There had been steady progress going on down at the yard. Work has carried on with the crane, Imlay Price loco cab, the guards van and signal box. We have been donated a steel box to hold our flammables in and work is getting done on this making it better suited for the job. We have also been donated some more lights which are getting put up at the moment. We have done some maintenance on one of the motor trolleys as well as the usual upkeep eg. lawns, weedeating, weed spraying and painting out tagging.
Public Open/Running Day: Unfortunately due to bad weather our planned Open Day and Motor Trolley rides didn't happen on Labour Day Monday. Members carried on working in the shed for the day. We did get a couple of visitors in the afternoon, but they only had a look through the shed.
Shunting Course: We would like to congratulate the following who passed their shunting course on September the 28th: Stephen, Russell, Ewan, Colin, Hamish, Lloryian, Ray, John and Ross, also Mark, Jamie and Greg who passed it a few weeks later on the 26th of October.
Motor Trolley Drivers: On Sunday 26th October we had training day for all those who wanted to become Motor Trolley drivers. We would like to congratulate the following:- Lloryian, Ray, Jamie, Mark and Ross. This is great news, along with the other 5 that passed earlier in the year, we now have 10 members qualified to operate our trollies during our Open Days.
Construction/ Maintenance: There had been steady progress going on down at the yard. Work has carried on with the crane, Imlay Price loco cab, the guards van and signal box. We have been donated a steel box to hold our flammables in and work is getting done on this making it better suited for the job. We have also been donated some more lights which are getting put up at the moment. We have done some maintenance on one of the motor trolleys as well as the usual upkeep eg. lawns, weedeating, weed spraying and painting out tagging.
Public Open/Running Day: Unfortunately due to bad weather our planned Open Day and Motor Trolley rides didn't happen on Labour Day Monday. Members carried on working in the shed for the day. We did get a couple of visitors in the afternoon, but they only had a look through the shed.
Shunting Course: We would like to congratulate the following who passed their shunting course on September the 28th: Stephen, Russell, Ewan, Colin, Hamish, Lloryian, Ray, John and Ross, also Mark, Jamie and Greg who passed it a few weeks later on the 26th of October.
Motor Trolley Drivers: On Sunday 26th October we had training day for all those who wanted to become Motor Trolley drivers. We would like to congratulate the following:- Lloryian, Ray, Jamie, Mark and Ross. This is great news, along with the other 5 that passed earlier in the year, we now have 10 members qualified to operate our trollies during our Open Days.
Donations
SRW would like to thank the following for their kind donations:
The Friends of the Waverley Railway Station for their donation of $4000. Although it is sad to hear the Club has finally gone we thank them for their donations and all their help to us over the years.
Waitara Railway Preservation Society for their donation of spare parts for SRW Drewry locomotive.
Graeme Jackson for his donation of Hi Viz Vests.
Arthur Stokes for donation of Rail Video's
SRW would like to thank the following for their kind donations:
The Friends of the Waverley Railway Station for their donation of $4000. Although it is sad to hear the Club has finally gone we thank them for their donations and all their help to us over the years.
Waitara Railway Preservation Society for their donation of spare parts for SRW Drewry locomotive.
Graeme Jackson for his donation of Hi Viz Vests.
Arthur Stokes for donation of Rail Video's
Wanganui
Heritage Weekend 2015
This will be held over the weekend of 17th-19th of January. SRW doors will be open for these days. Mainline Steam are looking at bringing Ab 663 up for the first two days and SRW hopes to do Motor Trolley rides on the Monday (to be confirmed). Members help over this weekend would be appreciated.
This will be held over the weekend of 17th-19th of January. SRW doors will be open for these days. Mainline Steam are looking at bringing Ab 663 up for the first two days and SRW hopes to do Motor Trolley rides on the Monday (to be confirmed). Members help over this weekend would be appreciated.
Wanganui
Vintage Car Club Visits SRW
The Wanganui Vintage Car Club have a monthly car run and on the 24th of August they visited SRW's shed. A great collection of vintage cars and one motorcycle attended. Some of the cars that arrived were- a 1965 Fiat Bambina, 1929 Nash, 1968 Chrysler Valiant, Morris Minor and Triumph Motorcycle plus others.
After a briefing by SRW member Ewan the vistors enjoyed a look through our shed and then headed down to our other rolling stock by the turntable. The visitors were very impressed with what we are achieving. They left at approx 2.45pm to continue their run.
Written and photos taken by Colin Hughes.
The Wanganui Vintage Car Club have a monthly car run and on the 24th of August they visited SRW's shed. A great collection of vintage cars and one motorcycle attended. Some of the cars that arrived were- a 1965 Fiat Bambina, 1929 Nash, 1968 Chrysler Valiant, Morris Minor and Triumph Motorcycle plus others.
After a briefing by SRW member Ewan the vistors enjoyed a look through our shed and then headed down to our other rolling stock by the turntable. The visitors were very impressed with what we are achieving. They left at approx 2.45pm to continue their run.
Written and photos taken by Colin Hughes.
May to July 2014
May 28th: We visited the Wanganui Airport Control Tower which is being restored on this club night. An
excellent turnout of 16 members were shown through by SRW member Owen. The Control Tower was opened in 1959 and closed in 1989. Owen talked about aviators who had Wanganui connections and showed us all the memorabillia that had been donated. These included an old Flying Helmet, an old signalling lamp, various electrical gear and control panels used to run the Tower. We got to see all the runway lights working when at 6.40pm the Sounds Air flight from Wellington landed and again at 7.40pm the Air NZ flight from Auckland landed. These planes stay overnight before departing on their next services. We would like to thank Owen CantillonRice for opening the tower for us and showing us their progress in the restoration and also their aviation museum. An enjoyable night was had by all. Written and photos taken by Colin Hughes.
excellent turnout of 16 members were shown through by SRW member Owen. The Control Tower was opened in 1959 and closed in 1989. Owen talked about aviators who had Wanganui connections and showed us all the memorabillia that had been donated. These included an old Flying Helmet, an old signalling lamp, various electrical gear and control panels used to run the Tower. We got to see all the runway lights working when at 6.40pm the Sounds Air flight from Wellington landed and again at 7.40pm the Air NZ flight from Auckland landed. These planes stay overnight before departing on their next services. We would like to thank Owen CantillonRice for opening the tower for us and showing us their progress in the restoration and also their aviation museum. An enjoyable night was had by all. Written and photos taken by Colin Hughes.
