1 | P a g ew w w . f r o n z . o r g . n z

E d i t o r i a l : s c o t t . o s m o n d @ x t r a . c o . n z

NEW ZEALAND RAIL HERITAGE

STRUCTURES AND STORIES

ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE

Welcome to a slightly late Platform for April(ish) 2012. Due to being on holiday with mywife visiting friends in Northern and Central New South Wales, and South EastQueensland I have been slightly delayed. Some thoughts - mostly rail-related - on thetrip are included on this edition.

As reported in "Journal" your FRONZ Executive Team braved the big March storm toget to Wellington for a meeting and visited a number of member sites. A visit to the NZRailway and Locomotive Society archives building in Ava was a highlight from a non-operating member point of view.

Please send any questions, comments, articles for publication, to me atscott.osmond@xtra.co.nz.

Thank you

Scott Osmond

Editorial

FRONZ Conference 2012 - Rotorua 1 - 4 June

Venue: Distinction Hotel

Fenton Street

Full Programme and Booking Details now available.Make your booking now at www.fronz.org.nz

Good speakers lined up - Meet all of the NZTA Rail -Section Team - Learn how to market YOUR Heritage site- Hear the Australian view - View a "modern" museum -Ride a "Railcruiser" - Meet Chris Cairns - Rail SafetyAmbassador - Annual Awards Dinner.

2 | P a g ew w w . f r o n z . o r g . n z

E d i t o r i a l : s c o t t . o s m o n d @ x t r a . c o . n z

As reported in "Journal" the FRONZ Executive met in Wellington on 3,4 March and visited some of the

member sites. Yes it was the weekend of the big storm that hit Taranaki and Wanganui particularly hard, but

we all made it into the fierce southerly by lunchtime Saturday.

First Port of call was Mainline Steam, Plimmerton, where Ian Welch welcomed us (with the expected OSH

briefing) to the site. There is a fascinating range of all types of mainline locomotive power residing at the

Plimmerton depot but most impressive is the fleet of ex British Mainline cars getting very close to being ready

for their new use. the comfort levels in these cars appear to be of a very high standard and I am sure will

attract passengers who are looking for that higher level of comfort.

FRONZ Executive Braves the Storm

Above: A new locomotive fleet colour scheme for MLS diesel locomotives will be seen on the main line.

Above: Exterior and Interior view of British carriage.

Have you registered for Conference yet?

3 | P a g ew w w . f r o n z . o r g . n z

E d i t o r i a l : s c o t t . o s m o n d @ x t r a . c o . n z

Next Stop, Steam Incorporated at Paekakariki. Graeme Clover showed us through the complex. Nice to see a

clean tidy workshop. Ab608 is coming along well and it will be an honour to see it in action hopefully for RAIL

150 in 2013 but certainly for the ANZAC centenary in 2015. The big new carriage shed is a gem and so good

to see the whole mainline fleet under cover.

Above: Mr Welch has built a miniature of his favourite Locomotive. Can you spot the difference?

Left: The Paekakariki Station Trust, with Steam

Incorporated have obtained sponsorship for

some descriptive signs built to a railway theme.

This one describes the "Supply Depot" built to

house supplies for the US Marines based nearby

from 1943 and later used as a freight depot for

the Cook Strait air freight services flying from

nearby Paraparumu

Above: After our meeting at the Wellington Tramway

Museum we checked out their workshop and storage areas

4 | P a g ew w w . f r o n z . o r g . n z

E d i t o r i a l : s c o t t . o s m o n d @ x t r a . c o . n z

On Sunday we visited the Rimutaka Incline Railway site at Maymorn and Silverstream Railway. I must say

here how encouraging to see so many "young" rail enthusiasts working at these two locations. Both driving

and crewing trains and manning the ticket boxes and sales outlets. The future is in your hands guys and girls.

Well done!