June 25th: We had another one of our DVD/ Video Nights. We enjoyed watching some rail related
films.
July 18th:This club night we once again combined with the Wanganui Model Railway & Engineering Society for the club's mid year dinner. This year we had it at the Anndion Lodge in Anzac Parade. We enjoyed everyones company and the food was good. The only downside was where we were seated. We were outside on the deck under a covered in awning and the ones who were close to the gas heater were
warm but the other members froze.
films.
July 18th:This club night we once again combined with the Wanganui Model Railway & Engineering Society for the club's mid year dinner. This year we had it at the Anndion Lodge in Anzac Parade. We enjoyed everyones company and the food was good. The only downside was where we were seated. We were outside on the deck under a covered in awning and the ones who were close to the gas heater were
warm but the other members froze.
Fronz Conference: Well its been and gone, SRW hosted the Fronz Conference here in Wanganui over Queens Birthday Weekend (30th May to the 2nd of June). A big thank you to all members who helped with this very interesting weekend. From the pre event planning putting together the information booklets to over the weekend welcoming the delegates to the city and helping out with the trolley rides and our shed being open for them to have a look through. Your President (Blair) and Secretary (Greg) attended the
conference. This was the first time for both and it was surprising the issues this weekend covers, from rail safety, tram and railways, KiwiRail access agreements, Land Transport requirements. Saturday was mainly guest speakers. Sunday was the AGM followed by visits to the SRW shed and Motor trolley rides, a trip on the river boat and the first ride on the tram. Unforturnity there was a small delay when the tram derailed. The night was finished off with the prize giving and dinner for the restoration awards. Fronz and NZTA have also sent out a big thank you for the great weekend with praise on the excellent job on the information booklets.
conference. This was the first time for both and it was surprising the issues this weekend covers, from rail safety, tram and railways, KiwiRail access agreements, Land Transport requirements. Saturday was mainly guest speakers. Sunday was the AGM followed by visits to the SRW shed and Motor trolley rides, a trip on the river boat and the first ride on the tram. Unforturnity there was a small delay when the tram derailed. The night was finished off with the prize giving and dinner for the restoration awards. Fronz and NZTA have also sent out a big thank you for the great weekend with praise on the excellent job on the information booklets.
NZTA/KiwiRail: Well it has been a very interesting and challenging few months for SRW. As mentioned in the last newsletter Graeme Hudson (NZTA) had finally convinced KiwiRail (KR)to allow us to run in the Taupo Quay Railway Yard over Queen's Birthday weekend (Sunday for the Fronz Conference and Monday for public rides). This was meant to be a test to see how it went and with the possibility of us getting a Joint Operating Plan (JOP) in the future, but with only a couple of weeks before the event KiwiRail dropped a bombshell saying we couldn't do this unless we had the JOP first. After a quick bit of
talking between your president and KR P Nth manager Brian Fryer, the club has been issued a JOP. This gets renewed every 5 years and comes with a few conditions with the main one being we have to give 14 days notice if we want to operate in the yard so that KR can put blocking on the branch to stop other
movements from entering while we are operational. A big thank you goes out again to Graeme Hudson, Brian Fryer and John Keenan (KR) for all their help to get us up and running but also don't forget the guys in the background, your committee and your past president Rob Walker who kept on their case over the years about the JOP, without this we wouldn't be where we are today.
Public Open/Running Day: Our first public running day on Queen's Birthday Monday was a great success. People were lining up right from when we first opened. The motor trolleys were kept busy all day, the public enjoyed looking through our shed and over our locos and we ran out of food at the sausage sizzle. We carried 333 people for the day and made a profit of around $800. We are looking at doing this again shortly and we ask for all members to give a hand. We need a few more members certified as trolley drivers and more hands with the sausage sizzle and crowd control would be great. During the day we also had visits from a Steam Tracton Engine, Vintage Tractor, Vintage Bus and the Vintage Car club with their cars.
talking between your president and KR P Nth manager Brian Fryer, the club has been issued a JOP. This gets renewed every 5 years and comes with a few conditions with the main one being we have to give 14 days notice if we want to operate in the yard so that KR can put blocking on the branch to stop other
movements from entering while we are operational. A big thank you goes out again to Graeme Hudson, Brian Fryer and John Keenan (KR) for all their help to get us up and running but also don't forget the guys in the background, your committee and your past president Rob Walker who kept on their case over the years about the JOP, without this we wouldn't be where we are today.
Public Open/Running Day: Our first public running day on Queen's Birthday Monday was a great success. People were lining up right from when we first opened. The motor trolleys were kept busy all day, the public enjoyed looking through our shed and over our locos and we ran out of food at the sausage sizzle. We carried 333 people for the day and made a profit of around $800. We are looking at doing this again shortly and we ask for all members to give a hand. We need a few more members certified as trolley drivers and more hands with the sausage sizzle and crowd control would be great. During the day we also had visits from a Steam Tracton Engine, Vintage Tractor, Vintage Bus and the Vintage Car club with their cars.
Construction/ Maintenance: A lot of our work pre the Queen's Birthday Weekend was getting the Motor Trolleys up to certification, making signage for public safety while in the yard and getting the Fronz
booklets together. Work has also continued on our other projects. Price loco 212 has continued to get the inside of the cab cleaned up and repainted as well as one of its sand boxes. The guards van has had one of its end corner boards removed ready for replacment. The ex North end Aramoho signal box also continues to get sanded and repainted. Work also carries on on the steam crane.
booklets together. Work has also continued on our other projects. Price loco 212 has continued to get the inside of the cab cleaned up and repainted as well as one of its sand boxes. The guards van has had one of its end corner boards removed ready for replacment. The ex North end Aramoho signal box also continues to get sanded and repainted. Work also carries on on the steam crane.
February to April 2014
February 26th: WMR&ES hosted us on this night and we had along side their members a layout tour around some of the WMR&ES members home layouts. After we all meet at the club rooms we headed off to Blairs place first to see his Hornby Dublo, Thomas and NZR layouts (pic 1-3). It was then on to Russells house to veiw his big Marklin layout (pic 4-5). We then moved onto Rob's place to view his Big American HO layout (pic 6-7). Finaly we moved to Walters home to veiw his Marklin layout (pic 8-9). Its was great seening the detail the WMR&ES members put into their models and layouts we thank the four that show off their layouts to us.
March 26th: We tried something different this night and Gregs new shed came in handy. Greg hosted the club at his place with plenty of room in his shed. Hamish set up his big screen and projector coming off Gregs lap top. We then had a You Tube night. We watch a lot of old movies as well as New Zealand ones, including some taken by our local members. It is amazing what you can now find over the internet. A big thank you to Greg, Hamish and Natalie for the great supper.
April 23rd:This night was SteamRail's A.G.M. It was well attended by members. The new Committe
is as follows:- President Blair Jordan, Vice President Colin Hughes, Secretary/Treasurer Greg Tinnion and Committe Members Russell Jackson, Ewan Pound and Hamish Coull. The only change to the Committe is Rob Walker is no longer on it. We would like to thank him for his years on the committee and we thank him too for all he has done while on the board. We finished off the night talking about the up coming Fronz conference and other club projects.
Fronz Conference:As most members will be aware, SRW is hosting the Fronz Conference here in Wanganui over Queens Birthday Weekend (30th May to the 2nd of June). Your club needs your help. We need members to help hand out the information booklets as people turn up on the Friday night and again on the Saturday morning, this is only for a few hours. Also we will need a hand down at our shed on Sunday from 12.30pm (for about an hour) onwards when the delegeits visit us to see our restoration
progress.
NZTA/KiwiRail:It has been a busy couple of months for your committee after we got a phone call from Graeme Hudson (NZTA). Graeme after years of trying he has finaly convince KiwiRail to consider letting us run in the Taupo Quay frieght yard. There is alot of paper work and certification to do but after talking to KiwiRail management in P Nth it looks like we may be able to operate the clubs motor trolleys on the Sunday of the Fronz Conference when they visit out shed. We have been told this will be a test and if
everything goes ok they will look at a Joint Operating Plan for the yard so we can do it more often. We have had to sumit a proposal and plan of how we will run this. Members also visited Waitara group with our Trolleys to get them checked and for five of us to pass our Trolley drivers tickets so we can operate
them on the Sunday of the conference.
Construction/Maintenance: Work has carried on with the ex Nth End Aramoho Signal Box with sanding and getting the outside ready for painting. The club will also like to say thank you to Chesters Plumbing who were kind enough to sponsor us spouting and down pipes etc for the signal box. Most of our other
effords over the last few months is getting things ready for the up coming Fronz Conference which also now includes getting our Motor Trollies up to running contition.
April 23rd:This night was SteamRail's A.G.M. It was well attended by members. The new Committe
is as follows:- President Blair Jordan, Vice President Colin Hughes, Secretary/Treasurer Greg Tinnion and Committe Members Russell Jackson, Ewan Pound and Hamish Coull. The only change to the Committe is Rob Walker is no longer on it. We would like to thank him for his years on the committee and we thank him too for all he has done while on the board. We finished off the night talking about the up coming Fronz conference and other club projects.
Fronz Conference:As most members will be aware, SRW is hosting the Fronz Conference here in Wanganui over Queens Birthday Weekend (30th May to the 2nd of June). Your club needs your help. We need members to help hand out the information booklets as people turn up on the Friday night and again on the Saturday morning, this is only for a few hours. Also we will need a hand down at our shed on Sunday from 12.30pm (for about an hour) onwards when the delegeits visit us to see our restoration
progress.
NZTA/KiwiRail:It has been a busy couple of months for your committee after we got a phone call from Graeme Hudson (NZTA). Graeme after years of trying he has finaly convince KiwiRail to consider letting us run in the Taupo Quay frieght yard. There is alot of paper work and certification to do but after talking to KiwiRail management in P Nth it looks like we may be able to operate the clubs motor trolleys on the Sunday of the Fronz Conference when they visit out shed. We have been told this will be a test and if
everything goes ok they will look at a Joint Operating Plan for the yard so we can do it more often. We have had to sumit a proposal and plan of how we will run this. Members also visited Waitara group with our Trolleys to get them checked and for five of us to pass our Trolley drivers tickets so we can operate
them on the Sunday of the conference.
Construction/Maintenance: Work has carried on with the ex Nth End Aramoho Signal Box with sanding and getting the outside ready for painting. The club will also like to say thank you to Chesters Plumbing who were kind enough to sponsor us spouting and down pipes etc for the signal box. Most of our other
effords over the last few months is getting things ready for the up coming Fronz Conference which also now includes getting our Motor Trollies up to running contition.
November 2013 to February 2014
November 27th: Greg Tinnion was our guest speaker for this night. He talked to us about his recent trip to the South Island and to the 150 Years of Rail in NZ celebrations held in Christchurch. These celebrations were held jointly between KiwiRail and preservation groups with things happening at Ferrymead as well as mainline runs with visiting locos and railcars. Thanks a lot Greg for an interesting night. A lot of us were green with envy not being able to get down to it ourselves.
December 14th: We combined with the Wanganui Model Railway & Engineering Society and had our Christmas BBQ at
the WMR&ES club rooms on this Saturday afternoon. We all had a great time enjoying each others company talking about things we had got up to throughout the year as well as up coming projects and of course the food was
great.
January 18th - 20th: Over the Wellington Anniversary long weekend, more commonly known now in Wanganui as Heritage Weekend. SteamRail Wanganui opened it's doors to the public to show off our rail history that we are
restoring. We were asked by the organiser of the weekend to open our doors and at first it was meant to tie in with Mainline Steam coming to town to run trips to Castlecliff, East Town and Kai Iwi, but due to loco problems this had to be postponed to a later date. The main highlight for SRW over the weekend was our Steam Crane E120 ex the East Town Workshops engines being powered by steam for the first time in over 25 years. This was achieved not only by all the work Hamish Coull and Ewan Pound had put in freeing up and cleaning the engine parts as mentioned in previous newsletters but also a big thanks go to John Munro and the Steam Traction Society team for bringing up a Traction engine from Mawera to supply the steam so the crane engines could be running for the public to see them working. We also had our locos, trolleys and other items on display. We were amazed at how many people turned up to have a look. This was a great weekend for publicity for the club and we will look at doing more of these. Thank you to all members who helped out over the weekend. Photos taken by Charley Masters and Blair Jordan
December 14th: We combined with the Wanganui Model Railway & Engineering Society and had our Christmas BBQ at
the WMR&ES club rooms on this Saturday afternoon. We all had a great time enjoying each others company talking about things we had got up to throughout the year as well as up coming projects and of course the food was
great.