We met with Bill Prebble who showed us around the NZRLS north end building at Silverstream where we saw

the restoration of their Wellington & Manawatu Railway Company carriages and then went to see the Thomas

McGavin Archives building at Ava. From the outside this building just looks like a simple steel clad structure

but inside it holds a true treasure trove of every imaginable documented archive covering all aspects of

railway history. Bill explained how the building is slowly being upgraded with modern storage facilities as time

and finance permit. If you want to find out more about your rail heritage site, vehicles or operating conditions

that information will be here at Ava.

The wonderful exterior and interior restoration work on WMR carriage by NZRLS at Silverstream North End

Please don't forget to forward the Platform to all of yourmembers. Thanks.

Inside the Rimutaka Railway building at

Maymorn

Busy afternoon at SilverstreamBoth photos David Maciulaitis

5 | P a g ew w w . f r o n z . o r g . n z

E d i t o r i a l : s c o t t . o s m o n d @ x t r a . c o . n z

A small dedicated team work here on a voluntary basis providing a home for thousands of historicalrailway documents and research and archival activities for the New Zealand rail heritage industry.Also the many NZRLS publications are distributed from the complex.

.Unassuming entrance to the Thomas McGavin Building Meeting area and modern storage cabinets

.

NZRLS Thomas McGavin Building - Ava

Old or new you will find it here.Photos this page. David Maciulaitis

You just cannot run a railway without clocks, gauges, tablets, and numbers

6 | P a g ew w w . f r o n z . o r g . n z

E d i t o r i a l : s c o t t . o s m o n d @ x t r a . c o . n z

A Railfan friend and myself try and make a visit to GVR at least once every season. This year,for the first time we got off the train at Victoria Ave station and strolled in to Waiuku for somelunch before returning to Glenbrook. I understand that turnover at the GVR Cafeteria atGlenbrook has taken a dive since the extension opened, but that is a small price to pay forgetting the rails to Waiuku.

Our visit was the day following the March Railfan's Day so we go to see a couple of unusual trainand shunt movements as some of the rolling stock involved in the previous day's events wasmoved.

We also had the mainline guards wagon attached to our train for the run to test out its powergenerators which were being worked on. Once again I noted some younger members as traincrew and also working hard on the mainline fleet in expectation of some exciting trips ahead,including an adventurous South Island tour later this year.

Glenbrook Vintage Railway Annual Visit

Work is well under way on refurbishing the oldKingsland station.

Below: The rail structures around

Glenbrook station are well maintained and

a credit to the GVR team.

Below: A "leaving" shot of Ja1250 climbing

out of Victoria Ave with its train about to pass

under the Brights Road bridge

Right: Railway Enthusiasts Society

"Leisure Rail" branded FM van looking

for work on the main line.

7 | P a g ew w w . f r o n z . o r g . n z

E d i t o r i a l : s c o t t . o s m o n d @ x t r a . c o . n z

Its good to see we are getting read and some of our readers are actually spotting the odd error. Last issuediscussed the old Athenree Railway Station that is now on site adjacent to the historic Athenree Homestead onAthenree Road off State Highway 2 between Waihi and Katikati.

Rob Bowater, a Foundation and Life member of the Goldfields Railway of Waihi, has written to clarify thedates of the railway construction in the area which was quoted incorrectly from the Western Bay of PlentyDistrict Council web site.

Rob advises:

According to the late A.C. Bellamy, Area Traffic Manager, Tauranga in his history of the Paeroa- Waihi-Tauranga Railway dated August 9 1978, the Public Works Dept. called for tenders to build the Athenreestation buildings in 1924. Your article stated the station was built about 1912 when the East Coast MainTrunk was completed from Waihi.

Mr Bellamy states that the line was not completed until 1924 when good trains commenced using it. In 1921there was still several bridges to erect, so according to this the line to Athenree could not have opened in1919.

Athenree Station was closed on November 2 1969 and later shifted and stored on a Waihi Beach property . InJune 2005 it was shifted onto the Athenree Homestead property and a Waihi Beach service club took up thechallenge to upgrade it and today it is well restored near the entranceway.