January 18th - 20th: Over the Wellington Anniversary long weekend, more commonly known now in Wanganui as Heritage Weekend. SteamRail Wanganui opened it's doors to the public to show off our rail history that we are
restoring. We were asked by the organiser of the weekend to open our doors and at first it was meant to tie in with Mainline Steam coming to town to run trips to Castlecliff, East Town and Kai Iwi, but due to loco problems this had to be postponed to a later date. The main highlight for SRW over the weekend was our Steam Crane E120 ex the East Town Workshops engines being powered by steam for the first time in over 25 years. This was achieved not only by all the work Hamish Coull and Ewan Pound had put in freeing up and cleaning the engine parts as mentioned in previous newsletters but also a big thanks go to John Munro and the Steam Traction Society team for bringing up a Traction engine from Mawera to supply the steam so the crane engines could be running for the public to see them working. We also had our locos, trolleys and other items on display. We were amazed at how many people turned up to have a look. This was a great weekend for publicity for the club and we will look at doing more of these. Thank you to all members who helped out over the weekend. Photos taken by Charley Masters and Blair Jordan
Construction/ Maintenance: Over the Christmas, New Year period work down the shed hasn't stopped. Hamish Coull and Ewan Pound as mentioned above have carried on working on the Steam Crane getting it ready for Heritage
weekend. Greg Tinnion has continued working on the cab of Price loco 212 ex Imlay. Russell Jackson and Colin Hughes have also continued working on the signal box. Thank you also to all the guys who helped with the clean up in the shed before we opened to the public, the place looks great. Also Colin, Greg and with the help from Charley Masters (thanks Charley) have been archiving all the club's books, mags and plans etc.
weekend. Greg Tinnion has continued working on the cab of Price loco 212 ex Imlay. Russell Jackson and Colin Hughes have also continued working on the signal box. Thank you also to all the guys who helped with the clean up in the shed before we opened to the public, the place looks great. Also Colin, Greg and with the help from Charley Masters (thanks Charley) have been archiving all the club's books, mags and plans etc.
August To October 2013
August 20th: Erin Johnson from EJ Videos was our guest speaker for this night. This was a combined club night with WMR&ES after they invited us along. It was held at the Trinity Church Hall. This was a great night seeing footage of New Zealand trains and Erin's trips around America. Members also bought some of his DVD's. We finished off the night with supper. We would like to thank Erin for this great night and look forward to the next one. We also thank the Trinity Church for the use of their hall.
September 25th: Movie Night. We all sat back and enjoyed one of the first British comedys to be filmed in Technicolour - The Titfield Thunderbolt starring Stanley Holloway, George Relph and Sidney James. Hornby Model Railway put out a limited edition (of a 1000) set to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the film release, which included model loco, carriage and guards van based on the ones in the film, a movie poster, a certificate of authentication and a dvd of the movie. We all had a great laugh. Thank you Blair for the use of this dvd and if you are wondering what number he got with the limited edition, it was 465 (the same number as the TMS number of his TR loco).
October 23rd: This was an others hobbies night, where members brought along other things they collect. Colin brought along his LP picture disc, which feature a lot of rock bands like Deep Purple, Kiss and AC/DC. Ewan showed us some of his Steam Engine makers plates, a steam safety valve and oiler and some old NZR tools and finally Blair with his collection of circus models including figureines, trucks, tents, side stalls and a circus train. He plans to build a portable display with these at some stage.
September 25th: Movie Night. We all sat back and enjoyed one of the first British comedys to be filmed in Technicolour - The Titfield Thunderbolt starring Stanley Holloway, George Relph and Sidney James. Hornby Model Railway put out a limited edition (of a 1000) set to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the film release, which included model loco, carriage and guards van based on the ones in the film, a movie poster, a certificate of authentication and a dvd of the movie. We all had a great laugh. Thank you Blair for the use of this dvd and if you are wondering what number he got with the limited edition, it was 465 (the same number as the TMS number of his TR loco).
October 23rd: This was an others hobbies night, where members brought along other things they collect. Colin brought along his LP picture disc, which feature a lot of rock bands like Deep Purple, Kiss and AC/DC. Ewan showed us some of his Steam Engine makers plates, a steam safety valve and oiler and some old NZR tools and finally Blair with his collection of circus models including figureines, trucks, tents, side stalls and a circus train. He plans to build a portable display with these at some stage.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work has carried on down at the shed and at last I can report that the signal box roof is now finished and looking great. We just need to now finish the sanding inside and out and paint and it will be looking like new. The new heat shield to protect the LPG tanks from the engine heat has been mounted in the Price Loco 212 ex Imlay. The steam crane engine componants have also continued to be cleaned up and repainted. There has been another trip to Waverley to bring back more items. The club has also taken delivery of a new drill press thanks to Ewan Pound.
Dominion Post Tour: Once again SteamRail Wanganui got hired to do the security of one of the KiwiRail Passenger trains. This was for the Dominion Post. It was in town for two nights from the 29th to the 31st of October. Thanks to all members who helped out with this. It is a good money earner for the club.
May - July 2013
May 23rd: Lindsay Benbrook from Rail Scene Videos was our guest speaker for this night. We made this a combined club night with both groups SRW and WMR&ES as we asked WMR&ES to come along too and we held the night at the Trinity Church Hall. This was a great night seeing footage of the old NZR through to today. We even finished off with films from around the Wanganui area and especially several different excursions on the Castlecliff Branch over the years. We finished off the night with supper. We would like to thank Lindsay for this great night and look forward to the next one. We also thank the Trinity Church for the use of their hall.
June 26th: We once again enjoyed a DVD/Video night. Members brought along bits of film footage that they thought others would be interested in.
July 19th: Members and partners of both clubs once again had an enjoyable night out at the Liffiton Castle for the Annual Mid Year Dinner. A big thanks to the Liffiton Castle team for all that great food.