Thanks for the clarification Rob.

Recently I have been on two visits to Northern New South Wales and stayed with friends in the town ofCasino, which is one of the outposts still served by the Countrylink XPT train service. I say still servedbecause sadly a number of train services have been replaced by coach services where more often than nota rail line has also been closed. One such example is the line from Casino to Murwillumbah which prior itsclosure in 2004 almost took the line to the Queensland border near the Gold Coast and had enormoustourist potential. The line is still in place and in pretty good condition (gorse doesn't grow there!!!) and justwaiting for a heritage operator to give it a go. Some 30km from Casino it passes the city of Lismore(pop46000). This section would make a nice train trip with good population base for business.

A view across the "Ditch"

Correction from Previous Issue

I took a ride on the XPT train from Casino to Port Macquarieand return on the XPT. A five hour trip each way. The trainrarely got over 80-90 km/h and more importantly I saw notone freight train on this the only remaining Sydney toBrisbane line. Maybe our freight situation in New Zealand isnot so bad as the trucks have certainly got all the significantinter-city freight for themselves in this part of the world.

Right. XPT train arrives at Casino. Plenty of people travel onthese and the associated Countrylink coaches. Some newbulk wheat wagons in the yard.

8 | P a g ew w w . f r o n z . o r g . n z

E d i t o r i a l : s c o t t . o s m o n d @ x t r a . c o . n z

Another NSW town that lost its railway line, a second through line from Sydney to Brisbane in

1989, has preserved its 1886 railway station and yards. Tenterfield is on the New England

highway which is an alternate route to the Pacific Highway from Sydney to Brisbane. Here is a

large old station and surrounding building including the usual good sheds and also some staff

accommodation buildings. In addition some rolling stock primarily a rail-motor at the platform

and numerous hi-rail vehicles. More information is on the web at

http://www.nswrailheritage.com.au/precincts/tenterfield.htm.

An Aussie Heritage Station

Tenterfield NSW

Views of the impressive Tenterfield complex below

9 | P a g ew w w . f r o n z . o r g . n z

E d i t o r i a l : s c o t t . o s m o n d @ x t r a . c o . n z

Another delightful article from the Papers Past web archive.

This story from the Otago Witness , Issue 2746, 31 October 1906, Page 49, celebrates the opening of ourmuch loved Dunedin Railway Station. How often do we criticise journalists today for a lack of knowledge oftheir subject. Not only did this writer know he was referring to a Railway Station, not a Train Station, healso delves into the number and power of the light bulbs and the EXACT number of public enquiries madeon the first day. Imagine if there were over 10,000 rail travellers using the station now! As a bonus we alsoknow that 168 people used the public toilets that day! The language and punctuation is entirely original.

THE NEW RAILWAY STATION

OPENED FOR TRAFFIC

Without any formality whatever the new Railway Station was opened for traffic on Sunday. Thefirst train being despatched at 9.30 in the morning for Port Chalmers. A few persons saunteredon to the spacious platform 10 or 15 minutes before the train left, but there was really nothingto indicate that the station was being used for the first time, except, perhaps, for a generalsense of newness everywhere. That the railway officials will gladly welcome the change to thenew building, can be readily understood, the accommodation and facilities for carrying on theirwork for many years having been of the most meagre description. The public too, will findmatters vastly improved. At the old station, when any of the express trains arrived during thesummer months, it was quite an undertaking for a man with a portmanteau or a woman with achild to get along the platform, and the man who went sporting, and tried to push his waythrough the crowd, dragging after him a dog, generally took his seat in the train perspiring, and,to put it very mildly, out of temper. All that is changed. It will have to be a very extraordinarytrain-load of passengers that, with the friends who go to meet them, will crowd the new stationplatform. All the Port Chalmers trains, the only ones running on the Sunday, were despatchedwith unvarying punctuality, and without a hitch of any kind.

The contract for the supply of the cables, wires, arc lamps, fittings, etc., was secured by MessrsTurnbull and Jones (Ltd), of Dunedin, Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland. The arc-lampinstallation is a pretty extensive one, as 54 seven-ampere enclosed, long-burning "Sanders" arclamps are provided, 34 being used for lighting the platforms, the remaining 20 being used forthe yard lighting. For the station lighting some 340 incandescent lamps are provided, rangingfrom 16 to 32 candle-power. Those supplied are the well-known Royal Ediswan, for whichMessrs Turnbull and Jones are the sole New Zealand agents. For the control of these lights anumber of switch and distribution boards have been provided, all of which have beenmanufactured in the above firm's local workshop. The main switchboard consists of four slabs ofwhite polished Sicilian marble, 2in thick, mounted on wrought iron frames, placed 24in from thewalls. On these marble slabs the switches, cut-out meters, etc., used for controlling the variouscircuits, are mounted, whilst name plates are provided, indicating the circuits controlled by thevarious switches. The fittings used throughout the building are of elegant design, special noticebeing deserved by the Bronium ceiling fittings used at the main entrance and colonnades. Wemay mention that when the electro-pneumatic system of signalling is completed, all the signallights will be worked electrically. A trial of the lights was held on Saturday evening, wheneverything proved to be highly satisfactory.

The building has been designed throughout with a view to fire prevention. The floors areconstructed of steel joists, encased in terra cotta, and finished in planter or cement. The terracotta was supplied by Messrs C and W. Gore, Wingatui Brick and Tile Works, and it isunderstood to be the first terra cotta made in the colony by steam power.

A very large number of men were put on to dismantle the passenger overbridge at the oldstation as soon as dawn began to break, and when the 9.30 train left for Port Chalmers the

Papers Past

10 | P a g ew w w . f r o n z . o r g . n z

E d i t o r i a l : s c o t t . o s m o n d @ x t r a . c o . n z

overbridge had entirely disappeared, and the old station was being rapidly demolished. A verylittle later, and it also was gone.

At the new Railway Station the staff is settling down to business in a thoroughly methodicalmanner. There is an entire absence there of worry, flurry, and hurry. A place has beenappointed for everyone concerned and everyone is to be found in his place. It was a study inorder and system on Monday to observe how smoothly the trains came and went. There wasnothing confusing about the traffic arrangements, and the time-table was rigidly observed,Naturally, the public has not quite grasped the details yet. The stationmaster (Mr Duncan) andhis assistants were called upon during the day to answer about 10,543 inquiries as to where adesiderated train went from. All this will be set right as soon as the direction boards have beenfixed. The difficulty experienced by many people in tracking to their different offices the variousofficials will also right itself. There is a tendency on the part of very many people to regard thenew and gorgeous platform as a health promenade; but that is, doubtless, as much due to thenovelty of the place as to anything else. The lavatories, with the penny-in-the-slot arrangement,have already been greatly used. On Sunday the pennies put into the various slots totalled up tosomething over 14s. Small boys find a new amusement in washing their dirty paws in the basinsprovided for the purpose. The old railway premises have been entirely removed, and workmenare busily engaged in forming new platforms for the south end of the new station. A new signal-box has been erected at Rattray street. The main line south will shortly be carried right throughthe site of the old platform, and the dock lines will go west of them.

A minor accident occurred in the railway passenger yard, just past the south end of the oldstation, on Monday morning. An engine was being shunted south, and at the place indicated twoof the front wheels came off the line. A gang of men with jacks was quickly on the scene, and,the engine having been raised sufficiently, was put on the line again. No dislocation of trafficwas occasioned. Beyond this slight derangement there was no hitch whatever in the day'sworkings.

Left. A 1970 study of our subject station

and more recently below. Note the typical

cloudless sunny Dunedin skies in both

photos!

FRONZ Conference

Rotorua

1-4 June

Register Now!