Construction/ Maintenance: The last few months have been very busy for the guys down at the shed. The big project has been the reroofing of the ex Aramoho North End Signal Box. We have put in a few full weekends on this project so far and now only have a bit of ridging to still put on. This was a big job as it wasn't a case of just replacing the roof. We had to rebuild the whole roof structure due to the old timber being full of borer or being rotten. We also pulled out about a ute load of birds nests from the ceiling. The building is starting to look really good now with the new roof. Other work has also carried on. Hamish Coull has continued to work on the Steam Crane. Greg Tinnion has put the floor back into the ex Imlay Price loco. Some of the members have again done trips to the Waverley Group to bring items that we have been donated back. We have also had a clean up to make room for the Lc wagon from Waverley that was delivered to us along with their Yb wagon by Emmetts Crane Hire on the back of their Hiab truck and trailer on the 23rd of July. Thank you to Emmetts and The Friends Of The Waverley Railway Station Group. We will also over the next few months be getting Waverley's Xc box wagon which will be great for more storage space. Photos taken by Colin Hughes and Mark Seconi.
June 26th: We once again enjoyed a DVD/Video night. Members brought along bits of film footage that they thought others would be interested in.
July 19th: Members and partners of both clubs once again had an enjoyable night out at the Liffiton Castle for the Annual Mid Year Dinner. A big thanks to the Liffiton Castle team for all that great food.
Construction/ Maintenance: The last few months have been very busy for the guys down at the shed. The big project has been the reroofing of the ex Aramoho North End Signal Box. We have put in a few full weekends on this project so far and now only have a bit of ridging to still put on. This was a big job as it wasn't a case of just replacing the roof. We had to rebuild the whole roof structure due to the old timber being full of borer or being rotten. We also pulled out about a ute load of birds nests from the ceiling. The building is starting to look really good now with the new roof. Other work has also carried on. Hamish Coull has continued to work on the Steam Crane. Greg Tinnion has put the floor back into the ex Imlay Price loco. Some of the members have again done trips to the Waverley Group to bring items that we have been donated back. We have also had a clean up to make room for the Lc wagon from Waverley that was delivered to us along with their Yb wagon by Emmetts Crane Hire on the back of their Hiab truck and trailer on the 23rd of July. Thank you to Emmetts and The Friends Of The Waverley Railway Station Group. We will also over the next few months be getting Waverley's Xc box wagon which will be great for more storage space. Photos taken by Colin Hughes and Mark Seconi.
February - April 2013
February 27th: This was our first Club Night for the year and members enjoyed another DVD evening.
March 2nd & 3rd: SteamRail was once again involved with the WMR&ES Show at the Wanganui Racecourse. We had a display there which included a lot of old railway memorabilia. This included maps, plans, number plates, loco lights, crockery, operating points lever and a Motor Jigger. This was a great show. Thank you to all our members who helped with this weekend. See photos of our display below.
March 27th: Blair Jordan hosted another one of his popular quiz nights on this Club Night. Members had a lot of fun. There were four main sections which covered the following :- SteamRail Wanganui knowledge, New Zealand Railway Knowledge, New Zealand Preservation Knowledge and a Film Segment. Each section had 15 questions. Thanks Blair for this great night.
April 24th: This night was SteamRail's A.G.M. It was well attended by members. There were are few changes on the Committe. Rob Walker stood down as the President. We would like to thank him for his 8 years in the top job, keeping us in line. Rob will be staying on as a committee member. Stephen Shaw has also stood down from the committee and we thank him too for all he has done while on the board. The new Committe is as follows:- President Blair Jordan, Secretary/Treasurer Greg Tinnion and Committe Members Colin Hughes and Rob Walker plus we welcome new to the board Russell Jackson, Ewan Pound and Hamish Coull. We finished off the night talking about club projects. See Presidents report below.
Construction/ Maintenance: We have carried on with the projects down at our shed. Greg Tinnion has carried on with the Price loco 212 (ex Imlay). He has continued work on the cab area and back part of the underframe with derusting and repainting. The cab floor has also started to go back in. Ewan Pound has also welded two new bits of steel in to replace other rusted out sections. They had removed the back Shunter's step to help with the clean up of the headboard. Colin Hughes has cleaned and repainted this step and it has now been mounted back on the loco. Price loco 149 (ex Waiouru Army Museum) continues at this stage to be our only runner and is performing well other than the battery having to be recharged due to the loco not being used for a while. Hamish Coull with help from Ewan and Colin has continued to work on Steam Crane 120 (ex East Town Workshops). They removed the water tank from inside and Colin has cleaned and repainted this. Hamish has removed more of the engine parts to clean and free them up before he gives them a repaint. The crane was also pushed out the back door slightly to check the axle bearings. We have now brought the new roof for the small signal box (ex Nth end Aramoho Yard). We plan to have a full weekend working bee on this on the 18th and 19th of May (weather permitting). This will involve taking off old iron and replacing rotten or bora filled boards before we put the new iron on. Members help with this weekend would be great.
March 2nd & 3rd: SteamRail was once again involved with the WMR&ES Show at the Wanganui Racecourse. We had a display there which included a lot of old railway memorabilia. This included maps, plans, number plates, loco lights, crockery, operating points lever and a Motor Jigger. This was a great show. Thank you to all our members who helped with this weekend. See photos of our display below.
March 27th: Blair Jordan hosted another one of his popular quiz nights on this Club Night. Members had a lot of fun. There were four main sections which covered the following :- SteamRail Wanganui knowledge, New Zealand Railway Knowledge, New Zealand Preservation Knowledge and a Film Segment. Each section had 15 questions. Thanks Blair for this great night.
April 24th: This night was SteamRail's A.G.M. It was well attended by members. There were are few changes on the Committe. Rob Walker stood down as the President. We would like to thank him for his 8 years in the top job, keeping us in line. Rob will be staying on as a committee member. Stephen Shaw has also stood down from the committee and we thank him too for all he has done while on the board. The new Committe is as follows:- President Blair Jordan, Secretary/Treasurer Greg Tinnion and Committe Members Colin Hughes and Rob Walker plus we welcome new to the board Russell Jackson, Ewan Pound and Hamish Coull. We finished off the night talking about club projects. See Presidents report below.
Construction/ Maintenance: We have carried on with the projects down at our shed. Greg Tinnion has carried on with the Price loco 212 (ex Imlay). He has continued work on the cab area and back part of the underframe with derusting and repainting. The cab floor has also started to go back in. Ewan Pound has also welded two new bits of steel in to replace other rusted out sections. They had removed the back Shunter's step to help with the clean up of the headboard. Colin Hughes has cleaned and repainted this step and it has now been mounted back on the loco. Price loco 149 (ex Waiouru Army Museum) continues at this stage to be our only runner and is performing well other than the battery having to be recharged due to the loco not being used for a while. Hamish Coull with help from Ewan and Colin has continued to work on Steam Crane 120 (ex East Town Workshops). They removed the water tank from inside and Colin has cleaned and repainted this. Hamish has removed more of the engine parts to clean and free them up before he gives them a repaint. The crane was also pushed out the back door slightly to check the axle bearings. We have now brought the new roof for the small signal box (ex Nth end Aramoho Yard). We plan to have a full weekend working bee on this on the 18th and 19th of May (weather permitting). This will involve taking off old iron and replacing rotten or bora filled boards before we put the new iron on. Members help with this weekend would be great.
November 2012 - January 2013
November 18th: Members from both groups enjoyed a visit to the Steam Traction Society near Feilding. See Report on the Trips & Visits page.
November 28th: We had another one of our DVD/Video nights. Members brought along bits of film that they thought other members would be interested in.
December 8th: This was the Club's Xmas BBQ. After an initial setback with the BBQ it all turned out to be great night with good company and the weather was fine. We also got a few members there we hadn't seen for a while.
January 5th: SRW members got asked to help out with an Open Day to the public at Pahiatua with the Pahiatua Railcar Society. Its always good when like minded groups can work together. See Report on the Trips & Visits page.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work has carried on with the small Signal Box. A new window jamb has gone in after Colin Pound machined it for us (thanks Colin). Work has also started on stripping the old paint off the inside walls. The box is also now rewired and once the new roof and paint goes on we will be able to move our smoko room in. The Price loco No 212 (ex Imlay) has had more rust removed around the cab floor area and the back of the cab. Ewan Pound has now welded a new piece of steel in along the bottom of the back wall of the cab, this replaces the rusted out piece we took out. Greg Tinnion has removed the back Shunters step so we can clean up the headboard a lot easier. He has also started to clean some of the dirt and grime off the chassis. To make life easier we have also removed the cab steps while he does this. Colin Hughes has cleaned up the steps and given them a new coat of paint. Hamish Coull, Ewan Pound and Colin Hughes have also been carrying on with the Steam Crane 120 (ex East Town Workshops). It has had more of its bits removed, cleaned up and repainted. Hamish and Ewan have removed the water tank from the off side by cutting a doorway in the side of the cab. This now gives us better access to the engine of the crane. Colin has carried on stripping the boom of the crane and parts of it have now had their first coats of primer.
The North Island Model Expo: This show is being held by the WMR&ES at the Racecourse on the 2nd and 3rd of March. SteamRail will once again have a stand at this show. We will be displaying some of the Club's memorabillia. Members help with our stand and even an extra pair of hands for the setup with the WMR&ES members would be appreciated.
Donations:The Club would like to thank the following: Charlie Quirk for his donation of an A 1045 carriage number plate and a replicar Ka 920 cab side plate made out of lead and Brian James for his donation of a Westing House air compresser. This is the same type that is in the Imlay Price loco as well as Blair's Tr 113.
November 28th: We had another one of our DVD/Video nights. Members brought along bits of film that they thought other members would be interested in.
December 8th: This was the Club's Xmas BBQ. After an initial setback with the BBQ it all turned out to be great night with good company and the weather was fine. We also got a few members there we hadn't seen for a while.
January 5th: SRW members got asked to help out with an Open Day to the public at Pahiatua with the Pahiatua Railcar Society. Its always good when like minded groups can work together. See Report on the Trips & Visits page.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work has carried on with the small Signal Box. A new window jamb has gone in after Colin Pound machined it for us (thanks Colin). Work has also started on stripping the old paint off the inside walls. The box is also now rewired and once the new roof and paint goes on we will be able to move our smoko room in. The Price loco No 212 (ex Imlay) has had more rust removed around the cab floor area and the back of the cab. Ewan Pound has now welded a new piece of steel in along the bottom of the back wall of the cab, this replaces the rusted out piece we took out. Greg Tinnion has removed the back Shunters step so we can clean up the headboard a lot easier. He has also started to clean some of the dirt and grime off the chassis. To make life easier we have also removed the cab steps while he does this. Colin Hughes has cleaned up the steps and given them a new coat of paint. Hamish Coull, Ewan Pound and Colin Hughes have also been carrying on with the Steam Crane 120 (ex East Town Workshops). It has had more of its bits removed, cleaned up and repainted. Hamish and Ewan have removed the water tank from the off side by cutting a doorway in the side of the cab. This now gives us better access to the engine of the crane. Colin has carried on stripping the boom of the crane and parts of it have now had their first coats of primer.
The North Island Model Expo: This show is being held by the WMR&ES at the Racecourse on the 2nd and 3rd of March. SteamRail will once again have a stand at this show. We will be displaying some of the Club's memorabillia. Members help with our stand and even an extra pair of hands for the setup with the WMR&ES members would be appreciated.
Donations:The Club would like to thank the following: Charlie Quirk for his donation of an A 1045 carriage number plate and a replicar Ka 920 cab side plate made out of lead and Brian James for his donation of a Westing House air compresser. This is the same type that is in the Imlay Price loco as well as Blair's Tr 113.
August 22nd: On this club night we enjoyed another film from Colin Hughes' collection. This one was on the new KiwiRail ballast cleaner working on the main trunk railway just south of Otaki. Thank you colin this was an interesting night seeing how this big machine works.
September 9th: This was the day the Club ran its Shunters Course. With the club moving Locos and Wagons in and out of our building more often now, we had to bring all members who were interested in line with the rules in our licence to operate and in our safety case.This course involved hand signals, riding positions and coupling and uncoupling of locos and wagons etc. This has brought us up to the same standards as other preservation groups and KiwiRail use. Only members that have done this course are to be involved with any movements the club makes with our rolling stock. The course was run by Blair Jordan and we congratulate the following for passing it :- Rob Walker, Ewan Pound, Colin Hughes, Eddy Frith, Greg Tinnion, Stephen Shaw and Hamish Coull. We will look at running more of these courses as other members become interested in helping out. Photos taken by Colin Hughes.
September 9th: This was the day the Club ran its Shunters Course. With the club moving Locos and Wagons in and out of our building more often now, we had to bring all members who were interested in line with the rules in our licence to operate and in our safety case.This course involved hand signals, riding positions and coupling and uncoupling of locos and wagons etc. This has brought us up to the same standards as other preservation groups and KiwiRail use. Only members that have done this course are to be involved with any movements the club makes with our rolling stock. The course was run by Blair Jordan and we congratulate the following for passing it :- Rob Walker, Ewan Pound, Colin Hughes, Eddy Frith, Greg Tinnion, Stephen Shaw and Hamish Coull. We will look at running more of these courses as other members become interested in helping out. Photos taken by Colin Hughes.
September 26th: Members brought along their hobbies on this club night. We had a wide range of items on display.
The following is a list of just some of them. Colin Hughes showed us:Railways annual statements for 1910 and 1939 and some Auckland Weekly News 1915 and 1919 showing railway pictures, Hamish Coull showed us: Lego Technic magazines showing how to assemble Lego models. He also had some of the models he has assembled, including a dump truck, a crane (based on Steamrail’s E120), and a digger and Greg Tinnion brought along: NZR railway cup and saucer, number 21 from Aramoho Station,A book called “Master of Deception”showing pictures of optical illusionsand an old book from 1878 “Moores Universal Assistant – 1 million industrial facts. Greg read some interesting paragraphs from the book:
1. Speed of passenger trains – In the USA, the Newspaper Express train, between New York & Philadelphia makes the daily trip of 93 miles in 1¾ hours, inclusive of four stops. The most remarkable feat of railway travel on record, was accomplished June 4, 1876, by a fast special train, which made the journey from New York to San Francisco, a distance of 2900 miles in 26 minutes
less than 84 hours, being at a rate of 40 miles per hour.
2. The average life of an iron rail is 15,000,000 of tons, or equal to 100,000 trains of 150 tons. On the Great Northern Railway at Barnet, the life of an iron rail was 5 years, with 13,484661 tons of fast trains, and 38,303,028 tons of slow traffic. Steel rails were only half worn out with 95,577,240 tons traffic.
October 24th: Since daylight saving is now here we decided on this club night to hold our meeting down at the SRW shed. This was a chance for members who can't get along on our Sunday working bees to have a look at the work we are doing. Although we get a progress report in every newsletter it was great to see first hand what has been getting done down there by the guys. We finished off the night with supper supplied my Natalie Tinnion, Thank you Natalie.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work has carried on with the small signal box. Some new paint has started to go on and the new step has been built in front of the door. The box has also been getting rewired, (photos 1 and 2). The Price loco No 212 (ex Imlay) has had more rust removed around the cab floor area and the back of the cab. This has included cutting the bottom part of the back of the cab off to get to the rust behind it. The locos wiring has also been getting some attention, (photos 3 and 4). Steam Crane 120 (ex East Town workshops) has had some of its valve gears and workings taken off and cleaned up and painted. The hook on the boom has also been taken off and they have started to strip some of the paint off the boom, (photos 5 and 6). We had to do a bit of a fix it job on the big signal box after we found that people had been getting into it. We found about 15 candles inside of it which is very worrying considering how dry the timber is in the building. All access holes have now been boarded up and windows screwed down.
The following is a list of just some of them. Colin Hughes showed us:Railways annual statements for 1910 and 1939 and some Auckland Weekly News 1915 and 1919 showing railway pictures, Hamish Coull showed us: Lego Technic magazines showing how to assemble Lego models. He also had some of the models he has assembled, including a dump truck, a crane (based on Steamrail’s E120), and a digger and Greg Tinnion brought along: NZR railway cup and saucer, number 21 from Aramoho Station,A book called “Master of Deception”showing pictures of optical illusionsand an old book from 1878 “Moores Universal Assistant – 1 million industrial facts. Greg read some interesting paragraphs from the book:
1. Speed of passenger trains – In the USA, the Newspaper Express train, between New York & Philadelphia makes the daily trip of 93 miles in 1¾ hours, inclusive of four stops. The most remarkable feat of railway travel on record, was accomplished June 4, 1876, by a fast special train, which made the journey from New York to San Francisco, a distance of 2900 miles in 26 minutes
less than 84 hours, being at a rate of 40 miles per hour.
2. The average life of an iron rail is 15,000,000 of tons, or equal to 100,000 trains of 150 tons. On the Great Northern Railway at Barnet, the life of an iron rail was 5 years, with 13,484661 tons of fast trains, and 38,303,028 tons of slow traffic. Steel rails were only half worn out with 95,577,240 tons traffic.
October 24th: Since daylight saving is now here we decided on this club night to hold our meeting down at the SRW shed. This was a chance for members who can't get along on our Sunday working bees to have a look at the work we are doing. Although we get a progress report in every newsletter it was great to see first hand what has been getting done down there by the guys. We finished off the night with supper supplied my Natalie Tinnion, Thank you Natalie.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work has carried on with the small signal box. Some new paint has started to go on and the new step has been built in front of the door. The box has also been getting rewired, (photos 1 and 2). The Price loco No 212 (ex Imlay) has had more rust removed around the cab floor area and the back of the cab. This has included cutting the bottom part of the back of the cab off to get to the rust behind it. The locos wiring has also been getting some attention, (photos 3 and 4). Steam Crane 120 (ex East Town workshops) has had some of its valve gears and workings taken off and cleaned up and painted. The hook on the boom has also been taken off and they have started to strip some of the paint off the boom, (photos 5 and 6). We had to do a bit of a fix it job on the big signal box after we found that people had been getting into it. We found about 15 candles inside of it which is very worrying considering how dry the timber is in the building. All access holes have now been boarded up and windows screwed down.
May - July 2012
May 23rd: We enjoyed a video that Graeme Carter brought along about South African Railway Garratt Locomotives. Thanks Graeme.
June 27th: On this Club Night we visited the Tram Shed in Taupo Quay. It was great to see the restoration progress done to the tram and we thank them for coming out and hosting us for the night.
July 20th: It was suggested by one of our members that SteamRail have a mid year Dinner simular to what the WMR&ES does each year. Everyone thought this was a great idea and it was then surgested if the WMR&ES was keen maybe the two Clubs could cobine for this. Both groups thought this was a great idea and we had it at the Liffiton Castle. Both groups enjoyed themselfs on a great night out with great food. A big thank you to the team at the Liffiton Castle.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work on the Signal Box has slowed down a bit. The back wall and floor is now finished and they have started to sand down the weatherboard under the front windows. Greg Tinnion has started to rewire the box. We will be looking at getting a new roof shortly. After sitting off the loco for a couple of years while we did work on it the ex Imaly Price loco enginehood was lifted back on to the loco in May with the help of Carters Wanganui with the use of the Hiab truck. A big thank you to the Carters Team (photos 1 to 3). This went well and while the crane was there he also lifted down the 2 old ex Carters trolleys we had stored on one of the YC ballast wagons for us. These are currently getting the wheels machined thanks to Ewan Pound (photo 6). Once they are back together they will come in handy to store items on while we restore them. Now the loco hood is back on the Imlay loco Greg has started to look at the wiring. To get to some of it this has also included the removal of the cabs wooden floor. While the floor is out the guys are also getting a chance to get to some of the rust around the bottom of the cab. Another faily big event happened down at the shed in July when Ewan Pound and Hamish Coull, after weeks of freeing up the engine on the old East Town Steam Crane, hired a compresser and ran the cranes engine for the first time since it was writen off when the East Town Workshops closed in 1988. This included lifting the hook and boom up and down as well as turning it from side to side a little bit. Althought there is still alot of work to be done with the crane it was surprizing how freely it ran considering how long its been stored, epseicaly with alot of that time outside in the weather (photos 7 to 9). When the weather has been in our favour we have also been pulling the locos out of the shed more often. This helps keep the dust down inside the shed while we work on the locos. It is also amazing the posstive feed back we are getting from members of the public as they walk past on the river walkway about our restoration work when they see the locos.
Donations:Thank you to Bill Hone for his donation of old Ganger's Box, to David Lloyd for Photos and to Graeme Carter for his donation of Books.
February - April 2012
Feb 22nd: The Club enjoyed another DVD night on this night. The first DVD was on American Railroads and the second one was on the highest railway in the world from China and Tibet.
Mar 28th:Thank you to Greg Tinnion for being our guest speaker on this club night. He gave a talk on his 2nd trip to Vietnam. He showed us where he went on the screen (via his computer) and his talk about different areas that he went to was amazing. He put on a great show. Thank you Greg.
Apr 25th: This was the Club's A.G.M. Only 9 members turned up. There was a change to the committee with Nick Kaveney standing down. We would like to thank Nick for his time served on the committee. The committee otherwise stayed the same as last year. Subscriptions also stay the same for the next 12 months. We talked about the projects the Club has been working on over the last 12 months and after the meeting had finished we enjoyed a video that Graeme Carter brought along about 2ft gauge South African Railway Garratt Locomotives.
Construction/ Maintenance: Most of the work down at the yard over the last few months has been on the small signal box. The guys have been very busy. First was the job of stripping parts of the box to see what needed to be replaced. This resulted in the floor being lifted and the back wall weather boards been taken off. The main beams under the building were full of borer and most of the framing on the back wall was also and what was not was rotten. We priced around for new timber and the best price was from Waverley Sawmill. The guys have now replaced the beams and put down new flooring. The back wall has new studs and weather board. Their next move is to take the old roof off as some of the rafters have to be replaced. We have also been donated a new door and deadlock for the signal box, which has now been fitted. On Sunday the 22nd of April Blair Jordan fired up the baby Price to make sure it was all go ready for when we need to push the Imlay Price loco out in the next few weeks so we can lift the engine hood back on. We left these outside for the morning working bee, and it was amazing the good feedback we got from the public that walked by. Some of the guys have been fighting the rust on the East Town Steam Crane trying to remove the old track clamps, so these can be freed up. At this stage they have only got one off. Ewan Pound has carried on working on the Imlay locos cab.
Donations:Thank you to Rob Walker for his donation of door and deadlock for the small signal box and to Blair Jordan for his donation of $100
Mar 28th:Thank you to Greg Tinnion for being our guest speaker on this club night. He gave a talk on his 2nd trip to Vietnam. He showed us where he went on the screen (via his computer) and his talk about different areas that he went to was amazing. He put on a great show. Thank you Greg.
Apr 25th: This was the Club's A.G.M. Only 9 members turned up. There was a change to the committee with Nick Kaveney standing down. We would like to thank Nick for his time served on the committee. The committee otherwise stayed the same as last year. Subscriptions also stay the same for the next 12 months. We talked about the projects the Club has been working on over the last 12 months and after the meeting had finished we enjoyed a video that Graeme Carter brought along about 2ft gauge South African Railway Garratt Locomotives.
Construction/ Maintenance: Most of the work down at the yard over the last few months has been on the small signal box. The guys have been very busy. First was the job of stripping parts of the box to see what needed to be replaced. This resulted in the floor being lifted and the back wall weather boards been taken off. The main beams under the building were full of borer and most of the framing on the back wall was also and what was not was rotten. We priced around for new timber and the best price was from Waverley Sawmill. The guys have now replaced the beams and put down new flooring. The back wall has new studs and weather board. Their next move is to take the old roof off as some of the rafters have to be replaced. We have also been donated a new door and deadlock for the signal box, which has now been fitted. On Sunday the 22nd of April Blair Jordan fired up the baby Price to make sure it was all go ready for when we need to push the Imlay Price loco out in the next few weeks so we can lift the engine hood back on. We left these outside for the morning working bee, and it was amazing the good feedback we got from the public that walked by. Some of the guys have been fighting the rust on the East Town Steam Crane trying to remove the old track clamps, so these can be freed up. At this stage they have only got one off. Ewan Pound has carried on working on the Imlay locos cab.
Donations:Thank you to Rob Walker for his donation of door and deadlock for the small signal box and to Blair Jordan for his donation of $100
